Tuesday, 17 January 2017

Training self-driving cars on the streets of Los Santos with GTA V just got easier

BRITAIN - ENTERTAINMENT - COMPUTING - GTA5 The DeepDrive project has made it possible to use Grand Theft Auto to train self-driving cars for some time now. But today, the work is being integrated and open-sourced with OpenAI’s Universe. The collaboration will cut the once day-long setup time down to just 20 minutes. Training AI frameworks on synthetic data is all the rage these days. Large tech companies and startups alike… Read More

Nintendo Switch pre-orders will open in limited quantity on Friday in New York

switch Looks like Friday’s hands-on event isn’t the only big bit of Nintendo Switch business going down in New York City this Friday. The gaming giant’s New York store Twitter account just dropped the news that the eagerly anticipated (though barely seen) convertible console will open for pre-orders at the company’s storefront at 9AM that same day. A limited quantity of… Read More

Tuesday, 10 January 2017

Elon Musk plays Overwatch, thinks storytelling is neglected in modern games

tracer-blizzard Elon Musk spoke to Y Combinator’s Sam Altman in a sit-down interview last year where he discussed, among other things, his apprehensions about the possible implications of developing advanced AI. But when the interview was over and the camera was still rolling, Altman asked Musk for recommendations about good video games to play. Musk’s immediate response was… Read More

Monday, 9 January 2017

DeepMind’s updated AlphaGo has been secretly savaging pro players online

/ AFP / Ed Jones        (Photo credit should read ED JONES/AFP/Getty Images) Pokémon GO might have been the most talked about “Go” game of 2016, but the world of AI remains fixated on another Go — AlphaGo. Last spring, Go-playing AI AlphaGo made headlines when it defeated world champion Lee Sedol. Now AlphaGo is in the news for another reason. DeepMind’s freak of computing has been anonymously vanquishing the world’s top Go players… Read More

I rocked out in Rock Band VR at CES and I liked it

rock-band-vr VR is a tricky medium to do well, but Harmonix’s upcoming Rock Band VR might just be the perfect fit. The game has always been about making players feel like they’re real rock stars, living in an alternate reality where they chased their dream and actually did master the guitar and make it big. Virtual reality finally gives Rock Band players the chance to feel real stage presence,… Read More

Hackers successfully add games to the NES Classic Edition

battletoads The greatest hope of retro gamers and the greatest fear of Nintendo have been met simultaneously: The immensely popular NES Classic Edition has been hacked and its 30-game library augmented with new and even homebrewed titles. Read More

CyberPowerPC intros VR-ready PC for $499, or $1,100 with Oculus Rift

cyberpower-gamer-ultra-vr CyberPowerPC has introduced a new entry-level virtual reality-ready pre-built PC with AMD’s Radeon RX 470 on board for $499 at Best Buy and Amazon. That’s a new low for an off-the-shelf VR-capable configuration, and it’s also available as a bundle with Oculus Rift for $1,099.98 — or exactly what you’d pay if you purchased the two separately. Even if there’s… Read More