@darkmanzero
Reason #2: Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
Remember when we said that the Xbox 360 doesn't have a killer app yet? Well the PlayStation 3's Metal Gear Solid 4 is definitely a killer app. Game creator Hideo Kojima has shown time and time again that he knows how to craft an excellent videogame, and after witnessing the impressive real-time demonstration of Guns of the Patriots (and its accompanying trailer) at TGS this past September, we're already convinced that the PS3 will be capable of some amazing things. A great pedigree plus great technology? Sounds good to us!
http://ps3.ign.com/articles/668/668446p3.htmlabout EUPHORIA:
April 19, 2006 - Since the release of the Xbox 360 and even more so with the approaching PS3 launch, there's been a hot debate regarding what qualifies as "next-gen." With all the added processing power, the next wave of consoles promises better graphics and enhanced sound, but what about gameplay? Though games get slicker production values, do they really play any differently than in the past? From what we've seen so far, the answer is no. We've seen a lot of products released for the Xbox 360 that don't differ much from what was possible on current gen, save for the bells and whistles.
But with its upcoming Indiana Jones title, LucasArts may be onto something. Utilizing a run-time animation technology called euphoria, the game is poised to push the limits of what was previously possible. The company that developed the technology, NaturalMotion, has been working for years to hone euphoria to accurately replicate real-world physics such as strength, weight, and momentum with in-game character models. Whereas before, all animations had to be pre-programmed, euphoria allows for reactions and behaviors to occur in real-time -- allowing models to react realistically to whatever situation might arise.
To be clear, euphoria is not an AI program, it's an animation technology that allows for physically accurate behaviors. The AI is programmed by the developer, in this case LucasArts, into the euphoria models to control them. What we saw at LucasArts was the marriage of euphoria physics and LucasArts A.I. scripts.
While it may sound good on paper, LucasArts was eager to show off the technology. We were shown two interactive technical demos highlighting the system in action with Chris Williams, Project Lead at LucasArts and Peter Hirschmann, Vice President of Product Development on hand. The first glimpse we got, the Tower Demo, showed off AI reactions to being dropped through a series of planks and beams. The second, which we'll call the "Fight Demo," featured Indiana Jones beating up an enemy A.I. to showcase varying reactions to getting punched and tossed around. Both showed potential for a new kind of gaming experience.
"For us, this is bleeding edge stuff," said Hirschmann. "It's what next-gen is about. It's not creating a linear path. It's creating intelligent characters, really interesting setups and environments, and putting the player in there and letting them see what the hell happens."
The Tower demo showed off what LucasArts was talking about. It gave the player the ability to toss in AI-controlled character models at will, letting them fend for themselves as they tumbled through a Price is Right "Plinko-style" structure. While initially, it seemed like a rag-doll physics demonstration, it soon became clear that the AI models were actively trying to stop their falls. Reacting to their surroundings without the restrictions of pre-programmed animations, the models reached out to whatever beams happened to be closest. Since they were falling at relatively significant speeds, they often missed, but would try again when they passed by the next plank or beam.
Eventually, as they slowed themselves with attempts to grab on, they'd be successful. However, the exercise didn't end there. Some prevailed in pulling themselves up to a standing position, but others lost their grip and continued to fall. The demo achieved an even greater level of complexity when several models were thrown into each other. A hanging model hit by another wouldn't just hang there stupidly while the other ricochets off. Instead, it'll actually reach out its hand to grab the other. In the same way, the tossed model will reach out its hand to try and grab onto the hanging one's leg. As further proof of the advanced AI at work, the hanging model would even reach down and try to pull the other up to safety.
To add yet more depth, fire hydrants and other obstacles were tossed at the models as they frantically tried to hang on. As expected, they could do little to stop from getting pummeled. Surprisingly, they didn't give up efforts to take the least amount of damage possible. Though some models were knocked cold after getting smacked, others fumbled around to break their fall. To stop themselves from tumbling, the models would actually stick their hands out in a last ditch cushioning attempt. Depending on the layout of the environment, they would react accordingly. For instance, when they got slammed into a wall, their body reacted with a convincing thud. Part of the body impacted first, and the rest of the limbs went flailing around, impacting surfaces like they actually existed.
"You don't have to animate 5,000 different permutations," said Hirschmann. "You author one behavior and then [the character model] stumbles back, he'll try to grab, if there's nothing there he'll fall over. With this kind of AI and these kind of behaviors it creates these situations where no two players' experiences are ever the same."
While we've all seen that before with rag doll models, those only reacted as such when they were "dead" -- In other words, when you pumped enough bullets into them or broke enough of their bones to make their AI program switch off. With these euphoria-enhanced models, the A.I. is still very much alive and kicking while the models get slammed into objects.
"In our minds, the age of the rag doll is over," said Williams. "Now we layer on top of the simulation this intelligence, this awareness, this ability to respond, react, get back up and grab onto things."
At one point, a model got knocked over while standing on a plank that angled downward, toward the ground. After falling, it began sliding forward with gravity. Since its A.I. was still fully functioning, it was clawing wildly around to try and stop its slide. Unfortunately for the model, the plank was flat, but as it slid out off the edge, it managed to catch itself on the very lip of the lath. It dangled precariously for a moment, but was thereafter able to hoist itself back up to shelter.
The Fight Demo yielded insight into more of euphoria's subtleties. Taking place in large square rooms littered with random geometric objects and a broken-down car, this demo showed off how Indy's attacks knocked around enemies. The sole foe in the stage started off by walking up towards Indy and was promptly met with fists to the face. After a few punches, Indy was able to grab the guy by the shoulders and toss him backwards, which made it more obvious what kinds of animation possibilities existed.
Instead of lapsing into some kind of pre-generated tumble, the enemy was at the mercy of every object in the environment. As he flew back, his body twisted ever so slightly so he could see where he was falling, and he'd try to brace for impact with his hands and shoulders as effectively as he could. Every environmental object he came into contact with was reacted to realistically. When getting thrown into a car, his body flattened against the side of the car. When getting tossed onto the edge of a wall, his reactions were different every time. Occasionally he would bounce and barrel roll to the ground, at others he would hit and lay out across top of the wall, and even come to rest angled from the wall to ground.
Again, he wasn't dead when this was happening, but rather still being driven by the adaptive animations that euphoria allows for. In every instance, the foe would get right to his feet, using his arms to push himself upright and come back at Indy. These unique reactions to in-game occurrences happened while getting punched as well. After Indy delivered a heavy smack, the opponent would go backpedaling backwards. While enemies in other games have pre-programmed reactions to punches, the euphoria enemies adjusted to their environment in real time. They would stagger, feet fumbling around differently every time to regain their balance. Any objects they happened to encounter while attempting to regain composure would affect them as one would expect it to in real life. If there was a low obstacle, they would trip. If there was a wall, they'd hit it and fall over. If there was an angled surface, they'd hit it and tumble off in whatever direction the physics demanded.
"The stumbling, the staggering, the notion that the characters really have this sense of situational awareness, and they have this sense of self preservation that really allows you to, given a circumstance, get a different reaction from them every time," said Williams.
More interesting possibilities were mentioned regarding team A.I. dynamics which we didn't get to see. "It's never two against one, it's two as one" said Hirschmann.
LucasArts mentioned groups of several enemies would be able to work together to overcome obstacles and more effectively attack you, leading to unique battles every time. They said they were hoping players would want to reload areas over and over again solely to see the different ways they could take out foes and watch them work together. In terms of specific examples, it was said enemies could pass weapons between each other and help each other up and over obstacles.
Hirschmann added, "We're working on a behavior right now where you can toss a guy into another guy and his head will actually track him and actually put his hands out to try and catch him."
While we saw a glimpse of this teamwork with the Tower Demo, we'll have to wait and see how it translates into actual gameplay.
Unfortunately we could not acquire media from any of the demos, so we've posted video from NaturalMotion's site that should give you a sense of what we're talking about. Note that this is not media from Indiana Jones, and actually from NaturalMotion's non-run-time product called endorphin. In it you'll be able to see how its technology manipulates a character model's physical reactions. Ideally, as this technology eventually spreads and development teams get more comfortable using it, we'll start to see strikingly more realistic A.I. behavior and reactions. While Indiana Jones won't release until next year, it's good to know new technologies are being pursued that could provide gamers with exciting, innovative experiences. We're hoping euphoria turns out to be one of them.
http://ps3.ign.com/articles/702/702423p2.htmli copied and pasted this because of your rant about how crap AI is and watnot. well heres a sample of nextgen AI. you are bein unnecessarily overcritical(one might even say cynical) about what u have neither seen nor experienced. you base your arguments and "research" on the works of critics of the ps3 while i try to approach this from a common sense perspective with as little industry jargon as i can. now u said the MGS 4 trailer was not realtime: i remember folks sayin the same thing when Sons of liberty was trailered and kojima had to re-issue ANOTHER trailer in which u can pan the camera durin cutscenes, suddenly all those who previously said "CGI" were now saying "woah!". and the truth is neither you, me, codec, john carmack nor even the folks at microsoft have seen the ps3 so on what grounds are we arguing? and the pdf doc u referred me to didnt bolster your reasonin, infact it serves to undermine your position. yes that same article u gleefully referred to as written not by any games body but genuine techs. well, the article DID confirm the CELL is a multithreadable parallel processor that can do much for games. "The SPU units are designed for aggregation into an
array of processing elements. The programming model for
the SPU has not been predetermined, and the
BPA can support
both process pipelining and parallel processing. In a
pipeline implementation, a transformation on a data set performs
a specific task at each SPU and then passes the intermediate
results to the next SPU. The advantage of this technique
is that the code in each SPU is usually quite small and
the operations are easy to manage. The pipeline is also more
predictable. This predictability is important to the design
goals of the Cell processor and is one of the reasons the SPEs
have local memory and not cache memory. The disadvantage
is that it’s often difficult to make each stage equal in complexity
and time." this is quoted from the same article. and regarding your notion that the spe unique memory allocation is a disadvantage, well the article further says that in addition to havin individual memory (as well as a native l2 cache) " the memory model of the Cell processor supports the sharing of memory locations".
also the final fantasy demo (realtime also, not CGI) was crafted with the CEL alone independent of the GPU. also, u said the cell works on video encoding and has nothin to offer grafx, well accordin to your article "The processing capability of the Cell processor is still being
explored. One demo that IBM has showed was a detailed 3D
contour map with satellite images imposed on the geography.
The Cell processor can render the ray-cast graphics at around
an order of magnitude faster than a contemporary PC processor.
The performance of only the 4GHz Power core without the
SPEs is harder to compare with the slower 2.5GHz G5 processor,
because of the Cell core’s simpler microarchitecture. The
higher clock speed of the Cell processor can still process many
math operations faster than the G5 can, so we would give the
performance edge to the Cell processor". in concluding the article, the author said "this chip is a quantum leap over the Emotion Engine and
with the parallel floating-point performance is a virtual
supercomputer on a chip.
Despite the excessive hype surrounding the Cell
processor at ISSCC, the possibilities of processing this much
media and graphics data are still being explored. The potential
impact is very exciting if the right programming model
can be found to utilize the capabilities. We have only
scratched the surface of the chip and its potential. Luckily,
we can count on an army of game programmers to dig deep
into this chip, and we’ll hopefully be able to learn from them
how much capability can be exploited. The next challenge
for the STI Design Center (after building the chip and systems)
will be to find a way to make this architecture accessible
to programmers beyond the aforementioned gamer
developers.
Editor’s Note: The Cell architecture deserves more exploration
and MPR will have additional coverage on it in the near future,
including more details on the architecture and programming model issues."
Sony, Toshiba and IBM worked together to develop the Cell processor. It's their answer to the growing trend toward multi-core processing, in which manufacturers place as many processors as possible onto one chip. The Cell processor is scalable for different performance needs. The one used in the PlayStation 3 crams 234 million transistors onto a single die. For comparison, one of the most powerful desktop PC CPUs available in 2005, the $1,000, dual-core Pentium Processor Extreme Edition, just barely breaks the 200-million-transistor mark.
The setup of the Cell processor is like having a team of processors all working together on one chip to handle the large computational workload needed to run next-generation video games. In order to understand how the Cell processor works, it helps to look at each of the major parts that comprise this processor.
The "Processing Element" of the Cell is a 3.2-GHz PowerPC core equipped with 512 KB of L2 cache. The PowerPC core is a type of microprocessor similar to the one you would find running the Apple G5. It's a powerful processor on its own and could easily run a computer by itself; but in the Cell, the PowerPC core is not the sole processor. Instead, it's more of a "managing processor." It delegates processing to the eight other processors on the chip, the Synergistic Processing Elements.
The computational workload comes in through the PowerPC core. The core then assesses the work that needs to be done, looks at what the SPEs are currently processing and decides how to best dole out the workload to achieve maximum efficiency.
The SPEs used in the Cell processor are each SIMD (Single Instruction, Multiple Data), 128-bit vector processors. Vector processors are designed to quickly process several pieces of data at once. They were commonly used in the 1980s in large, powerful, scientific supercomputers and were created as a faster alternative to the more common scalar processor. Scalar processors can only work one data element at a time. Despite this limitation, advances in scalar design and performance have made the use of vector processors very rare these days in most computers. However, because of the vector processor's ability to handle several data elements at once, IBM resurrected this design for the Cell. There are eight SPEs on the chip, but only seven of them handle processing. The eighth SPE is built in as redundancy in case one of the other seven fails.
The SPEs each come loaded with 256 KB SRAM. This high-speed memory helps each SPE crunch numbers quickly. The SPE memory is also visible to the main Processing Element. This allows the PowerPC Core to utilize the resources of each SPE in the most efficient way possible. All of this amounts to unprecedented power for a piece of consumer electronics.
Because graphics are so important to computers (and especially computers designed to play video games), there are microprocessors dedicated only to creating and displaying computer graphics. This processor is called the Graphic Processing Unit (GPU). One of the most anticipated aspects of the PlayStation 3 is the new GPU that was created for it -- the RSX "Reality Synthesizer."
Sony designed the RSX with graphics-card manufacturer Nvidia. The RSX is based on Nvidia's GeForce graphics technology. It's a 550-MHz, 300-million-transistor graphics chip. To put that in perspective, according to this Nvidia press release, the number of transistors on the RSX is "more than the total number of transistors in both the central processing units and the graphics processing units of the three leading current-generation systems, combined."
Unlike the GPU in the Xbox 360, the RSX is built on the traditional independent vertex/pixel shader architecture. Shaders are computer programs that determine the final look of what you see on the screen when you're looking at computer animation.
All of this translated to a level of graphic detail never before seen on a video-game console.
now this is definitely my last word on this ps3/xbox360 wahala because u guys insist on wading into the murky territory of tech and obscure terms that mean little to majority of gamers. now though i can only claim a rather rudimentary understanding of underlying CPU and semiconductor eevices architecture, i do know theres no way in hell darkmanzero can say all the power of the ps3 (yes i admit the cell is a litle overhyped, as they did with the Emotion Engine, but EE has so many shortcomings which sony has definitely learned from) is tripe and that the xbox stands to be potentially better. i still maintain that we do away wit all this speculation and instead think of how we can afford the darn thing! but one thing i do know: ps3 IS parallel-processing, multithreadable, and has better memory architecture and is multicore, so there!
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