Alliedassault - NaturalMotion Technology

This is the kind of shit that's actually getting me excited about games again ..

[quote:025d1]SAN FRANCISCO, CA – April 27, 2006 – LucasArts announced today that Indiana Jones' first expedition on Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and PlayStation3 will feature the revolutionary euphoria behavioral-simulation engine from NaturalMotion Ltd., creators of the award-winning Dynamic Motion Synthesis (DMS) technology. For the first time ever, euphoria enables interactive characters – from Indiana Jones himself to the foes he pulverizes – to move, act and even think like actual human beings without the limitations of traditional animation. Characters move and adapt realistically to their given situations on the fly, resulting in a series of experiences and payoffs that will never be the same twice. As one of only two publishers with early access to the technology, LucasArts is well advanced in integrating euphoria into Indiana Jones' 2007 next-generation adventure. [/quote:025d1]
Read the rest [url=http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/action/indianajones/news.html?sid=6148483:025d1]here[/url:025d1]

And watch some clips of it in action here:
[url:025d1]http://uk.media.xbox360.ign.com/articles/702/702389/vids_1.html[/url:025d1]

I think a guy at IGN says what it could do for the industry best:

[quote:025d1]The fights are realistic. If you throw someone into a wall, they will try to protect their fall. You can't just throw an enemy down a cliff and expect them to die. They will grab on to a ledge, climb back up, and kill yo ass if your back is turned. Also, depending on how bad you hurt them when you threw them off the cliff, it depends on whether they'll be able to climb back successfully. They might slip and fall to their death.

If they make it back up and are really hurt, they might try to climb/crawl away from you. This is great because now whenever you think you disposed of an enemy, you have to make sure, he's actually disposed or incapacitated. If he is still alive and has a way to set off an alarm, you might have to stick around and do something to insure he's dead
An example of a guard being injured and running away to alert other guards would be the guards in Metal Gear Solid 2. The radio.

Whenever you are playing a video game and you are fighting an enemy, the animation is preprogrammed.

That means the enemy will fall a certain way. Usually its rag doll physics.

Well in this new Indiana Jones game, when you shoot, or throw an enemy, they will react according to how you damaged them.

For instance: Remember in Metal Gear Solid 2 when you tortured the guards, if you shot them in their legs, they would hobble, or if you shot them in their arms they'd drop their arm? Remember how fun that shit was? The bad thing is is that they bled to death too fast.

Whats different here is that, during an actual fight, they will be wounded realistically, if their bones are broken, they'll still try to fight you with broken bones, hobbling your way, or they might try to run away.

Their buddy might try to protect the other enemy you wounded and aid their escape. Like in real life. Covering fire initiated by the A.I. That's crazy! The A.I. is initiating teamwork like they did in the Metal Gear Solid games but better.

This is all depending on what A.I. routines the developers will program them with. A.I. does not use a lot of processing power. Most processing power is used for graphics.

So really, all of what I listed was a best-case scenario for the Indiana Jones game. Thats why it will actually be considered Next-Generation. It's not just the graphics that determine whether the game is Next-Generation. Its the progress made with the phyics engine AND the A.I. routine. Half-Life was next-generation for its time due to its physics engine. Metal Gear Solid 2 was next-generation for its time due to its enemy A.I. You can argue about this all you want but there hasn't been a game review or person I've known that hasn't admitted to torturing the fuck out of the guards or playing with them on the Metal Gear Solid 2 DEMO alone.

The most basic use of Natural Motion will probably show up in other developers games as just a substitute for rag doll physics.

Programming the A.I. to do some of the stuff I listed in my last post will be something that a good developer would try to implement. The more they put, the more hit on processing power and graphics they'll be able to use depending on what system is being used to play that game. The Playstation 3 should be able to handle this crap easily. With a good developer, the 360 can too.

Man I'm more hyped about this than the physics engine demos I've seen in games. I'm more hyped about this than the Revolution controller or the Playstation 3 graphics.

Why? Because thats all stuff that looks and supposedly plays good. Thats entertaining and all but there ain't shit matching the fun of fighting an enemy that has as much a sense of self-preservation as you do. Thats part of whats so fun about online games. Also, the ability to sit there and take him piece by piece, while throwing the enemy around, watching how they react is purely sadisitic. This is entertainment at its finest. This shit reminds me of the movies when you think the main character has taken care of the bad guy and that fucker comes back.

The challenges brought on by Natural Motion Animation could be endless. I can't wait. [/quote:025d1]