Borderlands 2 Smarter AI Means Fewer AI?

You may have spotted the interview from Gametrailers with Gearbox Software's Jasper Forman, the lead AI programmer and designer, who talked briefly about the very smartened up AI in Borderlands 2. The real question is, does bigger, badder, smarter AI equate to fewer on-screen AI?

With Borderlands 2 set for release this September and the game going through certification at the moment, all the game design intricacies are done and complete. However, Gearbox is still promoting the game and the new interview makes the enemy AI seem like a much more challenging force this time around, but it does beg a few questions. Check it out below.

Now that's cool that the baddies will be smarter than the bunch of rag-tag punks, thugs, bandits and bangers from the first Borderlands, but wasn't the game already pushing the RAM-limits for the Xbox 360 and PS3 as it were? More vehicles, more weapons, better animations, more baddie variations and improved AI...hmm, if the PS3 and Xbox 360 are still using 512MB of RAM where is this extra RAM coming from for enhanced enemy AI? Or perhaps...there are fewer baddies on-screen?

According to Jotstiq, Forman also admits that the game has about 200 through 300 different enemy variations and there will be about 20 total enemy types in the game. However, there's one thing that all the interviews, videos and previews seem to repeat-show: there aren't a lot of bad guys on the screen despite being a lot of bad guy variations.

This scary observation seems to rear its head in just about every video preview out there, even in the seven minute preview from Gamespot and the Destructoid hands-on sessions.

Could it be that the tech-ceiling for home consoles has hit its limit and we're now seeing quality versus quantity when it comes to on-screen AI? I guess there's only one way to find out and that's when September 18th rolls around and the game launches for home consoles and PC. You can learn more about Borderlands 2 by paying a visit to the Official Website.