Philips Magnavox Videogames and the Entertainment Revolution Trigger Happy - Manual (Page 400)

Trigger Happy
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desirable. But you must choose your simplifications
carefully.
Though true artificial intelligence, as discussed in
Chapter 5, is still very much in its computational
infancy, it remains one of the key buzzwords of the
videogame industry. Every bog-standard driving game
or first-person shooter that comes along claims to have
revolutionary AI in its computer-controlled opponents.
What this still means, though, is quite the opposite: the
computerized opponents are dressed up in a kind of
artificial stupidity. Given that a silicon chip can
perform precise calculations far faster than a human
can, it ought always to beat a human player in games
requiring quick, accurate responses. So its skills have to
be ramped down in order to simulate typically human
failings, rather than ramped up in order to simulate
human cleverness.
The best videogame AI so far appeared in 2001’s
extraordinary Black and White, a God game that allows
you to nurture and teach a creature who evolves
uniquely according to your style of play: his behavior
and physical appearance come to mirror the balance of
your moral decisions through the game. One of very
few products that sought to push the envelope of