EA Montreal adopts new AI technology

EA Montreal’s recently-released Army of Two: The 40th Day has a new piece of tech under its hood: the Digital Extra System by Grip.

The firm, founded by Dr. Paul Kruszewski, who was one of the people behind AI.implant, developed the Digital Extra System (DES) to help developers rapidly populate game scenes with large numbers of ‘extras’, from civilians and other humans to animals such as rats and birds.

“Army of Two: The 40th Day is set against the backdrop of Shanghai as it falls under attack by mysterious forces, so it was critical to include the civilian population in our design,” said Army of Two executive producer Reid Schneider.

Nathan Brierley, AI and gameplay lead on the title, added: “GRIP helped us to establish both the large city feel of Shanghai and reflect the human cost of the surprise siege.”

"Having the opportunity to work closely with such an experienced game team allowed us to refine the GRIP Digital Extra System in ways you just can’t do in the vacuum of a lab,” said Dr. Paul Kruszewski, president, GRIP.

"It was a pleasure to help the Army of Two: The 40th Day team achieve their vision."