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Title: Microsoft's New AI-Generated Version of 'Quake 2' Now Playable Online

Link: https://games.slashdot.org/story/25/04/05/232...

Microsoft has created a real-time AI-generated rendition of Quake II gameplay
(playable on the web). Friday Xbox's general manager of gaming AI posted the
startling link to "an AI-generated gaming experience" at
Copilot.Microsoft.com "Move, shoot, explore - and every frame is created on
the fly by an AI world model, responding to player inputs in real-time. Try
it here." They started with their "Muse" videogame world models, adding "a
real-time playable extension" that players can interact with through
keyboard/controller actions, "essentially allowing you to play inside the
model," according to a Microsoft blog post. A concerted effort by the team
resulted in both planning out what data to collect (what game, how should the
testers play said game, what kind of behaviours might we need to train a
world model, etc), and the actual collection, preparation, and cleaning of
the data required for model training. Much to our initial delight we were
able to play inside the world that the model was simulating. We could wander
around, move the camera, jump, crouch, shoot, and even blow-up barrels
similar to the original game. Additionally, since it features in our data, we
can also discover some of the secrets hidden in this level of Quake II. We
can also insert images into the models' context and have those modifications
persist in the scene... We do not intend for this to fully replicate the
actual experience of playing the original Quake II game. This is intended to
be a research exploration of what we are able to build using current ML
approaches. Think of this as playing the model as opposed to playing the
game... The interactions with enemy characters is a big area for improvement
in our current WHAMM model. Often, they will appear fuzzy in the images and
combat with them (damage being dealt to both the enemy/player) can be
incorrect. They warn that the model "can and will forget about objects that
go out of view" for longer than 0.9 seconds. "This can also be a source of
fun, whereby you can defeat or spawn enemies by looking at the floor for a
second and then looking back up. Or it can let you teleport around the map by
looking up at the sky and then back down. These are some examples of playing
the model." This generative AI model was trained on Quake II "with just over
a week of data," reports Tom's Hardware - a dramatic reduction from the seven
years required for the original model launched in February. Some context from
The Verge: "You could imagine a world where from gameplay data and video that
a model could learn old games and really make them portable to any platform
where these models could run," said Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer in
February. "We've talked about game preservation as an activity for us, and
these models and their ability to learn completely how a game plays without
the necessity of the original engine running on the original hardware opens
up a ton of opportunity." "Is porting a game like Gameday 98 more feasible
through AI or a small team?" asks the blog Windows Central. "What costs less
or even takes less time? These are questions we'll be asking and answering
over the coming decade as AI continues to grow. We're in year two of the AI
boom; I'm terrified of what we'll see in year 10." "It's clear that Microsoft
is now training Muse on more games than just Bleeding Edge," notes The Verge,
"and it's likely we'll see more short interactive AI game experiences in
Copilot Labs soon." Microsoft is also working on turning Copilot into a coach
for games, allowing the AI assistant to see what you're playing and help with
tips and guides. Part of that experience will be available to Windows
Insiders through Copilot Vision soon.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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