EA Announces 'Tank Wars' Student AI Competition

Game publisher and developer Electronic Arts has launched ‘Tank Wars’, a one-of-a-kind competition that challenges Computer Science students to compete for the title of ‘Best of Breed’ and take home a new gaming computer complete with an EA line-up of PC titles. The ‘Tank Wars’ competition invites computer science students to demonstrate their skill by writing an Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) program that pits one military tank against another in a battle for supremacy. EA will provide the software code free of charge to participating students and all entrants will retain ownership of their intellectual property. EA has simplified the controls, graphics, menus and overall development environment to allow students to pour 100% of their brain power into exploring new approaches that demonstrate their mastery of A.I. The concept is simple: in a 100m x 100m world, two tanks are locked in an arena where only one will survive. The challenge is to program the tank which will exit victorious. The finalists will present their completed A.I. designs to the EA judging panel and the winning entries will be chosen based on technical ability, originality and creative merit. John Buchanan, University Research Liaison Dude at EA commented: "Over the next five to 10 years, A.I. is going to differentiate great games from the rest. With this competition, we hope to find people with a passion for A.I and understanding of the magic that makes a game truly fun to play." The by-invitation-only competition is open to the following schools: Carnegie Mellon University, Florida Technical Institute, University of Central Florida, University of Florida, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, University of Southern California, Michigan State University and Stanford University. EA is accepting entries from US citizens and residents who are currently enrolled in a recognized Computer Science program at the designated universities. Submissions will be accepted from January 15, 2006 – January 31, 2006, and prize winners will be revealed on March 15, 2006 - full rules are available via an official information form.