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Boston Dynamics' Atlas shows off its acrobatic 'gopher' skills
Boston Dynamics showed off more of its Atlas robot's stunning agility and dexterity in a new demo video Wednesday morning. This time, the humanoid machine had to deliver a tool bag to the top of some scaffolding using only its roboparkour powers.
'Forspoken' hands-on: Fun, but frantic
Forspoken is the first title to come from the development team that made Final Fantasy XV – a game that came out in 2016. While we know the magical attacks in Forspoken are spectacular, my one-on-one battle with Sila, the Tanta of Strength, made the biggest impression during my preview session – and the best showcase for all the attacks and moves you’ll be able to master.
Boston Dynamics' robots can parkour better than you
Boston Dynamics' robots are now successfully performing parkour in an obstacle course — let's hope they don't have to chase us.
Boston Dynamics' Atlas robot shows upgraded agility in 'Parkour' video
Just two years ago Boston Dynamics proudly showed off a new generation of its Atlas robot that could take an untethered stroll through the woods, before advancing to balancing on one leg and even landing a backflip.
Google DeepMind AI learns to creatively move around obstacles
Reinforcement learning (RL) is the practice of teaching and guiding behavior by using a reward system. Desirable behavior produces rewards; undesirable behavior does not. It's a common tool used in machine learning, and now the the Alphabet team has used it to teach the DeepMind AI to successfully navigate a parkour course.
'Mirror's Edge Catalyst' is make or break for Faith
Even now, after seven years, Mirror's Edge is a unique and exhilarating parkour thriller. It's littered with flaws -- a paper-thin story, some frustrating level design and unnecessary gunplay -- but the clean, dystopian world and fluid motion still impress. The game didn't sell particularly well, so it was a surprise when EA first announced that it was giving developer DICE another roll at the franchise. Mirror's Edge Catalyst is a complete reboot for Faith, but it could also be the team's last chance to prove the series has a future. If the game can't find a larger audience this time around, it's unlikely that EA will green-light another.
Ubisoft enlists 'Chief Parkour Officer' for Assassin's Creed
To cement its place as the leading purveyor of acrobatic yet physically implausible action games, Ubisoft has hired famed freerunner Michael "Frosti" Zernow as its new Chief Parkour Officer. "Ubisoft's new Chief Parkour Officer will serve in a strategic advisory role, ensuring an ongoing commitment to the authenticity and accuracy of parkour beginning with the October 28 launch of Assassin's Creed: Unity, the next installment of the 76 million unit-selling Assassin's Creed franchise," reads the publisher's official announcement. "He will also advise on ways for the company and its franchise to continue its ongoing advocacy for the sport." Zernow is uniquely qualified for the CPO role, both due to his experience as a coach at California's Tempest Freerunning Academy and his history of working with Ubisoft's motion capture team on stunts for prior Assassin's Creed games. "I've been a long-time fan of the Assassin's Creed franchise, and it's one of the few highly visible examples of parkour that attracts younger athletes to the sport every year," Zernow said. [Image: Ubisoft]
Jet Set Radio and Mirror's Edge had a baby and named it Hover
Hover: Revolt of Gamers is inspired by Jet Set Radio's "crazy and fun" atmosphere, parkour aspects of Mirror's Edge and the sci-fi vibe of Star Wars – so it's no wonder it reached its crowdfunding goal weeks before the deadline. Hover has raised more than $60,000 of a $38,000 goal, with 23 days to go. It's an open-world, futuristic-city freerunner that makes you the leader of a group of Gamers rebelling against the anti-video game laws controlling the city. You're tasked with freeing incarcerated allies, infiltrating government control centers, recovering confiscated gaming consoles and ultimately dethroning the mayor. Hover has nonlinear missions and multiplayer components, and it's in development for PC, Mac, Linux, PS4 and Xbox One, with support for Oculus Rift. Hover comes from three developers at Midgar Studio: Marine Baron, Pierre Raffali and Charles Vesic. "Our goal is to develop innovative games with a gameplay that pushes back the limits of the genre, resting on creative artistic directions," Midgar's Kickstarter bio reads. "It's out of question for our studio to restrict itself to a specific register. Our goal is to revisit the entire genre, dusting off some, hijacking others and creating totally new, still-unseen concepts." [Images: Midgar Studio]
More Black Desert beta vids, this time with parkour
As we reported earlier this week, Korean fantasy sandbox Black Desert has gone into beta. Steparu has published part one of an extensive preview including both a hands-on article and a series of lengthy high definition gameplay videos. The clips show everything from combat and group play to exploration and dungeoneering. There's also an extensive look at the game's climbing and movement system. Steparu says that "it's not exactly Assassin's Creed style, but it does come close to it." See for yourself via the embeds after the break.
Real-life Mirror's Edge parkour isn't new Mirror's Edge, really
Many of us at Joystiq were excited by the long-awaited announcement of the Mirror's Edge next-gen reboot, as was UK parkour production house Ampisound, who put together this hugely impressive head-cam vid of Neil Cointet leaping about the rooftops of Cambridge. We also reacted to the news by skipping across incredibly narrow ledges a mere 60 feet away from our certain deaths, but sadly we forgot to record any video of it. Sorry!
PAX Prime 2013: The strange case for EverQuest Next Landmark
It's early on the first day of PAX Prime and I haven't had my coffee yet. The coffee is necessary to catch me up to the boundless enthusiasm of the ponytailed dev who sits across from me gesticulating wildly. With each wave of the hand a new image pops on the large monitor to the right of us, showing off another captivating snapshot of a fantasy world and its potential inhabitants. It's one thing to watch Dave Georgeson be giddy about EverQuest Next and its slightly-more-sandbox-than-thou EverQuest Next Landmark from afar. It's another thing to be close enough that his hand gestures threaten my full cup of joe. And either near or far, it's hard not to ride the wave of enthusiasm to the shores of hype, hopes, and dreams. Georgeson and company are strongly pushing EverQuest Next Landmark these days, possibly because it's coming out in a couple of months and possibly because it's a strange game to explain to players. Just what is it? Sandbox? MMO? Real estate simulator? Parkour paradise? Capitalistic haven for up-and-coming designers? According to him, it's all of the above and then some.
SOE Live 2013: EverQuest Next explained
With that pesky SOE Live embargo out of the way, we can finally stop speculating and start talking about EverQuest Next! And if you're a sandbox fan, you're going to love it because when SOE declared last year that it was doing something really, truly different with EQ Next, it wasn't kidding. EQ Next is set in the realm of Norrath, but this is a rebooted version of those lands. Veteran players will find familiar places and names in the lore and setting, but they won't have a monopoly on the knowledge of this world; players new to the franchise can be equally comfortable because everyone is discovering this new world at the same time. On two separate occasions over the last few weeks, I got to sit down with Franchise Director Dave Georgeson to learn even more details about the game in preparation for today's SOE Live reveal. Want to see what all the fuss is about? Then join me for a tour through some of the key aspects and features of the upcoming sandbox.%Gallery-195288%
RHex robot uses leaping ability to do 'Parkour' (video)
It's easy for a robot to perform in a sterile lab environment, but only a select few devices -- like Boston Dynamics notorious AlphaDog -- have proven themselves in the wild. However, the University of Pennsylvania's X-RHex Lite has also made that leap, as it were, and a new video shows just how talented it's become. In it, the droid puts all of its running, jumping and grabbing talents together to perform flips, chin-ups and even Parkour-like moves over campus obstacles. The researchers hope it'll perform rescue missions or research in tough environments one day, but until then, gaze in awe at the video after the break.
The Art of Wushu: Exploring China with true parkour
I'm a bit spoiled by Age of Wushu's flying skills. Parkour in Wushu is one of the most satisfying things in any game, as heroes can truly go anywhere and do anything. When I was first playing the game in beta and was unsure about everything else, I said with certainty, "Any game with airdashes can't be bad." As it turns out, the parkour in Age of Wushu stands head and shoulders above the travel in any other game. Other games have jumping puzzles that are awkward, and some games have flight or other Z-axis travel that allows players to freely go wherever they like. In Wushu, it takes effort to get to hard-to-reach places, but the feeling you get when you climb the highest heights and explore places no one else might ever see is truly satisfying.
This Halo 4 trick jumping video is everywhere at once
Most think of Halo 4 purely as a shooter, but this "trick jumping" video might turn your world upside down. The video comes from Jumprs.org forums user ReiKo, who recently recorded a number of baffling ways to traverse the game's environments and land on previously-unreachable spots."I just wanted to create a video that showcased some cool jumps in a video that I hope everyone can at least enjoy as 'something to watch,'" the video's creator wrote. "If you enjoy it, I will be very humbled." We're pretty sure some of the jumps here are what we'd call humbling.
Assassin's Creed 3 parkour brings fan-made frolics to the frontier
After conquering the urban jungle, free-runner Ronnie Shalvis steps through time to bring his brand of parkour to the colonies, a la Assassin's Creed 3. As before, the accomplished flips and jumps impress as much they make you wonder if a direct route is sometimes better advised.
Black Desert Facebook page hints at parkour system
Black Desert is rapidly approaching too-good-to-be-true territory, at least for this sandbox-starved gamer. While there are still a ton of unanswered questions regarding the newly announced Korean import, we have seen some spectacular visuals and an interesting twist on player housing. Today the Pearl Abyss Facebook page has updated with a look at the game's parkour system. Steparu.com reports that players will be able to "run up on walls, jump on obstacles, climb balconies, and stuff." There's no video as of yet, but there is a screenshot montage that shows a free-runner vaulting over ground-based obstructions and climbing onto a balcony.
Assassin's Creed parkour in real-life parks, city centers
Major cities in the United States suffer from a severe shortage of hay piles, but free-runner Ronnie Shalvis still makes an impressive Altair as he parkours around a concrete jungle. If you're a fan of peeking behind the curtain, there's also a making-of video right here.
Hume: the bipedal 'Parkour' robot (video)
A future threatened by wild robotic rottweilers with no humanoid dog-walkers to keep them in check? That must not happen. Fortunately, we'll have a fleet-footed droid named "Hume" to keep us safe: he's the work of engineers at Meka Robotics and the University of Texas at Austin, who want to be the first to build a bipedal robot with Parkour skills, aka rough terrain free-running or "Human-Centered Hyper-Agility". Sure, they still have some way to go, but watch the video after the break, then imagine it without the wobbly coat stand, and then re-imagine it from the POV of an angry pup.
ArcheAge parkour video shows off city architecture
It's been a while since we've seen an ArcheAge video, and AAportal has come through with an interesting clip that was recorded during the closed beta test at the end of May. The three-minute jaunt is heavy on urban exploration -- or what passes for urban in a fantasy context -- and the protagonist engages in a bit of free-running to see the sights in and around one of the fantasy title's huge cities. There's a bit of lag on display, as well as a lack of real danger given that the player character walks away from several high falls, but the clip is worth watching due to ArcheAge's gorgeous architecture. Check it out after the cut, then head to AAportal to join the discussion.
