Technology has vastly improved the face of gaming. Games look very real, sound very real and are so quick and responsive that you might as well be playing in real life. The computing power, speed and storage of current machines are so vast that computer chess programs are virtually unbeatable (by humans) and can look so many moves ahead that they can play out the whole game in seconds. So why are we still having problems with AI?

Back in the day I had a game on my Apple IIe called Curse of the Azure Bonds, a AD&D game. Combat was turn and hex based. It was fun. One day I met a mage named Akbar and he joined my party as an NPC, not under my control. I was excited as he had the potent spell fireball which could take out several enemies at once. In our first battle he ran right up to the enemies (outrunning my fighters who were encumbered by heavy armor) and cast a fireball. Sadly, he incinerated himself in that first blast and I realized it would be a waste of money to resurrect him, as he was programmed to do such idiocy every time.

Skip forward 18 years and I am playing Half-Life 2. True, these allies are not quite as dumb as Akbar. But they love to run over lasers to activate turrets. They continually run out into the sights of snipers. They run in front of me when I am trying to shoot or throw a grenade. And worst of all- they don't listen to orders! One guy even says: "You have the environmental suit, you take care of these turrets." And yet they still hang around. I tell them to stay in this other room while I deal with the turrets. A few seconds later, as the bullets start flying, I hear the cry "There's Freeman, follow him!" and they run out of their hidy hole to get slaughtered.

One of your erstwhile allies... Oops, wait. No, he's actually much smarter.

Problems similar to these are found in almost all games that include allied AI- how often did Wrex stand there shooting a wall or the back of your head in combat? It was annoying how many times I had to restart a checkpoint in COD2 because an ally had run into my sights as I was lining up a sniper shot. I believe that Akbar's problems could have been easily remedied, but the transition to 3-D and real time combat has made programming allies a lot more complicated. Mass Effect actually did a good job of mitigating their ally AI failures by making it impossible to hurt eachother. Someday soon they will make an AI that actually works in a realistic, and helpful, fashion. I hope this achievement will get the notice it deserves from the gaming press.