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Pop culture's many takes on artificial intelligence
Over the years, artists, writers, filmmakers and game studios have all tackled the concept of artificial intelligence. Often their vision is of machines that are brutally hostile to humans. Philip K. Dick envisioned androids that murder their owners. The iconic HAL from 2001: A Space Odyssey ... also murders his human companions. Of course, there's Skynet, which launches an all-out war on mankind. We could go on like this for a long time. But there are also those, like Spike Jonze, who envision us having a more complex relationship with computer-based personalities; one in which they could even be love interests. And in Star Trek: The Next Generation Data is not only a "good" android, but he's often the hero of the show. We've pulled together 13 of our favorite portrayals of AI over the years and put them in the gallery below. It is by no means comprehensive. So please, let us know what we missed in the comments or tweet at us (@engadget) to let us know your favorite AI character from the film, TV or books using the hashtag #EngadgetAIWeek.
Live-action Portal fan film explores the birth of GLaDOS
GLaDOS is widely considered one of gaming's finest antagonists, but like all malevolent robots she too was once a child - A brutal, sadistic child with no sympathy for terrified scientists. That's the basic premise behind Portal: Survive!, a new live-action fan film which explores the violent early moments of GLaDOS. Despite being an amateur production, Portal: Survive! proves surprisingly well-crafted. Colin and Connor McGuire, the duo behind the short, claim that the total budget for their project was less than $500. The claustrophic interiors you see in the vignette are almost certainly a compromise made for monetary reasons, but the film's creators did an excellent job of making these limitations work toward the short's advantage. Instead of feeling cheap, these small sets lend an appropriate level of tension to the rise of GLaDOS.
Dota 2 First Blood update brings LAN support and GLaDOS
Valve will update its Dota 2 client with the First Blood patch on September 23, giving players new weapons, items, announcers and ways to play, while also balancing the game overall. The big highlights coming with First Blood are LAN support, a new Captain's Draft mode, a refined Armory browsing experience and a GLaDOS announcer voice. Captain's Draft will have two teams, each of which nominates a captain, take turns banning, picking and counter-picking heroes from a randomized pool of 24. The new Armory will let you filter items by attributes like quality, rarity and type. The Dota 2 store will also be receiving an update with First Blood, which includes new community-created content and a Portal Pack. The Portal Pack will include an Aperture Science-themed HUD skin, some "Wardcores" (wards made to look like Aperture Science cores) and the aforementioned GLaDOS announcer voice. Unfortunately, no cake was mentioned as part of the First Blood update. If anyone tells you there's going to be cake... well, you know by now.
DevJuice: Provisioning portal redesigned, allows deletion of some App IDs
We've been hearing from various delighted developers this weekend responding to Apple's redesigned provisioning portal. And yes, you can now delete many (not all) App IDs from the portal. The newer the ID, the more likely it seems to be that you'll be able to select it, configure its settings and click that all-too-welcome delete button. Did it work for you? Drop a note in the comments. Me? I've been happily weeding many apps out this weekend.
Poker Night at the Inventory 2 deals in GLaDOS, Claptrap, Ash Williams
Telltale Games' Poker Night at the Inventory 2 stars a table of quick-witted, quick-to-anger players from all of our favorite media forms: Claptrap from the Borderlands franchise, Sam from the Sam and Max game and graphic novels, Brock Samson from Adult Swim cartoon series The Venture Bros., and Ash Williams from cult horror film Army of Darkness. GLaDOS, main baddie of the Portal games, will be the dealer, so rest assured each hand will be extremely scientific.Poker Night at the Inventory 2 is "coming soon" to Steam for PC and Mac, alongside Xbox Live Marketplace and PSN, with more platforms to be announced. Check out the premiere trailer above. NeoGAF members dug into Telltale's "key party" tease last week and uncovered a lineup of screenshots, pictured below.%Gallery-184520%
Meet CARROT: the game-ified to do list
CARROT (US$0.99) is essentially a game with delusions of productivity. In fact, it was initially pitched to me as a utility app with "personality." That's problematic because it's not really all that useful. What it is, though, is silly fun with occasional side benefits of getting things done. I hand-picked the screen shot that goes with this post to reflect my "aha" moment. It's when I finally realized there was no way this app was actually interested in helping me organize my life and work. Once I relaxed and let go, CARROT was able to win me over with its charm and superb design. Your tolerance for Kawaii (かわいい, namely, that which is "lovable," "cute" or "adorable," according to Wikipedia) will influence how much you love or hate this app. CARROT is, frankly, twisted. It's basically GLaDOS as digital personal assistant. Your job is to keep it pleased, by finishing assigned tasks and keeping your work in order. I made sure to add "Buy cake and hire grief counselors" to my CARROT to-do list. The following video demonstrates the app in action.
Del Toro got Valve's permission to use GlaDOS' voice in Pacific Rim
The presence of Ellen McLain's sultry, robotic trills in the Pacific Rim trailer above filled us with much, much joy when we first saw it last December, but we couldn't help but feel like director Guillermo del Toro wasn't being entirely original. Furthermore, we wondered how Valve would feel about such flagrant counterfeiting; we know it doesn't own Ellen McLain's voice or anything, but come on.None of that is actually an issue, as it turns out, since del Toro actually obtained permission from Valve to use GlaDOS' voice in the film, according to the Toronto Sun. "I wanted very much to have her, because I'm a big Portal fan," del Toro said. "But just as a wink. She's not cake-obsessed."McLain's vocal work in the actual film will be run through fewer GlaDOS-inducing voice filters in the final film, del Toro says, but he wanted her voice to be completely recognizable in the trailer. It's also worth noting that there's no actual crossover between Valve's Portal/Half Life universe and Pacific Rim's, even though Pacific Rim is a movie about universes crossing over.
GLaDOS featured in Pacific Rim trailer
Director Guillermo del Toro had previously mentioned actress Ellen McLain, best known in gaming circles as the voice of GLaDOS, would use her vocal talent in his upcoming monster movie Pacific Rim. We just had no idea McLain would reprise her GLaDOs voice exactly. It's like hearing Majel Barrett as the voice of Siri.
Del Toro still shopping 'Insane' concept around, hired GlaDOS for his movie
THQ may have put the kibosh on director Guillermo del Toro's Insane project, but that doesn't mean the idea is dead and gone forever.Del Toro is in the middle of doing press for his upcoming Pacific Rim movie at the New York Comic Con this week, and he mentioned that he's still trying to find a good game company partner for Insane. "Now we are talking to developers," Del Toro said, according to Kotaku. "When something doesn't happen in one way, I just continue pursuing it in another way. I'm not giving up on Insane."Asked for a dream developer to work with, Del Toro said he's a big fan of Valve and the games they make. In fact, one of the robots in Pacific Rim will be played by voice actress Ellen McClain, also known as GlaDOS from Valve's Portal series. "I called the guys at Valve and said, you know how much I am a fan of Portal, can the AI be GlaDOS?" Del Toro said.
The importance of playtesting: What Portal 2 could have been
When Erik Wolpaw and Chet Faliszek first sat down to write Portal 2, they went mad. It certainly appears that way now, when the final version of Portal 2 that shipped in 2011 was such a resounding success, especially for a highly anticipated sequel. The first iteration Wolpaw and Faliszek envisioned got rid of three important mechanics in the Portal universe: Chell, GLaDOS and, as we knew and are still reeling over, portals. In a talk at GDC, Wolpaw and Faliszek explained why they thought that was a good idea, and how they learned it was pretty much the dumbest thing ever.The original Portal 2 had three new things in place of the classic ideas: F-stop (the new portal mechanic), Cave Johnson (antagonist replacement) and Betty (GLaDOS substitute). Betty was a knee-high personality sphere on wheels, a piece of concept art showed, and she spoke in quick legalese, "like those ads for medicine where they show puppies while they talk about the rectal bleeding you're going to have," Wolpaw said.
Let GLaDOS guide you to your destination, you monster
She's certainly not the first celebrity to do some voice work for the GPS industry, but she's by far the coolest. Joining the likes of Snoop Dogg, Homer Simpson and Yoda is GLaDOS, available in a new fan-made custom voice pack over on Reddit. It's a zip file with a bunch of wav files in it, compatible with Garmin Nuvi units -- the files should also work with Garmin Mobile XT units -- and is available as a free download to everyone who wants to be berated by an artificial intelligence while hunting down the closest Burger King. Don't say we didn't warn you!
Solve the Defense Grid DLC puzzle: It's for science, she's a monster
Defense Grid's first story-expansion add-on drops for science on Dec. 7. Titled "You Monster," the DLC features Zoey from Left 4 Dead, who has to navigate various traps and -- just kidding. It features Portal's GLaDOS, and if you really want to play this piece of DLC, you'd better learn to not fall for transparent ruses like that one. GLaDOS will laugh at you. And call you fat. And probably kill you. "You Monster" will cost $4.99 on Steam or 400 Microsoft Points on Xbox 360, and contains eight new levels and 35 challenge missions, adding more than 15 hours of content where players will fight off Defense Grid aliens and complete GLaDOS' tests. Or, at least you'll try.
ThinkGeek and Aperture Science do what they must, intro more Portal-themed goods because they can
Been yearning for more Portal 2-inspired goods from ThinkGeek? Fret not, dear test subject, the company's got some products ways that should satiate your desire for Cave Johnson-approved chachkas. Newly up for grabs are a $15 Aperture Science shower curtain, a $35 motion-sensing plush turret and a $40 Cave Johnson talking portrait -- think Billy Bass, but with a Portal twist. ThinkGeek's also announced a $30 Companion Cube cookie jar (the perfect companion for its Portal cookie cutters) and a $30 PotatOS Science Kit, complete with an insult-spewing "talking GLaDOS module." Sadly, the latter duo don't have an official release date just yet, and are merely listed as "coming soon." Of course, like the cake, they could just be lie. For the sake of science, portal past the break to find a press release with more details.
This is your life if GLaDOS had control of your iPhone 4S
In many ways, Aldous Huxley was right -- our entertainment technology has made us a happily complacent species, imprisoned by our own electronic conformity mechanisms. George Orwell was also correct on a few theories of invasive government control. No one was more correct, however, than the great modern philosopher Erik Wolpaw and his overarching theses on Portal theory and lemons. Now, all of these dystopias have merged into one: GLaDOSiri on the iPhone 4S. Apple's Siri system enables natural-language voice control for a myriad of uses on the iPhone 4S, and GLaDOSiri makes all of those so much more masochistic, just the way we like it. If this were a real thing, we'd be all over it like children on Soma.
Proposing with portals: how really romantic gamers pop the question
Unless you proposed from orbit, chances are your marriage request was not nearly as elaborate as Gary Hudston's. And, perhaps outside of 2008's homebrew Bejeweled proposal, no where near as geeky either. Hudston hired a skilled developer to create series of custom levels for Portal 2 that his potential betrothed would have to play through. When it heard about his apparently not so secret project, Valve even helped him secure Ellen McLain, the voice of GLaDOS, to record original audio. You can check out the hilarious and heartwarming video after the break or just play through the levels yourself by downloading them at the source link. Sadly, unless you happen to be the future Mrs. Hudston, you'll be no closer to marrying yourself off after solving its puzzles.
10 secrets GLaDOS didn't tell you in Portal 2
You solved all the normal puzzles in Portal 2, which is good for a human test subject. But you want to be great, don't you? You want to be the best tester at Aperture. You want GLaDOS to love you like your mom never did. Don't you? CVG is here to help with 10 secrets to impress in Portal 2.
Test chamber music, Vol. 2: Another free Portal 2 soundtrack download
Asimov was dead wrong about the robot apocalypse -- as it turns out, our benevolent overlords at Aperture Science are pretty kind, after they've tried to kill us, at least. Valve has released Volume 2 of its Portal 2 soundtrack for free download, much like its predecessor, Volume 1. The second installment of "Songs to Test By" contains 18 new tracks and 14 ringtones for iPhone and Android devices. New songs include "Bring Your Daughter to Work Day," "I AM NOT A MORON" and "PotatOS Lament," and you can now have the orange or blue portal sound as your messaging ringtone. Volume 3 is "coming soon" so turn up your cell phones and get ready to really impress the opposite sex with your nerd-noise machines this summer.
Portable Portal 2 Personality Cores are ready for adventure
We've grown quite attached to the Personality Cores we've met in our jaunts through Aperture Science, and leaving the adorable AIs in the gameworld has always been hard for us. You too? Cheer up! Now you can bring them with you, thanks to robot engineer Chris Myles.
Portal's Chell and GLaDOS get along much better in real life
Chell and GLaDOS may not share much love for each other in the Portal series, but GLaDOS voice actress Ellen McLain (left) and Chell face model Alesia Glidewell (right) certainly seem to get along swimmingly, as evidenced in this photo tweeted by Ashley King.
Portal 2 review: Alternate dimensions
It was a crush. That was the feeling I and others were trying to relate when we'd hurriedly tell others that they had to drop everything and play Portal. It lingered like the memory of a summer camp romance, cut short and all the sweeter for it. So, if you're returning to Portal 2 worried that the reality won't live up to the memories, allow me to dispel that fear right now: Your crush is smarter, funnier, prettier and just plain better than you remember. %Gallery-100196%
