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Tell me about your secret addons
I put the call out on twitter the other day, asking people to tell me about little known addons that they couldn't be without. When you talk about addons you always want to have loaded, everyone thinks of things like DBM or Grid or other very well-known and popular addons, but they're not the ones I have in mind. Instead I want to know about the addons you rely on that not everyone has heard of, that aren't common knowledge, the ones that you happened upon or had recommended to you by friends, and now can't be without. The secret addons that you will always use, now, regardless of what others might say. Me, personally? I love a couple of little addons, one called GoGoMount, which allows you to use Blizzard's keybind menu, the one in the menu that pops up if you hit escape, to bind both a random flying mount and a random ground mount. I like getting random mounts, and it doesn't take up space on my (packed) bars. Another one I love is Steal, Purge and Dispel. It makes a "bong" noise and pops up a little window whenever your target or focus has something that could be removed via Spellsteal, Purge, or Dispel Magic. While there are other ways to do this, it's great to have that little reminder sometimes, particularly on my mage where I have a habit of getting distracted by Pyroblasting everything in the face. So what are your secret addons?
If you could create a minor glyph
A great question was posted on the official EU forums today by Ferwyn, who asked "if you could make your own minor glyph what would it be?" They had a few suggestions, from a paladin-specific perspective, one of which I quite liked: Glyph of the Ascended, which Ferwyn suggested might make a paladin levitate and their wings flap during Avenging Wrath. This is a fantastic idea! Sure, the animation might be a bit tricky, but who'd let that stand in the way of a floating paladin, right? Blizzard Community Manager Taepsilum weighed in with their own suggestions, which might randomly switch your title to Murloc on the Inside or Minion of Taepsilum. Title switching is a great idea, but even better, what about a minor glyph that allowed you to shapeshift into a murloc for a few seconds? And while we're on this topic, what is your favorite minor glyph in the game right now? My high rated ones would be the Paladin Glyph of Winged vengeance, the butterfly wings during Avenging Wrath, and Glyph of the Falling Avenger, which adds slow fall to Avenging Wrath. But the absolute number one minor glyph for me is Glyph of Confession. The secrets are fantastic, and I have spent many a happy while running around my raids and PvP teams making them confess to things. My only complaint is that it's not useable on hostile targets -- how great would that be in arenas? So if you could make a minor glyph, what would you call it and what would it do?
No talent overhaul likely
If you're interested in WoW design and discussion, but don't yet follow twitter, you might want to reconsider. A lot of the developers are regularly active there. For example, yesterday our own Adam Holisky had a nice little chat with Ghostcrawler, Bashiok, and some other folks about WoW's talent design, and wondering if there was another big overhaul being considered for the next major expansion. The answer, bluntly, is no. Blizzard seems content with the current system. @bashiok @djtyrant @adamholisky The *current* talent design feels pretty solid to us. We'll iterate but no overhaul plans. #famouslastwords - Greg Street (@Ghostcrawler) May 9, 2013 Player Mihaly Ducz replied that three choices every fifteen levels feels kind of thin, but I have to admit that I kind of agree with Bashiok's response on that one: there are already plenty of spells and abilities in the game; I am perfectly content to have fewer of them, or at least more passive options so I don't have to agonize over how to redo my bars again. How about you? Are you content with the current talent system? What might you like to see changed or modified in the future?
What makes a compelling character?
I don't know how many of you frequent the official Story Forum. It can be an intimidating place. Beware, all ye who may mention the words "Lordaeron," "Sylvanas," or "Southshore;" and these days add "Sunreaver" and "Dalaran" to the list of ten-foot-pole topics. I still visit the Story Forum regularly and if you're a lore buff its often a good source for varied discussion and debate. The amount of detail folks are able to recite at a moment's notice never fails to impress me, and has more than once sent me scurrying to my personal Warcraft library to fact-check or reread something with an eye for a new interpretation. Recently, Nethaera has paid a visit to the story forum, and she asks you all directly: What makes a compelling character? What makes a character strong or weak or interesting or boring? What makes a character your favorite? What are the things that draw you to a fictional personality, what are the things that repulse you? As for me personally, well, I'm pretty sure the WoW community is more than familiar with some of my favorites (shameless self promotion). The reasons why I find those characters compelling are varied, but mostly boil down to the situation of being between a rock and a hard place. I like stories where there aren't good answers, where every way you look, you lose. Maybe I'm a Debbie-downer, but if the path to victory is obvious, I am bored to tears. Don't give me that, I don't want to read it. Give me someone who has struggled and fought and who will never be sure if they did the right thing. Give me something, and someone, that will haunt me. What makes a character compelling to you? What fuels your imagination? If you've ever wanted the chance to talk with a blue about your favorite WoW personalities and share your personal idea of what you'd like to see out of WoW's canon characters, now is your opportunity!
Re-envisioning iTunes: How Mountain Lion portends the future
Victor has been promising to write a post about iTunes and how it fails to live up to OS X's potential for over a year. Fortunately, the guys over at Macworld sprang to the rescue, discussing how Apple might want to save their syncing ship. Since I can't rebut Victor's non-existent post, as I had originally planned to, I'm going to take Jason as my muse and start rambling about iTunes, its future direction, and how I'd redesign it all. Here are facts that almost everyone at TUAW can agree on: iTunes is an unwieldy behemoth, slowly suffocating from its own size and age. Music on iPad is less bad than it used to be, but it's still far from ideal. Breaking out the Mac App Store from iTunes hasn't been a huge success in terms of serving discoverability of new and hot apps. Unfortunately, too many users have no idea that MAS even exists. Further decomposition gets more and more cluttered and confusing, whether in iOS (Apple Store, iTunes Music, App Store, Music Player, Built-in Music Controls, etc.) or OS X (Safari Apple Store, iTunes, Mac App Store). Instead of iOS moving more and more towards general computing, Mountain Lion shows that Apple is moving OS X more and more towards consumer-friendly appliance computing. iTunes is really awful And that's the starting point for the big question: How should Apple redesign it all from the ground up to make it less awful without losing all the good stuff that iTunes can and does deliver. So here's my first take on the situation. Mind you, I tend to see the world through big general-computing glasses, so I'm sure I'm missing a bunch of "moving to Mountain Lion simplicity" key points here. What follows is a baseline. I'm then going to throw the keys over to you, our readers, so you can drive the discussion further. Tell me what points you think are reasonable and which of them are so deluded as to be incomprehensible. Tell us how you would revamp iTunes? Kill the entire app? Redesign it? Or strategically break out functionality? Here's my go at it. Playback needs to be part of the OS, not part of iTunes. Just as iOS lets you double-click the home button and access its playback controls, OS X needs to incorporate immediate gratification and playback directly from its home field: the OS X desktop. Forget about launching iTunes: music browsing and playlist selection (not to mention creation) needs to migrate into Spotlight (or some similar always-on feature). Tunes should be part of the computing experience, not a separate app. Folders. Want to organize your music, audio books, videos, and apps? There are folders for that. Real folders, in a real file system. Want OS X to manage those folders for you? It already does. The iTunes library folder is the right idea, but it's missing a simple "move to my media library" Finder option. The store should be completely integrated -- hardware, software, music, etc -- and ubiquitous. Just as Mountain Lion offers a built-in notification center, available at the swipe of a mouse, there's no reason the OS shouldn't provide a similar shopping option. Basically, the iTunes store is nothing more than e-commerce web pages. Instead of pretending people don't have to shop, I propose that Apple goes full-Monty. Add the store to its own swipe-down icon, complete with full OS integration. Make it simpler for people to see specials, find media, buy it, and enjoy it. Forget about separate apps, just build the thing into the menu bar and get on with the selling already. Device management should be transparent. Want to backup, upgrade, or even look at the device Document folders on an app-by-app basis? Do it from the Finder. There's no reason any of this stuff should be taking place in iTunes. Right-click > Check for Firmware Update, or Upgrade all Apps. Bingo. Need to set up email accounts or sync bookmarks? Preferences panes. Move library management functions outside of the device-by-device screens. Sure, add an app for this. I want to be able to disable certain items from syncing to all devices without losing sight of them forever. Make it simple to create global choices ("don't sync this", and "always sync this") and add some advanced user features hidden from the norms ("sync this to all iPads and iPod touches" and "only sync this to Bologna"). Think beyond "playlists" to "synclists". And for heaven's sake, make the sync options work consistently, especially in the age of iCloud. Add an iCloud manager. A standalone iCloud manager should allow you to review all the stuff you've sent into the aether, and help you manage your storage as well as access data from devices. It should, on demand and with sufficient warnings and administrator privileges, let you review your files on your entire device whether connected or not, with the option to move data to the cloud, and from the cloud to any device or computer you own. Okay, that's our take on this. Now it's your turn. How would you redesign iTunes and ancillary services? Join in the discussion and design away.
Storyboard: Talk this way
One of the great problems presented to roleplayers is the challenge of presenting audio via text. We don't think about it all the time because most of the time it's easy to construct the sound of something from context. Sure, simply saying that your character sighs could mean any number of things, but contextually it's usually obvious whether it's meant as a gesture of exasperation or a sign of relaxed contentment. "Yes, I'm sure your new weapon will make a huge difference in the war" could be sarcastic or serious, but there are generally enough clues in the situation to make the difference obvious. But there's one obvious case in which that breaks down, and that's in the matter of accents. After all, people from two different regions shouldn't quite sound the same... but there's also no effective way to communicate how one voice or another sounds different. And the most common solution is essentially a matter of making your character's words borderline unreadable in the hopes that you convey a sliver of your intention.
Halfbrick working on new iOS game, 1.3 update for Jetpack Joyride
Halfbrick Studios' Phil Larsen is a happy guy. Not only has his company scored a huge hit with Fruit Ninja (with over a million copies sold on Xbox Kinect alone), but the studio's Jetpack Joyride is a hit as well, garnering over 19 million across various free and paid incarnations. Halfbrick, says Larsen, is working on a new IP for iOS that we'll see by the end of the year. Until then, the group is working Jetpack Joyride version 1.3, which introduces an entirely new feature: Gadgets. Gadgets are perks that can be added to Barry's jetpack. They're purchased with coins picked up during play (which ties in to the game's in-app purchase system) and tweak the gameplay in several ways. For example, the "Freeze-o-matic" allows Barry to slide farther when he dies. The "Flying Pig" turns slot machine coins into pigs that explode into fireworks of rewards, and a gadget called "Gemology" converts coins into gems, which give five times the reward when collected. You can have three gadgets running at a time, and when they're all combined, they can either help a lot (by making some very challenging missions relatively easy), or make the game crazier than ever. Gadgets aren't just add-ons to the jetpack. They affect the game in several ways, which Larsen says will allow Halfbrick to expand the game a lot going forward. Fifteen gadgets will be introduced when the update goes live, with more coming after that. "We can definitely support this game lots more." I asked Larsen about the Jetpack Joyride knockoffs on the App Store. Larsen shrugged them off. "They're not as good as Jetpack Joyride, so why bother?" he asked with a smirk. Halfbrick is an independent company, though obviously it's been growing, even as the Australian game economy is in a downturn. Larsen says the developer has about 57 employees right now, and given the games' popularity, they could stand to grow a bit more. But Larsen also says Halfbrick isn't interested in being purchased by a larger developer, either. Of course there have been offers, but in the end, he says, "We like what we do." Taking a deal with a larger developer might upset that, so it definitely seems like Halfbrick is more interested in making its own games than pitching in, no matter how big the potential payoff may be. As for that impending new iOS title, Larsen won't say much more than that he "...would love to release another iOS game this year." Certainly Halfbrick is working on something (and maybe even more than one thing), but the current focus is Jetpack's update. As for whether a new game would be paid (like Fruit Ninja has been) or freemium (like Jetpack Joyride has been for most of its success), Larsen said both strategies are still valid, depending on the game. "We've made more money on Fruit Ninja paid than we've ever done" selling Jetpack Joyride's in-app purchases, says Larsen. "We can sell games and we can do freemium. Does that mean Fruit Ninja's more universal? Probably yeah." Larsen admits that Jetpack Joyride could probably have skewed more towards a casual audience. It originally started paid and then was sent free to find its audience. But it's hard to second guess Larsen and Halfbrick given all of their company's success, and Fruit Ninja and Jetpack Joyride still set quite a few bars for app quality on Apple's App Store. The company has done really great things so far -- we're intrigued to see just what's coming next.
Apple rejects iBook with links to Amazon's store
This is just one specific case out of the many, many organizations and individuals publishing content on Apple's iBookstore, but it's an interesting call by Apple nevertheless. Seth Godin tried to publish a book of his through Apple's iBooks, but the content was rejected by Apple's system. Not because it was offensive in some way, but simply because it contained links to Amazon's booksore. These weren't even links to Godin's books -- they were simply links to reference books, but because they went out to a competing service, Apple pulled the plug. Before anyone starts yelling about censorship, keep in mind that this is Apple's playground, and it can take its ball home whenever it wants, no matter how inane the reason. But this reason seems particularly inane -- Apple can't really be worried about one link in a ebook promoting a competitor's sales, right? Not to mention that the book in question was a hardcover copy, and unless I'm mistaken, wasn't even sold on Apple's iBooks store anyway. Apple's staked a claim to be at the center of technology and creativity, and of course it's done plenty to cement a spot for itself there. But education and information are a key part of creativity, and if Apple is openly choosing to shut down certain purchases on its stores just for the petty reason of trying to keep one or two sales away from a (sort of) competitor, that's a mistake. [via AppAdvice]
Tidbits from Apple's shareholders meeting
CNBC was at the Apple shareholders annual meeting that took place February 23 in Cupertino, and you can read through detailed notes of the summit on its site. There were only a few official matters to discuss, and the first was whether or not the company would adopt majority voting for its board of directors, requiring a majority vote for each director to stay. Shareholders decided to approve the measure, meaning board members would have to resign without a voting majority, but that ruling didn't matter much; all of the directors were elected with over 80 percent of the vote anyway. Other matters voted on included asking directors to further declare any conflicts of interest, a measure allowing for shareholders to set director pay, and another measure requiring Apple to disclose any political contributions. All of those suggestions ended up failing, with just a small percentage of the vote. Finally, Tim Cook and his fellow executives took part in a presentation and Q&A. You can read through all of the notes on CNBC, but it's worth recognizing that Cook definitely came out against Apple using its vast cash reserves to buy any type of content, whether that means picking up a record label or even buying access to sell TV shows or movies. Cook says that Apple aims to sell devices; while the board is still determining what to do with all of the cash, Apple has already spent billions on things like supply lines and components, and it will probably continue to focus on that in the future. Cook also called Facebook a "friend" of the company and said Twitter has also had a lot of integration with Apple's products lately. So far, feedback on that integration has been good. Cook also spoke about Apple's passion for education and said while Apple does donate money and time to supporting education, the company primarily supports schools and teachers with its products and by creating services and devices to enable learning in as many places as possible. The whole event sounds like business as usual while Apple continues to roll on through 2012.
Raid Rx: Can healing be diversified further?
Every week, Raid Rx will help you quarterback your healers to victory! Your host is Matt Low, the grand poohbah of World of Matticus and a founder of Plus Heal, a discussion community for healers of all experience levels and interests. Catch his weekly podcast on healing, raiding and leading, the Matticast. Greg "Ghostcrawler" Street (lead developer) published a developer blog post a few days ago and shared thoughts about roles within the game. DPS classes tend to have multiple specs that can be switched to in order to provide a different set of damage spells and utilities. Some of the examples cited included warlocks and rogues, since they're straight DPS classes. Would it be possible to hypothesize and think about single-role healing classes with varied specs? While I don't think it is unheard of, I can already think about the different logistical and gameplay difficulties that are going to come with it. For DPSers, you have that role divided between those players in the ranged group and those belonging to the melee. With healing, you're limited with just being purely at range. There isn't a classified melee-only healer (and we don't know entirely how the monk will play out).
The Daily Grind: Do you think there's too much group mentality in MMO discussion?
When it comes to MMO design, people tend toward certain viewpoints. Some players think that immersion requires an open world, open PvP, and open targets; others think it just requires an interesting story and a player willing to invest. There are people who think that cash shops are a short step toward buying your way through content, and there are those who think cash shops are a great way to get some more gumballs for a game you like. In the broadest terms, there's a sense of an old guard and a new guard, but there's a lot of overlap and a lot that depends on personal viewpoints. In some ways, this can be helpful for discussion -- knowing that someone really prefers old sandbox games like Ultima Online means that you know right off said person won't enjoy DC Universe Online, for instance. But it also means that we're far more likely to ignore the opinions of others because they dislike certain mechanics, even if they raise valid points. So do you think there's too much of a focus on "old guard" vs. "new guard" when talking about design? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Teasing an interview with Guild Wars 2 on PvP
As the promise of an open beta dances in the minds of the hopeful and the systems continue a slow unveiling, Guild Wars 2 continues to fascinate potential players with even the barest hint of what might be around the corner. The team at Guild Wars Insider had a chance to sit in on a roundtable discussion with the game's developers regarding PvP systems, but unfortunately the full interview isn't ready for public digestion just yet. That having been said, the team did unveil a small audio clip of the interview to serve as a teaser trailer. While the bulk of the discussion focuses on trebuchets -- a known feature that is apparently coming along quite well -- there's a fascinating mention of a new addition, siegesuits, at the very conclusion. While there are no further details yet, it seems that this is a feature that will be discussed in more depth in the full interview, which apparently contains more items that may not yet be ready for public consumption.
The Daily Grind: How frugal are you in F2P games?
Those of you who shun free-to-play titles or are determined to never spend a single red cent in them are dismissed from today's discussion. But for those of you who do spend money in F2P MMOs -- and by all accounts, that's quite a few of you out there -- I'm curious just how frugal you are with the money you spend. I know that SOE players often hold back from registering Station Cash cards until the studio does a double- or triple-point day, and Turbine's frequently put its in-game stock on sale for both Lord of the Rings Online and Dungeons and Dragons Online. Around the holidays or during special anniversaries, players can also snag some good deals. So do you wait for certain items and unlocks to go on sale, or are you wealthy and/or impatient enough to simply go for it when you want them? Do you look for specials with an eagle eye? Jump on top of bonus in-game currency days? Clip coupons? Just how far do you stretch your gaming dollar? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Talkcast tonight, 10pm ET/7pm PT: Sandboxed in
I'll be hosting the TUAW Talkcast this evening over on our usual TalkShoe meeting place, and as always, you're invited to join in both by listening along, and even by jumping in on the conversation. We'll be chatting live about the most popular Apple topics of the last week, including the upcoming sandbox restrictions on Mac App Store apps, more cool things you can do with Siri (and if they're worth doing), and the hazy future of the Mac Pro. It should be a lot of fun and the discussion is always interesting as well. To participate, you can use the browser-only Talkshoe client, the embedded Facebook app, or download the classic TalkShoe Pro Java client; however, for +5 Interactivity, you should call in. For the web UI, just click the Talkshoe Web button on our profile page at 4 HI/7 PDT/10 pm EDT Sunday. To call in on regular phone or VoIP lines: dial (724) 444-7444 and enter our talkcast ID, 45077 -- during the call, you can request to talk by keying in *8. We'll get started as usual around 10pm ET, which is 7pm PT, and don't forget about daylight savings from last night. Did you Fall back? If you've got a headset or microphone handy on your Mac, you can connect via the free Blink or X-Lite SIP clients. Talk to you tonight!
MacTech 2011: What keeps Aaron Hillegass up at night
Big Nerd Ranch founder Aaron Hillegass took the stage at this week's MacTech Conference 2011, and his talk was labeled, simply, "Going Mobile." That's a big topic, so after going through a few reasons why business and individuals might be for and against making mobile apps (all pretty standard discussion in the industry around the App Store), he discussed his concerns about the mobile industry; the things that "keep me up late at night." What followed were a few questions (mostly unanswered) that Hillegass has been thinking about, relevant to IT professionals, developers and really anyone who's used Apple's mobile products. Hillegass' talk was surprisingly honest -- he tackled quite a few issues during the short speech, some of which will likely take a long while for everyone to figure out. He started by asking how developers can benefit from the "power struggles in the industry." So far, Hillegass said, Apple, Google and others have benefited from app developers. Apple has sold a staggering number of iPhones, thanks in part to the hard work of app developers. Of course, Apple has compensated those developers, some very well. But Hillegass wonders if the relationship could go the other way. Instead of making developers work for Apple and then even harder to make their apps compatible on Android and other platforms, is there a way to make that competition between the platform companies work for developers? Hillegass didn't have an answer just yet. He also talked about the death of privacy, pointing out that Apple, developers, and humanity in general are collecting mountains of data all the time. What we all us it for? He suggested first that maybe we just didn't need it -- maybe creating too much data, just like creating trash in real life, would adversely affect our environment in ways we didn't suspect. Hillegass then flipped the other way, and suggested that maybe just agreeing amongst ourselves that privacy was finally dead and actually using that data to make the world a better place would be more helpful than hurtful after all. The relatively tame example he gave was about movie theater previews and how, because they were usually targeted at the audience in the theater, are often more interesting than TV commercials. But Hillegass hinted at bigger things -- he seemed to suggest that letting go of privacy might open up a lot more doors, even if he himself didn't know yet what those were. The talk got deeper from there. Hillegass wondered if instead of dealing with reality directly, our work with Apple's devices and computers in general was putting us in touch with a sort of "simulacrum" of reality. Instead of meeting with friends and family, we were communicating via Facebook profiles and social networking services. Hillegass wondered if the small rewards of games prevented us from really committing to achieving something great. He shared a story about reading Mrs. Frisby and The Rats of NIMH to his son, and realizing that while he loved the book as a kid, his attention span had shrunk since then -- even he wasn't able to sit through long passages of description without a lot of action. "My attention span is shrinking," said Hillegrass. "I think that's a problem." And with almost a tone of fear and anxiety, Hillegass wondered how humanity will keep its capacity for empathy when, thanks to our vast networks of communication, we can often be surrounded by people who are exactly like us. He pointed out that most of the people in the room here at MacTech looked and acted very much the same, and said that because of the Internet, people could find communities of like-minded individuals more quickly and easily than ever. Is that a good thing necessarily? He didn't know. Finally, Hillegass pointed out that because of how quickly mobile applications and technology are changing and improving, users and developers are involved in what's basically an evolving relationship. He told the story of the cheetah and the gazelle, and why evolution has made both animals faster over the years -- gazelles who aren't fast enough will get eaten by the faster cheetahs, and cheetahs who don't run won't get food they need. In fact, things have moved so far, said Hillegass, that cheetahs can't even eat too much once they do catch a gazelle, because it will slow them down in the future. Users, too, are getting more and more demanding of mobile apps, just as developers are getting better and better tools to make them. When the App Store first started, fart apps were "good enough" to make money, but the bar has risen higher and higher over the years. For all of his questions, Hillegass did end on a positive note -- he told the story of Beethoven the composer, who made some of the greatest musical pieces for piano ever written, and Broadwood, an inventor who improved the piano, expanding its versatility and range even as Beethoven pushed him to do more with his genius. Developers in the room, said Hillegass, were the Broadwoods of the world. And he and they were both working on apps that would then be used by Beethovens to make something really incredible. Apps and the app market are such a growing entity at this point in time that it's hard to see just where they'll end up, even a few years in the future. But for all of his questions, Hillegass was convinced that the progress was worth it. "We are trying to create the piano for the next Beethoven," he said as he finished his talk.
Samsung, NTT DoCoMo to develop smartphone chips in proposed joint venture
Qualcomm may be facing some new competition in the mobile chip space, now that NTT DoCoMo and three other Japanese firms are looking to join forces with Samsung. According to Japan's Nikkei business daily, the quartet of firms (which includes Fujitsu, NEC and Panasonic's mobile unit) is currently finalizing negotiations with Samsung over a proposed joint venture that would design, develop and market smartphone chips. The partners are reportedly planning to incorporate the new chips into their own devices, while selling them to other handset manufacturers, as well. DoCoMo would hold a majority stake in the ¥30 billion (about $390 million) partnership, which could help lower procurement costs, while reducing the partners' dependency upon industry-leading Qualcomm. A DoCoMo spokesman acknowledged that the provider is exploring a variety of collaborations, but was quick to point out that nothing's been finalized. Samsung and Fujitsu, meanwhile, have yet to comment.
When two chatbots have a conversation, everyone wins (video)
What did one chatbot say to the other chatbot? Quite a lot, actually -- but good luck making any sense out of it. That's what researchers from Cornell's Creative Machines Lab recently discovered, after pitting two bots against one another for a good ol' fashioned talk-off. It's all part of the lab's submission to this year's Loebner Prize Competition in Artificial Intelligence -- an event that awards $100,000 to the team whose computer programs can conduct the most human-like conversations. Unfortunately for Cornell's squad, their chatbots still have a long way to go before achieving conversational coherence, though they could easily get hired as anchors on most cable news networks. Throughout the course of their frenetic (and often snippy) discussion, one bot raised heady questions about God and existence, while the other boldly claimed to be a unicorn. Basically, they had the exact same conversation we used to have in our dorm rooms every night, at around 4 am. Watch it for yourself after the break. It's nothing short of sublime.
Deus Ex commentary compilation shows the 'net split on boss fights
It looks like our own reviewer wasn't alone in thinking the boss fights in Deus Ex: Human Revolution stood out like a sore thumb from the rest of the subtler gameplay. Nukezilla has compiled clips of commentary about the game from around the web so far, and the opinion is almost universal: The title's boss fights are unnecessary and badly designed. We say almost, in this case, because the main voice of dissent belongs to Ars Technica's Ben Kuchera, who argues that the game is simply pointing out that sometimes, violence really is necessary. Yes, most of the game lets you move along without combat, but the boss fights, in all of their stupid fury, are meant to show that in a game loaded with choices, sometimes you just don't have one. Seeing as the game just came out, y'know, today, most of us haven't been able to form our own opinions just yet. But Nukezilla's compilation at least raises a good question, and that's if the boss fights in Deus Ex: Human Revolution really belong there, or if they're there just because boss fights are what video games do.
Shocker! The internet is not egalitarian, popular forum posters have it easy
Researchers at the University of Georgia analyzed six years' worth of Usenet posts, and you know what they discovered? Life ain't fair. The most popular two percent of posters who started discussion threads hogged 50 percent of all replies, while everyone else struggled for attention. What made some thread-starters more attractive than others? Thankfully it wasn't rampant flaming. The distinguishing trait was actually how factual they were: only 12 percent of posts by popular posters contained personal opinions or comments. However, posting a bit of news isn't all it takes to win followers. In a related experiment, 200 volunteers were unleashed onto "simulated" discussion forums and their behavior revealed an even more important factor. The slightly flummoxed researchers called it a "preferential attachment", which pulled readers towards posters who already had an excess of followers. In other words, life still ain't fair. For a delightfully factual breakdown of the full results, check out the PR after the break.
Microsoft close to buying Skype for more than $7 billion? (Update: announcement tomorrow)
Following rumors of Facebook and Google eyeing a deal to acquire Skype, we now have a new contender who is none other than the beast from Redmond, Microsoft. According to the Wall Street Journal's sources, Team Ballmer and the VoIP company are finalizing a negotiation that's worth more than a whopping $7 billion, and they could be making an announcement as soon as Tuesday. Given that this figure will be a new record for Microsoft in recent years, it's clear that Ballmer's very keen on securing this popular voice calling service for his own amusement -- perhaps Windows Phone will eventually come with integrated Skype features? Or maybe he just wants to slot in some ads between our calls? Only time will tell, and for the sake of Redmond, hopefully nothing turns sour between now and tomorrow. Update: All Things D's Kara Swisher has confirmed that the two companies will be announcing their deal early tomorrow morning. Stay tuned!
