Tag Archives: Video Games

Microsoft will let Xbox game makers use AI tools for story design and NPCs

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Xbox has teamed up with a startup called Inworld AI to create a generative AI toolset that developers can use to create games. It's a multi-year collaboration, which the Microsoft-owned brand says can "assist and empower creators in dialogue, story and quest design." Specifically, the partners are looking to develop an "AI design copilot" that can turn prompts into detailed scripts, dialogue trees, quests and other game elements in the same way people can type ideas into generative AI chatbots and get detailed scripts in return. They're also going to work on an "AI character runtime engine" that developers can plug into their actual games, allowing players to generate new stories, quests and dialogues as they go. 

On Inworld's website, it says its technology can "craft characters with distinct personalities and contextual awareness that stay in-world." Apparently, it can provide developers with a "fully integrated character engine for AI NPCs that goes beyond large language models (LLMs)." The image above was from the Droid Maker tool it developed in collaboration with Lucasfilm's storytelling studio ILM Immersive when it was accepted into the Disney Accelerator program. As Kotaku notes, though, the company's tech has yet to ship with a major game release, and it has mostly been used for mods. 

Developers are understandably wary about these upcoming tools. There are growing concerns among creatives about companies using their work to train generative AI without permission — a group of authors, including John Grisham and George R.R. Martin, even sued OpenAI, accusing the company of infringing on their copyright. And then, of course, there's the ever-present worry that developers could decide to lay off writers and designers to cut costs. 

Xbox believes, however, that these tools can "help make it easier for developers to realize their visions, try new things, push the boundaries of gaming today and experiment to improve gameplay, player connection and more." In the brand's announcement, Haiyan Zhang, General Manager of Gaming AI, said: "We will collaborate and innovate with game creators inside Xbox studios as well as third-party studios as we develop the tools that meet their needs and inspire new possibilities for future games."

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/microsoft-will-let-xbox-game-makers-use-ai-tools-for-story-design-and-npcs-083027899.html?src=rss

Vampire Survivors will soon feature ‘miniature story modes’

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Vampire Survivors is one of the biggest surprise hits of the last few years and while its developer could have easily kicked back and taken things easy, Poncle has been beavering away on a bunch of updates. The next one is a fresh game mode that'll give players even more to do.

The new Adventures are "self-contained miniature story modes" that will take the Vampire Survivors characters on some "wacky sidequests," according to Poncle. Each mission has its own progression path that's separate from the main game. You'll have a limited set of characters, weapons and power ups at your disposal as you take on custom challenges such as staying alive for a specific length of time or killing a certain number of enemies. Adventures will also have some "lore text" to tie the story together.

The first few missions will soon arrive on all platforms where the game is available (PC, Xbox, Switch and mobile). They should each take an hour or two to finish the first time around, though you'll be able to tweak some modifiers for subsequent runs. In addition, all of the missions are playable in co-op.

You won't need to fork over more cash for these Adventures, though some will be added to existing paid expansions. At the outset, Poncle will bring two missions to the base game and a third to the Legacy of the Moonspell DLC. Adventures will only unlock once you've reached certain parts of the base game and the expansions.

It seems like Poncle is experimenting a bit with these missions. One that it's adding to the base game will "explore how we’re reworking classic content, with a slightly serious storyline and a chance to earn unlocks earlier than normal." Not to worry if you prefer Vampire Survivors' usual absurdity, though. The other two missions will have the game's usual offbeat tone.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/vampire-survivors-will-soon-feature-miniature-story-modes-161749229.html?src=rss

Sony’s ‘GT Sophy’ racing AI is taking all Gran Turismo 7 challengers

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Nearly two years after its prototype debut and eight months after its public beta, Sony's GT Sophy racing AI for Gran Turismo 7 is back, and going by Gran Turismo Sophy 2.0 now. It will be available to all PlayStation 5 users as part of the GT7 Spec II Update (Patch Update 1.40) being released on Wednesday, November 2 at 2 a.m. ET. 

We got our first look at the Sophy system back in February 2022. At that point it was already handily beating professional Gran Turismo players. “Gran Turismo Sophy is a significant development in AI whose purpose is not simply to be better than human players, but to offer players a stimulating opponent that can accelerate and elevate the players’ techniques and creativity to the next level,” Sony AI CEO, Hiroaki Kitano, said at the time. “In addition to making contributions to the gaming community, we believe this breakthrough presents new opportunities in areas such as autonomous racing, autonomous driving, high-speed robotics and control.”

The system's public beta this past February saw the AI competing against a small subset of the game's user base in the “Gran Turismo Sophy Race Together” event. Players who had already progressed sufficiently through the game were granted access to the special race, where they faced off against four AI-controlled opponents in a limited number of tracks. 

“The difference [between racers] is that, it's essentially the power you have versus the other cars on the track,” Sony AI's COO, Michael Spranger, told Engadget in February. “You have different levels of performance. In the beginning level, you have a much more powerful vehicle — still within the same class, but you're much faster [than your competition].” That advantage shrank as players advanced through the race rounds and Sophy gained access to increasingly capable vehicles. In September, Sophy learned to drift.

“We have evolved GT Sophy from a research project tackling the grand challenge of creating an AI agent that could outperform top drivers in a top simulation racing game, to a functional game feature that provides all game players a formidable, human-like opponent that enhances the overall racing experience," Spranger said in a press statement released Wednesday.

With Wednesday's announcement, the number of vehicles Sophy can pilot rises from the meager four models available during the beta event, to 340 (yes, three hundred and forty) vehicles across nine unique tracks. Per Sony, that means players can race against GT Sophy in 95 percent of the playable in-game models and the CPU will select its car based on the player's chosen model from their garage (that way they're not randomly facing down a 918 in a Nissan Versa or are otherwise disadvantaged). The five percent of models it can't drive are the handful of hyper-spec specialty cars like the karts or Dodge SRT Tomahawk VGT.

Players can match against Sophy in Quick Race mode (formerly "Arcade") regardless of their advancement through the game or current skill level. As long as you have a PS5, a network connection and the latest update patch installed, you too can get Toretto'ed by a stack of algorithmic processes. Good luck.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/sony-gt-sophy-racing-ai-gran-turismo-7-ps5-130057992.html?src=rss

Skating/murder sim Rollerdrome is coming to Xbox Game Pass

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Skating video games are always a good time, especially when paired with high-octane action and violence. Rollerdrome is no exception, allowing players to complete death-defying roller-skating tricks and death-inducing headshots all at the same time. The game’s been an absolute hit since originally releasing for PS4, PS5 and Steam back in August of last year. Now, it’s coming to Xbox as a day one Game Pass title.

Rollerdrome releases for Xbox Series X/S via Game Pass on November 28. It’s also launching as a standalone Windows PC title, which will be available for purchase on the Microsoft Store for $30. As previously mentioned, it’s already playable on PC via Steam, but additional purchase options are never a bad thing.

If you’re unfamiliar with the game, here's a quick primer. Rollerdrome was developed by Roll7, the same team behind the uber-popular skateboarding sim OlliOlli World. The game has all of the tricks and speedy movement you’d expect from a roller-skating simulation, but with a heavy emphasis on action. We called the game “endlessly replayable" and gave it a spot on our list of the best video games of 2022, emphasizing the challenge mode and online leaderboards. We also liked the dystopian vibes, making gameplay resemble the 1970s cult classic dystopian film Rollerball. This was likely intentional on the part of the developers. 

The graphics on this third-person skater/shooter are also on-point, with bright, comic-book style visuals. There are plenty of environments to skate through, like an abandoned mall and a desert canyon. Each play area is littered with ramps, gaps and breakable windows, all of which can be leveraged for tricks. There’s also plenty of baddies to murder with weapons ranging from shotguns to grenade launchers. 

This is a busy November for Game Pass. In addition to Rollerdrome, the subscription service gets the Yakuza-adjacent Like A Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name on November 9, along with the creature-hunting sim Wild Hearts. The Stardew-alike life sim Spirittea releases on November 13 with another farming sim, Coral Island, coming on November 14.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/skatingmurder-sim-rollerdrome-is-coming-to-xbox-game-pass-171355085.html?src=rss