[Pxl_Buzzard]

I don't know if you've played Shadow of Mordor, but even as an occasional game developer like yourself I was able to forget about the technology running the Nemesis System at times and treat the Orc Chiefs as though they had intelligence and history. You can easily imagine how that system works when you take a step back, but if something even at that stage can trick us I have high hopes for the next few years of AI / NPC programming in the next few years.

On a related topic, a lot of money has gone into graphics programming in the last few years as studios developed their own engines in anticipation of the now-current generation of consoles. I am hopeful that with virtual reality on the horizon we'll see improvements in AI and Physics, among other tech necessary to create a convincing virtual world.