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A robot kicked my ass in Scrabble at CES
Look, there's plenty of boring industrial robots on the floor of the Las Vegas convention center for CES. But I've got to hand it to the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) -- it really knows how to make a demo fun and interactive. The company combined a number of its technologies into a robot that is able to sit and play Scrabble against a human opponent ... and win.
Ludacris releases new 'Slang N' Friendz' crossword app
If you've ever been disappointed when Words With Friends refused to accept "bae" as a real word, then noted actor, rapper and pun aficionado Ludacris has a new app for you. The wordsmith behind Word of Mouf and Back for the First Time has partnered with filmmaker and startup founder Edwin Benton to create Slang N' Friendz, a remixed Scrabble and Words With Friends app with a much less rigid view of the English language.
Wordrix is a fun puzzle, but a puzzling game
Wordrix is available for iPhone and iPad, optimized for iPhone 5, requiring iOS 6 or later. A kind of Scrabble for the iPhone lover, it is free but features an in-app store where the user can purchase coins to unlock different features (base pack starting at US0.99). This is a fun pastime that will predominately appeal to the casual gamer, but its increasing complexity will also find a niche among experienced and determined gamers. However, there are a number of oddities that may give players of all levels pause. Meant to appeal to lovers of word games and puzzles, Wordrix features 72 levels of increasing and diverse challenges, divided into different chapters. Players must create words by dragging their finger across lettered tiles. Only connecting tiles can be used, and each letter is assigned a particular numerical point value. The player is supposed to score a certain number of points per level, and words should be chosen wisely, as the number of moves per level are limited. In addition to rationing movements, players must also incorporate various challenges into game play, such as using all of the tiles covered by split ink. Wordrix also features "powerups," including the ability to erase a tile (replaced with a new letter), swap any two tiles, and be shown a high-scoring word. Differently colored tiles feature bonuses, such as doubling or tripling the value of a letter or an entire word. Upon the completion of a level, the player will view a screen detailing the points they won, if the time limit had to be reached, and their all-time best word and score. Within 60 seconds I was able to score over 700 points and create a word worth 180 points ("freeze"). Within each level it is possible to win a bronze, silver, or gold trophy depending on how quickly the player wins the necessary number of points and in how many moves. Here, perhaps I could have been a little faster or a little more ingenious with my movements, as I only scored a bronze trophy. Players have the option of viewing each chapter's levels as a whole upon completion. The highest-attained trophy is displayed along with any specifics of the particular level, such as its move limit (shown in the lower right-hand corner) whether it involved inked tiles or was timed. Clicking non each book will show more details, as well as an option to replay the level. The iTunes description said the game was addicting, and that was certainly true! As a lover of words and language, I had to call upon both my extensive mental library and my powers of logic to figure out how to maneuver the highest-scoring words in sometimes very intricate ways. Still, despite the clever idea, attractive graphics, and streamlined interface, there were several issues which left me scratching my head. I did not expect the game to have an Oxford English Dictionary level of linguistic finesse, but some of its word choices puzzled me. For example, two-letter words such as "no," "is," or "on" are not allowed, but what I first assumed were proper names ("Ben," "Tom," and "Lea") were actually extremely obscure words. Another was a form of Japanese currency. This did not really hurt my overall gameplay, but the seeming randomness made the game exceptionally confusing and less fun. A far greater critique is the in-app store. While playing, I could not figure out why some of the powerups were being offered but were unusable. A closer look revealed the store was to purchase coins to use in the game to buy different features (including critical powerups). In fact, it was my lack of further powerups coupled with my unwillingness to shell out almost $3 for fake coins that made me stop the game after level 16. Making players pay good money for fake coins risks alienating players who appreciate the game's ingenuity and challenge, but are not committed enough to buy in-game coins. Overall, Wordirx is a neat little game, a brainteaser for the electronically literate. Its seemingly obscure word choices and its play-crushing requirement to spend real money in exchange for fake (but progression-necessitating) money make it a puzzle in ways I doubt the creator intended.
Scrabble-playing robot learns how to sass its rivals
-- Transcript of staff appraisal for Robot PX31i Hey PX31i, thanks for coming in, please take a seat! So, I wanted to talk to you about your personal development today. No, don't look down, because you're great at moving heavy objects and scaring the visitors, but we're all worried about your work / life balance. Like, at the after-office party, you just sit in a corner, eyeing up the leftover filing and wishing you didn't have to talk to Dave. We think you, you know, could be a little more personable. Like Victor, have you seen Victor? He's a research project to get computers to be more chatty. Victor's amazing, he's even got his own Twitter account. People think they're playing Scrabble with him but actually he's just showing off his impressive range of smack talk. Maybe you could watch the Wall Street Journal video tonight and come back tomorrow with a little more personality? Either that or maybe wear a fruity hat or something. Okay, that's all for now! -- Transcript ends.
Hasbro wants you to add a word to Scrabble's dictionary
At one point or another, all of us have probably argued about a questionable word or three during our Scrabble careers. Hasbro wants to make that easier (or harder, depending on your view) with a contest to add a word to the game's official dictionary. Simply head over to the contest's Facebook page to make a suggestion. Early submissions include "photobomb" and "amazeballs" -- surely you can come up with better by the March 28th deadline. From there, contest officials will put the 16 best words into an elimination bracket, and they'll tally your votes and announce a winner come April 10th. Remember: vote often. After all, you don't want something silly like "dingledorf" to go down as the first player submission, do you? [Image credit: Logan Sakai/Flickr]
Zynga wins in copyright suit against Mattel over Scramble with Friends
Zynga has emerged victorious from a round of battle in the High Court after Mattel claimed Zynga's Scramble With Friends app infringed on the toy maker's trademark for Scrabble. Mattel argued that the app's name was too similar to their classic boardgame, Scrabble, which is known as one of the best ways to turn the action of forming of words into a passive-aggressive, violent affair. Although the judge ruled in favor of Zynga concerning the name dispute, he did side with Mattel concerning the app's logo, stating that it "gives the impression that the word is Scrabble when one looks at it quickly." Mattel spokesperson Alan Hilowitz said the company is "disappointed that the court did not rule that Zynga should cease using the Scramble name, which Mattel intends to appeal." The ruling follows the departure of several Zynga executives, including co-founder Justin Waldron. The company also recently shut down four of its games and the website for Draw Something creator OMGPOP.
Google web search reveals English letter frequency, helps our Scrabble hustle
Wordsmiths go to great lengths to master a game of Scrabble or Words With Friends. Rarely are their efforts quite so calculated, however, as what we're seeing today. After Google research director Peter Norvig used his company's search engine to determine letter frequency in the English language, Deadspin and developer Kyle Rimkus compared it against Scrabble's point system and available words to determine which letters generate the most value relative to how often they can play. In short: H, Y and Z produce the most bang for the alphabetic buck, while J and Q are plagues on the rack that are seldom worth saving for a special moment. We can't guarantee that following the Google-derived tips will have serious opponents begging for mercy -- a wide vocabulary is often the real clincher -- but they may help a few of us wondering what to play on that triple word score.
Scrabble board packs RFID technology, broadcasts tournaments online in real-time, costs 20,000 pounds
Used to be, the Scrabble app was the techiest way to play the venerable vocabulary game, but the folks at Mind Sports have given the analog version some serious geek cred. In preparation for the Prague Mind Sports Festival, the organizers spent £20,000 building a Scrabble board with integrated RGB controlled LED lighting, nine embedded circuit boards and 225 RFID antennas (one per square). Plus, special game pieces were crafted containing RFID tags. Why? Well, the wireless tech combined with some purpose-built software lets tournament organizers broadcast games online in real-time -- the system reads the board in a mere 974 miliseconds. Those wishing to see the ultimate Scrabble system in action can do so when the tournament starts on December 1st, and there's more info in the PR after the break.
Hasbro's Zynga board games now available, paradoxical
Lest you hadn't heard, Hasbro and Zynga recently teamed up to create board game versions of its popular video games. That includes a CityVille-themed version of Monopoly, a weird mash-up of FarmVille and Hungry Hungry Hippos, and Draw Something (the board game mechanics of which should be self-explanatory).Bizarrely, the collection also includes a board game version of Words with Friends. Words with Friends is often cited as being very similar – practically to the point of infringement – to Scrabble, the classic word game published by ... Hasbro. Just to reiterate: this is the board game version of a video game version of a different board game published by a company that should be, in theory, a competitor.Try not to let your head explode.
Words with Friends coming to Facebook
What's the pleasure in absolutely humiliating your friends and family in a battle of verbal wits if you have no way of flaunting your spelling superiority to your other friends and family? Zynga has announced a perfect new channel for you to broadcast your Words with Friends victories: Facebook, which will receive its own version of the Scrabble-like application, complete with the social networking features you've come to expect from the platform. No release date has been announced for the wildly popular mobile title's port, though Kotaku reports that when it does launch, it will be completely compatible with Words with Friends players on iOS and Android smartphones. Personally, we think Facebook players would have a distinct advantage in this scenario, considering they can have the Scrabulizer open with a single, dishonest click.
Four apps to keep the kids busy over holiday vacation
Winter Break is in full force for us here in Denver, with weeks of "How do I entertain my own child without taxpayer supported public schools to do that for me?" looming ahead. If you, like I, believe each child deserves two proper parents (namely public school and television), here are a few suggestions for items you can pick up in the App Store. Apps to play with during the holiday vacation are a great investment. They are cheaper than actual human babysitters, and help develop your child's most meaningful relationships -- i.e. with technology and gaming systems. (Ed: She's kidding here -- we think. But after the link below, you can find four solid family app recommendations to play with the kids over the holiday break.)
New games flood App Store before impending holiday release freeze
The App Store is in constant danger of new release bombardments, sure, but many companies adhere to a regular, weekly bombing run beginning each Wednesday, through the wee hours of the night (UTC), dropping their new iPhone and iPad games on Apple's marketplace while many of us are snoozing. Last night was no exception -- actually, scratch that. It was exceptional! Pending the start of the "iTunes Connect Holiday Shutdown" next Thursday -- a six-day lockout period when developers will be unable to release or update apps, including games -- an army of companies, armed with their big holiday releases (for little iDevices), launched a massive attack on the App Store last night. What began as a few warning shots yesterday grew into a full-on assault, led by Gameloft's crisp clones, NOVA 2 and Shadow Guardian, and Square Enix's surprise (and apparently rushed) port of Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light. Even Sega couldn't resist launching a few more classics in Altered Beast and Sonic Spinball. And what's this ... Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3? Hey, if Street Fighter IV worked ... Pursue our complete list of new release highlights after the break, and then make double-sure "Santa" knows you've been good enough for an iTunes gift card this year.
Suck it, reading: EA's Scrabble is a hit on Kindle
As fervent opponents of books and all they stand for, we're delighted to report the biggest thing on Amazon's Kindle e-book reader isn't a book at all, but rather EA's port of Scrabble, which is topping the paid charts. Hey, books? Just give it up already, OK? You're embarrassing yourselves.
Amazon Kindle gets its first premium app: Scrabble
It's still a long way from a full-fledged app store, but the Amazon Kindle has just taken one step in that direction with its very first premium app: Electronic Arts' Scrabble. That's available right now for $4.99, and it'll work on both the second and third generation Kindle, and both Kindle DX models. It also looks like it's already off to a strong start in terms of sales -- it's currently sitting at number four on the Kindle bestseller list, right behind two Stieg Larsson novels and the latest Oprah book club pick.
TUAW's Daily App: HexaLex
HexaLex is a new title from developer Nathan Gray that offers up an interesting twist on the online Scrabble phenomenon. HexaLex has the same basic rules as most other word games (Words with Friends being probably the most popular iPhone title so far), with one big change: instead of squares, you use hexes to mark out the words. That creates a few interesting gameplay effects, including that you get a "bye" of two nonsense words per turn. If you can use the hexes to spell out multiple words, though, you can build up your score that way, too. Other than that, things aren't too different; you have a number of tiles to choose from, you can shuffle or exchange them as needed, and there's a full online complement to the game, complete with push notifications and nice options to brag or send messages back and forth. Unfortunately, the online service requires an account, which is something that probably would have been an obstacle for me if I was just checking out the game on my own. That's the main issue with a game like this -- if all of your friends are already playing Words with Friends, you'll be hard pressed to get them all to switch. Still, if you're a big wordsmith or if you have a few fellow players who are ready for a new variation on word games, HexaLex is worth a look. You can check the game out for US $2.99.
Andy Bloch at the World Series of Poker with TUAW and his iPad
The other day we showed you a photo of poker pro Andy Bloch with his iPad at the World Series Of Poker (WSOP) in Las Vegas. Little did we know that Andy was going to find and read the post. According to photographer BJ Nemeth, Bloch called him over to say it would be a bit surreal to have a photo taken reading the TUAW post about his iPad on his iPad. BJ mentioned that Andy is playing a lot of Scrabble against other professional poker players, some of whom are at the same tournament although never at the same table. Players can have both iPads and smartphones at the table, but can't use them during a hand. Once they fold their cards, players are free to use their devices. Andy's still alive at the tournament with 21 players remaining, and action resumes today at 3 PM PT to play down to the final table. Final table action takes place tomorrow and is taped by ESPN, which does not allow the use of electronics at the table. Update: Andy was knocked out in 16th place, with winnings of more than $98,000. We're not sure if posting this photo will cause a singularity to develop, threatening the existence of the multiverse, but we're going to give it a try anyway. Thanks to BJ for the photos and to both BJ and Andy for being TUAW fans.
Google to digitally distribute games through web-based app store
[Engadget] Former Joystiqer Ross Miller is currently on the ground for Engadget at Google's annual dev conference "I/O" in San Francisco, where the company just revealed its web-based app store for Chrome and Chrome OS. Aside from a handful of regular ol' apps and an interactive version of Sports Illustrated (paper? what's that?), Google debuted games for purchase, playable in-browser. Plants vs. Zombies and Lego Star Wars are explicitly mentioned in the piece, but we can also spot Bejeweled 2 (also by PopCap), as well as Poker Rivals, Scrabble, FIFA World Cup 2010, and Who Has the Biggest Brain? (all by EA) -- a LucasArts rep clarified for us that the version of Lego Star Wars seen is actually this already available online game. We're not sure how much the games will be going for or even exactly how it'll work just yet, but we'll let you know just as soon as we do (there's a bit more info on the FAQ page). The web store is set to go live for developers "soon," but hasn't been dated for the general public just yet.
iPad apps: games that stand out
Now that we've had a couple days with the iPad, some apps are rising to the top and monopolizing our lounging time. We'll have some more roundups for you in just a little bit, but we thought we'd start off with one of the iPad's most natural talents: gaming. The large screen and hardy processor offer a wild in-between space, much more immersive and "stunning" than a PSP, DS, or iPhone game, but hardly on par with modern laptop or desktop graphics. We haven't leapfrogged any platforms here, it's just an evolution, but it's a pretty fun evolution, complete with multitouch gestures, accelerometer tilts, and cheesy soundtracks pumped out over the iPads surprisingly loud speaker. Of course, these games aren't cheap anymore -- most clock in at $9.99, often with the threat of "introductory pricing" -- so we thought we'd wade through the masses and pluck out some of our favorites as well as a few titles to be wary of. Follow along after the break.
Scrabble for the iPad: stir in some iPhones and it's the best $1,000 you ever spent on a board game
You can't deny, it's pretty metaphysically silly to be playing a board game your parents bought at a yard sale for $2 on a $500+ iPad, in conjunction with two or more $200+ iPhones. Mix in service plans, accessories, the price of the app ($10), and the bribes you'll have to pay your friends to join in on something so embarrassing, and you're really pushing the limits of common sense with Scrabble for the iPad. But we will say this: it is pretty cool. We just paired up a couple iPhones (running the free Tile Rack app) and joined in with the iPad over Bluetooth or WiFi (the app makes it unclear as to which particular wireless tech is doing the honors at the moment, but both work) and in moments we were swiping tiles up to the iPad with the best of them. Surprisingly, it makes a game of scrabble go much faster, since the computer does all those difficult maths for you, but the experience isn't without its shortcomings. If you exit the Scrabble app to the home screen, or accidentally brush the "Menu" button on the iPad app, your game is completely gone. There isn't even a helpful warning like "are you sure you want to end this game you just invested an hour of your life into without even saving or something?" There's also no option to save a game and resume at later date. The app is more forgiving if you drop a connection with your iPhone, or lock the screen on the iPad for a moment, but we'd really appreciate it if EA rounded off some of these rough edges before we chuck the iPad across the room in a Scrabble-induced rage. Check out video playthrough after the break.
Word wars coming to XBLA this year with the release of Quarrel
About a year and a half ago, we wrote about a fascinating title from Denki called Quarrel. The outline for the game tickled our board game-loving fancies -- you lead troops to conquer territories on a small island, building words out of tiles in order to destroy your opponents in a Risk meets Scrabble-esque fashion. We were pumped. We were 'gized. Then we didn't hear anything about the game for a year and a half. Fortunately, the game is still very much alive and kicking, as evidenced by the trailer posted after the jump. As an added bonus, it looks like it'll also feature Avatar support, meaning you'll really be able to soak up the shame on your friends' faces when they come at you with a "C-A-T" or a "R-O-C-K." [Via GamerBytes]
