Emotional attachment is a rare quality in video games. It takes a particular combination of good writing and good design to draw you in to a character's world and stop you seeing an avatar as just another bunch of pixels.
AI startup Artificial Technology reckons it has a way to inject a little life into the dead-eyed puppets that populate most games. EKI One is AI middleware that Artificial Technology claim can give characters 'Intelligent and emotional behaviour' to enhance the game experience.
Quite how this is achieved is unclear (and probably NDA'd to the hilt) but the company say that gamers will "experience the story together with the characters and share the emotions of joy, anger, desire, rage and sorrow."
Sounds great, no? If you want to see the tech in action, you shouldn't have long to wait. German developer Twintime has licensed EKI One for its upcoming mystery game Odessa Twins.
Artificial Technology unveils EKI One [Develop]