Joystiq http://www.joystiq.com Joystiq http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/http://www.joystiq.com/media/feedlogo.gif Joystiq http://www.joystiq.com en-us Copyright 2013 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/<![CDATA[AI system programs a game with a suspicious theme]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2012/03/16/ai-system-programs-a-game-with-a-suspicious-theme/http://www.joystiq.com/2012/03/16/ai-system-programs-a-game-with-a-suspicious-theme/http://www.joystiq.com/2012/03/16/ai-system-programs-a-game-with-a-suspicious-theme/#comments All right; we're done. Throwing in the towel, getting the heck outta Dodge and all that. The robot apocalypse is coming to a head faster than we thought, and it's time for us to move to our safe-hut deep in the jungles of Malaysia. Goodnight, everyone!

Michael Cook, a computer scientist at Imperial College London, has created an AI system that designs games -- clever, complex, slightly sadistic games -- and he has named it Angelina. Angelina has used "co-operative evolution" to make Space Station Invaders, an 8-bit platformer about a scientist trying to escape a space station full of aliens and homicidal robots. Cook provided the graphics and sound effects for Angelina, but still, we have to wonder how comfortable he is with that particular in-game scenario.

We just spent the past 10 minutes playing a game designed by a computer, and we enjoyed it. This is of course all a part of the machines' master plan -- get us complacent, then wham. Lasers everywhere. Either that or we can expect a flood of educational games about adopting children from third-world countries any day now.

JoystiqAI system programs a game with a suspicious theme originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 16 Mar 2012 00:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>aiAngelinaartificial-intelligencegame-designimperial-college-londonMichael-Cookpcrobotrobot-apocalypseSpace-Station-InvadersFri, 16 Mar 2012 00:40:00 EST<![CDATA[Bungie's Halo AI secrets exposed in technical review]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2010/09/09/bungies-halo-ai-secrets-exposed-in-technical-review/http://www.joystiq.com/2010/09/09/bungies-halo-ai-secrets-exposed-in-technical-review/http://www.joystiq.com/2010/09/09/bungies-halo-ai-secrets-exposed-in-technical-review/#commentsFiled under: , ,

If you're looking for information about a hot new gun that will be shootable in the almost-here Halo: Reach, you might want to flip to one of the many other stories we've written about the game. If you want super esoteric insight into the high-functioning AI design of the series -- that is to say, the enemies' actual programmed intelligence, and not the game's fictional AI constructs -- we suggest checking out AI Game Dev's 42-point analysis on Bungie's tricks and innovations for making those pesky Elites so darn pesky.

Of course, these tips will really only benefit you if you happen to be a game designer or programmer, though we suppose you could hypothetically use the information to impress your friends while playing Reach next week. "Look at the way Bungie implemented those perceptual information objects," you might say to your awestruck cohorts. "Man, that really must have cut down on some memory fragmentation and recycling problems."

JoystiqBungie's Halo AI secrets exposed in technical review originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 09 Sep 2010 21:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>aiartificial-intelligencebungiehaloHalo-ReachmicrosoftMicrosoft-Game-StudiosprogrammingxboxThu, 09 Sep 2010 21:45:00 EST<![CDATA[Valve beta testing AI opponents in Team Fortress 2]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2009/12/22/valve-beta-testing-ai-opponents-in-team-fortress-2/http://www.joystiq.com/2009/12/22/valve-beta-testing-ai-opponents-in-team-fortress-2/http://www.joystiq.com/2009/12/22/valve-beta-testing-ai-opponents-in-team-fortress-2/#comments If there's going to be a singular battlefield for the war between mankind and a super-advanced artificial intelligence hivemind, we think it's going to be Team Fortress 2. See, the programmers and developers over at Valve have repeatedly proven their technological prowess -- and now that they're working on AI opponents for TF2, accidental self-awareness can't be too far away. "Spy's sappin' my sentry! But why is it my sentry? Can a virtual sentry be owned? Who am I?"

You can check out the early stages of the future destruction of the world by participating in the Team Fortress 2 Bot Beta Test. No download is required -- all you have to do is enter a simple line of code into the console command in the koth_viaduct, koth_sawmill, and koth_nucleus maps. Check out Valve's blog post to learn more about the AI-spawning commands available to you. Whatever you do, make sure you don't enter "haley_joel_osment" into the command line. His love is real, but he is not.

JoystiqValve beta testing AI opponents in Team Fortress 2 originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 22 Dec 2009 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>aiartificial-intelligencebotsfpsmultiplayeronlinesteamteam-fortress-2valveTue, 22 Dec 2009 13:30:00 EST<![CDATA[GDC09: Havok gets smart, announces Havok AI]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2009/03/24/gdc09-havok-gets-smart-announces-havok-ai/http://www.joystiq.com/2009/03/24/gdc09-havok-gets-smart-announces-havok-ai/http://www.joystiq.com/2009/03/24/gdc09-havok-gets-smart-announces-havok-ai/#comments
Havok is exploding like a red barrel into the world of artificial intelligence. With ragdoll grace, the middleware company announced its new Havok AI SDK during GDC 2009, promising "unique solutions" to various AI pathfinding issues faced by today's game developers.

Like the folks at 1UP, we're not exactly sure what this means for gamers, though the new software is supposed to be fully compatible with Havok's other products and tools, such as Havok Physics. Perhaps now enemy patrols will get the good sense not to seek shelter behind things that go kablooey when bullets begin to fly.

[Thanks David B.]

JoystiqGDC09: Havok gets smart, announces Havok AI originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 24 Mar 2009 09:07:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>aiartificial-intelligenceartificialintelligencegdc-2009havokhavok-aimiddlewarephysicsTue, 24 Mar 2009 09:07:00 EST<![CDATA[Bungie's not ruling out working on other consoles]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2008/08/06/bungies-not-ruling-out-working-on-other-consoles/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/08/06/bungies-not-ruling-out-working-on-other-consoles/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/08/06/bungies-not-ruling-out-working-on-other-consoles/#commentsFiled under: ,


Bungie and Microsoft have been attached at the hip for awhile now. Some gamers are Halo haters, a lot more are Halo lovers (folks do like to buy those games). While the likelihood of Halo releasing for other consoles is pretty darn slim, any future projects from the company could see release on platforms other than the Xbox 360.

During an interview with Gamesindustry.biz, Bungie's lead AI programmer, Damian Isla, didn't discount the possibility of his company working on other systems, stating that for now "we are working on Xbox 360 with Microsoft but I don't know beyond that." His own interests lean toward the Wii, however, as he lauded it for its interface and appreciated the industry "moving in a direction where a much more casual gamer can come and pick up your game and wave a wand at a screen rather than learning ten different buttons to play Halo with the current Xbox 360 controller. That's really exciting and I think that's a very positive trend for the industry." We guess Damian isn't a subscriber to the Scott Steinberg philosophy of gaming.

We couldn't agree more, Mr. Isla. We couldn't agree more ...

[Via Videogamer]

JoystiqBungie's not ruling out working on other consoles originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 06 Aug 2008 17:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>aiartificial-intelligencebungiedamian-islahalonintendo-wiiWed, 06 Aug 2008 17:28:00 EST<![CDATA[Science says: Neurotic AI has a gaming edge]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2008/02/06/science-says-neurotic-ai-has-a-gaming-edge/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/02/06/science-says-neurotic-ai-has-a-gaming-edge/http://www.joystiq.com/2008/02/06/science-says-neurotic-ai-has-a-gaming-edge/#commentsFiled under: , ,

While we're not sure how comfortable we are with our artificial intelligence constructs having human-like personalities attached to them, we are interested to know what affect those personalities would have on our robot overlords' videogame abilities. So we suppose it's a good thing that the Austrian Research Institute for Artificial Intelligence conducted a study to see what types of AI personalities were best suited to games.

The study programmed four artificial intelligence agents to play single-player Age of Mythology with four distinct play styles: aggressive, defensive, normal and neurotic, the last of which was saddled with ostensible drawbacks such as "irrational assessment of resource value" and "tendency to resort to extreme playing styles." Despite these drawbacks, though, the neurotic AI played itself to a perfect 7-0 record and, surprisingly, achieved wins 3-12 minutes faster than its opponent AI, on average. The takeaway from all this? If you see Woody Allen in the Xbox Live lobby, beware!

View - Study presentation slides (PDF)
Read - Study summary at Mind Hacks

JoystiqScience says: Neurotic AI has a gaming edge originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 06 Feb 2008 15:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>Age of MythologyAgeOfMythologyAIartificial-intelligencecompetitionneuroticPCpersonalitywoody-allenWed, 06 Feb 2008 15:35:00 EST<![CDATA[Popular AI tech throws support behind Wii]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2007/12/04/popular-ai-tech-throws-support-behind-wii/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/12/04/popular-ai-tech-throws-support-behind-wii/http://www.joystiq.com/2007/12/04/popular-ai-tech-throws-support-behind-wii/#commentsFiled under:


Realism is not the Wii's domain. We've come to terms with this, so much so that our psychiatrist has begun to offer us half-rates for her trouble. Even so, any efforts to help the little console along the path of next-gen righteousness are welcomed. An update today from the AI middleware sleuths at Kynogon is certainly that, as the company has announced support for the Wii, offering their popular AI tech Kynapse to Wii game developers in order to help keep their NPCs from running around all willy-nilly.

Kynapse is already used in a number of other titles, both currently available and in production for a variety of platforms, including Crackdown, Alone in the Dark, and the upcoming sequel to Fable, and while no Wii developers have come forward and announced titles they expect to take advantage of the AI solution, Kynogon notes that Kynapse has already been tapped by two different studios for use in upcoming Wii projects. Who knows, maybe someday soon we can quit visiting the shrink altogether.

JoystiqPopular AI tech throws support behind Wii originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 04 Dec 2007 11:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>aiartificial intelligenceartificial-intelligenceArtificialIntelligencegame developmentgame-developmentGameDevelopmentkynapsekynogonmiddlewarewiiTue, 04 Dec 2007 11:56:00 EST