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After Math: Flipping the Switch
Nintendo wasn't the only company this week making headlines about switches. Facebook's poker playing AI turned the tables on some Texas Hold'em pros, Foxconn pulled the old switcheroo on the state of Wisconsin, and Luminar's new LiDAR is poised to turn the autonomous vehicle market on its ear.
Facebook and CMU's poker AI beat five pros at once
Facebook and Carnegie Mellon University have built another artificial intelligence bot that beat some top poker pros. While AI bots have been to best professional players in one-on-one competition, Facebook claims it's the first time a bot has been able to beat top pros in "any major benchmark game" when there's more than one opponent at a time. Pluribus bested professionals in no-limit Texas Hold'em in a couple of different formats: five AI bots and one human, and one bot and five real-life players. The researchers behind Pluribus wrote in a paper published in Science that creating such a multiplayer poker bot "is a recognized AI milestone."
Apple re-released its decade-old iOS 'Texas Hold'em' game
The App Store opened for business 11 years ago this week and to mark the anniversary of its app marketplace, Apple is reviving its old iOS poker game. The redesigned Texas Hold 'em app has a new lease on life with more characters, sharper graphics and gameplay that should prove a bit more of a challenge. It's also now free to play.
Famous poker-playing AI takes down scientists and engineers
Libratus, the poker-playing AI that crushed four world-class pros in January, has put another group of human players to shame. This time, the upgraded variant of the AI known as "Lengpudashi" or "cold poker master" took on World Series veteran Alan Du and a team of engineers, computer scientists and investors. Instead of using pure poker skills to try and defeat Lengpudashi like the first team did, the new players applied what they know about machine learning to their game. Alas, their strategy didn't work, and the AI still won by a landslide after playing 36,000 hands against the team at a resort on China's Hainan island.
How an AI took down four world-class poker pros
"That was anticlimactic," Jason Les said with a smirk, getting up from his seat. Unlike nearly everyone else in Pittsburgh's Rivers Casino, Les had just played his last few hands against an artificially intelligent opponent on a computer screen. After his fellow players -- Daniel McAulay next to him and Jimmy Chou and Dong Kim in an office upstairs -- eventually did the same, they started to commiserate. The consensus: That AI was one hell of a player.
Libratus, the poker-playing AI, destroyed its four human rivals
The Kenny Rogers classic profoundly states that "you've got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em," and for the first time, an AI has out-gambled world-class players at heads-up, no-limit Texas Hold'em. Our representatives of humanity -- Jason Les, Dong Kyu Kim, Daniel McAulay and Jimmy Chou -- kept things relatively tight at the outset but a ill-fated shift in strategy wiped out their gains and forced them to chase the AI for the remaining weeks. At the end of day 20 and after 120,000 hands, Libratus claimed victory with daily total of $206,061 in theoretical chips and an overall pile of $1,766,250.
Two research teams taught their AIs to beat pros at poker
Poker-playing bots aren't exactly new -- just ask anyone who's tried to win a little cash on PokerStars -- but two different groups of researchers are setting their sights a little higher. To no one's surprise, those AI buffs are trying to teach their algorithms how to beat world-class Texas Hold'em players, and they're juuuust about there.
AI program can beat any human in a poker game
A team of software developers and poker researchers from the University of Alberta have developed a program that can completely demolish their fellow humans in a game of Texas Hold 'em. They named the artificial intelligence "Cepheus," and it's so good, the developers say you could play against it your whole life and never win. Even if you win, "it [still] cannot be beaten with statistical significance in a lifetime," according to the paper Science has just published. Well, that is if you're playing the two-player version (which is also the simplest one) called "heads-up limit hold 'em," because poker's apparently an extremely complicated game. The team has been working on developing an AI poker expert for the past ten years, though it only took them two months to "train" Cepheus.
Daily iPhone App: Poker Knight combines poker hands with an RPG
Poker Knight is a game that I was really excited to see coming to the App Store. I'm a big fan of poker, and I'm a big fan of role-playing games, so when that trailer arrived, I was right away looking forward to seeing what this one was like. Unfortunately, it didn't quite live up to my expectations. It's not a bad game, but the original premise of combining poker with an RPG isn't exactly what this is. Instead, it's a game that combines poker hands with an RPG. You wander around a fantasy world fighting monsters and earning XP as usual, but instead of actually playing Texas Hold'em, you're just choosing cards and putting them together into the best hands possible. You can see it in action below -- it's not the best card game ever made, but the graphics do look nice, and as you play it more and more, you do start thinking in that poker mindset of seeing how the cards fit together. There's also a magical amulet mechanic later on that mixes up the gameplay a bit more, but basically this is a matching game with that RPG foundation. It's not bad, and if the game still intrigues you, it's worth the US$1.99 to see how it plays, especially on a newer iPhone or iPad. But unfortunately this isn't exactly the most hardcore poker game around. For that you'll still have to stick to one of the many variants already available on the App Store.
A trio of trailers: Vectrex Regeneration, Baldur's Gate Enhanced and Poker Knight
Well, it happened -- Thanksgiving was last week, Cyber Monday is today and from here on out, we are neck deep in the holiday season. This time of year is particularly busy on the App Store, as various game developers try to get their best products out during the holiday rush, taking advantage of all of those game-hungry users with brand new iDevices. To that end, we've got not one, not two, but three great trailers for upcoming iOS games that we've been waiting for, all ready for you to watch below. Vectrex Regeneration is first -- this is not just a game, but a complete emulator for the old Vectrex video game console. The app includes more than a few old titles (available for in-app purchase, with likely a few freebies to get you interested), and will be out on the App Store later this week. Next up is a new trailer for that Enhanced Edition of Baldur's Gate that we've been expecting on iOS for a while now. As you can see in the video below, this game will be a very faithful (perhaps too faithful?) recreation of the old Baldur's Gate title, except of course that it'll be running on your iPad instead of a computer. Old-school fans will probably love this one, but we'll have to wait and see if it can grab a new audience later on this month. And finally, I haven't heard of Poker Knight until now, but it's piqued my interest big time with the trailer below. The idea looks like a poker game mixed with some fantasy RPG elements, and there's nothing I like better than a genre-crossing puzzle/RPG concoction like that. Poker Knight is due out some time this month as well, so we'll look for it soon. All three of these look great, and they're just a small sampling of what we're in for from the App Store this coming holiday season.
The Daily Grind: Do you like in-game gambling?
Putting aside the thorny issue of lockboxes, let's turn our attention today on the subject of in-game gambling. I've noticed that more and more games are including some form of gambling, usually as minigames. From Fallen Earth's electronic blackjack to Star Trek Online's Dabo wheel, there seems to be no shortage of ways for players to waste double their currency. In-game gambling actually has a long association with computer and video game RPGs. I've never seen it as a legitimate money-maker so much as a pleasant distraction from combat and a tool for immersion. Plus, if the developers actually managed to create a good poker minigame out of it all, then it's like getting two games for the price of one! It might be hard to developers these days to keep microtransactions out of in-game gambling systems, but fortunately that's not a universal problem as of yet. Whether or not real money comes into the equation, do you enjoy gambling in your MMOs? 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!
Google+ gives you a few more reasons to Hangout, put mustaches on things
So you've started a Hangout on Google+ with some pals. Now what? Are you just going to sit around and talk? Thanks to some new additions to the social network, you don't have to rely solely on your conversational skills anymore. The software company announced today the addition of a number of apps to the Facebook competitor, which should make your Hangout time all the more riveting. Now you and a few close friends can play poker and pop culture trivia, add mustaches and glasses to one another, collaboratively doodle and share presentations on the service. Google+ also announced today that it has taken its Hangouts API out of preview, letting developers share the fruit of their work with the rest of the site's fake facial hair-sporting community.
Microsoft comments on lack of new season in Full House Poker
Don't be too worried about the lack of new seasons for Full House Poker, card sharks: Microsoft's just making sure everyone has the time to grab all the Achievements in the game's current phase. That's the news Microsoft Product Manger Daniel McConnell reportedly passed down to XBLAFans, who explained that fans thought the last, 66-day-long season didn't give them enough time to pull down all the sweet, sweet 'cheevos therein. That explains why the current, summer season is on day 119, with no announced stop date. Don't think that Microsoft is just letting the title languish -- McConnell added that the season-based Texas Heat mode "is thriving, and we plan to refresh the Texas Heat season in the future." We, for one, can't wait for the autumn season, when the Texas Heat tops off with highs in the mid 70s, rather than in the skin-dissolving low 110s.
Captain's Log: Incoming messages from the devs... again
Captain's Log, Stardate 65131.6... Hello, computer (and players)! I seem to mention this all the time, but I believe it to be true: The developers working on Star Trek Online are more transparent with their work than the devs of most other games. Whether or not this transparency has been always been a good thing is debatable, though. Still, no matter what one's thoughts on this are, I think we can all agree we like to be "in the know" when it comes to new things in development. This past weekend, a select group of STO players was able to attend another Dine with the Devs event, hosted by yours truly, where transparency was taken to the next level. As I let you all know last week, the second-ever Dine with the STO Devs event coincided with some STO devs' visit to the Star Trek Las Vegas convention. Over 50 players gathered at a local Vegas restaurant to eat, drink and bombard Cryptic's developers with their most burning questions. Because 99.99% of the game's players were unable to attend, I captured the entire event on audio and would like to present you with a basic transcript of the evening's events. So make some food, grab a drink, and get ready to fire up the Holodeck for another edition of Captain's Log. Ensign, warp 10! Auxiliary power to the Holodeck matrices and brace for impact...
TUAW's Daily iPhone App: Zynga Poker
Zynga has gained a reputation as the evil empire lately, and to a certain extent that's true -- a lot of the company's Facebook "games" aren't much more than pyramid scams. But Texas Hold'Em poker is a game that will always have players, and for all of Zynga's drama, their Poker app has been pretty fascinating to me lately. I've been playing on Facebook mostly, but for those times when I'm away from home, the iOS app has served pretty well. It's unfortunately very barebones -- the official Apple Texas Hold'em app is much better in terms of presentation, despite not being updated in quite a few years. But Zynga Poker's big selling point is not only that it shares a bankroll with your Facebook account, but that it's basically instant access, even on a 3G connection, to other online poker players, whenever you want it. The money doesn't really mean anything (and you should be careful -- that means a lot of players just go all-in whenever they can, not worrying about their virtual financial standing), but for a quick and easy multiplayer game of poker, I've had a lot of fun with Zynga Poker lately. You'll need a Facebook account to play the free app, but once you get it up and running, if you're a poker fan, there's a lot of fun to be had.
The Joystiq Indie Pitch: Poker With Bob
Being a giant, beloved video game site has its downsides. For example, we sometimes neglect to give independent developers our coverage love (or loverage, if you will) as we get caught up in AAA, AAAA or the rare quintuple-A titles. To remedy that, we're giving indies the chance to create their own loverage and sell you, the fans, on their studios and products. This week we talk with animator Dustin Adair, founder of Scary Robot Productions about his maiden game: Poker With Bob. How did you or your company get started? I am a character animator for film and television and I've been working in Los Angeles for over a decade now. I've worked on a wide range of projects but when a friend of mine was once viewing my demo reel he commented that I had animated a lot of "scary robots" (Cylons and Terminators, for example). It was then that I decided to name my company after that fact and Scary Robot Productions was born. Poker With Bob is my company's inaugural creation.
Hacker nets two years in jail after pilfering £7 million in virtual poker chips
Crime, it just doesn't pay. Well, actually it does, to the tune of £53,612, but then you get caught and you have to work off that salary with two years at Her Majesty's pleasure. One Ashley Mitchell, an enterprising 29-year old from Devon, England, managed to break into Farmville maker Zynga's mainframe, hijack the identities of two of its staffers, and procure for himself a cool £7 million ($11.4m) in virtual poker chips. He then proceeded to sell about a third of them for the above sum, while consuming a big chunk of the rest in satisfying his own gambling habit. Ashley already had a history of digital malfeasance, having previously hacked into the systems of Torbay Council, his former employer, and is now on the receiving end of a two-year prison term for his current crime plus the activation of a 30-week suspended sentence. There's a warning in this tale of woe for us all, however -- Monsieur Mitchell piggybacked on his neighbors' unsecured WiFi networks in order to do his dastardly deeds. Slap a password on that router, won't you?
TUAW's Daily App: World Series of Poker Hold 'em Legend
While in Las Vegas at CES last week, I didn't have a lot of time to gamble, but I did get to play a few hands of video poker, and that combined with my preview of Full House Poker for the Xbox had me looking for a poker game to scratch the itch when I got back home on Sunday. I poked around the App Store for a few ideas, and while Pokerbot is a nice simulation, this official World Series of Poker app seems like the best version around. It's made by Glu Mobile (the same company behind the great Gun Bros), and it's a solid experience, offering up not just Texas Hold'em, but a persistent career, a nice online multiplayer mode and even Game Center integration with leaderboards and achievements. For a quick game of Hold 'em on the iPhone, it's been perfect for me. The full iPhone app is available for US 99 cents, but if you're not sold, there is a free version with some annoying interstitial ads. And unfortunately, the app's not universal -- the iPad version will set you back $4.99. Still, that's pretty cheap compared to what I'd have ended up losing at the tables in Vegas anyway.
PSA: Poker Night at the Inventory starts Nov. 22
If you even think you want to pick up Telltale's Poker Night at the Inventory, you might as well hedge your bets and pre-order it. The game is out Monday, November 22, at which point you will no longer be able to get the pre-order-exclusive poker visor for your Heavy in Team Fortress 2. Yes, it's a really small, minor thing, but getting a free thing is usually better than not getting a free thing. You can also save 10% off the $4.95 price if you pre-order from Steam before Monday. Of course, once you have the game, you have the opportunity to win several more wacky TF2 items, like Tycho Brahe's watch and a Sam & Max-inspired Freelance Police badge.%Gallery-107880%
Microsoft's Full House Poker rated in Australia
It looks like the super secret beta for Microsoft's next massively multiplayer Xbox Live title is going pretty well -- the Australian classification board recently gave a rating of G (for General!) to Full House Poker. If you'll recall, that's the title of the 1 vs. 100-inspired online card game which Microsoft invited select Gold subscribers to try out earlier this month. It's also the title of our favorite 90s family sitcom, with the word "Poker" appended to the end of it. The game's "G" rating in Australia is a little strange, considering the beta invitations sent out by Microsoft mentioned a Teen rating in the States, thanks to all the 'simulated gambling.' Maybe they don't have much of a problem with fake gambling in Australia? Or maybe they just have, like, really cool, Frank Sinatra-esque kids.
