Next generation consoles from both Microsoft and Sony are nearly upon us, excitement is in the air, and fanboys are plotting some new witty insults in a dark place somewhere after consuming all the rumors the Internet has to offer.
Many of these rumors tend to focus on how powerful the consoles are expected to be, and whether the consoles would be good enough to produce graphics of Avatar quality, or would they end up pulling off a Wii U. However, you rarely see someone speaking of smarter artificial intelligence (AI), as if it doesn't matter at all, when in truth, smarter artificial intelligence within games is more important than super realistic graphics.
We've been getting a huge bump in graphics with every new generation console, but the AI still remains a lot to be desired. I'm always angry when I purchase a new game only to find out I'm up against some dumb scripted AI that poses no challenge to my awesome gaming skills, and this is why so many gamers just prefer to play online. Take a look at the Operation Flashpoint franchise, games like these require great AI to be fun. Unfortunately, Codemasters didn't manage to pull that off, and thus the game fell short.
No one wants to have these bad experiences again with next generation consoles. Sure gamers want a bump in graphics, but not at the expense of smart AI. Game developers, creating games for next generation consoles should put more focus on making the AI challenging rather than throwing pretty graphics in our faces. Rumors claim both the Xbox 720 and PS4 will have 8 core CPUs. If that's true, then some of those cores should be used solely for AI smarts.
Personally, I would take smarter AI and the same level of graphics found in the Xbox 360 and PS3 in next generation consoles. Let's be honest with ourselves here - graphics doesn't make a game fun, so gamers should stop crying for pretty graphics or else developers will continue to churn out the same thing time after time.
Let's all come together and rally around smarter AI. Games like Dark Souls have proven that gamers require challenge. So game developers, how about it? Create your games around smart AI and make us scream in frustration, then smile in disbelief after we end up victorious. Smart, eh?
