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'#WarGames' is the 'Rosemary's Baby' of interactive cinema
The line between film and video game is blurring. Much of this has to do with the shifting ways we consume media: Our screens are smaller, more personal and imbued with interactivity. They're meant to be tapped, swiped, clicked and pinched, and we expect the images under the glass to respond to every prod. We're pulling these screens closer and closer to our bodies, teaching them to respond to physiological output and unconscious gestures until eventually, they'll simply be a part of our anatomy. Everything will be interactive.
Interactive '#WarGames' series goes live on March 14th
#WarGames is a new interactive series from Eko and Her Story creator Sam Barlow, and it's set to hit Steam, Vudu.com, HelloEko.com and the Eko iOS app on March 14th. #WarGames is a fresh take on the 1983 film of the same name -- minus the hashtag, of course.
'Her Story' creator's new series is based on '80s classic 'WarGames'
Back in 2015, Sam Barlow released the indie game Her Story, which was critically lauded for its non-linear storytelling. Today, interactive entertainment company Eko announced his next experience: #WarGames, a series coming early next year that brings the classic 80s story about technology gone amok into the hacking age.
EU holds first cyber wargame to test its response
The past couple years have seen a growing amount of foreign interference in elections, both in the US and in Europe. The European Union's defense ministers held a cyber wargame to test their response to coordinated physical and social media attacks. Given the unrest stirred up by misinformation campaigns and hacking efforts, the time is ripe to prepare against such simultaneous warfare.
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.
'WarGames' reboot will let you choose your own adventure
It's been more than 30 years since Matthew Broderick, Ally Sheedy and a WOPR supercomputer named Joshua came close to triggering World War III in the hacker movie WarGames. The phrase "Shall we play a game?" still resonates with people today, but it may soon find a new audience after MGM, which owns the rights to the cult film, announced it's getting a modern reboot. The studio has teamed up with interactive video company Interlude to create an "original interactive short drama," turning WarGames into a Choose Your Own Adventure (CYOA) video with brand new characters and storyline.
DARPA's Cyber Grand Challenge pits bot security systems against each other
It sounds like the seeds of a end-of-days sci-fi hit, but DARPA knows what it's doing, right? It's establishing the first-ever tournament for automated network defenses, in which systems would compete against each other to test vulnerabilities, make security patches, and generally wage digital war on each other. The aim of its Cyber Grand Challenge is to "vastly improve" the effectiveness and speed of DARPA's own IT security, in a digital world rife with what it says are "escalating cyber threats." Dan Kaufman, director of DARPA's Information Innovation Office which organized the Challenge, said: "The trends we've seen in cyber attacks and malware point to a future where automation must be developed to assist IT security analysts." The competition will involve a qualifying stage, where the team would have to pass a series of software challenges, followed by a final event, planned for mid-2016. It could be worth the wait for competitors -- the winners will net $2 million, while second and third place will receive $1 million and $750,000 respectively.
Blizzard takes a stand against pre-made battleground groups
Blizzard Community Manager Daxxarri has been very active in the past 24 hours in a topic on the patch 5.1 changes to battleground queues. He's been responding to criticism of these changes, and, at the same time, being characteristically forthright on the issue of pre-mades. Quote: if you break it down, what does a full oQueue premade bring to the table that is unfair? I'll try to break it down as clearly as I can: Any addon that enables a full, organized Battleground group to queue against a randomly assembled group is creating a scenario where that coordinated group has a huge advantage. That is not in the spirit of the experience we want to provide in the normal Battleground queue. Playing with friends is fun and important, but it shouldn't come at the expense of the spirit of the game nor the fun of others. The normal Battleground queue is for players to jump in and play against other players in a similar situation. We realize that it's not a perfect system, and we're still looking at ways to improve normal Battleground queues further. Regardless, it's not meant for organized groups to "pug stomp" and get quick Honor. We have built in outlets for players that want to organize--if a competitive, social experience was really the goal, then there are clear ways to achieve that. The ultimate effect that this kind of queuing has had is to drive players away from PvP. Perhaps it's been a long time since you've been in a random group, but a lot of players will see that they're up against a premade and simply quit. At best, they suffer through it. To an extent premade groups count on this. Heck, one of the popular addons announces opposing players that appear to have rage quit. Addons aren't really a viable solution for botting issues, but we do take those issues seriously and we'll continue our work on improvements to the Battleground system, including better ways to deal with botting and other exploitative gameplay. source
Must See HDTV (August 20th - 26th)
Welcome to the summer doldrums between the Olympics, and later in the fall when new shows premiere and the box office hits get their home releases. There are a few things to keep an eye out for with some premieres and finales, plus a series of Disney combo packs on Blu-ray. Look below for the highlights this week, followed after the break by our weekly listing of what to look out for in TV, Blu-ray and videogames. WarGames The 1983 hit starring Matthew Broderick as a young hacker who takes the US to the brink of World War III is finally here on Blu-ray. Judging by the descriptions we're not seeing a lot in the way of extras above and beyond the 2008 25th Anniversary release on DVD, but we'll take what we can get and hey, it's currently on sale for less than $13. ($12.86 on Amazon) The Newsroom Already renewed for a second season, Aaron Sorkin's drama about the daily life of a fictional cable news channel wraps up season one this week. Whether you think the show's style is smug and self serving or witty and sophisticated, there's at least been plenty of time in the ten episodes to make up your mind. Reportedly internet trolling will play a big part in the season finale, not that we'd at all be familiar with that phenomenon. (August 26th, HBO, 10PM) The Inbetweeners Since Skins did so well in its transition from the UK to the US, MTV is apparently trying again with The Inbetweeners. A series focused on a group of high school boys making the transition to adulthood, it seems hard to see this following the path of The Office and not other ill fated shows. Of course, the US version of Being Human wasn't all bad, so maybe there's a chance? (August 20th, MTV, 10:30PM)
EEG headware probes your neurons, shows interrogators your cranial contact list
You might pride yourself on your poker face, but there would be no way to hide from a skull-probing EEG helmet being developed by Veritas Scientific. The device takes advantage of a well-known medical response called P300, which causes your brain's voltage to drop a split-second after you put a name to a face or object. Simply by showing you a slideshow of different images, interrogators could tell whether or not you recognize a particular individual -- or maybe that LTE-connected railgun hidden in your trunk. The company is pursuing military contracts and hopes to have a prototype ready in time for this year's war game exercises, but meanwhile you might want to start thinking of a way to install that tinfoil hat inside your skull.
Researcher finds vulnerability in WPS protocol, looks for manufacturers to offer fix
On the plus side, your router's mostly secure. Security researcher Stefan Viehbock has just discovered a major security hole which allowed him to use a brute force technique to access a WPS PIN-protected network in about two hours. According to Viehbock, a design flaw allows the WPS protocol's 8-digit PIN security to fall dramatically as additional attempts are made. With each attempt, the router will send a message stating whether the first four digits are correct while the last digit of the key is used as a checksum and then given out by the router in negotiation. As a result, the 100,000,000 possibilities that the WPS should represent becomes roughly to 11,000. The US-CERT has picked up on this and advised users to disable WPS on their routers. Viehbock, in turn, claims to have attempted to discuss the vulnerability with hardware vendors such as Buffalo, D-Link, Linksys, and Netgear, but says he has been roundly ignored and that no public acknowledgement of the issue has been released. As a possible final step, Viehbock has promised to release a brute force tool soon, thereby pushing the manufacturers to work to resolve the issue. In other news, that evil supercomputer from the movie War Games just got a few more digits of the nuclear launch codes -- maybe one of Stefan's pals can look into that one.
Report: King of Kong director bringing back WarGames
Guys, we're just gonna be honest -- we kinda really love the MGM hacking classic, WarGames. Alongside Sneakers, it's right up there at the top of our list of best films about computers. And apparently it's getting a reboot from King of Kong director Seth Gordon. Gordon took a break from documentaries since his 2010 adaptation of NYT bestseller Freakonomics, most recently directing a handful of NBC sitcoms (The Office, Community) and a feature film, Horrible Bosses. He's currently working on two other films, and his IMDB page has yet to even note the supposed reboot in his list of work. Deadline claims to have gotten exclusive news about said reboot, though unfortunately few details are provided beyond the director and production studio. Lacking details aside, we're taking a wild guess that there'll be at least one joke referencing thermonuclear war.
War Games FAQ
Blizzard has had the War Games mechanic enabled since Arena Season 9 started on December 15th, 2010. It allows your group to challenge another group of players in either battleground or arena combat. Today, Blizzard has provided an FAQ today on the War Games mechanics, which we've got for you below. You can access the War Games mechanic in-game by typing /wg or /wargame. The full blue post after the break.
The Game Archaeologist goes to Earth & Beyond: The vet
Space: the final frontier... except for 4chan, which is a lot scarier to explore. These are the voyages of the Starship Massively. Its five-year mission: to explore strange, new worlds; to seek out new life and blow it out of the sky; to boldly exploit trade routes like no one has done before! Erp, better stop there before I begin infringing on the Captain's Log's territory! In any event, we at The Game Archaeologist Institute for Fuzzy Nostalgia continue to forge ahead with the Earth & Beyond dig, carefully dusting off memories and screenshots to preserve in a blog-shaped museum. It's one thing to talk of a game, but another to speak with one who was there at the time, so I went on a hunt through the dark recesses of the internet to find seasoned Earth & Beyonders. This search took me about two minutes before one of my associates practically opened the floodgates of fanboy gushing to drown me in his enthusiasm for this title. One interview, hundreds of screenshots and an Electronic Arts dev bible later, and we at the institute knew that we hit the motherlode. Join us for a civilized discussion with an Earth & Beyond vet as he shares with us crumpets and recollections.
Operation Cyber Storm III underway, makes digital certificates cool again
Fans of cyberwarfare (which we are, if only because we like to imagine that it looks like Battlezone) take note: following hot on the heels previous Cyber Storm I and II and Cyber ShockWave wargames, the Department of Homeland Security is sponsoring a little something called Cyber Storm III. Starting yesterday, the three-day exercise simulates more than 1,500 different types of attack, with a special emphasis on identities, trust relationships, and digital certificates. As Brett Lambo, director of Homeland Security's Cyber Exercise Program, told AFP, "we're kind of using the Internet to attack itself. At a certain point the operation of the Internet is reliant on trust -- knowing where you're going is where you're supposed to be." The exercise will test the National Cyber Incident Response Plan as well as the new National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center. But you can breathe easily: the operation is focusing on defense, not offense (for now).
First Impressions: World of Tanks
World of Tanks is one of those games in which you have to wonder how large the target audience is. An MMO revolving around tank combat seems like it would only appeal to hardcore WWII enthusiasts or military hardware geeks. Aesthetically, the tank theme might not appeal to everyone. However, WoT is remarkably easy to get into and enjoy, even if you have no idea what PzKpfw stands for. At this juncture, I would hesitate to call World of Tanks a true MMO. Wargaming.net is focusing on the gameplay elements for the closed beta, so Westerners have yet to experience the clan war political system that will be in the final release of the game. I'll be honest, though -- I don't really mind. The game is that fun to play all on its own. %Gallery-96260%
The Engadget Show - 009: Kevin Lynch, editor Q&A, AT&T GNOC tour, Sprint EVO 4G
Greetings people of Earth. The Engadget Show is back in a big way with this latest episode! First, Josh sits down with Adobe CTO Kevin Lynch to tackle a handful of thorny questions, from Flash vs. HTML5, to the smartphone revolution and his company's relationship with Apple. Then Josh, Paul, and Nilay welcome editors Chris Ziegler and Laura June for a special editor's Q&A, answering all your burning questions about news, culture, and what it's like to write for Engadget. We've also got a tour of AT&T's Global Network Operations Center (GNOC), which is essentially a war-room for networks that has to be seen to be believed. All that, and music from minusbaby and visuals from noteNdo. Okay that's enough reading... time to watch! Hosts: Joshua Topolsky, Paul Miller, Nilay Patel Special guests: Kevin Lynch, Chris Ziegler, Laura June Produced and Directed by: Chad Mumm Executive Producer: Joshua Fruhlinger Edited by: Glenn Gapultos Music by: minusbaby Visuals by: noteNdo Opening titles by: Julien Nantiec Download the Show: The Engadget Show - 009 (HD) / The Engadget Show - 009 (iPod / iPhone / Zune formatted) Subscribe to the Show: [iTunes] Subscribe to the Show directly in iTunes (M4V). [Zune] Subscribe to the Show directly in the Zune Marketplace (M4V). [RSS M4V] Add the Engadget Show feed (M4V) to your RSS aggregator and have it delivered automatically. %Gallery-93618%
WarGames 'Shall we play a game?' computer for sale; credit cards at DEFCON 1 (video)
You know what sells? Nostalgia. And while you might be from the Kin generation, you have undoubtedly heard the W.O.P.R. supercomputer utter the text-to-speech phrase, "Shall we play a game?" from the speaker resting atop David Lightman's IMSAI 8080. The 1983 film WarGames is the stuff of nerd legend, of geek folklore; a 1200 baud, acoustically-coupled, wardialing catalyst in a Hollywood blockbuster that gave phreakers mainstream cred and a real chance at Ally Sheedy. Appraised at $25,000, the perfectly preserved IMSAI 8080 and its associated peripherals will go sale to the general public soon. So embrace it, buy it, and then hand over your icon of computing to the Smithsonian where it can be admired for generations. See the 8080 after the break with a gratuitous WarGames trailer tossed in just for fun.
Print your own copy of the unofficial Advance Wars board game
This is one of those cases where we really want to share something magical with you, but fear the tremendous weight the Joystiq Biomass carries will crush the life out of the magical thing in question. Still, though we don't want to bring Nintendo's attention to this, we couldn't not share this incredible, homemade Advance Wars board game with you -- especially since you can print out all the assets and start playing it with your fellow tabletop enthusiasts immediately. The name of the game is actually Skirmish Wars: Advance Tactics, but considering all of the art assets were straight yoinked from Intelligent Systems' series of turn-based strategy games, we don't actually think they're fooling anybody. Seriously, board game fiends -- grab this one while it's still grabbable. [Via GoNintendo]
World of Tanks rolls onto the MMO battlefield
Who needs a human avatar when you can just roll around in a tank all day? That's the idea behind World of Tanks, a new MMO wargame simulation that's putting players behind the pedals of over 130 tanks in World War II. While the game has just been announced, their website is already featuring a swath of in-game screenshots and their first contest -- design your own tank motto. Players can submit mottos for the tanks at large, or for specific models. If their motto is chosen, they'll win an unspecified gift from the World of Tanks crew. The game appears to be another hybrid title, meshing a tank simulation with an RPG, as you can upgrade and modify your tanks to your heart's desire. Up to 60 players can roll across an instance at once, and the game will feature a territory control system that sounds like Global Agenda's conquest mode. For all of your tank information, check out the game's main website. Also, because no post on tanks isn't complete without a bad pun, "Tanks for reading Massively.com."
