cooperation
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Robots could soon cooperate on surveillance
Computers are getting better at spotting objects, but they tend to work in isolation. What good would a security robot be if it couldn't share info about an intruder with other machines? Cornell scientists might have an answer. They're designing a system that would let robots and other autonomous devices cooperate with each other on identifying and tracking objects. Each bot would send its imagery to a central unit that could talk to both other camera systems and the internet to help identify objects. The group would combine and compare images to follow objects and collect more information about them, getting more data than they would if they did all the work by themselves.
Storyboard: Brother from the same mother
An awful lot of characters seem to be only-children. In some countries this is pretty normal, but it's certainly not normal where I'm living. Pretty much all of my friends and contemporaries have at least one sibling. So it seems a bit odd that your roleplaying characters don't have any fellow family members to talk to. The realistic reason, of course, is that most of us don't spend a whole lot of time thinking about those siblings. And in some cases it's entirely reasonable to say that your character might not know her several half-siblings. But in the interests of verisimilitude, it's worth thinking about this, even if you never want siblings to become a major focus of roleplaying. You can come at this topic from two angles. You can talk about how to handle siblings, or you can talk about the impact of siblings. For this column, I'm going to focus on the former. What are the options for including your character's siblings?
The Summoner's Guidebook: LoL melts special snowflakes
Never let it be said that I don't listen to feedback. Recently, one of you readers suggested that I write about following the metagame, and I thought, "Hey, why not?" This was largely spawned by the Penny Arcade comic suggesting that somehow, a player should pick the champion he wants without regard for what his team needs. Who actually believes that this is a good thing to do? League of Legends is a team game. Characters in LoL are designed with strengths and weaknesses. It is not only important but natural to pick characters that fit together. The natural evolution of this thought process is the metagame: a series of standard roles that characters can fill on a team. I've talked about meta before, and you guys seem to have differing opinions than I do. "Meta is for the sheep," you say. I don't think that picking the right man for the job makes you a sheep. I think of it more like running with the pack rather than being a lone wolf.
AT&T and T-Mobile temporarily share networks in New York City and New Jersey, shoulder the post-hurricane load
Communication has been all too spotty across much of New York City and New Jersey since Hurricane Sandy struck the region, and those who can get through on their cellphones have found themselves on particularly crowded networks. AT&T and T-Mobile are providing some much-needed, if temporary, relief: the two have struck a deal to share their GSM and 3G networks in the area with no roaming fees or plan changes while the networks come back, with the best-functioning network taking precedence in any given connection. A return to the normal state of affairs hasn't been fixed in stone and will likely depend on many, many factors, but it's a much appreciated gesture for residents who might not have a choice to relocate for a vital phone call.
Molyneux's follow-up to Curiosity is 'Cooperation'
Curiosity, the first project from Peter Molyneux's neux company, 22 Cans, isn't even out the door yet and already the fabled designer is talking up the studio's second project. The next game from 22 Cans is currently called Cooperation, Molyneux told Polygon. Curiosity will see iPhone gamers slowly working to discover the secret at the heart of a mysterious cube. Meanwhile, Molyneux said that Cooperation will be "very, very different."Proving that he has not yet lost his great gift for hyperbole, Molyneux went on to say, "If you think of [Curiosity] being the biggest mystery posted to the digital world, Cooperation is the biggest cooperative effort the world has ever known." The game (seemingly despite its title) will be competitive and may have something to do with tug of war. Presumably, it will also be the 8th Wonder of the World.
Intel teaches Haswell the core values of teamwork, optimism
Sure you can make wild, individualistic boasts about having a 22nm fabrication process and three different GPUs, but that stuff counts for nothing without the magic of cooperation. The Amish know that and so does Intel, which is why its forthcoming Haswell cores will support Transactional Synchronization Extensions (TSX) -- a new instruction set designed to allow cores to work together more closely without hammering each others' fingers. TSX takes greater responsibility for the division of labor between cores at the hardware level, relieving the software programmer of some of this burdensome duty and hopefully allowing for finer-grained threading as a result. The system also relies on inherent optimism, with each core assuming that the others have handled their part of the work successfully. Inevitably, there'll be occasions when this happy belief gets splintered and a bad job has to be started again from scratch, but on average things should get done quicker and leave more energy for the barn dance.
Quadrocopters juggle balls cooperatively, mesmerize with their lethal accuracy (video)
You've seen one quadrocopter juggle a ball autonomously while gliding through the air, but how's about a pair of them working cooperatively? Yeah, we've got your attention now. The Zurich-based lab that brought us the piano-playing and ball-bouncing quadrocopter is back with a simply breathtaking display of robotic dexterity and teamwork. Like all mad scientists, they call their Flying Machine Arena research "an experiment," though we see it a lot more as a Pong-inspired dance of our future overlords. We all know how far video games have come since two paddles batted a ball between one another, right?
Nokia's marginalization of MeeGo came as a surprise to Intel
Yesterday's announcement by Nokia that it's switching to Windows Phone 7 as its primary smartphone platform has already had, and will continue to have, great repercussions for plenty of parties besides the Finnish company and its new best bud Microsoft. One of the biggest effects of that deal was that Nokia now no longer considers MeeGo -- the open-source OS it was co-developing with Intel -- an item of priority, classifying it as a "learning project." No prizes for guessing Intel's nowhere near happy about that, but would you have also guessed Nokia kept Chipzilla in the dark about its new direction until the day it announced it to the world? Such is the word from TechCrunch's well placed sources, who also say that Nokia dedicated only a three-man external team to the development of UI customizations for MeeGo. Not exactly the hugest investment in the world, we'd say, and when you consider Nokia and Microsoft already have concept devices drawn up, you've got to think plans to abandon MeeGo as a sincere flagship strategy were materializing in Espoo a long time before this event. It would probably have been nice to tell Intel, though, just to be classy. Hit the source link for more detail, including confirmation that Nokia's N9-00, its first planned MeeGo device, was canned -- apparently due to complaints from operators about its hinge.
Lenovo and NEC partner up to become Japan's biggest PC vendor
Lenovo's insatiable ambition for growth has taken another boost today with the news that China's best-known computer maker is partnering up with NEC for a "strategic alliance" in Japan, the world's third biggest PC market. Under the terms of the deal, a new NEC Lenovo Japan Group will be formed, wherein Lenovo will benefit from 51 percent of the shares and NEC will own 49 percent plus the choice of first CEO, for which it's selected its own Hideyo Takasu. Lenovo will also pad NEC's pockets with $175 million of change and contractual formalities are expected to be completed by the end of June this year. Sadly, specifics on how this will benefit consumers are light on the ground -- both companies will continue to sell products under their respective brands and there's only general talk of collaboration, economies of scale, harnessing operational synergies, and leveraging each company's strengths. At least you'll know your computer's been made in the spirit of fraternal cooperation. Full PR after the break.
Skype said to be prepping 'deep' Facebook integration for version 5.0
The Skype 5 beta might have already wowed us with its crazy 10-person videoconferencing, but apparently there's even more in the company's bag of new tricks. Sources intimate with the matter are reporting that Skype's planning on deploying Facebook Connect in the next version of its software -- meaning you won't need a Skype ID to get your internet telephony on -- while also enabling SMS messaging and voice or video calls to your Facebook contacts. You have to admit, whether you love or loathe either platform, this is an extremely sensible move for both companies to make: Facebook stretches its tentacles out even further, while Skype develops a significant presence on the world's biggest and baddest social network. We're sure there's a good side to this for the user as well.
Free Love for the holiday weekend
Those who lament that nothing innovative and interesting is being done in the field of MMOs are probably unfamiliar with LOVE, a project seeking to redefine pretty much any core assumptions about the genre. Players build and create, levels are based upon relationships with other players, and the entire world is a surrealistic masterpiece of a landscape. Oh, and the entire project is the work of one man, Eskil Steenberg. It's the sort of thing that would be well worth checking out, and during the holiday weekend, you can do precisely that. From 6 PM GMT on Friday until noon on Monday, LOVE will be having its first free weekend, giving players curious about the actual mechanics of the game a chance to log in and take a close look at how the game works. That runs the majority of the Labor Day weekend, a fine time to log in and get some serious construction going. Keep an eye on the official site or on GamingLove for more information on registration. [Thanks to bartillo for the tip!]
Breakfast Topic: Can't we all just get along?
This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the Aol guest writer program that brings your words to WoW.com. Ever since I first looked at my character's skill list (almost six years ago now) and saw there was actually a skill bar for languages, I have had an idea planted in my head. If my character has the technical ability to learn languages in WoW, why couldn't I choose to learn Orcish? This notion led me further to ask, "Why can't I be in a cross-faction guild consisting of both Alliance and Horde races, working together to accomplish great deeds?" When I relayed this idea to my guildies at the time, one guy actually told me it was the stupidest idea he'd ever heard. Really? There has always been precedent in the game for this kind of cross-faction cooperation. We can see it in groups like the Argent Dawn and the Cenarion Circle. Hell -- even the Twilight's Hammer is more racially progressive than the Horde or Alliance. And don't even get me started on that racist jerk Varian Wrynn. Oh, I know he was mistreated in captivity by orcs, but his mistreatment is nothing compared to what Thrall endured at the hands of humans, and Thrall's first instinct has always been of peaceful resolution rather than conflict (and for reference, I'm an Alliance player, folks).
Revenge of the quadrocopters: now they move in packs (video)
In case you didn't find the original quadrocopter chilling enough, the GRASP Lab out of the University of Pennsylvania has gone and added a bit of cooperative logic to the recipe so that now multiple little drones can work together. Also upgraded with a "claw-like" gripper that allows it to pick up and transport objects, the newer quadrocopter can team up on its prey payload with its buddies, all while maintaining its exquisite balance and agility. Skip past the break to see it on video.
Anti-Aliased: I, suck
So my last column was one heck of a surprising column. Anti-Aliased got steamrolled with your opinions, thanks to the linking from N4G, Kotaku, Reddit, WoW.com, and Joystiq and everyone spreading the word and telling their friends. Without a doubt, that was the most productive column I've written in a long time, and while some people may have written it off as a rant, the more important thing is that it started some great discussion amongst the community. Everyone who gave their view on things, from the people who agreed to the people who wish I would crawl into a ditch and die, thanks for giving your view! So this week when I went out with a few friends to get a drink, one of them mentioned Darkfall. Of course when an MMO comes up in conversation, all of my friends turn and give me this long, dead stare. I sighed and recounted my time in Darkfall, but as I thought of it, I began to notice something. I really sucked at Darkfall. Not just kind of sucked -- really sucked. The combat in that wasn't my thing, as I never really deal with pressure in PvP when something big is on the light. FPS games where I go to my save point when I die is one thing, but dying and losing everything? That's something different. I think I killed like 3 people in my entire month there. Although, when it came to crafting, I was a arrow machine. But that got me thinking about sucking in general and how we as a community aren't very supportive when it comes to players who may not be the best at the games they play.
MMO Family: The family that groups together
MMO Family is your resource for leveling a gaming-specced family. From tips on balancing gaming with family life to finding age-appropriate niches for every family member, MMO Family offers you advice on MMO gaming of the family, by the family and for the family. Now that we've established why and how to stay plugged into your children's gaming interests, some general internet safety rules for kids and a variety of ways to choose games that are suitable for your family, you're probably ready to log in and get some XP. But if it's the whole family we're trying to consider here, we're not quite buffed and ready to pull. Gaming for kids and gaming with kids are two different things. Have you considered the benefits of fitting both into your gaming family? A gaming family has a lot in common with a rich, well developed MMO. You can solo. You can group. You can team or raid. You can quest, and you can craft. You can go PvP, stay PvE or tuck yourself into a quiet corner to roleplay or socialize. And just as you can cherry-pick your activities according to your interests within a single game, you can mix and match games, what you do within each game and different configurations of groups and partners within your family. There's no law that states that kids must play "children's games" and adults must play "mature" fare. Your kids may be jonesing to play the games they've grown up watching you play – or they may find your enraptured state over the economy of EVE Online utterly stultifying. Cobble together whatever mix of high/low, adult/kiddie gaming everyone finds most enjoyable.
From our readers: Always a DPSer, never a tank
We get a lot of email from our readers who are trying to improve their in-game experience. I'd like to take a moment to address a reader who's struggling to find or make the right guild. Beware of the following wall of text. I started playing over a year ago. Never have been able to find a good guild. I'm a warrior tank. Love it. Even made a second just for fun. Trouble is, it seems all of the guilds that can do anything already have their tanks. I'm really sick of pugging Ulduar and getting stuck on kologarn cause either healers or the other tanks fail. I started my own guild after my leaving my last guild because they refused to let me tank. I couldn't even roll on tank gear as fury when all of their tanks had all best in slots. But my guild is stuck with 36 level 80s who are never all on at the same time... and most of the ones that are on are under-geared or aren't skilled in the least bit. what's your advice?Dear anonymous reader, Sometimes starting your own guild is the answer, sometimes it's not. It takes time, patience, and vigilance to build a raid guild. Be sure to check out Scott Andrew's Officer's Quarters. He regularly addresses the ups and downs of guild leadership and offers practical advice on the challenges you may face.
Anti-Aliased: Serious business guys, serious business
This is one of those quintessential arguments that pops up time and time again amongst gamers, guilds, groups, and communities. It's an argument that divides people, pisses off people, and causes countless more gamers to alienate other gamers. How serious should you be about playing your game? Of course we laugh about a topic like this one. Games aren't suppose to be serious, that's why they're games! They're suppose to be fun and enjoyable. If you're not having fun, then you're doing something seriously wrong. For the most part, all of this is true. Yet, there are small segments of the games that we play that actually can require everyone to sit down and "get serious."We see it in raiding tactics, player vs. player tactics, loot distribution, and many other areas (including the entire universe of EVE Online, which seems to be played very seriously.) We've even dedicated a segment of our culture to this type of behavior -- the "hardcore" crowd.So, let's go forward and look at the question, "Are games getting too serious?"
Forum post of the day: Random acts of kindness
Of course there's a lot of bad blood between Horde and Alliance, but every once in a while we work together. About half of the times I've done the Ring of Blood quest line in Nagrand I've seen Horde and Alliance fighting side-by-side. There are some other quests that seem to promote this behavior like "Even Gronn have Standards" and "The Skettis Offensive." Some things just bring out our cooperative souls. Sometimes we just find ourselves compelled to do nice things. Sukalin of EU-Anarchronos told a tale of a complete stranger coming to his rescue:Just a few minutes ago, I was running down through Stranglethorn Vale on my 20 Warlock, so I could get to Booty Bay and eventually The Barrens to do my Succubus quest. I kept getting attacked by beasts and dying, though. About a quarter of the way down I was attacked by a tiger and was reduced to about 5% health when a Troll Shaman called Ayisah shocked the tiger and saved me! I was grateful, of course, and expressed my gratitude in the form of emotes - but in addition to that she helped me travel down the rest of the zone by following close behind me on my way to Booty Bay.
Scattered Shots: Beloved complexity
This week on Scattered Shots, David provides a break in the rushing waves of Patch 2.4 news to wax philosophical about his love of being a hunter. To be perfectly honest, he hasn't had time to even try out the new patch yet, but he's really looking forward to waxing on and off about the patch at some point as well.They say that being a hunter is WoW on easy mode, but in reality, the "easy mode" style of hunting is only the beginning of what a hunter can do. Sadly many hunters never really arise out of that stage - easy hunting can become like a rut in which one may not even realize that there is another way to do things. A player can rise out of this rut, however, either through an enterprising nature, or through acquaintance with a good hunter role-model. However one rises to it, the opportunity is there for hunters to do all kinds of things amazing things, mostly at the same time. In fact, you could say that a fundamental mechanic of the hunter class, probably the mechanic I love most in the entire game, is that of controlling multiple characters at once: the hunter and the pet. You have the most control over your hunter character, obviously, and the pet functions as something like a yo-yo which is attached to the hunter. You can point the pet in the direction of an enemy to attack, or you can recall it to wherever you are, but you can't tell it, for instance, to kite an enemy around in circles in the same way you yourself could.The limitations inherent in the abilities of the hunter and the pet, as well as the synergy between them, reminds me a bit of chess. Managing both the pet and the hunter to greatest effectiveness in different situations means you have to keep more than one thing in mind at all times. When you play most other classes, you can just pay attention to them and what they're doing, but being a good hunter requires you to be more aware of what's going on around you, just like chess requires you to keep track of the whole board, not just the little portion of it where the most action is happening.
Forum Post of the Day: PUG Player Archetypes
Once Patch 2.4 goes live, we will most likely be able to queue up for all of the major battlegrounds as premades. There will always be PUGs, since even the three battlegrounds that allow premade groups to play have them. Sideways of Korgath posted a thread on the official forums on the most annoying PUG player archetypes. The original list included: The Aloof - This guy appears to be guarding a flag or, but the chickens at the farm in AB are actually doing a better job. It's hard to say whether he's AFK, chatting in vent, or just didn't get enough sleep last night, but a guy caps the flag behind him and he doesn't even notice. If he's in gulch and the enemy flag carrier runs by, he just keeps on doing whatever it is he's doing as if nothing happened. The ADD - This type of player just can't live with less than continuous action. The concept of defending a flag is foreign and distasteful to him. Therefore if he is defending something and no enemies show up within 30 seconds, he moves on despite the fact that he is leaving the flag unguarded for a friendly neighborhood rogue to ninja. The Instance Mob - This type of player makes you swear aggro generation applied to players. He simply cannot understand why he hasn't been able to kill anything despite the fact that he put forth his best damage attacks against the protection specced shield wearing warrior that had 2 priests, a paladin, and a druid healing him. Much like I expect Rend Blackhand or Nefarian would, he attributes his ineffectiveness to inferior gear.
