If anyone is interested in a educational/software development challenge
Tactical Neuronics (known for A.I. Wars games) has a free game available
called Fortress of Flags. It has a version called A.I. Sandbox which uses
XML to interface with a game controller harness that you create yourself.
The object is to develop a challenging A.I. to compete with a human player.
The game is similar to Stratego. A harness library will allow you to share
your work with other developers and for casual players interested in playing
against your A.I.'s. This is completely free to both developers and players.
You are free to develop the harness in any language you wish and educators
are encouraged to consider it as a learning tool. As I said before, it is
completely free to anyone interested!
http://www.tacticalneuronics.com/content/FoFAIS.asp