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A screenshot of an AI-generated Quake II level

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Microsoft has released a browser app - based playable level of the classic video game Quake II . This functions as a tech demonstration forthe gaming capabilities of Microsoft ’s Copilot AI platform — though by the caller ’s own admission , the experience is n’t quite the same as playing a well - made plot .

You cantry it out for yourself , using your keyboard to pilot a unmarried level of Quake II for a yoke minute before you hit the time limit .

Ina web log post describe their work , Microsoft researchers say their Muse family of AI models for picture games set aside users to “ interact with the mannequin through keyboard / controller actions and see the personal effects of your actions immediately , essentially allow you to play inside the model . ”

To show off these capability , the investigator discipline their model on a Quake II level ( which Microsoft owns throughits acquisition of ZeniMax ) .

“ Much to our initial delight we were able to play inside the world that the theoretical account was simulating , ” they wrote . “ We could rove around , move the television camera , leap , crouch , shoot , and even boast - up barrels similar to the original secret plan . ”

At the same time , the researchers emphasized that this is meant to be “ a inquiry exploration ” and should be thought of as “ playing the modelas opposed to trifle the secret plan . ”

More specifically , they acknowledge “ limitations and defect , ” like the fact that enemies are fuzzy , the wrong and health tabulator can be inaccurate , and , most strikingly , the modeling sputter with objective permanence , ofttimes block about matter that are out of view for 0.9 seconds or longer .

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In the researchers ’ view , this can “ also be a generator of fun , whereby you could defeat or spawn enemy by looking at the story for a second and then bet back up , ” or even “ teleport around the map by look up at the sky and then back down . ”

Writer and secret plan designer Austin Walker was less impressed by this feeler , posting a gameplay picture in which he spent most of his timetrapped in a benighted room . ( This also happen to me both meter I adjudicate to play the demonstration , though I ’ll admit I’mextremelybad at first - person shooters . )

Referring to Microsoft Gaming chief operating officer Phil Spencer ’s late statement thatAI model could help with biz preservationby making authoritative games “ portable to any platform , ” Walker indicate this reveals “ a profound misinterpretation of not only this tech but how games WORK . ”

“ The intimate working of game like Quake — code , design , 3d art , audio — produce specific cases of play , let in surprising edge cases,”Walker wrote . “ That is a big part of what makes game good . If you are n’t in reality able-bodied to rebuild the fundamental inner working , then you lose access to those irregular edge cases . ”