News Digest Nov, 6

Stanford Conference Explores the State of AI

Gamasutra (11/03/08) Kline, Dan

International artificial-intelligence (AI) developers and researchers showcased their latest work at the annual Artificial Intelligence and Interactive Digital Entertainment (AIIDE) Conference at Stanford University.  The AIIDE conference focuses on bringing AI game programmers together with AI academics to share research findings and discuss future collaboration opportunities.  The three-day conference featured 30 talks on a variety of topics, including non-player character reasoning, designer tools, and procedural dialogue creation.  Steve Rabin, Nintendo developer and AI Game Programming Wisdom editor, gave an overview of where game AI comes from, where it is going, and why conferences such as AIIDE are important.  Rabin cited several recent landmark developments, such as Nintendo's universal speech recognition technology, F.E.A.R., and its enemy planning system; Forza's use of neural nets to manipulate cars; and Facade's interactive story and language processing technology.  Rabin also discussed the challenges the industry is facing, including rising costs, greater risks, and improved CPU power and the industry's inability to find a strong AI to use that power.  Borut Pfeifer, lead AI programmer on Electronic Arts LA's Project LMNO, focused on the problem of creating believable human characters.  Pfeifer wants characters to be understandable and intelligent, identifying six key human qualities AI should express: conflicting motives, reactions, attention, meaning, emotional simulation, and physicality.

http://gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=20917

New Way of Measuring 'Reality' of Virtual Worlds Could Lead to Better Business Tools

North Carolina State University (10/29/08) Shipman, Matt

North Carolina State University researchers led by professor Mitzi M. Montoya have developed Perceived Virtual Presence (PVP), a tool that enables businesses to design more effective online virtual worlds for training employees and collaborating on projects.  PVP enables users to measure how "real" virtual worlds are.  Moreover, PVP takes how users interact with the virtual environment, with their work in that environment, and with other users, all into consideration.  "This is an important issue because we believe that if users feel they are 'present' in the virtual world, they will collaborate better with other members of their team--and the more effective the virtual world will be as a setting for research and development or other collaborative enterprises," Montoya says.  "An increased sense of presence in the virtual world leads to better comprehension and retention of information if the technology is being used for training purposes, and trainees are happier with the process."

http://news.ncsu.edu/news/2008/10/wmsmontoyavirtual.php