Mind expansion: artificial intelligence takes center stage in next-generation games: part one of a two-part series.(Editorial)

The great American author Henry James once posed this question: "What is incident but the illustration of character; what is character but the determination of incident?"

To look for such depth in the actions of the non-player characters (NPC) currently inhabiting modern video games would be laughable, to say the least. Often seen walking into walls, stymied by doors, or falling down readily apparent holes, NPCs have gained little in gray matter over the years. Indeed, while motion capture has brought lifelike authenticity to their motion cycles, ,and soaring polygon counts and intensive normal mapping have defined the pores in their skin and the weave of their ...