Game programmers have long been developing innovative user interfaces, and their ideas and techniques are finding their way into a lot of software. For example, the Windows 95 "taskbar" (and the similar appendage HP-VUE has sported for years) bears a strong resemblance to the cockpit controls of so many old video games. Many programs now augment their help facilities by overlaying recorded animation onto computer-generated backgrounds, using techniques also perfected long ago in the game community.
Two of the most obvious requirements of any good game are quick response and intuitive behavior. These features are critical to the success not only of games, but of all software, from spreadsheets to Web sites. Today's hottest multiplayer, three-dimensional (3-D) game technologies will have a strong influence on all of tomorrow's software and hardware. Major system vendors, including Apple (QuickTime 3D), Microsoft (DirectVideo, DirectSound), and Intel (MMX), realize this and are eagerly wooing game developers.
One notable example of the far-reaching influence of game programming is the publicity accorded to the recent chess match between IBM's Deep Blue and Garri Kasparov, the reigning world champion chess player. Although it was billed as the ultimate "man against machine" event, interviews with some of the many contributors to Deep Blue's design gave me the decidedly unromantic impression that it was more of a "man against industrial research project" event. IBM's Deep Blue wasn't just a computer--it was teams of chess experts and computer scientists, databases with tens of thousands of preplayed games, and some of the fastest computer hardware that money can buy. All just to win a single game of chess.
Although my attitude toward the event and surrounding publicity was somewhat cynical, clearly there were many interesting aspects. For one thing, Deep Blue was constructed primarily from off-the-shelf components, right down to the IBM POWER2 processors (close relatives of the PowerPC) that managed each node. The increasing power of cheap microprocessors is an ongoing trend, and is rapidly reshaping the market for high-end computers.
I also noticed the continued loss of respect for the term "artificial intelligence." Commentators Maurice Ashley and Yasser Seirawan stressed that Deep Blue used purely brute-force approaches, relying on a relatively simple analysis of billions of moves in each three-minute turn. This proved enough for Deep Blue to win the first game. Unlike Deep Blue, however, Kasparov learned quickly from his mistakes, and proceeded to two draws and three wins for a final score of 4-2.
In contrast to the millions spent by IBM, a different kind of chess is played just down the street from my house. A local used furniture store sets up tables and chess boards along the sidewalk and invites local kids to stop by and play for a while. Not world-class competition by any means, but inspiring nonetheless. The owner of the store started his weekly chess games to give local kids something to do in the evenings, an alternative to wandering around the neighborhood getting into trouble. If nothing else, it's picturesque seeing kids hunch intensely over chessboards, adults chatting, pedestrians strolling to and from restaurants, all in the dim glow of twilight and street lamps--and not a phosphorous glow to be seen.
Tim Kientzle
technical editor