MachineMachine /stream - tagged with games https://machinemachine.net/stream/feed en-us http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss LifePress therourke@gmail.com <![CDATA[Man beats machine at Go in human victory over AI | Ars Technica]]> https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2023/02/man-beats-machine-at-go-in-human-victory-over-ai/

A human player has comprehensively defeated a top-ranked AI system at the board game Go, in a surprise reversal of the 2016 computer victory that was seen as a milestone in the rise of artificial intelligence.

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Tue, 18 Apr 2023 04:52:29 -0700 https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2023/02/man-beats-machine-at-go-in-human-victory-over-ai/
<![CDATA[Man beats machine at Go in human victory over AI | Ars Technica]]> https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2023/02/man-beats-machine-at-go-in-human-victory-over-ai/

A human player has comprehensively defeated a top-ranked AI system at the board game Go, in a surprise reversal of the 2016 computer victory that was seen as a milestone in the rise of artificial intelligence.

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Tue, 18 Apr 2023 00:52:29 -0700 https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2023/02/man-beats-machine-at-go-in-human-victory-over-ai/
<![CDATA[Lord Dunsany's chess variant is grim and kind of brilliant | Eurogamer.net]]> https://www.eurogamer.net/lord-dunsanys-chess-variant-is-grim-and-kind-of-brilliant

I first read about Lord Dunsany - I am happy to report his full name was Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett - in a collection of Arthur C. Clarke's non-fiction.

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Sat, 23 Jul 2022 03:51:35 -0700 https://www.eurogamer.net/lord-dunsanys-chess-variant-is-grim-and-kind-of-brilliant
<![CDATA[Lord Dunsany's chess variant is grim and kind of brilliant | Eurogamer.net]]> https://www.eurogamer.net/lord-dunsanys-chess-variant-is-grim-and-kind-of-brilliant

I first read about Lord Dunsany - I am happy to report his full name was Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett - in a collection of Arthur C. Clarke's non-fiction.

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Fri, 22 Jul 2022 23:51:35 -0700 https://www.eurogamer.net/lord-dunsanys-chess-variant-is-grim-and-kind-of-brilliant
<![CDATA[What is a game? | GamesIndustry.biz]]> https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-05-14-what-is-a-game

What is a game? It's a debate that rears its bemusing head every now and then as developers push the boundaries of the medium, and this month it has been brought back to the fore by a group arguably less qualified to give a concrete definition: lawyers.

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Mon, 17 May 2021 23:55:14 -0700 https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-05-14-what-is-a-game
<![CDATA[Games blamed for moral decline and addiction throughout history]]> http://theconversation.com/games-blamed-for-moral-decline-and-addiction-throughout-history-123900

Video games are often blamed for unemployment, violence in society and addiction – including by partisan politicians raising moral concerns. Blaming video games for social or moral decline might feel like something new.

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Mon, 14 Oct 2019 09:31:10 -0700 http://theconversation.com/games-blamed-for-moral-decline-and-addiction-throughout-history-123900
<![CDATA[This Professor Has Documented 2,000 Soda Machines in Video Games - Waypoint]]> https://waypoint.vice.com/en_us/article/ywq9pm/soda-machines-videogames

In 2016, Marshall University professor Jason Morrissette was playing Batman: Arkham Knight. While sneaking around the shadows, Morrissette stumbled upon a soda machine. Like many games, Akrham Knight doesn’t feature any real-life soda products; that’d cost money.

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Tue, 13 Mar 2018 08:02:45 -0700 https://waypoint.vice.com/en_us/article/ywq9pm/soda-machines-videogames
<![CDATA[Video Games Are Better Without Stories - The Atlantic]]> https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2017/04/video-games-stories/524148/

Film, television, and literature all tell them better. So why are games still obsessed with narrative? A longstanding dream: Video games will evolve into interactive stories, like the ones that play out fictionally on the Star Trek Holodeck.

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Tue, 25 Apr 2017 08:01:28 -0700 https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2017/04/video-games-stories/524148/
<![CDATA[Humans Mourn Loss After Google Is Unmasked as China’s Go Master - WSJ]]> http://www.wsj.com/articles/ai-program-vanquishes-human-players-of-go-in-china-1483601561

BEIJING—A mysterious character named “Master” has swept through China, defeating many of the world’s top players in the ancient strategy game of Go. Master played with inhuman speed, barely pausing to think.

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Fri, 13 Jan 2017 05:50:51 -0800 http://www.wsj.com/articles/ai-program-vanquishes-human-players-of-go-in-china-1483601561
<![CDATA[A new dating sim highlights the pickup artist's ugly game of seduction - Kill Screen]]> https://killscreen.com/articles/woman-fighting-pickup-artists-ugly-game-seduction/

The dating sim has been experiencing something of a reexamining of late, finding itself in the broader public eye as iterations upon its core tenants are warped, distorted, and pushed past their typical use cases.

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Thu, 27 Oct 2016 12:48:10 -0700 https://killscreen.com/articles/woman-fighting-pickup-artists-ugly-game-seduction/
<![CDATA[The Minecraft Generation - NYTimes.com]]> http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/04/17/magazine/the-minecraft-generation.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=second-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=4&referer=

Jordan wanted to build an unpredictable trap. An 11-year-old in dark horn-­rimmed glasses, Jordan is a devotee of Minecraft, the computer game in which you make things out of virtual blocks, from dizzying towers to entire cities.

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Sun, 17 Apr 2016 06:02:38 -0700 http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/04/17/magazine/the-minecraft-generation.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=second-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=4&referer=
<![CDATA[The Sadness and Beauty of Watching Google’s AI Play Go | WIRED]]> http://www.wired.com/2016/03/sadness-beauty-watching-googles-ai-play-go/

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA — At first, Fan Hui thought the move was rather odd. But then he saw its beauty. “It’s not a human move. I’ve never seen a human play this move,” he says. “So beautiful.” It’s a word he keeps repeating. Beautiful. Beautiful. Beautiful.

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Fri, 11 Mar 2016 16:09:56 -0800 http://www.wired.com/2016/03/sadness-beauty-watching-googles-ai-play-go/
<![CDATA[What digital trash dumped in games tells us about the players | New Scientist]]> https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn28505-what-digital-trash-dumped-in-games-tells-us-about-the-players/

A strawberry Christmas cake, sexy pants, a pool table, three red jet planes, a hippy bandana, a dog sled, a jetpack, a pair of Adidas trainers, a Tudor throne, a bullet stopped in mid-flight, an iced frappé, an entire shopping mall.

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Sat, 21 Nov 2015 06:16:48 -0800 https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn28505-what-digital-trash-dumped-in-games-tells-us-about-the-players/
<![CDATA[Facebook Aims Its AI at the Game No Computer Can Crack | WIRED]]> http://www.wired.com/2015/11/facebook-is-aiming-its-ai-at-go-the-game-no-computer-can-crack/

Skip Article Header. Skip to: Start of Article. In the mid-’90s, a computer program called Chinook beat the world’s top player at the game of checkers. Three years later, to much fanfare, IBM’s Deep Blue supercomputer won its chess match against reigning world champion Gary Kasparov.

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Sat, 07 Nov 2015 09:06:38 -0800 http://www.wired.com/2015/11/facebook-is-aiming-its-ai-at-go-the-game-no-computer-can-crack/
<![CDATA[GTA V - Getting badly hurt in first person]]> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lMOy-MJsUM&feature=youtube_gdata

Perhaps the most unexpected new addition to GTA V on the new-gen systems, and PC whenever that happens, is first person view, which brings with it some interesting new ways to waste time, like throwing yourself in front of traffic, or off the sides of mountains...

All of these were done using the invincibility cheat, so as to not die immediately after jumping. I hope you enjoy!

  • Fyshokid
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Fri, 29 May 2015 07:16:24 -0700 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lMOy-MJsUM&feature=youtube_gdata
<![CDATA[It took 2 years to build this functioning word processor in Minecraft]]> http://www.dailydot.com/geek/word-processor-built-in-minecraft/?fb=dd

If it exists in the real world, you can be someone has figured out a way to build it in Minecraft. A Minecraft builder has created a word processor, complete with keyboard and monitor, entirely in the game. And it isn't just for show.

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Fri, 09 Jan 2015 02:46:05 -0800 http://www.dailydot.com/geek/word-processor-built-in-minecraft/?fb=dd
<![CDATA[What Power Do Images Have in Our Society?]]> http://www.popmatters.com/review/185833-biopolitical-screens-image-power-and-the-neoliberal-brain-by-pasi-va

While visiting a sci-fi and comics convention in Toronto recently, I found myself drawn inexorably toward the sound of gunfire, explosions, and grunts of agony and triumph.

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Sat, 22 Nov 2014 05:23:58 -0800 http://www.popmatters.com/review/185833-biopolitical-screens-image-power-and-the-neoliberal-brain-by-pasi-va
<![CDATA[One Way To Make Some YouTube Videos Way Creepier]]> http://kotaku.com/one-way-to-make-some-youtube-videos-way-creepier-1640856627/all

The code that puts a first-person-shooter avatar and reticule on top of random uploaded videos doesn't appear to be publicly available. That's probably a good thing because it makes everything much more stomach-churning.

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Tue, 07 Oct 2014 01:53:19 -0700 http://kotaku.com/one-way-to-make-some-youtube-videos-way-creepier-1640856627/all
<![CDATA[Choose Your Own Formalism]]> http://www.thewhitereview.org/features/choose-your-own-formalism/

In 2007 game designer and Second Life CEO Rod Humble wrote a video game called The Marriage[1]. The player’s goal in The Marriage is to prevent two squares from shrinking or fading out while circles drift around them

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Sat, 12 Jul 2014 02:38:22 -0700 http://www.thewhitereview.org/features/choose-your-own-formalism/
<![CDATA[Chessmate]]> http://latitude.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/05/the-case-for-computers-at-top-chess-tournaments/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=1&

LONDON — It was Game 8 of the World Chess Championship, and the four-time winner and defending champion, 42-year-old Viswanathan Anand of India, playing white, was a game down to the Israeli Boris Gelfand, 43. Gelfand, perhaps buoyed by his success in Game 7, had chosen an unexpectedly sharp line against Anand, who is renowned for his ability to calculate quickly on the board.

The screen of Deep Junior, the computer that the chess champion Gary Kasparov faced in 2003. Chip East/Reuters The screen of Deep Junior, the computer that the chess champion Gary Kasparov faced in 2003. Commenting live, the Hungarian grandmaster Peter Leko, a challenger for the world title in 2005, preferred Gelfand’s position. But just as he was expressing surprise at Anand’s strategy, Anand’s 17th move brought the game to a sudden close. Anand had deceived both his challenger and one of the strongest players in the world.

But many lesser players watching the game live with specialized computer chess engines weren’t flummoxed by Anand’s play; programs like Houdini had flagged Anand’s trap a few moves earlier. Computers have so flattened the game of chess that even novices like me can make some sense of the moves being played at the highest level.

Grandmasters of comparable skill now come to championship games with computer-generated analysis of their opponents’ opening lines and likely moves. Home preparation has always been important, but computers have made it much more so and have thereby changed the nature of the game. Now risky plays are almost inevitably punished because they’ve been anticipated, making Anand’s play in Game 8 of the recent championship a rare exception.

Computers don’t play chess perfectly — the game is far too complicated for that — but they play in a way that’s more exciting and more decisive. They also play better than humans. Which is why since chess is no longer about just two humans facing each other anyway — thanks to pre-game computer-assisted preparation — it makes sense to allow the use of computers during competitive games. (Of course, for the sake of fairness, the two players would have equal access to the same computer engine.) This idea, known as “advanced chess,” has been endorsed by the former chess champion Gary Kasparov.

So far, experiments with advanced chess suggest that the powers of man and machine combined don’t just make for a stronger game than a man’s alone; they also seem to make for a stronger game than a machine’s alone. Allowing chess players the assistance of the best computer chess engine available during top tournaments would ensure that the contests really do showcase the very best chess being played on earth.

It would also teach us important things about the world.

Take, for example, a game that’s winding down with this particular configuration: rook and a bishop versus two knights. This situation came up in a world championship qualifying game in 2007, and the match concluded in a draw. But computer analysis showed that the game was really a forced win for black in 208 moves. This revealed not just a strategic truth about chess, but also a phenomenological truth, a truth about reality, that would otherwise have remained inaccessible.

Computers have made possible a famous proof in mathematics — the four-color theorem — but most mathematicians continue to hope the proof can be found without the assistance of computers. With chess, though, some truths are simply unknowable without a computer. As computers get better at chess, letting the best chess players work with them more would give us a better understanding of the game, our own limits and the world.

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Thu, 01 May 2014 13:40:48 -0700 http://latitude.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/05/the-case-for-computers-at-top-chess-tournaments/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=1&