New tech sharpens video games' wits

Cutting down baddies in video games used to be a lot easier - they'd just stand there, or they'd try moves that experienced players had seen time and time again. Now, however, new technology is making video game characters' artificial intelligence a little smarter.

By Barbara Ortutay

15 Jul 2008

In the upcoming video game 'Star Wars: The Force Unleashed', the evil stormtroopers are smart enough to keep players guessing.

Throw something at the white-armoured troopers, and they may toss a grenade back. Or they might just put their hands up. Or they could do something completely new, each time the game gets played.

Video games used to come preprogrammed with canned movements that expert players eventually could anticipate and figure out. But recent advancements in video game design - and new game consoles with dazzling computing power - have endowed computer-controlled characters with a sense of self-preservation and unpredictability not seen even a year ago.

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