What's the Play, Robo-Coach?
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Software transforms brainy games like chess and backgammon. Why not the brawny sport of the pigskin? By Sam Jaffe.
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And now for the show-within-the-show. With apologies to MTV, it's time for "Pimp My Coach," in which Patriots and Eagles players are offered a chance to make over Bill Belichick and Andy Reid, two of the worst-dressed sideline models in the NFL.
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In the past couple of years, robots have started to move around and work independently. Just don't expect them to look, walk and talk like C3PO in the Star Wars movies -- rolling and beeping like R2D2 is more like it.
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Tycho:  Rhythm games aren't my forte, but I have a lot of inbuilt experience with meter which helps me fake it until I can build genuine skill.  And, as rhythm elements have crept into the entire medium, Tycho stock has been in a boom phase.  It's understandable, then, that while I soar and illuminate - and Gabriel sputters, bound to earth - tensions related to my prowess have begun to burn red-hot.  That is, until they cool again.  These things have a way of working themselves out in the fullness of time.          There's an incredible article over at Wired this month (and possibly also in the magazine?) about the Bungie's psychological approach to game design.  What a tremendous challenge it must be to retain authorial control in such a case!  As someone whose output is rarely screened by any agency, the whole thing gave me chills.  The right to fail nobly in a creative endeavor (as we sometimes do) is such a powerful luxury.  No such luxury may be extended to them, upon whose toil an entire platform rests.  God keep me from such a fate.          I keep hearing that Metroid Prime 3: Corruption isn't being promoted very well, but the person saying this always seems to know about it, and then when people share this complaint in the thread those people also seem to be "in the know."  It ships on the twenty-seventh of August, if you weren't aware - but since you almost certainly are, we needn't dwell on it.  What we should be dwelling on are the series of teaser vids that Retro has been trickling out.  Metroid's largely mysterious heroine has always been a huge draw for me, and going into deep detail about the character would actually damage the mystique.  But the universe she operates in need not be vague, which is why these clips are such a rich meal:  there's the Aurora Unit trailer that modernizes ancient Metroid canon in a classy way, and there's a treat at the end of the Valhalla trailer that ties it all together.  They both cover a setting that has gotten darker and more sophisticated, tones we don't typically associate with Nintendo.       We like to get kicks in on the post-Harmonix Guitar Hero, partly based on their "wacky" multiplayer concept - which ordinary gamers will probably love - but also out of a sort of tribal loyalty.  This having been established, they've built an authentically heroic tracklist that really has a lot of beef.  Going from the most recent Rock Band announcement out of Leipzig, both versions appear to have Radiohead's "Creep" and the Beastie Boys' "Sabotage," which is something of a comfort.  After seeing different songs on each game from Metallica and The Rolling Stones, I wasn't sure if they were already traveling down the catalogues securing exclusive weaponry.  I hope that the labels in this case see the old wisdom of arming both sides.
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Who kidnapped Bill Belichick? Who invaded his body? Where is the ogre? Where's the terse, tense, stone-faced, photographer-shovin', handshake-dissin', humor-be-missin' coach of the undefeated New England Patriots?
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The extra point is supposed to be a routine play. When you think about it, a lot of it is muscle memory. Snap, hold and a short kick by a former soccer player.
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Kid Nation premiered last Wednesday, and the show was, for lack of  a better term, fascinating. It was formulaic and, well, just plain bad. But it was also fascinating. In case you missed it, the premise revolves around sending 40 children to a ghost town in New Mexico for 40 days. The ages of the children range from 8-15, with the majority lying somewhere in the 10-12 range. Once there, the kids will have no supervision beyond that of a couple of camera crew and the host, Jonathan Karsh, who comes and goes randomly, but always to help the kids on their path.    There's all kinds of hullabaloo about whether or not it's ethical to take kids and simply drop them off in the middle of nowhere. Though they immediately showed the largest factor in the parents' decision to let these kids on to a TV show that could do a mind job on them for years: A gold star (cute) worth $20,000. A star is handed out by the "town council" at every meeting, so presumably about 5 kids will go home with prize money. My guess is that at least one of them will also win some ridiculous prize at the end of the show...say a million bucks.    I'd like to say that's where the show gets "better", but it doesn't. On this show no one gets voted off, and everyone's going home a winner.
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We meet the nerds with the world's cleanest floors In Silicon Valley, any conference calling itself the "Best of the Best" promises more fluff than stuff. But a recent Churchill Club event which promised the cream of the robotics industry confirmed the sceptics' worst fears. Consumer robotics is a business built mostly on play, hope and tinkering - rather than profit or technical accomplishment - to the point that huge, obvious, deal-breaker truths are never even mentioned.â¦
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Know thy roboenemy Robo Developer Robots. Sure, they're evil, but are they a threat to us yet?â¦
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How to sell a robot for pleasure and profit Robo Developer Right now, commercial robot builders are planning to invade our homes with their mechanical creations.â¦
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âI don't like it when people say, âl really dug your message, man.â Or: âl really dug your play, man. I cried.â You know? I like it when people come up to me the next day, or a week later, and they say: âI saw your play. What happened?ââ Jeff Slater (Bill Murray), âTootsieâ [...].
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Tycho: Keek directed me to a radical (and potentially even "badical") article on BioShock over at Gamers Wif Jobs. I've been wondering about the recent PR shift the game has gone through, because I don't just keep hearing that it is a "shooter first," but I keep hearing specifically that it is a "kick-ass shooter," even though it's a game where you learn about Objectivism underwater while helping jealous composers get revenge. I've never doubted that the game will be great, by whatever road it reaches that greatness. The recent WWE slant just had me curious about whether I'll be able to perform a suplex in-game. You may not think that is important, but it is totally important.(CW)TB
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Blog: RoboCup's use of Wikipedia for results leave some wondering who the winners are
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Our three-part series on cheap, plastic robots concludes with the Robotikits Jungle Robot, a stump of voice-activated plastic and metal that resembles an encephalitic R2-D2. Commentary by Lore SjÃ¶berg.
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A lot of insightful responses, some of which we'll highlight here and in the days ahead, as we continue to try to keep an open mind on Bill Belichick the man. Belichick the coach? Not much to debate. As many readers said, he has seemingly acquired savant-like wisdom on questions like: How do you [...].
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RoboForm software is a powerful password creation and protection tool that allows automated log-ins and electronic form completion. The product also comes as a handy USB drive that leaves nothing behind on your computer.
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Plus, Oracle's still in hot pursuit, and put me in, Coach!