It’s true, we now have Graphics, Physics, and now dedicated AI processors. They claim it will allow perfect pathfinding and living breathing game worlds with believable AI. Sure some games like FEAR has AI that ducks and covers and can hear gunshots but this will take it one step further. While the tank war demos don’t look too impressive because they don’t really have actual fighting and is just a basic setup it does show how the processor can make AI believable just like in real life.
I’m downloading a demo now. The idea is impressive, but if it’s true, I have trouble believing that they couldn’t put up some better quality animations, or even get a more professional design for their website.
I guess now I’ll have to purchase (and not to mention upgrade) 3 pieces of hardware, instead of just one.
Bah,
IMO the best thing for the future of gaming would be an external game hardware station. One neat package that would be treated as a separate mini-rig apart from the pc, which would hause all the processors and memory for physics, graphics, AI and whatever else have you (with an exclusive PSU that would have nothing to do with the PC itself of course).
Having things split up into 3 separate pieces of hardware is just messy IMO. You have to worry about the GPU, PPU and now an APU. Seriously, where does it stop?
Perhaps you’ll get super all in one packages from Nvidia and ATI as a result of this, they’ve already announced plans to intergrate a PPU in their latest cards and I don’t see why they can’t intergrate this too.
Or deals to get all three processor types in one package will come into play.
True but not for PC’s. Just think what GPU, PPU, and APU acceleration could do to programs. Take Blender for example.
GPU - speed up realtime drawing and rendering.
PPU - speed up Bullet physics, softbodies, and fluid at an incredible rate
APU - scripts like Blenderpeople could calculate complex AI movement at or near realtime
You put all of them in one chip or seperate rig and you have a supercharged gaming PC.
he Intia’s pathfinding uses no heuristics, thereby guaranteeing that the optimal path will always be found.
What? You still need a heuristic. You cannot do A* without a heuristic. Unless they mean it uses the most basic form, that way you are guaranteed an optimal path.
AI overall is extremely complex in setting up and actually getting a proper AI with processing power needed is to great atm.
Gaming AI is very basic compared to proper AI, and it hardly needs a processor to do the calculation “if (noise > 100 @ radius 200) then go to where sound was created” and with dual core processors nowadays you got so much power that is going to waste even while playing games.
Heh. Yea, I can just imagine it: Two dual-core CPU’s on 1 rig, forming a total of 4 cores…Delicius. (actually that would be a mandatory setup for my next rig)
Although, to be perfectly honest, I can’t think of any other software except games ever needing that much processing power.
Although, to be perfectly honest, I can’t think of any other software except games ever needing that much processing power.
RENDERING!
Gaming AI is very basic compared to proper AI, and it hardly needs a processor to do the calculation “if (noise > 100 @ radius 200) then go to where sound was created”
Yeah, but pathfinding, line of sight, giving each enemy a simple neural net PLUS all of the other crap a game needs to do, really could need a new processor.
Yeah, but pathfinding, line of sight, giving each enemy a simple neural net PLUS all of the other crap a game needs to do, really could need a new processor.
Most of that was done in Metal Gear Solid one for the PSone, the only time you would need a seperate processor is when your enemy start to think completely on there own. For example have completely random conversations with you and other AI characters, When AI computers can understand you completely while talking to them through a mic, and actually respond human like to what you say, each Ai character has there own personalality unique from another character in the game, the ability to value there own lifes and bully, talk back and throw you into a war seen when they know they will die from your order.
And thats just a few true AI characteristics. And we are still no where near true AI in games or anything else. To warrant a seperate processor. And what they showed in there demos is pretty standard stuff that a 486 could do.
To warrant a seperate processor. And what they showed in there demos is pretty standard stuff that a 486 could do.
Balls. I’d like to see a 486 check line of sight between 512 agents in 0.02s. The same calculations can be done, but they can be done on a slide rule, just a lot slower. Code an A* algo and see how quickly it runs, compare it to their speeds, then come here and say that.
Most of that was done in Metal Gear Solid one for the PSone,
On a small scale on unchanging terrain. Precomputed A* pathfinding is easy, doing it mid game for large maps isn’t. They did line of sight for at most about 4 agents at a time. And they only needed to see you, not each other. And it was in 2d. So, that was 4 checks needed compared to the 260,000 they were calculating. A little difference, no? Oh, and this isn’t just a point check either.
try making some of this stuff before saying how easy/quick it is.
Balls. I’d like to see a 486 check line of sight between 512 agents in 0.02s.
lol. There probably using a RISC processor clocked at about 50Mhz to do there calculations. Which is more than enough processing power to do any sort of calculations they are doing. Which strangley enough is about the same power of a 486 processor.
Now your telling me that a 2Ghz dual core processor cant do these calculations? Along with a few other calculations involved.
The AI of today (for games) doesnt need such a processor. At the moment.
You’ll need a seperate AI processor when your pc starts talking to you.
Which will be pretty soon
Can you imagine that just 40 years ago the computer was invented and that right now we can produce photo-realistic images?
It took 8000 years for humans to go from agriculture to a steam machine.
From then on, it took 200 years to invent the computer and yet another 50 years to begin creating nanotechnology.
Such revolutions keep coming at increasin speeds y’know
Quick calculations:
Each line of sight check takes:
0.000000076s
Thats:
13 million a second.
So no, I don’t think a generalised processor can run 13 million full sight checks per second. (remember, in 3d, not just bounding box but actual line of sight). Your CPU can run a crapload of graphics calculations too, but a separate GPU is a good idea.
You’ll need a seperate AI processor when your pc starts talking to you
I think you underestimate the processing power required for any kind of decent AI.
The AI of today (for games) doesnt need such a processor. At the moment.
I don’t know. I agree, but if you don’t have the processor around, nobody can make games that take advantage of it. Chicken and egg problem.
So no, I don’t think a generalised processor can run 13 million full sight checks per second.
Well a 3.2Ghz processor can do about 320,000,000,00 calculations per second, then if you make it a dual core that is 320,000,000,00x2.
Having an AI processor would be a good idea, but from what they have shown as demos and the information they have given out is abit vague. And there is no true information to prove that there processor does what they claim it to do.
If they released a demo of a soldier taking in commands from a person with a Mic and the soldier responded to the player. For example if you said “Bob go to that tree and hold your position” and he went and done that, and if you said “Bob your a total looser” and he responeded by saying “Kiss my arse!”, and then held a grudge with you through out the level and tried to get you killed, then I would say hell I want one of those!
But its not, its just making standard gaming AI a little faster(depending) and a bit more accurate(depending). Then what is the point, if the main CPU can handle it fine?
Kids in 2012: “Hey mom, can I download the new 17-in-one processor package for my folding pocket game console cell phone MP8 player pen? It teleports the hardware into the system!!! It’s only like 700 dollars!”
“Sure honey, that was a lot in 2006, but ever since that oil reserve was found in Washington D.C and the inflation, well, yes buy it. Daddy just got his pay check.”
Does that mean Bush is going to be evicted from the White House?
Excellent
I don’t think inflation will have such a drastic effect in 6 years’ time, though. Even if an oil reserve were to be found in the U.S.
But I do find it to be expected that we will have specialised processors for all kinds of stuff… Damn, technology keeps on developing so fast it’s scary.
