Computer Beats Human at ‘Go’ for the First Time
Computers can now add the game of Go to the list of board games they've mastered and beaten a human player at.
AlphaGo, a program created by Google's London-based AI company, DeepMind, beat Fan Hui, the European Go champion, in five back-to-back matches. As reported by Nature, it has since gone on to win 99.8% of its matches against other programs, and has a match against South Korean professional Lee Sedol scheduled for March.
To master Go, DeepMind's A.I. program studied 30 million positions from expert level games, then played against itself across 50 computers. It got better with each game it played, putting in on par with other Go programs, but DeepMind then gave it the ability to examine and interpret Go boards in order to pick its next move.
Legends of Tomorrow to Feature DKR-Inspired Green Arrow
Stephen Amell will appear on DC's Legends of Tomorrow as a much older and grizzled Oliver Queen.
Speaking to EW, executive producer Marc Guggenheim revealed Amell will appear in the season's sixth episode, which jumps forward to 2046. At this point Queen has a goatee and is missing his left arm, sporting a look akin to Arrow's appearance in Dark Knight Returns.
Here's a look at Oliver Queen from Dark Knight Returns, courtesy of DC Entertainment:
VR Crucial to the Future of Star Wars Stories
Star Wars is moving into virtual reality.
Per a special report from SlashFilm, Lucasfilm and Disney are currently exploring stories - er, cinematic experiences - that connect with the upcoming films and will be helmed by "big-name filmmakers and screenwriters". According to the Lucasfilm Story Group's Diana Williams, the filmmakers involved in the upcoming batch of Star Wars movies will be involved in these side projects, and will work with "creatives from the world of video games that have more experience in interactive storytelling".
The companies aren't just venturing into traditional virtual reality, either - they're currently exploring 'holo cinema', an augmented reality experience. This tech will also be used in theme parks, like the upcoming Star Wars Land.
Awesome Sideshow Skeletor Statue Up for Pre-Order
Sideshow Collectibles has opened pre-orders for its incredibly detailed Skeletor Statue.
The Masters of the Universe villain stands atop a coiled snake, an homage to Skeletor’s home base Snake Mountain, clutching his Havoc Staff. The statue measures in at 21.5 inches tall from its base to the top of the staff.
In addition, Skeletor comes with a removable cloth cape and, if you prefer a more classic look than the pale skull with eyes that burn like embers, you can swap the head with a throwback skull modeled after the cartoon.
The Skeletor Statue can be pre-ordered on Sideshow’s website. It retails for $450 USD but you can opt to purchase on a payment plan. The site shows an expected ship date between November 2016 and January 2017.
New Barbie Line Includes Game Developer Barbie
Mattel is diversifying the Barbie brand, including the addition of a game developer doll.
Besides an array of new skin tones, eye colors, as well as hair shades and styles "the evolution of Barbie" will include a new career styles for the iconic doll. These include President, Vice President, Fashionistas, Spy Squad, and what Mattel's site lists as "Game Developer Career of the Year." Based on the image provided the package will include a laptop, headset, and glasses as accessories.
New Supernova is Largest on Record
A newly-discovered supernova is now a record-holder.
AsianScientist reports the supernova is classified as a "super-luminous supernova." It's 570 billion times the luminosity of the sun, and 20 times brighter than our entire Milky Way galaxy.
All that makes it twice as powerful as the previous record-holder. It's also 3.8 billion light years away, making it one of the closest supernovas to Earth.
It was discovered at an All Sky Automated Survey for SuperNovae (ASASSN), and published in the journal Science. It's called ASASSN-15lh, after the science center.
Insomniac’s Edge of Nowhere Wants to Make You Uncomfortable
Insomniac Games is getting into the VR fray with its upcoming Oculus Rift title Edge of Nowhere. Inspired by H.P. Lovecraft's stories, specifically At the Mountains of Madness, the third-person action-adventure game follows a rescue mission in Antarctica that quickly becomes more than it seems.
During a recent visit to Insomniac's headquarters in Burbank, Calif., founder Ted Price opened up about what the developer is looking to bring to the VR experience with Edge of Nowhere.
"The first thing that we did was we presented a third-person action game in VR that takes place in another isolated area. We chose Antarctica because we were inspired by Lovecraftian lore," he said. "But we wanted to present something that was a VR adventure, I guess, where you're actually out exploring the wastes of Antarctica, and then discovering something very strange, very unexpected, and then having to deal with it with a limited set of tools in the environment."
Update: Peter Molyneux’s Twitter Was Apparently Hacked
UPDATE: It appears Peter Molyneux isn't retiring after all, but instead had his Twitter account hacked, in spite of what we reported when the tweets first went live.
After a series of tweets claiming he was retiring from the game industry and pulling Godus from the Steam store, the apparently-real Peter Molyneux followed up by saying his account had been hacked.
Molyneux wrote the give-away was the previous 3 tweets were bereft of spelling errors. The tweets are, at this time, still on Molyneux's timeline.
Those tweets essentially said Godus was being pulled down, Molyneux was retiring, and his biggest regret was Fable 3. We reported those tweets as though they had been made by the actual Peter Molyneux, which now appears not to be the case.
Apple Issues Recall for International AC Wall Adapters Due to Risk of Electrical Shock
Apple has issued a voluntary recall for some of its AC adapters made for international wall sockets, as they can break and cause an electrical shock if touch.
Adapters shipped with Macs or certain iOS devices between 2003 and 2015 for use in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Continental Europe, New Zealand and South Korea are affected by the recall, as well as those included in the Apple World Travel Adapter Kit.
The Massive Armies of Ashes of the Singularity
If you're an RTS veteran, you've heard the promise Ashes of the Singularity makes - that you can command hundreds, or even thousands of unit - and you've heard it enough times to know that it often winds up being untrue, or simply unfun. I haven't actually played it yet to know whether it will actually be a good time, but I can say that thanks to a handful of smart design ideas, it looks like it has a real chance at delivering on the promise of making practical use of massive armadas.
Get a detailed breakdown of Ashes of the Singularity in the developer commentary above!
The Army tool is the primary reason for this. From a nicely zoomed out perspective, hundreds of units can be lassoed together and then thrown into an army in much the same way you'd ordinarily assign a control group in any other RTS. The difference is that Armies essentially behave like one unit, handling all necessary micromanagement on its own. Beam-equipped anti-armor units identify the nearest, lowest hit-point armored enemies and focus them down, more lightly armed units avoid targeting foes their weapons are ineffective against when there's a better target available, and support units move to repair damaged allies anywhere in the army automatically, even if they're outside their normal radius for doing so.