AI Hardware Accelerator

[keyser Soeze]

http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=4080

Its a new card that will help the CPU. Something like Ageia PhysX but for the CPU.

With accelerated AI, RTS worlds can be large, complex and highly dynamic, with thousands of AI-controlled units moving and behaving intelligently at all times. In RPG games, cities and landscapes can come alive with thousands of fully-simulated characters. With full simulation, all characters remain alive and intelligent both on-screen and off-screen (i.e., no loss of AI level-of-detail), resulting in much more believable, life-like worlds. For Action games and Shooters, accelerated AI means no more dumb enemies.

Sounds pretty neat but i still would like to see all those features in one card...
Its probably a question of when and not if...

 

[Serifan]

hmm I don't think this will be needed, I mean by the end of this year we should start to see quad core cpu's

 

[Duckman]

hmm I don't think this will be needed, I mean by the end of this year we should start to see quad core cpu's

We already have quad 2.5ghz Mac's at work. So, maybe you mean quin cpu's?

 

[Serifan]

yeah but it is Mac

 

[Duckman]

yeah but it is Mac

So that means that there are no quad CPUs around then?

 

[Sander]

So that means that there are no quad CPUs around then?

There are no quad-core CPUs available cheaply for commercial PCs, no.

Besides that, that Mac is probably the G5, which isn't used by Apple anymore.

 

[SuAside]

i sense this is going to be a bigger flop than PhysX...

 

[Duckman]

So that means that there are no quad CPUs around then?

There are no quad-core CPUs available cheaply for commercial PCs, no.

Besides that, that Mac is probably the G5, which isn't used by Apple anymore.

Sorry I forgot to add the [\sarcasm]

 

[DirtyDreamDesigner]

Another useless POS.

 

[Serifan]

i sense this is going to be a bigger flop than PhysX...

I still think there may be some hope for them UT4 will be out next year and I am sure that is going to help boost sales alot. plus a couple of other A plus games like Cellfactor.

 

[zioburosky13]

I don't want to get nuke by Skynet. Oh wait.

 

[Ratty Sr.]

Yay, more overpriced and useless hardware!

 

[Huh]

First of all, current ai routines suck, and all this card really promises is more processer speed for ai. The only thing more processer speed would accomplish, is to make ai within games suck at a faster pace.

 

[MrBumble]

First of all, current ai routines suck, and all this card really promises is more processer speed for ai. The only thing more processer speed would accomplish, is to make ai within games suck at a faster pace.

Yeah..."Radiant A.I 2 , designed for AIseek cards"
It would cost less to buy a more performant processor than a lambda one + a sucky A.I card...

 

[Roshambo]

I can see this working on mass-scale for cityscape behavior processes like Grand Theft Auto or even for a CRPG if put in alongside design that gives the actors real character.

But then again...Windows manufacturers are running into that funny *nix thing that makes these trashware devices rather irrelevant - multiple core CPUs.

 

[Bulletbait]

I can see this working on mass-scale for cityscape behavior processes like Grand Theft Auto

But why would you want to make GTA's denizens smarter? The real entertainment value in that game lies in mass-murdering digital doppelgangers of real life idiots. They're kinda supposed to be stupid... although smarter cops/swat/feds/nat guard might make it a little more fun, they already make up for their shortbus-ness in small part by being INSANELY aggressive.

I wonder if this AI doohickey could offer some hope for Oblivion?

 

[Roshambo]

AI has more scope than "intelligence" of actors in a game. This can range from behaviors to environmental interaction, depending upon the depth the developers wish to aim for.

This can be from driving skill, to alternate driving path logarithms calculated for each vehicle on the road. With GTA, this could be applied in many forms, yet they are now designing with consoles primarily in mind.

To put it into layman's terms, it means the city would seem a HELL of a lot more lifelike and inhabited, with all the charm of shooting a pistol randomly in public, and seeing how the public responds. Postal 2 did this to a point, but if done in GTA, it would add more than the "passive/run-plead/aggro" AI resolution paths currently available.

As for helping Oblivion...if they spectacularly fuck up the Holy Trinity of AI/Scripting/Design, it doesn't matter how powerful the co-processor is. If they mess up Target|Source|Effect/Reason, that's their fault, and nothing technological could help them with it.

 

[Duckman]

I wonder if this AI doohickey could offer some hope for Oblivion?

Nothing can or will save Oblivious.