AI algorithms capable of generating simulated environments -- represent one forefront of machine learning. Today, Microsoft published new research in the journal Nature detailing Muse, a model capable of generating game visuals and controller inputs. Unexpectedly, it was born out of a training set Microsoft built from Bleeding Edge. If, like me, you had completely erased that game from your memory (or never knew it existed in the first place), Bleeding Edge is a 4 vs. 4 brawler developed by Ninja Theory, the studio better known for its work on the Hellblade series. Ninja Theory stopped updating Bleeding Edge less than a year after release, but Microsoft included a clause in the game's EULA that gave it permission to record games people played online.

In the future, Microsoft suggests, you may be playing AI. No, not on the battlefield, but on games that actually use AI to simulate the entire game itself. As a first step, Microsoft has developed an AI model, called WHAM, that "beta tests" games early in the development cycle using AI instead of human players. Gamers know that realistic AI can turn a good game into something great, like how the older F.E.A.R. games would realistically model how soldiers might react to a hostile, armed player. Microsoft's World and Human Action Model (WHAM) takes the opposite approach -- it tries to figure out how human players will react in a given situation, right down to a specific frame or setup within the existing game world.

Generative AI, or AI used to create new images, text and sound based on prompts and training data, has had a contentious history in the game development community recently. While generative AI has become a commonly used tool for those who create user-generated content (UGC), its use as a tool for game developers has come with criticism. In particular, some users question why AI should be used when a human developer could do the job. Despite this pushback, game developers and publishers have started openly using AI tools. Major games companies such as Unity, Epic Games, Roblox and Ubisoft have all announced generative AI integrations in their development kits.

The problem is when Devil May Cry is at its best, it defies explanation. Sure you can try, and I'm going to for professional reasons. But half the game is "You have to see it to believe it" and the other half is "You have to play it to understand" and the two meet at the middle (albeit joined by some clunky loading screens) to create a relentlessly entertaining video game--one that's self-confident, satisfying, and stylish as hell. Imagine my surprise, that in the span of a year Capcom could make me a fan of first Monster Hunter, then Resident Evil, and now Devil May Cry. It's an incredible run, by a company that a few years ago I would've said seemed listless. In any case, this is the first Devil May Cry in over a decade--for fans, that is.

Microsoft just showed off all of its new games for PC and Xbox One at its E3 Press Conference. There's a lot to unpack, so scroll through our live coverage below to watch all the trailers and see all the new announcements You can also re-watch the entire thing, if you like, and follow along with our commentary and insights below. We'll be back for Sony's press conference tomorrow night! 'A few very exciting games shown, and interesting to see how Xbox's newly acquired studios will fare' Well that certainly had a lot more going for it than the EA press conference. Trailers upon trailers upon gameplay demos, and new reveals all over the place.

Modern motion-capture systems are the product of a century of tinkering, innovation and computational advances. Mocap was born a lifetime before Gollum hit the big screen in The Lord of the Rings, and ages before the Cold War, Vietnam War or World War II. It was 1915, in the midst of the First World War, when animator Max Fleischer developed a technique called rotoscoping and laid the foundation for today's cutting-edge mocap technology. Rotoscoping was a primitive and time-consuming process, but it was a necessary starting point for the industry. In the rotoscope method, animators stood at a glass-topped desk and traced over a projected live-action film frame-by-frame, copying actors' or animals' actions directly onto a hand-drawn world.

Detroit: Become Human, the latest game from David Cage and Quantic Dream, releases this week on PlayStation 4. A story about humanity's future relationship with artificial intelligence, it aims to confront our feelings on empathy and how we treat those who are different to us. But Cage is not the only developer with thoughts on AI. Tameem Antoniades, chief creative director at Ninja Theory, finds the subject fascinating, and has a very different idea for how games could explore and make use of it. "I am interested in AI a lot, because finally we're breaking through," Antoniades tells us. "AI technology has basically been in the doldrums for 30 or 40 years with very little in the way of advancement, and finally we're getting really good results - eye-opening results. I think I'd like to explore where AI can go and use AI technology to build that experience."

Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice, a dark mythological adventure that follows a young warrior suffering from psychosis, was the big winner at the 2018 Bafta video game awards on Thursday night at Tobacco Dock, London. The game, which was developed in conjunction with psychologists and neuroscientists to ensure its accurate depiction of mental illness, was nominated in nine categories and won for best British game, best performance, artistic achievement, audio achievement and a new category, games beyond entertainment, which celebrates new releases with a political or social message. Accepting the latter prize, psychologist Paul Fletcher, a professor of neuroscience at Cambridge University who worked closely with the game's Cambridge-based developer, Ninja Theory, said: "Mental illness is usually characterised by the fact that it's invisible. Working with Ninja Theory has shown me something valuable: games can aspire to and achieve a remarkable exploration of state of the mind and mental suffering." However, the night's biggest award, best game, also provided its biggest shock.

In a makeshift changing room filled with Disney Infinity figures, I strip down to my boxers and pull on a two-part Lycra suit. For years, movie and video game studios have used mocap to bring digital characters to life. A circular, plastic arm wraps around the front of her face, similar to orthodontic headgear, with an LED light strip and cameras fitted on the inside. The cinematics were crafted with motion capture technology developed by Weta Digital, a visual effects company in New Zealand co-owned by Peter Jackson.

The longer you spend with the entrepreneurs behind the video game industry cluster in Cambridge, the more the forthcoming general election begins to seem a trifling, parochial concern. Compared with the momentous significance of the vote to leave the EU, next month's election barely registers for people such as Mark Gerhard, CEO of Playfusion, a video game company (pictured above) employing 58 people, of whom about 60% are from the EU. Almost all of us are disengaged from it. The cruel thing is that it doesn't affect us; if it goes really bad we can change our situation, we can solve it," he says. For people working in Cambridge's science parks, part of the hi-tech, global knowledge economy, the fallout from the Brexit vote is still the key political issue. Cambridge voted 74% to remain, and the shock of seeing things not go their way remains palpable. Bosses and senior employees in this tech cluster are highly educated and relatively well-off, and have many choices about where they base themselves. For the moment, this is Cambridge, but many are watching and waiting, contemplating their next steps, ready to leave the country should things turn unfavourable. In the months after the Brexit vote, Gerhard (who is originally from South Africa, but has lived here for 19 years and now has citizenship) was so dismayed to feel, as an immigrant, like he no longer belonged, that he contemplated moving to America. The election of Trump put paid to that idea, he says, but he is clear that should Brexit-related developments make it harder for his company to thrive in the UK, he will relocate. "It's not a threat; the reality is that for highly skilled individuals, the world is borderless.