Every gamer knows that artificial intelligence has become an essential part of the best gaming experiences. Without smart characters to play against, games get boring. Without strong AI, the characters are either inhumanly difficult to beat or they are ridiculously easy to conquer. New strides by Microsoft, however, might improve the use of artificial intelligence in games. Currently, the company has a team developing AI for a computer version of the popular Chinese game Go.
The Problem of Go
You might wonder what’s so hard about creating good artificial intelligence for a game like Go. After all, it’s a two-player game with extremely simple rules. If programmers can make good AI for complicated games like chess, then why shouldn’t they be able to create strong AI for Go as well.
The difficulty comes down to the overall complexity of the game. Yes, chess is a difficult game for humans to master. Many people play for years before they can even come close to mastering the game. Computer programmers, however, have shown that they can create artificial intelligence that rivals even the world’s best human chess players. Even more impressive is the fact that programmers can create AI for chess games that inhibit the computer’s abilities. This allows gamers to play against a computer opponent that doesn’t completely beat them every time. Instead, they can set the computer’s skill level for each match.
When it comes to Go, however, humans still rule the game. No one has been able to create artificial intelligence that can defeat the top human players. That’s because Go, although simple, consists of 200 unique moves. Chess, on the other hand, only has 20. Microsoft’s programmers have been hard at work on this problem. The current result is a game called The Path of Go for the Xbox 360. Interested players can download a demo version of the game from Xbox’s web site.