That headline is no joke, there is a console that is coming that will bring artificial intelligence to retro gaming.  The problem is, it is not in the way that you are probably thinking.  No, games won’t all of a sudden be able to learn your level of skill after a few plays and then tailor the difficulty accordingly.  The artificial intelligence that the Oton, by EnGeniux, is bringing a different kind of artificial intelligence to the classic style games. 

Currently the Oton is only showing off 2D, 16-Bit style games particularly a game that bears a striking resemblance to Super Mario World on the Super Nintendo.  This is not exactly a bad thing, if you are going to emulate a classic, it may as well be one of the better ones, right?  In the Beta Overview video (below) there is a home screen shown off.  Interestingly, this screen shows off other games, Doom 3, Trine, Ninja Fishing, Zombiewood, Angry Birds Star Wars and Dragon Flight.  None of those games are shown in action though.  Those are not the reason for the Oton console.

Secret Maryo Chronicles is shown off in this video and it does carry damn near lawsuit quality graphics compared to the Nintendo classic.  For a show off game, it is better than Altered Beast for the Sega Genesis, although that was more of a “look at our arcade game port” than really giving gamers a high quality game experience.  Judging by the little bit of gameplay footage available, animation is on the lower end but everything is quite colorful for a game that is literally created by the console.

For $399 you get a console with these specs (current as of their website):

Processor
Intel Atom D525 1.80 GHz
System Memory
4GB
Ethernet
Realtek RTL8111D(L) GbE, 10/100/1000Mbps, 1x RJ4
32 GB Solid State Storage
Graphic Controller
NVIDIA next generation ION (ION2) GPU w/ dedicated 512MB DDR3 Memory
Display Resolution
HDMI 1x HDMI, Display up to 2560×1600
Audio
HD Audio 5.1 Channel, Digital Audio HDMI
or SPDIF (Optical) 1x Mic-in, 1x Line-out interface

There are user settings available such as picking the genre, name of the game and what rating you want the game to be (kids, adults, etc).  This is interesting but EnGenuix would have been better off to show more than the one genre (such as showing off what strategy or shooter also).  The magic in the Oton is the creation algorithm which probably uses engines for the various genres and just plunks in the graphics and audio for the desired game.

If you are interested in purchasing a dev kit head over to the EnGenuix website.

Carl Williams

It is time gaming journalism takes its rightful place as proper sources and not fanboys giving free advertising. If you wish to support writers like Carl please use the links below. https://www.paypal.me/WCW https://www.patreon.com/CarlWilliams