The following blog post, unless otherwise noted, was written by a member of Gamasutra’s community.
The thoughts and opinions expressed are those of the writer and not Gamasutra or its parent company.

UC Berkeley’s Overmind winning the first StarCraft AI Competition

OpenAI Five is a huge step forward for AI, but it’s also really intimidating for AI researchers. Never before has there been so many open tools for building AI systems, but it also feels like the barrier to entry for academics has actually increased over recent years. I posted an open call for any interested parties to build the best StarCraft AI possible back in 2009, and it was open to anyone interested in AI. Now, it seems like you need to have access to closed APIs, massive compute power, and historic training data to make advances in AI.

I’m putting this argument out there as a devil’s advocate, hoping that I can be proven wrong. I’d like to see more open competitions, and area’s where researchers without massive compute resources can continue to make advances in AI. Here’s some of the main issues I’ve seen with recent advances.

Closed APIs

OpenAI, to my knowledge, is using an API to build and train bots that is not available to academic researchers. If you’re a grad student that wants to build a bot for Dota2, then you’ll need to wait until the current competition ends and an open source version is eventually made available. For games likes Go, which have seen great progress with deep and reinforcement learning, this issue is not a problem. But if you’re a grad student that wants to work with video games that have large and active player bases your options are extremely limited. The DeepMind API for StarCraft 2 seems like a great option, but you’ll still have other challenges to face.

Dota 2 does provide a scripting interface, enabling bots to be written in Lua. However, this limited interface does not enable bots to communicate with remote processes and save data about games played.

Work Around: Find games with APIs that you can use. I used the Brood War API during grad school to write a bot for the original StarCraft. It was a huge hack and I somehow managed to get it working with Java, but I was extremely lucky that this project was not shut down by Blizzard. It’s great seeing the open source community continue to evolve both BWAPI and the Java version.

Bot debugging from an early BWAPI-Java prototype.

Compute is Expensive

OpenAI is spending massive amounts of compute power to train bots, and efforts by DeepMind to train Go bots were also substantial. This is an issue that OpenAI had addressed in a blog post, but it’s also discouraging for academics. It’s unlikely that students will have massive cloud computing resources available for training bots that perform at professional levels.

Work Around: Find sub-problems that you can solve. This is actually something that OpenAI did previously, by focusing on 1on1 matches and then slowly progressing up to 5v5 by relaxing more and more constraints. I included a tech-restricted matchup in the original StarCraft AI competition, but it wasn’t as popular as the full game option, in part because there weren’t human opponents knowledgeable about this version of the game for participants to train against.

One of the sub-problems in the original StarCraft AI Competition.

Training Data

One of the goals with my dissertation research was to build a StarCraft bot that learns from professional players, but now that some time has passed I realize that a different approach may have been move effective. Instead of showing my bot how to perform, I could have specified a reward function for how the bot should act and then let it self train. But, I didn’t have a good simulation environment, and had to rely on the sparse training data that I could scrape from the web at the time. This is especially a problem when you are working on sub-problems, such as 1on1 in Dota2, where professional replays simply don’t exist.

Work around: Mine data sets from the web, such as professional replays from sites like TeamLiquid. This won’t work for sub problems, but you can always bootstrap the replay collection with your own gameplay to get things rolling. I used third party tools to parse replays and then built an export tool with BWAPI later on.

Exhibition match at the first StarCraft AI Competition.

Next Steps

I’ve provided a pessimistic viewpoint for academics and hobbyists in game AI. It may seem like you need connections and massive compute power to make advances in game AI. It helps, but it doesn’t mean you’ll make progress without some great direction. Here’s some recommendations I have for making AI competitions more open moving forward:

• Open up APIs for bots to play against human opponents
• Provide a corpus of replay data
• Integrate with open source and cloud tooling

It’s now easy to get up and running with deep learning environments thanks to tools such as Keras, and environments like Colaboratory that make it easier to work with other researchers on models.

In a way, my initial call for research on open AI problems failed. It was an open problem, but I didn’t fully encourage participants to be open in their approach to the problem. Now, great tools exist for collaboration and it’s a great time to openly work on AI problems.

08.31.18

General

Nintendo Power Podcast episode 8

In Episode 8, host Chris Slate (previously editor-in-chief of the Nintendo Power magazine) is joined by Toph, a competitive Super Smash Bros.TM player and commentator, and JC Rodrigo from Nintendo Treehouse to discuss recent Super Smash Bros. Ultimate announcements, the competitive scene and their favorite fighting games. Read More

In Episode 8, host Chris Slate (previously editor-in-chief of the Nintendo Power magazine) is joined by Toph, a competitive Super Smash Bros.TM player and commentator, and JC Rodrigo from Nintendo Treehouse to discuss recent Super Smash Bros. Ultimate announcements, the competitive scene and their favorite fighting games. Read More

Welcome to Next Week on Xbox, where we cover all the new games coming soon to Xbox One! Every week the team at Xbox aims to deliver quality gaming content for you to enjoy on your favorite gaming console. To find out what’s coming soon to Xbox One, read on below and click on each of the game profiles for pre-order details (dates are subject to change).

Games

August 28, 2018

Xbox One X Enhanced – With tactical strategy that involves understanding the strengths and weaknesses of each island shape, it’ll be up to you to defend your island kingdom against ruthless Viking invaders. With procedurally-generated islands, command your soldiers against a charming (yet brutal) backdrop making it appealing for both hardcore strategy vets and newcomers alike.

 

Games

August 28, 2018

Xbox One X Enhanced – With an array of licensed leagues to choose from, a manager mode, improve player movements, animations, and control, along with photo-realistic stadiums, Pro Evolution Soccer 2019 has everything the hardcore and casual soccer fan is looking for.

Games

August 28, 2018

Xbox One X Enhanced – It’s up to one group of brave heroes to stand against Seteki the Witch Queen and her army of mummies. Enter the Strange Brigade! In this multiplayer, third-person action adventure you’ll solve challenging puzzles, seek out rare treasures, and shoot your way through armies of the undead. So get ready to grab your friends and embark on this multiplayer adventure on Xbox One.

Games

August 28, 2018

Demons known as the yokai have escaped, spreading fear across the land and stealing souls — and it’s up to you to stop them in this bullet-hell shoot ‘em up that takes place in a unique, Asian mythology-inspired world. Includes a variety of modes on Xbox One including Arcade, Hardcore, and local co-op.

 

Games

August 28, 2018

A multiplayer competitive party game where you must shoot, ram, dodge, and bully your opponents outside the screen with a variety of water gun weaponry. Inspired by classic arcade titles and competitive party games.

Games

August 29, 2018

Work with your teammates to pull off slam dunks, alley-oops, no-look passes, and outside shots to break the opposing team down in competitive games filled with the joy and energy of street basketball.

Games

August 29, 2018

Xbox Game Preview – Hungry and lost, you’re a survivor in a post-apocalyptic world with no one to trust. How do you stay alive? DayZ is the genre-defining open-world MMO survival sandbox full of heart-pounding moments, emergent gameplay, and dramatic player interactions.

Games

August 29, 2018

Abandoned years ago and marked as defective, Watt and Volt aim to prove themselves as deserving of a place to live in the world. With a unique co-op, swapping gameplay mechanic and challenging puzzles, you and a friend will see to it that Watt and Volt can achieve their dream.

 

Games

August 31, 2018

This horror game collection contains three Amnesia titles: The Dark Descent, A Machine For Pigs, and Justine. Experience the series that kickstarted the Let’s Play revolution and be immersed in three living nightmares that will chill you to the core.

Games

August 31, 2018

Features favorite Naruto characters and teams from the series including Naruto, Sasuke, and Team 7, battle as a team of four to compete against other online in this stunning, 4 v 4 fighting game. With a new and improved graphic style full of vivid colors, and dynamic ninja gameplay, it’ll be up to the players to fully take advantage of the vertical environments to come out on top.

Games

August 31, 2018

Inspired by the ‘80s and addictive gameplay, The VideoKid literally wears its inspiration on its sleeve as you hurl video cassettes through mailboxes to make some cash to take your girlfriend out on a date. Dodge mindless bystanders, pull off some epic grinds on the hoods of cars, and avoid the cops to stay alive.

 

Houndpicked Games has announced that it will be handling publishing duties for Troglobytes Games’ upcoming twin-stick shooter HyperParasite – which includes a future release on Switch.

HyperParasite is described as a “relentless twin-stick shooter/brawler with rogue-lite mechanics”, and looks full to the brim with funky ’80s-inspired visuals and fast-paced action. The game’s cast of characters features 60 different classes, with players able to exploit their attributes, weapons, and moves inside the comical, brawling action. 

There’s a total of 13 game levels on offer – five main levels and eight sub-levels – with a boss fight featured at the end of each main level and several mini-bosses scattered throughout. Make sure to check out the feature list and screenshots below for more information.

Features include:
– A fresh twist on the genre: hop from one host body to another
– 60 Playable Characters to Body-Snatch and utilise their attributes
– Unique retro 3D-pixelated visual style
– Original retro inspired synth-wave soundtrack
– Cast+weapon includes – cops+guns, Werewolves+claws, robots+lasers, aliens and so much more
– Procedurally generated levels that will play differently each time, challenging even the most seasoned of players
– Extremely fun co-op mode: will the humans handle TWO HyperParasites?

Development has only recently begun on the Switch version of the game, although the final release date is expected to match that of other platforms by launching in 2019.

What are your initial thoughts on this one? Will you be keeping an eye out for more news on this as it develops? Let us know below.

Grimstroke
– Stroke of Fate: reduced movement slow duration 2->1.5
– Stroke of Fate: movement slow can now be dispelled
– Stroke of Fate: reduced projectile vision radius (240->160)
– Stroke of Fate: reduced projectile’s endpoint vision radius (300->160) and duration (3.34->2)
– Stroke of Fate: fixed +600 range talent incorrectly updating the range preview
– Phantom’s Embrace: reduced phantom unit’s vision range 400->200
– Phantom’s Embrace: changed latch duration 4.0/4.5/5.0/5.5 -> 4.0/4.0/5.0/5.0
– Phantom’s Embrace: if the target dies, the Phantom now flies back to caster to refresh the cooldown
– Phantom’s Embrace: fixed a bug with +2 hits required talent only giving +1.3 hits (4 non-hero hits instead of 6)
– Ink Swell: reduced bonus movespeed 28/32/36/40->18/22/26/30
– Ink Swell: damage and stun amounts now range from 0 to max, instead of from a base value to max
– Ink Swell: ink tendril particle doesn’t display if the affected enemy unit is invisible
– Soulbind: no longer sees through invisibility on leashed targets
– Reduced model scale 0.81->0.76
– Fixed some tooltip values that didn’t updated with talent values
– Added some tooltip notes

Last week, Moments of Triumph came to a close to make way for the launch of Destiny 2: Forsaken. Today, we’re happy to announce that we’re introducing a brand new rewards program, built around Forsaken and linked to the Bungie Store to give you more ways to celebrate, commemorate, and show off your in game accomplishments.

As the Season of the Outlaw rolls on, Bungie Rewards will offer additional collector’s items to earn, acquire and unlock that are uniquely crafted to commemorate various tiers of in game accomplishments.

To sign up, you can visit the Bungie Rewards page now. As new offers are added to Bungie Rewards, we’ll update the page with more details.

In addition to Bungie Rewards going live today, we will also be giving away the Pursuit of Dreams in-game Destiny 2 emblem with any purchase from the Bungie Store now through November 28. 

With gamescom and IFA now behind us, we’re taking a look at some of the hottest Windows gaming hardware announcements across various events—bringing them all into one, easy place for you to read. The last few weeks have seen a handful of new gaming laptops, GPUs, monitors and more announced for PC gamers of all varieties. Check out the list below to see what new hardware announced you’re most looking forward to!

Acer Predator Triton 900

The newly refreshed Acer Predator Triton 900 gaming rig sports the latest 8th Generation Intel Core i7 processor for ultimate power and speed, while the laptop’s hinge pivots the screen to fit whatever angle you’d like to game at. With the garage door, you can insert an Xbox controller dongle to play Xbox games seamlessly, and a custom-engineered dual-fan keeps things cool while the RGB backlit keyboard and overclocking capabilities customize your gaming experience.

Lenovo Legion Gaming Devices and Their Beefier GPUs

Lenovo has refreshed three gaming devices announced at E3 with upgraded GPUs: the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 on the Lenovo Legion Y530 Laptop, and the latest NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 and RTX 2080 on the Lenovo Legion T730 tower and Lenovo Legion C730 cube.

A testament to Lenovo engineering and innovation, the Lenovo Legion Y530 15.6-inch FHD display gaming laptop is thermally optimized to run cooler and quieter with a full-sized white backlit keyboard. At 24 mm thin and 2.3 kg light, it’s been redesigned to deliver the ideal balance between epic gaming performance and practical portability. It also comes with powerful NVIDIA graphics, DDR4 memory and more, all optimally cooled via a re-engineered dual-channel cooling system.

The Lenovo Legion T730 is a 28-liter desktop that gives you the style and power you demand in a gaming tower, thanks to customizable RGB LED system lighting, a transparent side panel, optional liquid cooling, and extreme processing and graphics power with overclocking options to completely immerse you in your favorite titles. The space-saving Lenovo Legion C730 is a striking 19L cube with fully loaded overclocked components – boosted by the GeForce RTX 2070 and RTX 2080 GPU upgrades.

MSI P65 Creator

Looking for a notebook to enable you to keep gaming-on-the-go, but capturing the appeal of your inner creator? Look no further. The P65’s high-performance specifications are comparable to MSI’s top-of-the-line gaming offerings. It features Intel’s latest 8th Generation Core i7 processor and up to an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Max-Q GPU, allowing for fast rendering times and multitasking. The P65 has up to almost three times more graphical performance than leading competitor in its category. And it uses MSI’s Cooler Boost Trinity, the same system found in the company’s gaming laptops, to keep the notebook cool even during intense workloads.

With its ultra-light aluminum chassis, the P65 weighs just 4.14 pounds and measures 0.69 inches thick. At the same time, the slim design does not sacrifice battery life. The P65 has an 82Whr battery for up to more than 9 hours of regular use.

At launch, the P65 will be available in both silver and a limited-edition white. The White Limited Edition shares many of the same specifications as the Silver Edition but comes with an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Max-Q GPU, Hi-Res Audio, and Thunderbolt 3. At launch, the Silver Edition will be available with either an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Max-Q or GTX 1050 Ti. The White Limited Edition also includes an extended one-year warranty and protective laptop sleeve.

OMEN by HP

At gamescom in Cologne, Germany, OMEN by HP unveiled new hardware and mobile software innovations for gaming enthusiasts. The OMEN Obelisk is the latest addition to the company’s desktop gaming family. Also announced are new features for the OMEN Mindframe Headset – the world’s first headset with active earcup cooling technology – to add comfort and audio benefits for both competitive play and streaming.

Gamers are always hungry for more power—such as graphics cards and memory. The OMEN Obelisk will be one of the first systems to carry the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 20 Series of GPUs by way of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080, powered by all-new NVIDIA Turing architecture, giving gamers access to the world’s ultimate gaming architecture. The integration of HyperX high-performance memory within the OMEN Obelisk is another critical part of engineering a desktop to utilize the latest GPUs, RAM and other components through an industry-standard upgrade path vital to gaming at the highest levels, both now and in the future.

The OMEN Obelisk Desktop addition to the family of OMEN Desktops has been engineered with peak performance and customization so PCs can keep up with the latest in gaming. With a DIY-friendly, industry-standard upgrade path, along with options for the latest graphics and processor architectures, gamers can continually achieve the performance they expect.

Top features of the OMEN Obelisk are detailed in HP’s press release and include world-class power and storage, latest series of NVIDIA GPUs, HyperX integration, strategic cooling with extensive venting that takes advantage of thoughtfully placed components to generate optimal airflow, and a customizable and clean design.

Speaking of top features, the forthcoming OMEN Mindframe Headset is the world’s first headset with active earcup cooling by way of HP’s patented thermoelectric driven Frostcap technology. It has been built with comfort in mind, while also delivering top-notch sound quality. The OMEN by HP team has made further additions prior to launch, including noise cancellation, real-time audible feedback via sidetone to take advantage of noise cancellation, and new fabric cups for improved breathability.

Regarding pricing and availability, the OMEN Obelisk Desktop is expected to be available in September via HP.com and other retailers for a starting price of $849.99. OMEN Game Stream for Android is expected to be available later this year via the Google Play Store for free. And the OMEN Mindframe Headset is expected to be available in October via HP.com and other retailers for a starting price of $199.99.

NZXT HUE 2 for PC Builders

On Tuesday, NZXT announced 10 products comprising the new HUE 2 RGB family, delivering the broadest line of RGB lighting accessories for PC builders. NZXT, a leading developer of software-powered hardware solutions for PC gaming, noted that the new HUE 2 ecosystem – including the four-channel HUE 2 RGB controller and the external HUE 2 Ambient Lighting controller, along with several new accessories – provides PC builders more options for customizing their systems.

At the heart of the HUE 2 ecosystem are four complete RGB kits that include everything PC builders need to get started: the HUE 2 RGB Lighting Kit, HUE 2 Ambient Lighting Kit, Aer RGB 2 Starter Kit (120mm) and Aer RGB 2 Starter Kit (140mm). Choose one to get started and add accessories to complete and perfect your PC’s lighting.

Builders can choose from a variety of RGB accessories to express their creativity and build the perfect lighting for their gaming PC. All HUE 2 accessories require a HUE 2 RGB controller, purchased separately in one of the HUE 2 kits. The new HUE 2 family of products will be available in North America in mid to late August, and in the rest of the world in late August. Read more here.

Alienware by Dell – Monitors, Gaming Desktops and more!

Alienware Aurora

The new Alienware Aurora gaming desktop, designed for VR experiences, and currently the designated training PC for Team Liquid, is both a proven powerhouse for gaming professionals as well as a complete package for gaming beginners and veterans who need significant performance and upgradability under a reliable, high-quality chassis.

For gamers looking for a mid-tower desktop, the new Alienware Aurora is ready for current Oculus VR or HTC/VIVE requirements and can also support higher performance configurations for the near future’s more demanding VR, as well as 4K gaming. Gamers can choose from a wide variety of upgradability options, spanning many performance and budgetary considerations.

Inspired by the Alienware Area-51, the external design of the system includes AlienFX customizable lighting and has incorporated various ergonomic features for user-handling and component access. Its internal arrangement and fan positioning delivers ambient air towards the priority components with exhausts at the top and rear of the system to deliver maximum performance.

Alienware 15 and 17

With up to 8th Gen Intel Core i9 k-Series processors, the Alienware 15 and 17 are engineered with an improved thermal solution and a thin, hinge-forward design to extract the maximum performance from top-of-the-line components.

The design introduces premium materials such as anodized aluminum, magnesium alloy, steel-reinforcements and copper thermal management to ensure a level of stiffness, rigidity, thinness and high-quality feel – all without sacrificing gaming performance. You can also get to internal components easier through a new bottom door mechanism.

With an upgraded Alienware TactX keyboard, with per key RBG LED, Alienware 15 and 17 now support n-key rollover, enabling more than 108-key commands for maximum actions per minute. It’s the only keyboard on a laptop with 2.2mm of key travel, allowing for rapid response for any keystroke. Reinforced with a steel back plate for rigidity and uniform feedback, it’s guaranteed to stay functional for up to 10 million keystrokes.

Dell 24 and 27 gaming monitors (S2419HGF and S2719DGF)

With Dell’s 24 (S2419HGF) and 27 (S2719DGF) gaming monitors, you’ll experience sharp, tear-free graphics with a swift overclocked refresh rate at 144Hz and 155Hz respectively. You’ll also leave lag behind, with blazing fast and responsive gameplay at an extremely rapid 1 millisecond response time.

These monitors support AMD FreeSync for smooth gameplay and give you the flexibility to game with the No-Sync fast refresh option on your existing hardware. You can also personalize and preset up to three gaming profiles, in addition to three factory preset modes, with a gamer-geared menu. Both monitors are distinguished by metallic paint in recon-blue to complement Dell gaming PCs for unified look and gaming experience.

The all-new gaming monitors provide maximum reliability with Dell Premium Panel Exchange, which allows a free panel replacement during the Limited Hardware Warranty period even if only one bright pixel is found.

Thanks for reading about all of the exciting new PC gaming hardware coming soon from our preferred partners. For the latest in PC gaming hardware and games, keep it tuned here to Xbox Wire.