NetHack
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Facebook wants an AI that can beat the 'hardest game in the world'
Facebook is asking for the AI community’s help in bringing low NetHack — one of the most notoriously difficult titles in gaming history — and maybe help computers learn to simulate instances faster using fewer resources.
The Game Archaeologist: A brief history of roguelikes
As with adventure games, it appears as though the mobile market has triggered a resurgence in the popularity of roguelikes with both developers and players. I've been stumbling over them left and right for a while now (I'm quite fond of FTL, which takes the roguelike into space), and every time I can't help but think of how this genre is almost the antithesis of an MMO. Instead of persistent worlds rich in lore, roguelikes favor randomized dungeon crawls with little or no story. Instead of immortal characters that grow with a player over months and years, roguelikes feature permadeath around every corner. Yet there's love for both in many gamers' hearts and perhaps even a few similarities that help to transcend differences. I find roguelikes fascinating because they are so hardcore, they yank me out of my comfy little leveling bubble, and they force me to use my brains for something more than figuring out whether it's time to use the "2" key once more. So what the heck, let's take a quick trip through roguelikes this week and see where -- if at all -- they connect with MMOs.
The Game Archaeologist traces his Lineage: The highlights
If we judged MMOs by their numbers alone -- and I'm not suggesting we do so -- then Lineage would be the crowing rooster strutting about the hen house. It's also been one of those games that I've always intellectually acknowledged was a huge hit for some reason, but I never gave it much attention. I think it's because, contrary to many of the "big name" games we cover here, Lineage was and always will be an Asian phenomenon. That doesn't mean it should be shunned, of course, but just that it may be difficult to understand when you're on the outside of it. So let's back up the memory truck to September 1998, when a then-fledgling NCsoft rolled out a Diablo-esque isometric MMO and struck virtual gold in South Korea. At the time, gaming rooms were becoming a huge thing in the country; a recession had hit (giving people a lot of time with nothing to do), and the government was rapidly expanding the broadband network. In the face of this perfect storm, titles like StarCraft and Lineage became overnight household fixtures -- and the country hasn't looked back. Even if you haven't played Lineage and you don't know anyone who does, trust me: There are a lot of people playing this 13-year-old title, to the tune of millions and millions. As former Senior Producer Chris Mahnken said, "Lineage keeps going because it's just plain fun." This month we'll be looking back at the incredible legacy that Lineage has given the industry, starting with an overview of the highlights of these past 13 years. Hit the jump and mind the gap!
WoW Insider Show: The 50th episode
It was our 50th show this past week on the WoW Insider Show, so you'll have to forgive us for doing a little more backpatting than usual -- we promise that next week we'll be back to form for sure. But in the second half of the show, we did get down to talking WoW business, and the results are now posted online for your listening pleasure. When we weren't looking back at our favorite moments in the show's history so far (and giving away stuff to people who tuned in live), we also hit on: A live version of Ask a Beta Tester, where we answered listeners' questions about the Wrath beta in real time, including how professions work with Death Knights, what we're not so excited about in the beta, and whether there are any grind quests to be found. We devoted some time to discussing the Vicarious incident, and why it's wrong (or, in Adam's view, right) to give a Legendary ranged bow to a Rogue. And we answered emails about Hero classes and the possibility of another expansion announced at BlizzCon, as well as the fact that I dinged 70 last week, and the terrific Nethack, supposedly the first game with Achievements in it. Lots of fun stuff in the show. If you have questions or concerns to share with us, please do so by sending an email along to theshow@wow.com, and you might even hear it on next week's show. And as always stay tuned to WoW Radio on Saturday afternoons at 3:30pm Eastern to hear the show live, or hit us up on iTunes to download each show automatically. Until next time, have a great week.
Roguelike updates remind us to play roguelikes
Are you one of the four roguelike fans out there? If so, and if you also can't wait for Mysterious Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer's February release, why not play NetHackDS or Powder -- two recently-updated homebrew dungeon crawler ports -- in the meantime? While NetHackDS has the edge in terms of "graphics" and name recognition, Powder has the advantage of being immediately playable in an emulator, so even if you don't have a flashcart, you can still enjoy the addictive game ... if you consider dying a dozen times while trying to figure out how to live longer than five minutes enjoyable.See also: Nethack your DSRead - NetHackDS 1.12CRead - Powder 094
Nethack your DS
John Harris's outstanding, exhaustive GameSetWatch column, @Play, focuses this week on the topic of homebrew roguelikes for the DS. There are a few roguelikes available in retail format -- the Pokemon Mystery Dungeons, Izuna, and, soon, Shiren the Wanderer -- but those are all examples of the "Mysterious Dungeon" subgenre, and also cost money, which these homebrew versions do not (barring the initial outlay required to run homebrew.) And these games are the good kind of free, not the 'five-finger-discount' kind.Not only does Harris provide a guide to different roguelike games for the DS, he kindly offers a guide to getting them on there. If you're a roguelike player, you may not be familiar with the concept of making things easier for yourself, but you may be able to adapt.
iPhone MAME project launched
I'm pretty sure that, with this link, we've hit all the basic retrogaming points for the iPhone (wait-- can I play Nethack on it yet?). Yes, iphone-sdl-mame aims to bring all of your MAME favorites to Apple's latest endeavor. Like all of the other projects we've covered, it's open source, unofficial (duh), and a work in progress. From the text, kaisersoze (who's heading up this go) says PacMan and Q*Bert will run, but other games are too slow to be playable at the moment. And there's no word on whether control of anything is working yet or not.So it's a super early build-- all there is at the moment is just a few files in the subversion repository, so if you're looking to just install a file and get rolling, not so fast. But as with all of these open source iPhone hacks, attention seems to equal progress, so there you go. Hopefully, now that the word's out, playing Galaga at full speed on the iPhone is just around the corner.Oh and if you don't have an iPhone yet, worry not-- MacMAME's got you covered.[ via Waxy ]
New video from Chocobo's Dungeon Wii
Gaming site JeuxFrance recently got their hands on a teaser video from the Wii-bound Chocobo's Dungeon: Labyrinth of Forgotten Time. The roguelike dungeon crawler is packed with our feathery friends from the Final Fantasy series and looks as if it will continue the same game style as the PlayStation titles. Among the obligatory cut-scene-laden clips are a few seconds of gameplay, but no hint regarding Wii remote functionality. The video also raises an important question: "How many different ways can the chocobo theme be remixed before it gets old?".
Nethack: The Best Game on your Mac
It has spawned numerous websites, user groups, mailing lists and Usenet topics. It has been around for decades and yet it still has uncounted adherents. It is, perhaps, the best game you can install on your Macintosh. It is Nethack. Nethack is a first player adventure game. You enter its dungeons searching for treasure and fighting off monsters like trolls, and dragons, and newts as you become embroiled in various quests depending on the type of character you play: elf, ranger, knight and so forth. Sure, it has crappy ASCII graphics and a learning curve that is, to say the least, steep--at least for the purists who play it in Terminal. (There is also a Carbon version available, but it somehow fails to match up to the good old ASCII style with its intricate character-based commands.) Playing Nethack can take minutes, days, or when you start getting good at it, months. Many Nethack players have been doing so for decades because it's that good a game with that level of intricacy, humor and detail. So if you've had it with Bejeweled and Chess and those Big Bang Board Games, consider investing a few hours or days into learning Nethack with its long term entertainment payoff.
