Paul Raven @ 19-05-2008
I expect the majority of Futurismic readers don’t really need an excuse to play computer games, but sometimes its nice to know that what looks like a waste of time is actually doing something productive - in this case, helping to develop artificial intelligence software. [via Roland Piquepaille] [image by Cayusa]
Computer scientist Luis von Ahn of Carnegie Mellon University (who was involved in the development of CAPTCHA tests, fact-fans!) has a website full of free-to-play GWAPs - “games with a purpose”. The purposes include building databases of image descriptions and collecting factual knowledge to improve image web searches and provide brain-food for artificial intelligences, respectively. The former one might sound familiar - Google licensed it as Google Image Labeler last year.
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Tomas Martin @ 12-03-2008
Sins of A Solar Empire by small independent game company Stardock (and their developers Ironclad) is the biggest selling pc game of 2008 so far, despite a tiny budget and much less coverage by the gaming press. Stardock owner Brad Wardell posted an excellent analysis of why their games are having success. (last year’s Galactic Civilisations II was another underground hit.)
He talks a lot about the bad policies taken by much of the PC game industry. For example, why bother targeting the Chinese market when piracy is so rife many people won’t purchase your game? His main point, and it’s a very good one, is that very few people upgrade their computer often so targeting the graphics of your game to only work for the ‘hardcore’ pc gamers is limiting your market. Rather than trying to break the latest processor if you just make a game that’s fun and works on most computers people will play it.
Sins is a fun game that combines the 4X ideas of ‘eXplore, eXpand, eXploit and eXterminate’ of games like Civilisation with Real Time Strategy elements of space games like Homeworld. I’ve enjoyed myself whenever I’ve played it but what’s even more impressive is the attitude of the people behind it - updates are frequent, there’s no DRM, the developers comment frequently on the game’s forum and they listen to requests from players about bugs and new features. In an industry full of high budget Hollywood games, it’s comforting to see that small companies can be a big success if they just concentrate on pleasing their audience.
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Stephen Years @ 30-11-2007
Via Ars Technica:
As gaming enters the mainstream and video game consoles become as ubiquitous in entertainment centers as DVD players, the industry has become an important economic driver of the United States economy. The economic effects of the video game business economically haven’t faced much serious study to date, but the Electronic Software Association took the task upon themselves with a new report. Titled Video Games in the 21st Century: Economic Contributions of the U.S. Entertainment Software Industry, it found that the US video game industry grew a whopping 17 percent from 2003 to 2006, far outpacing the 4 percent general growth of the US economy. Retail sales totaled $7.0 billion in 2005, and sales of games for both PCs and consoles grow from 74.1 million units in 1996 to over 250 million units last year.
Link
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Brian Wanamaker @ 18-11-2007
Geek wageslave-turned-geek minstrel, Jonathan Coulton created a song for game developer Valve (recently covered at BoingBoing), which is used in The Best Game Ending Ever for their highly original game, Portal. If an internet-based, Creative Commons-friendly singer songwriter just isn’t futurismic enough for you, how about hearing said song as covered by a Japanese virtual idol in nearly unintelligible, katakana-accented English?
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Paul Raven @ 09-11-2007
Games company Electronic Arts have donated Will Wright’s classic game SimCity to the One-Laptop-Per-Child project. Which is excellent news - not just because it adds to the educational arsenal of the machines but because SimCity is a great game that still holds up against current titles. [Image by Theogeo]
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Paul Raven @ 18-10-2007
The British secret service has been suffering from a paucity of computer-savvy employees, and so they’ve turned their recruitment radar in a different direction - they’re advertising inside MMO computer games. But budding Bonds with a Halo jones should take note - they’re looking for signals and decryption types to work at GCHQ, so you won’t be getting your Walther PPK any time soon.
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Tomas Martin @ 17-10-2007
Ever since finding a superb Spore video by Will Wright on TED.com, I’ve been keeping an eye on the website for new videos which are released on a regular basis. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design and is an annual conference in which respected thinkers from all aspects of the world come to give fascinating speeches about their pet subjects. Only recently has the website started giving access to these speeches to anyone who didn’t attend the conference.
As well as Will Wright’s speech (and if you haven’t watched at least one presentation about the forthcoming groundbreaking game, you should), there’s a recent video by bioengineer Hod Lipson about his work on small robots which can learn and self-replicate. The website and video player is cleverly designed with an ingenious overlay on the bottom of the video telling you about the subsections of the talk, how long they go on for and what the subtopics are. Other enjoyable talks include speakers like Al Gore on global warming, Carolyn Porco on flying to Saturn with Cassini, James Kunstler’s engaging criticism of the tragedy of suburbia and Aubrey de Grey’s controversial belief that we can defeat ageing. That’s barely scratching the surface - I could spend weeks watching nothing but TED talks and not get bored. Have a browse and find the ones that engage you.
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Stephen Years @ 02-10-2007
Having stayed up way too late for the past week playing Halo 3, I am in total agreement with the author of this article when he states:
You haven’t lived until you’ve attacked an enemy’s fortified position with a Scorpion tank providing covering fire while three of your teammates assault the base on foot. The co-op play makes the campaign feel alive, and you can do things working together that you wouldn’t dream of alone. While playing the campaign by yourself can feel clunky and artificial, playing with other skilled players is like living the best buddy-action movie you’ve ever seen. Â
Playing through the first two Halos on co-op was fun, but nothing matches playing four-player co-op on Xbox Live, with each player having a full screen, voice chat, and no lag. This is the best possible way to play the game, and it is incredibly addicting.
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Brian Wanamaker @ 11-08-2007
As a gamer, I hate cheaters. As a game developer, I can’t stand piracy. But as a consumer who believes if you can’t open it and hack it you don’t really own it, my personal reservations on the recent US government’s ICE sweep of Mod-Chip installers are many and varied. A slew of interesting and opinionated links on the topic are available at Slashdot.
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Brian Wanamaker @ 31-07-2007
The vibration function in the Nintendo 64’s Rumble Pak can be hacked into an improvised tattoo gun. Someone let MAKE Blog know…
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