“The architecture of PlayStation 4 will greatly enhance the AI that developers can include in their games. Due to the out-of-order architecture of the main processor, PlayStation 4 takes advantage of the “decision logic” used in xaitControl. Also the combination of the eight x86-64 cores and the 8GB of unified high-speed system memory allows for an emphasis on character behaviors and lifelike environments with virtually no limits,” the press release reads.

“We are naturally ecstatic that Sony Computer Entertainment has announced PlayStation 4. It represents such a massive leap in technology, which will have a huge effect on every aspect of a game, including AI,” said the CEO of xaitment, Mike Walsh.

“No longer will developers need to make hard decisions about whether to increase graphic fidelity or add in more AI. With PlayStation 4, games can now have outstanding graphics and more lifelike AI, which in turn will only drive up the realism of the gaming experience.”

Additionally, Geomerics have also have also announced their support for the PS4. Their tool called Enlighten is now available to developers working on PS4 games bringing real-time global illumination to the next gen consoles.

“PlayStation 4 promises a dramatic increase in memory and compute resource, which will free developers to unleash the full creative power of dynamic lighting and to finally extend cinematographic film practices to dynamic immersive worlds,” they say.

“We are delighted to be working on PlayStation 4,” said Geomerics’ founder Dr. Chris Doran. “The hardware is everything we were hoping for in a next-generation console, and a huge step forward from the current generation. Real-time global illumination was a big deal for games running on the current generation of hardware, but it required developers to make some compromises.

VP Sales Rob Precious added “The amount of interest from developers for PlayStation®4 is huge. The next few months are going to be very exciting for us and we are looking forward to publishers and developers revealing some of what we have been working on.”

Will we see fantastic AI and lighting next-gen? Well, these companies say we will. Tell us what you think in the comments section below.

Xaitment, the creators of advanced artificial intelligence (AI) software for video game and simulation developers, today announced that it has launched new Educational Pricing for it’s Unity plug-ins and will be partnering with Studica to help with distribution. Starting today, universities, other educational institutions and individual students around the world can get both packages, xaitMap and xaitControl for Unity, at greatly discounted prices.

“Students are the foundation of our game development future, and AI is a growing area of interest for game development,” said Mike Walsh, CEO of xaitment. “We looked at several different options for making our products available to the educational market and Studica was the obvious choice. Studica has a worldwide reach and they are already partnering with some of our closest partners.”

“Studica is excited to add xaitment to our offering for the education market. We are always looking for the most progressive software and xaitment fits in perfectly with our initiative to bring game design to students in the classroom and at home.” Frank Nanfara, Studica President and CEO.

This is a great way for students to learn game AI faster and effectively before they actively seek a job in the game industry. Some of xaitment’s educational partners include SMU Guildhall, the Institute of Technology in Carlow, The University of Advancing Technology, and the University of Saarland.

Tell us what you think in the comments section below.

xaitment have announced that its xaitControl for Unity plug-in now supports the creation of realistic character behaviors and game logic for games running on Mac, iOS, Android and the Unity Web Player.

The first 250 customers to purchase will get the xaitControl for Unity plug-in, with support for all platforms, for $249 instead of the standard $499 price.

“Let’s face it – dumb characters and poor game logic can ruin a gaming experience,” said Mike Walsh, CEO of xaitment. “xaitControl for Unity is designed for AI programmers and game designers of any skill level who want to give their game characters more realistic mannerisms and logic. And with mobile support, they can now bring that invaluable gaming component to mobile games.”

Features include:

• Visual Scripting: Create AI behaviors, interactive objects, game logic and more within a graphical state machine editor.
• Drag and Drop: Drag and drop states, transitions or even complete state machines in order to organize and speed up development.
• Visual Debugger: Visually examine the flow of state machines, and watch state and variable changes and events, with the real-time debugger.
• Supports State Machines as Mono Behaviors: Both C# or Java are supported.
• Optimized performance: Small overhead, small executables, fast loading times.

Stay tuned for more, right here on GamingBolt.com.

xaitment, the creators of advanced artificial intelligence (AI) software for video game and simulation developers, today announced that it has launched two affordable plug-ins for the Unity engine: xaitMap for Unity and xaitControl for Unity. While the plug-ins are priced at $499 each and include a 45-day free trial, xaitment is kicking off the launch with a limited-time, 2-for-1 offer: purchase xaitMap for Unity and receive xaitControl for free.

“There are a growing number of game studios, simulation developers and educational institutions that are working with the Unity engine,” said Mike Walsh, CEO of xaitment. “Until now, we‘ve only been able to address their needs with the full versions of our software. With the plug-ins, we now have two great products that give Unity engine users all of our AI tools, at a fraction of the cost.”

With xaitMap for Unity, users can:
– Quickly create NavMeshes on any object in a scene
– Dynamically set up and modify collision avoidance parameters on any component in a scene
– Easily modify a character’s movement by assigning a MoveComponent to a game character
– Easily start working with pathfinding using xaitment’s Starter Pack of Movement Behaviors
– Create predefined paths by dragging and dropping waypoints on a NavMesh.

xaitControl for Unity comes with runtime libraries and a graphical Finite State Machine (FSM) editor that work perfectly with Unity’s scene editor and Mono Develop environments, and enable developers to quickly model advanced game logic and character behaviors. Core functionality includes:
– Graphical Bot Behavior Modeling, which enables developers to quickly add states and transitions, even in a hierarchy, or create conditional, event-based and time-based transitions
– A Real-Time Debugger, which gives developers full control over the instances of the Finite State Machine, such as setting breakpoints for states, transitions, conditions and commands
– All xaitControl FSMs are handled like C# scripts, allowing developers to work the way they’re familiar within Unity
– The plug-in will automatically make available all the FSMs, events, functions (including signature, etc.) within Unity for further development

“The key to our new approach was figuring out how to present all of the features we’ve included in an intuitive way for Unity users,” said Thorsten Maier, CTO of xaitment. “We’ve worked hard to ensure that they adapt to the Unity workflow and development environment in order to make them even easier to access and use.”

xaitment, the creators of advanced artificial intelligence (AI) software for video game and simulation developers, today announced that it has made its source code available to all current and future US and European customers who license full versions of its AI software modules, xaitMap and xaitControl.

xaitMap and xaitControl provide developers with well-maintained, well-supported libraries and graphical tools for NavMesh generation, pathfinding, movement, character behavioral modeling and game logic. The availability of xaitment source code gives developers the added ability to more easily debug, optimize and customize the code , which ultimately saves time in the development of unique AI features for their game or simulation.

“As the number and variety of projects we support grows, so too do the number of requests we see for features that are specific to game genres or platforms,” said Thorsten Maier, CTO of xaitment. “Offering source code with our AI software modules frees developers to customize our code in order to meet the specific needs of their unique projects.”

xaitment’s AI source code is available free-of-charge for a limited time.

xaitment, the creators of advanced artificial intelligence (AI) software for video game and simulation developers, today announced that it has received 1.2 million euros (approx. $1.6m USD) from two of its main investors, Triangle and KfW.

xaitment currently develops and sells runtime libraries and graphical toolsets for NavMesh generation, pathfinding, movement, and character behavioral modeling. In July and August of 2011, it launched upgrades to its core products – xaitMap, xaitControl and BrainPack 2011 – which make it easier and more cost effective to implement core AI functionality in games and simulations.

“With xaitMap, xaitControl and our BrainPack bundle, we have mature, intuitive AI software for NavMesh generation, pathfinding, movement and character behavior modeling that rivals any solution on the market,” said Mike Walsh, the newly appointed managing director and CEO of xaitment. “But no other vendor has the ability or knowledge to develop higher level behavioral AI. Admittedly, these new solutions will not be right for every game, but we know there is a good portion of the PC and console market, as well as the civil and military simulation market, that is currently writing advanced AI behaviors from scratch, and could really benefit from tools that ease the process of creating smarter digital characters. That is the reason for this new investment, the results of which we look forward to displaying publicly in 2012.”

Xaitment are going to launch XaitMap 3.0 at GamesCom 2011. Check out the official press release below.

Xaitment, the creators of advanced artificial intelligence (AI) middleware for video games and simulations, today announced that it has combined the previously named xaitMap and xaitMove products to create a single, new product named xaitMap 3.0. The new product, which couples  pathfinding and automatic navigation mesh (NavMesh) generation with a flexible movement core, provides game and simulation developers with a more integrated and intuitive approach for creating intelligent entity and crowd movement. xaitment will demonstrate xaitMap 3.0 at gamescom 2011 (Hall 04.1, Stand D030).Prior to xaitMap 3.0, xaitment offered pathfinding and movement functionality in two separate modules – xaitMap and xaitMove – to give developers a more affordable choice that didn’t lock them into more functionality than they needed. Over time, however, NavMesh generation, pathfinding and movement have become more integrated and more necessary for a wider range of games, which necessitated a melding of the two products into one: xaitMap 3.0.

“NavMesh generation, pathfinding and movement are all critical components to any AI solution,” said Thorsten Maier, CTO of xaitment. “With xaitMap 3.0, we’ve not only enhanced our pathfinding and NavMesh generation tools, we’ve now added a highly flexible movement core that allows every studio to modify or add functionality as they see fit.”

In addition to the already rich feature set included in previous versions of xaitMap, xaitMap 3.0 comes with a number of major upgrades, including:

–        A new, dynamic blocking pathobject for simulating doors, destructible objects and the like

–        The ability to add custom data to, and handle it in, the NavMash

–        A fully integrated, fully customizable movement core with:

• A well-defined object-oriented interface
• Support for physics engines, such as NVIDIA’s PhysX (a PhysX demo is included)
• A predefined, extensible path follower
• Entity avoidance
• An exchangeable collision interface
• Multiple, simulation worlds
• Detailed code tutorials

“Our goal as an AI middleware provider has always been to provide tools that are powerful, yet simple to use. The modularity of our solutions is a key component of that simplicity. But in the case of xaitMap and xaitMove, the separation no longer made sense,” said Mike Walsh, managing director and CEO of xaitment. “xaitMap 3.0 now makes it easier to access critical AI functionality from one interface without losing the affordability of our modular approach.”

xaitMap 3.0 will be available as of gamescom 2011 for PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii. xaitment will be demoing xaitMap 3.0 and its other modules at gamescom 2011 (Hall 04.1, Stand D030).