The engine which has emerged victorious from the past four World Computer Chess Championships, Rybka, has been banned for cheating. But, uh, how can a computer cheat unless it’s programmed to?
Chessboxing is an activity that combines the physical demands of boxing with the mental discipline of chess. Competitors alternate between rounds of chess and rounds of boxing, kicking things off with a four-minute round of chess and alternating with fisticuffs until 11 rounds have passed, or one competitor jams a rook in the other’s eye.
Some people watch clips of shooter video games, marveling at each amazing gunshot. Some watch replays of races. Let us enjoy a more refined batch of video game victories. Checkmates. In computer chess.
Gazing over the latest screens for React! Games’ Archon Classic for the iPhone takes me right back to the early 80′s.
Regular chess not moustachioed enough for you? We’d think that USAopoly’s Super Mario Chess—totally Nintendo authorised, by the way—will fit the bill. It features no less than two moustaches!
Remember when Room 101 griefers issued a flying penis attack on Second Life “real estate” “mogul” “Anshe Chung” during a virtual interview? How could you not? It’s just about the only interesting thing to ever happen in Second Life. Now, it has happened in the real world, only on a much smaller, much briefer scale.
Alex Galloway has put together a lovely digital adaptation of a chess-like game created by French Marxist Guy Debord dubbed Kriegspiel; now the estate of Debord is sending cease and desist letters to Galloway, claiming the digital version is infringing on the intellectual property rights of Debord. Reminiscent of the problem faced by the Scrabulous creators, Galloway is insisting that the idea of a game and rules are not subject to copyright. Ian Bogost weighs in: