TechRadar: EVE Online players are creating the first ‘AI empire’ guided by Chat GPT-4

TechRadar: EVE Online players are creating the first ‘AI empire’ guided by Chat GPT-4. “Just when you thought the sci-fi sandbox MMO couldn’t get more interesting after EVE Online was rocked to the core by a single player, pilots joined forces to create the Neural Nexus, an AI-led player corporation. This decision was made with a clear goal in mind. Firstly, it will reduce the reliance on a single leader as AI will now be available to all the corporation players at any time of the day. It also means that the AI leader will keep a clear and consistent vision for what the corporation should be, as well as give new dynamic role-playing opportunities for its members.”

Ars Technica: DOS_deck offers free, all-timer DOS games in a browser, with controller support

Ars Technica: DOS_deck offers free, all-timer DOS games in a browser, with controller support. “DOS_deck [provides] the most frictionless path to playing classic DOS shareware and abandonware, like Doom, Jazz Jackrabbit, Command & Conquer, and Syndicate, with reconfigured controller support and a simplified interface benevolently looted from the Steam Deck. You can play it in a browser, right now, the one you’re using to read this post.” It looks like only the Android table is available for the Epic Pinball game. Just in case you try to play the Excalibur table a couple times before you figure it out. >cough

Ars Technica: GameMaker throws shade at Unity, makes its 2D engine free or $100 for most

Ars Technica: GameMaker throws shade at Unity, makes its 2D engine free or $100 for most. “If you’re making a game with GameMaker for release on consoles, you have to pay for an ongoing $80-per-month Enterprise package. If you’re trying to sell a game on other platforms (PC, mobile, browser), there’s a one-time $100 fee. If you’re just messing about or making something that’s not for sale, it’s free. And GameMaker’s asset bundles are free now, too. And some existing subscribers might now get a free commercial license. There is, notably, no mention of ‘run-time’ or per-install fees.”

GitHub: Awesome Engineering Games

On GitHub, discovered via Boing Boing: Awesome Engineering Games. “A curated list of some of the best engineering games on PC. All titles are rated Very Positive or higher on Steam. Games are divided into broad categories based on the type(s) of engineering they’re most related to, such as civil engineering & city-building, transportation & route-building, computer science & electrical engineering, etc. See the Table of Contents for a full breakdown of categories.”

Ars Technica: Infocom’s ingenious code-porting tools for Zork and other games have been found

Ars Technica: Infocom’s ingenious code-porting tools for Zork and other games have been found. “The source code for many of Infocom’s foundational text-parsing adventure games, including Zork, has been available since 2019. But that code doesn’t do anything for modern computers, nor even computers of the era, when it comes to actually running the games. Most of Infocom’s games were written in ‘Zork Implementation Language,’ which was native to no particular platform or processor, but ready to be interpreted on all kinds of systems by versions of its Z-Machine.”

Ars Technica: Make It Real” AI prototype wows devs by turning drawings into working software

Ars Technica: “Make It Real” AI prototype wows devs by turning drawings into working software. “On Wednesday, a collaborative whiteboard app maker called ‘tldraw’ made waves online by releasing a prototype of a feature called ‘Make it Real’ that lets users draw an image of software and bring it to life using AI. The feature uses OpenAI’s GPT-4V API to visually interpret a vector drawing into functioning Tailwind CSS and JavaScript web code that can replicate user interfaces or even create simple implementations of games like Breakout.”

Lunduke: How to play the first text adventure game… in style.

Lunduke: How to play the first text adventure game… in style.. “The very first major text adventure game, Colossal Cave Adventure, is 47 years old this year. And the 3D re-make (by the legendary Ken and Roberta Williams, founders of Sierra) has been released (allowing you to explore the cave in Virtual Reality). So, let’s take a few moments to enjoy the original classic… with a little help. Wether you are new to Colossal Cave Adventure (often simply called ‘adventure’ or ‘ADVENT’), or have simply not played it in some time, below you will find everything you need to experience the game in the most ultimate way possible.”

Ars Technica: Dev sets up “goatse” trap for sites that steal his free web game

Ars Technica: Dev sets up “goatse” trap for sites that steal his free web game. “Here at Ars, we’ve seen time and again how simple web and/or mobile games can be cloned or outright stolen by unscrupulous developers aiming to cash in on someone else’s game concept. But developer Josh Simmons was in a unique position to inflict a particularly rude punishment on websites that were directly stealing and monetizing his web game Sqword without permission.”

Phil’s Laberia: A Game Changer in Bioengineering Education (Stanford Bioengineering)

Stanford Bioengineering: Phil’s Laberia: A Game Changer in Bioengineering Education. “This free, educational video game provides an immersive experience into a digital version of the world-class Uytensgu Teaching Lab (UTL) at Stanford’s Shriram Center for Bioengineering and Chemical Engineering, allowing students to step into the UTL environment virtually. The game is designed to teach skills based on BIOE 44: Fundamentals for Engineering Biology Lab, where Stanford undergraduates learn essential techniques in genetic, molecular, biochemical, and cellular engineering.”

Boing Boing: Roblox wants to become a dating app

Boing Boing: Roblox wants to become a dating app. “Yes, you read that headline correctly. Roblox, one of the most popular children’s video games in the world, now wants to expand into “dating experiences” for its players, at least according to CEO David Baszucki in a keynote speech at the RDC 2023 conference for Roblox developers.” For some reason I’m thinking about the LEGO MMO which was cancelled because of a surfeit of user-generated penises. Blending grownup topics with a brand for children seems dangerous.

University of Maine: Vincent Weaver ‘demakes’ video games to teach about computer systems

University of Maine: Vincent Weaver ‘demakes’ video games to teach about computer systems. “Vincent Weaver, a University of Maine associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, has a quirky hobby: ‘de-making’ video games, or reformatting classic games onto even simpler systems than the ones they were launched on as a programming challenge. Weaver has not only amassed an online fan base for his demakes — he has also found ways to incorporate them into his curriculum for UMaine students.”

Illinois State University: Creative Technologies professor creates gaming database for educators

Illinois State University: Creative Technologies professor creates gaming database for educators . “With more than 10,000 computer games of varying topics, themes, and designs released each year, the options are overwhelming. But by establishing an online database called ‘Using.Games,’ [Dr. Sercan] Şengün is aiming to make video games more accessible for educators who are teaching about and researching the humanities, social sciences, and the arts.” I think the database is currently available, but when I checked it it was down.

Chess .com: How A Bolivian Junior Chess Champion Became A Social Media Star

Chess .com: How A Bolivian Junior Chess Champion Became A Social Media Star. “WCM Alexandra Prado, also known as AlexandraChess, is the mind behind some of the internet’s most-viewed chess content, with hundreds of thousands of followers across different platforms. How did a young chess champion from Bolivia become one of the world’s most-followed chess influencers? Read her story to find out!”