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Xaitment Supports Parkinson's Research-Funding Zombie Game Experiment[12.03.09]

Artificial intelligence service provider xaitment announced that its AI game tools will be used in the creation of The Zombie Game Experiment, a charity-driven game development project benefiting Parkinson's research.

The Zombie Game Experiment is a crowd-sourced effort in which all design elements -- including graphics, audio, play mechanics, and narrative structure -- are contributed by community members.

Development for the title is funded by charitable donations. The community has pledged 25% of all donations to Team Fox of the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research. Of the $2067.93 raised so far, $500 was donated to Team Fox in November.

"Developing games that are fun to play is our passion, and artificial intelligence plays a large role in that," said Will Weaver, CEO of Zombie Game Experiment developer Hive Media. "xaitment's AI game tools will give us an incredibly fast way to develop advanced AI for our NPCs, But xaitment has also proven that game developers and technology companies can partner for greater causes. I really look forward to implementing their technology on our project and seeing the results of our collaboration."

"Parkinson's affects roughly six million people worldwide," said Markus Schneider, xaitment's vice president of the company's Americas and Asia branch. "Hive Media has taken a taken a bold and unique approach to addressing the problem. We are extremely happy that our tools could benefit them and such a worthy cause."

The Zombie Game Experiment is slated for public release in 2011. All donations of $10 or more will receive access to the final version of the game upon its release.

By Danny Cowan
December 3, 2009 02:17:00 PM PT