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Morgan Hamilton offers expert advice and great tips regarding all aspects concerning computer software. Learn more at Online Card Games
November 13, 2007
Millions of fans of console video gaming all over the world welcomed Xbox 360 with one of the hottest hugs possible: amazing sale figures in just few hours after its initial release. But the real question remains, was Xbox 360 worth that entire buzz? Does the 360 live up to the high expectations of the addicted gamers all over the globe? Well, it appears that even if the Xbox 360 doesn?t score a bull?s-eye 10/10, it definitely was not far from achieving that.
Well, the first thing to learn about Xbox 360 is that it comes in 2 packages; the Xbox premium witch is priced at 400$ and the Xbox basic witch you can get for something close to 300$.
The basic package contains the completely new Xbox 360 console, a wired controller as well as the basic version of the Xbox Live service. Now, for about 100 extra bucks you will get many more things; this is something that will probably turn the majority of buyers towards the premium package.
The premium bundle will provide you with the 360 console, a wireless controller, TV linking cables, a portable 20GB HDD and headphones. Additionally, this Xbox is fully backwards compatible with the games of the original Xbox; this means that you are able to play the games you already have from the original Xbox! Of course, you will also be given a basic subscription for the Xbox Live service too. Look closely at the differences of the 2 packages; was I wrong when I said that the majority of gamers would prefer to add 100 extra bucks and get the premium pack?
Straight for the meat now! The new Xbox is completely redesigned, with elegant, chic lines and light, beautiful coloring. The overall design is probably what would come out as a result of cooperation of Hummer?s & Porsche?s designers; I think Microsoft has done a great designing job. Regarding the core of the Xbox, its computational power, the graphics of the new games can speak for themselves. Amazing, curved surfaces, vivid backgrounds and detailed characters bring games as close to reality as possible. As a matter of fact, the 360 features an IBM PowerPC processor and a powerful graphics card by ATI.
The new Xbox 360 is also more family-friendly in the sense that it comes with a built in CD and DVD player. You can always listen to your favorite music while playing a game or you can watch a DVD along with friends or family in your HD TV screen.
I believe that Xbox 360 has too much potential; especially when the Xbox Live community will expand and there will be more blockbuster titles available. The brand new 360 definitely stands up to the expectations and the best has yet to come.
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John Gibb is the owner of gamesconsoles facts
, For more information on games consoles check out http://www.gamesconsole-guides.info
November 11, 2007
One thing you can say about the team at Valve Software: they don’t like to rush. After taking six years to craft the sequel to Half-Life, it’s taken another eighteen months for the first mini-expansion, Half-Life 2: Episode One, to arrive. As the initial installment of a trilogy to be offered in episodic format, the good news is that Episode One is a welcome return to the world of Half-Life 2, with the same great graphics and gameplay that helped that game win numerous awards in late 2004 (including GameSpy’s PC Game of the Year).
Episode One starts off exactly where Half-Life 2 ended: with you (as scientist/killing machine Gordon Freeman) atop an exploding Citadel, with your sidekick, the spunky Alyx Vance, about to be toast. Without spoiling things, let’s just say that Alyx is kept out of harm’s way, and the two of you are quickly reunited outside at the base of a smoking Citadel. After establishing an uplink with old friends Dr. Kleiner and Alyx’s father Eli (once again voiced by Robert Guillaume), you discover the Citadel is about to go kerplooey, and in order to give yourself, Alyx and countless other citizens more time to escape City 17, you’ll have to go back in to try and delay the meltdown.
There’s a good deal of exposition at the start of Episode One, as characters are quickly reintroduced and tasks are laid out before you. The intro includes a reappearance by Dog (Alyx’s pet robot), who makes your re-entry into the Citadel a memorable one. Once inside, you and Alyx spend a lot of time exploring the deteriorating monolith, giving you a chance to get reacquainted with the gravity gun. Before long, you’ll be flinging around Combine soldiers just like the good ol’ days. As you work your way to the Citadel’s central reactor core, you’re confronted with a healthy dose of puzzles, which start out simple enough but require more imagination to solve as you proceed.
Once you’ve delayed the Citadel meltdown (and picked up some extra intel on what the Combine is up to in the process), the second half of Episode One focuses on Gordon and Alyx’s efforts to haul ass out of City 17. Of course, the escape is anything but simple, as you’re first forced underground where you have to deal with headcrabs, zombies, and ant lions, and then you make your way onto the streets where you get knee-deep in combat with Combine soldiers, who are none too happy with the information you pilfered from the Citadel.
The gameplay in Episode One never strays too far from the familiar Half-Life formula: levels are kept pretty linear as you’re steered from one challenge to the next, with lots of scripted events to move the plot along. The opening levels in the Citadel feel the most unique, due to the heavy emphasis on storytelling, the gravity gun, and all the puzzles involved with stabilizing the reactor. Things slow down a bit once you go underground and start fighting zombies, although there are a few interesting scenes where you have to shine your flashlight on enemies so Alyx can see and shoot them in the dark. Once you get outside with a full complement of weapons, things move along much faster, although it can sometimes feel a little too familiar, as if you’re replaying the later sections of Half-Life 2 instead of new content.
Probably the biggest change introduced in Episode One is how Alyx fights at Gordon’s side for the majority of the game. Plenty of shooters have tried this and failed, with NPCs who get lost or get in the way or are just plain annoying. Valve strikes just the right notes with Alyx; she doesn’t nag Gordon, she can competently follow you around, and even provides useful support a lot of the time. There’s a fun sequence in the later chapters where you’re free to run ahead and fight alone, but it’s far more fun to draw enemies into Alyx’s line of sight so she can snipe them from afar. Aside from her use in combat, Alyx is also effectively used to put a human face on things and keep the story moving along, and Episode One is a better game for it.
As was the case in Half-Life 2, the graphics in Episode One are drop-dead gorgeous; there may not be another graphics engine today capable of consistently producing such attractive scenes in so many different settings. From the dramatic sights outside the crumbling Citadel to the shimmering reactor core to the dramatic lighting effects when fighting zombies in the dark, it’s almost impossible to take a bad screenshot in Episode One. The NPCs are once again rendered with amazing detail and animations, and Valve has included the advanced HDR lighting effects that it showcased last year in the Lost Coast tech demo. Best of all, Episode One appears to be every bit as hardware-friendly as Half-Life 2, and ran without a hitch at 1920×1200 on our test machine (a 3.4Ghz CPU with 2GB RAM and a GeForce 7800 GTX video card).
One of the most unique features in Episode One is the addition of developer commentary, which, once enabled, can be accessed via chat bubbles sprinkled throughout the game. There’s a healthy amount of commentary, with Valve developers mainly offering insights about design decisions that influenced sections of the game. The commentary offers a fascinating look at why parts of the game turned out the way they did, and while Episode One isn’t the first game to try this (the PC version of The Chronicles of Riddick had a commentary feature as well), it’s a feature well worth checking out once you’ve finished the game, and something we’d like to see more of.
The biggest question you’ll probably have about Episode One is whether it’s worth the $19.99 price tag. With about four to five hours of new gameplay, it goes by really fast, which is all the more disappointing when you consider we’ve waited so long for new Half-Life 2 content. (Episode Two is currently scheduled for the end of 2006.) There’s also the Steam factor: so far, Valve’s download service appears to be holding up okay, but the game is also in stores now for the same price for those of you (like me) who like having a box and a disc. (For the record, Episode One is a standalone title that doesn’t require Half-Life 2 to play, and includes access to the previously released Half-Life 2 deathmatch.)
Half-Life 2: Episode One delivers exactly what you’d expect from a Half-Life expansion: it returns to the intriguing setting of City 17, delivers lots of tight action sequences and well-crafted puzzles, and is arguably the best-looking shooter out today. At $20, it goes by pretty quick, but the developer commentary adds some replay value, and it’s impossible to imagine anyone who enjoyed Half-Life 2 passing it up. It’s exciting to see developers finally embrace the idea of episodic content; the big question now is whether Valve can keep up with the demand.
Go to http://www.zopcuk.eu/en/game_reviews/half-life_2_episode_one.asp to read the full article.
You can find more articles on http://www.zopcuk.eu
After the release of the Xbox and PS2, in the highly competitive world of video gaming consoles it appears like Nintendo was pushed out of the game. Now, with the brand new Xbox 360 and the soon to be released PS3, Nintendo needs to definitely do something cool in order to keep up with the 2 giants that are leading the game so far. Nintendo?s answer to this situation is the in-development-stages Nintendo Wii. Hopefully, this will be a console capable of competing with Xbox 360 and PS3. Will Wii really manage to give Nintendo a breath of relief? Well, only time can show.
Nintedo Wii has been in development for quite some time now. The initial name of the project was Nintendo Revolution but later on, the guys at Nintendo decided to change it?s name to ?Wii? (it?s pronounced we). The console itself is a black (it can also come in other colors, that?s a common practice by Nintendo), sleek, rectangular box with a blue, beautiful, LED illuminated slot-receiver. The exterior follows the concept ?keep it simple and effective? and it?s completely different from the flashy Xbox 360.
Leaving the eye-candy aside now, let?s talk about the actual features of the Wii console. First of all, Nintendo promised that the Wii will bring a whole new gaming experience upon it?s arrival. Part of the implementation of this plan is a small controller that comes along with Wii. Although it appears just like a simple TV controller, it contains motion sensors; this feature will be utilized in various gameplay aspects. For example, Titles such as Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and Red Steel take advantage of the new controller technology in order to provide the player with an effective way to aim.
Regarding interior hardware aspects of the Wii, what we know by the moment is that it will be equipped with an IBM CPU, an ATI graphics card and a RAM memory of 512MB. Of course, it features wireless controllers, 2 USB ports and a built in antennae for WiFi internet access. Saddly for those who consider it a must, Wii will not support HD output but it still has the potential to look pretty good on a HDTV due to its wide screen friendly mode and the 480p progressive scan.
The last thing to add is that Wii features an amazing backwards compatibility feature. You can play literally any game that Nintendo has ever produced. Yes, even retro games! Finally, another good thing about the Wii is that it will come at a very affordable price; according to Nintendo it is going to cost something less than 250$!
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John Gibb is the owner of gamesconsoles facts
For more information on games consoles check out http://www.gamesconsole-guides.info
Although it hasn?t reached the hi-tech store shelves yet, the brand new bad boy in the hood of cutting edge video gaming consoles is slowly approaching. Scheduled for release at 17 November 2K6, the highly anticipated gaming console made its last appearance at the 2006 E3. Coming from a key pioneer in hi tech electronics, the PS3 promises to define what the next generation of gaming consoles is going to be like.
Let?s start with some food for the tech freaks. The all new PS3 features the innovative, never-seen-before Cell processor; we are talking about the result of the cooperation between 3 giants in the field of hi-tech electronics: IBM, Sony and Toshiba! The Cell processor features an astounding number of 7 (!) cores and it clocks at 3.2 GHz. Not impressed? Well, be informed that the new PS3 will also feature a new graphics card designed by NVIDIA and SCEI, clocked at 550 MHz! Still not impressed? How about Blu-Ray? Yes, yes Blu-Ray! PS3 also comes equipped with a Blu-Ray drive (up to 54GB of storage) witch in addition to the 1080p resolution that the PS3 delivers will help you enjoy the maximum out of HD movies.
Regarding other aspects of the internal architecture, the PS3 is equipped with 256MB of XDR Main RAM @ 3.2GHz as well 256MB VRAM @700MHz and your ears will be pleased with the sound produced by Dolby 5.1ch speakers ( with cell-base processing).
One thing that gamers will always wonder when a new console is arriving is ?Will I be able to play the games I already have?? Well, in the Case of PS3 the answer is a definite YES. You can play your PS2/PS1 games at no extra cost. Apart from that, the PS3 will accept any CD, DVD, (and of course) Blu-Ray that you throw in it!
Judging by the Videos/ Images of games that will come for the PS3, one can easily say that PS3 will bring a whole new era to the gaming industry. The gaming world has never before witnessed such lifelike graphics and such a vivid gameplay. Let?s just hope that when the time has come, we will have the necessary 500+ bucks in order to get our hands on this amazing toy!
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John Gibb is the owner of gamesconsoles facts
For more information on games consoles check out http://www.gamesconsole-guides.info
November 10, 2007
The new, next generation consoles are on their way and even if you have already grabbed your Xbox 360 (which is the only next - generation console available at the time) you still have a lot to learn about them since the Sony Play Station 3 and the Nintendo Wii are on their way. This is going to be a quick review guide of those 3 consoles but keep in mind that the final features of PS3 and Wii are not 100% certain yet.
Starting off with what?s already inside our homes, we will talk a little bit about the Xbox 360. From the outside, the 360 looks similar to the result of a merge of a Hummer and a Porsche; it has an aggressive, rough but at the same time very beautiful look and of course, your eye will never miss the beautiful, toxic green ?X? button. Talking about more important things now, the new Xbox is powered by a significantly powerful hardware. You can now play CD music or DVD?s with it and when you are tired of smashing enemies inside the latest blockbuster title you can always play games from the previous Xbox! Finally, your brand new Xbox will come along with a wireless controller, headphones, a HDD and a basic subscription to the Xbox Live service; all this at the price of 400$ (For the premium Xbox packet).
Jumping on the PS3 now, I can only say one word about this little machine, wow! This highly anticipated state of the art hi-tech device is expected to be released by November 17th, 2006. It features a new, innovative processor clocked at 3.2GHz with 7 cores, named Cell; this processor is the result of the cooperation among three giants in the field of electronics: Sony, IMB and Toshiba. Additionally, the new PS3 is equipped with an NVIDIA graphics card clocked at 550 MHz! Hang on a second; there?s at least one more thing that needs to be mentioned! The PS3 will be the only new generation console to feature a Blu-Ray drive! Sony appears to really be putting great effort on it and from what history has taught us, when Sony does its best, disappointment is not an option.
Finally, the last console to talk about is the one that we have the less info about, the Nintendo Wii. Wii will feature extended backwards compatibility for playing older games and it will also provide new game handling methods such as a remote controller. By the moment, all we know is that it?s going to be the cheapest of the three, somewhere around 250$ and if you would like to watch DVDs on it you will have to pay some extra bucks for an external device. Nintendo has always been one of the giants of the gaming industry; let?s just hope that this time they will not disappoint us.
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John Gibb is the owner of gamesconsoles facts
For more information on games consoles check out http://www.gamesconsole-guides.info
November 6, 2007
As a result of problems related to the mass production of a key component of its Blu-ray DVD player, Sony (SNE) will delay the European launch of its next generation video game console, the PlayStation 3 (PS3). Sony will also reduce the number of PS3 units immediately available in both the U.S. and Japan.
In the U.S., the PS3 will launch on November 17th, with approximately 400,000 consoles available for sale. The U.S. launch will come almost a week after the Japanese launch which will consist of merely 100,000 units.
Sony’s PlayStation 3 is the successor to the PlayStation 2, the world’s most popular (and as recently as July, the world’s best selling) video game console.
The Number That Really Matters
The fact that there will only be 400,000 PS3 units available for sale in the United States on November 17th is totally unimportant. The launch date itself is unimportant. What matters is how many units will be available for sale in mid to late December.
Sony claims it will have 1 million to 1.2 million consoles available for sale by December 31st. So, let’s assume there will be at least a million PS3 consoles available for sale in the U.S. by Christmas.
Will that be enough to put a PlayStation in the living room of every household that wants one?
No. There will almost certainly be many people who have to go without a PS3 for Christmas, despite being willing to pay the very high price Sony is asking. But, that’s nothing new. Other consoles (including the Xbox 360) have been launched without an adequate number of units immediately available for sale.
A delay is much worse than a mere shortage. There’s a promise (and a tangible product) behind a console that has already launched. So, very few people in the U.S. or Japan who planned to buy a PS3 are likely to change their minds because of a Christmas shortage ? no matter how severe.
The Things That Really Matter
The success of any gaming platform is largely based on five factors:
Available Titles
Relative Launch Date
Price
Predecessor’s Installed Base
Technology
Of these five, technology is by far the least important factor. The four most important factors (available titles, relative launch date, price, and predecessor’s installed base) are difficult to separate. Clearly, having a predecessor with a large installed base (such as the PS2) can be tremendously beneficial, if you get satisfactory marks in the other three areas (titles, launch date, and price).
Predecessor’s Installed Base
The PlayStation 3 dominates when it comes to having a predecessor with a large installed base. So, how does it score in the other three areas?
In terms of available titles, the PS3 scores as well as any of its competitors, if not better. However, none of the three consoles (Xbox 360, PS3, or Wii) does very well in this regard. Unfortunately, the titles are likely to be somewhat segregated by console. There will be quality games on each system; but, almost no one will buy all three. Simply put, there will be some games exclusive to each console that a lot of people would really love to play ? but can’t.
Relative Launch Date
Returning to the list of factors that determine a console’s success, let’s consider the launch date issue. Sony clearly has a bit of a problem in Europe, because it will have one less Christmas season than both the Xbox 360 and the Wii. Some analysts think Sony will lose no more than a few hundred thousand console sales to substitutions. If that’s true, lost revenue might be in the hundreds of millions rather than the billions.
Three Separate Markets
The U.S., Japan, and Europe are really three very different markets. It’s quite possible you could have a console that is very successful in one market and yet unable to get any real momentum in another.
Before this delay, I felt strongly that Europe was the market where the PS3 could come closest to duplicating the performance of the PS2 in terms of market share. There’s a long-term danger that Microsoft will gain market share in the U.S. and Nintendo will gain market share in both the U.S. and Japan.
Obviously, Europe isn’t as well defined a market as either the U.S. or Japan. So, it’s much harder to predict how a certain type of console or a certain type of game will go over there. The U.S. and Japan are very clearly defined game markets, largely because they have very clearly defined consumer cultures in general and entertainment cultures in particular.
So, what does the PS3 delay mean for Sony’s future in Europe? It’s hard to say. I’m more interested in seeing what the installed base of each next generation console will look like in the American and Japanese markets after Christmas 2007, when we’ll have the first real chance to predict how this round of the console wars will play out.
Although I do think Sony is doing serious harm to its PlayStation line by insisting upon including Blu-ray and charging a ridiculous price, I don’t think any amount of managerial ineptitude is likely to cause the catastrophic failure of a successor to such a dominant console as the PS2.
Price
If price isn’t the elephant in the room, it should be. Most of the articles I read about the recently announced PS3 delay / production scale-down didn’t say much about the pricing of the PS3. That’s a mistake ? especially, because several articles mentioned the laptop battery recall, which has nothing to do with the PS3 and very little to do with Sony (it has everything to do with lithium-ion batteries irrespective of their manufacturer).
The PS3’s price is a big problem. One that might have manifested itself in poor Christmas sales, if the number of units available for sale had approached the expected demand. For now, Sony is planning on having so few units available in the U.S. by Christmas that the launch will go well even if the PS3 is ultimately a failure. Sony claims it will have 6 million units by the end of its fiscal year. A few analysts are skeptical, but Sony is sticking to that line.
In the weeks ahead, expect Sony to make a big deal about the fact that it will actually make more PS3 units available by the end of December than the number of Xbox 360s Microsoft had made available by the same time the year before. It’s a valid point. But, it omits two key facts. The PS3 is launching after the Xbox 360 and there are more PS2 owners out there who will want to trade up for the new system.
Since the PS3 is launching after the Xbox 360, no one is waiting around to see what the alternative will look like. They already know what the Xbox 360 is, what it can do, and what (some of) the games available for it are. As soon as the PS3 launches, the comparisons can begin. That wasn’t possible when the Xbox 360 launched and everybody knew the PS3 was on its way.
The second reason why no parallel exists between the demand for Xbox 360s at launch and the demand for PS3s at launch is simply that there are more PS2s out there. As a result, Sony having as many units available by Christmas as Microsoft had the year before would be a lot like Gillette having as many new razors available as Schick had produced the year before. The difference in market share obliterates any possible comparison.
So, even though I think the PS3 is far too expensive going into the Christmas season, I’m quite sure that fact won’t be evident in the sales numbers, because there will be a severe PS3 shortage throughout 2006. Even if the PlayStation 3 is too expensive, it will look like it’s selling well, because there simply won’t be enough of them produced in 2006.
Why am I so convinced the PS3 is priced too high?
The PS3 is too expensive to be a Christmas gift. Around Christmas, a lot of these consoles are bought by parents as gifts for their kids. Parents are willing to pay a lot for them, because they’re a huge one-time item for the kid (and the parents have been hearing about it since well before the launch). But, the prices likely to be charged in 2006 for the PS3 are simply beyond what parents are willing to spend.
It’s not an issue of how much consumers have to spend versus the value they’re getting. It’s an issue of being psychologically unprepared for paying this kind of price for any gift.
It may be a price older gamers are willing to pay to get a PS3 for themselves. But, it’s not a price parents will be willing to spend on their kids.
Copyright 2006 Geoff Gannon
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Geoff Gannon writes a daily value investing blog and produces a twice weekly (half hour) value investing podcast at:
http://www.gannononinvesting.com
September 4, 2007
The history of chess isn?t especially clear ? there?s hardly a country in the world that doesn?t claim to have invented it, including China, Egypt, Greece, Uzbekistan and (most unbelievably) Ireland. Given the evidence, however, it seems most likely than the game of chess has its origins in 6th century India, and was then refined in Persia, from where it travelled to Europe and much later on to America.
The word ?chess? itself is believed to be a mangled pronunciation of the Persian word ?shah?, which means king (and is still used today, as in ?Shah of Iran?). ?Checkmate?, in this theory, comes from ?shah mat?, which is Persian for ?the king is finished?.
Chess is notable in the development of games because it does not use dice, meaning that there is no element of luck involved ? it is a game of pure skill and strategy. One Indian legend has the game being created by a wise man who was asked by a king to create a game that would enhance his mental abilities and have nothing to do with luck.
While India is keen to claim chess, however, it is hotly disputed. Most Chinese people believe that China invented chess, and also believe that the game is far inferior to Go, which is both older and generally considered more difficult. The Chinese point out that Go has existed since at least 2,000BC, and is played without dice, making it a very likely inspiration for chess.
Iran (Persia), on the other hand, claims that chess is derived from its invention of backgammon, and cite writings and poems that seem to put its date further back than the Indian version. There is no doubting that the version of chess that came to Europe we play today came mainly from Persia, but it is difficult to know exactly where Persia got its inspiration from.
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John Gibb is the owner of Chess resources, For more information on Chess check out http://www.chess-resources-and-info.info
Chess? rules are legendarily complicated, to the point where many people don?t play simply because they claim not to be able to remember how all the pieces move. Once you get to grip with what everything is and what it can do, however, the rules don?t look so complicated after all.
There are only six different pieces in chess: the king and queen, bishops, rooks, knights and pawns. The king is the piece with a cross on the top, while the queen has a crown. The ones with pear-shaped tops are bishops, and the ones with round tops are the pawns. Finally, the horse is the knight and the little castle is the rook ? calling them ?horsey? and ?castle?, while fun, is likely to annoy serious chess players.
When you set up a chess board, one side is white and the other is black. Each side gets a rook, a knight, a bishop, a queen, a king, a bishop, a knight and a rook on its back row, in that order. The second row is all pawns. Players can move any piece at any time, and landing on one of the other player?s pieces will capture that piece, removing it from the board.
How chess pieces move can be difficult to remember, but don?t worry too much ? there are only six different pieces, after all. Here goes. The queen can move any number of spaces in any direction. The rook moves the same way, but can?t move diagonally, while the bishop moves the same way but only diagonally. The king can move in any direction, but only one space at a time. Pawns can only move one or two spaces forward, or diagonally to capture a piece. Finally, the knight can move two spaces in any non-diagonal direction, and then one space in another (but not back where it came). Simple, right?
The ultimate object of the game, however, is more complicated than you might expect. Instead of simply removing all the other player?s pieces from the board, as in checkers or draughts, you must checkmate the king, which means make it impossible for the king to escape capture. If you have few pieces left, this could be difficult, or even not possible.
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John Gibb is the owner of Chess resources, For more information on Chess check out http://www.chess-resources-and-info.info
September 2, 2007
In recent years, computers have been getting better and better at chess. In 1996, a computer, IBM?s Deep Blue, beat chess master Garry Kasparov in the first game they played ? the first time a computer had beaten the world champion. Despite Kasparov going on to win the match overall (by three games to one), the game became famous. The next year, in a rematch against improved software, the machine was able to win convincingly.
This victory led to an explosion in computer chess. Today, programs are available for home use that can play at any difficulty level from the most basic all the way up to world champion level. It is also possible to play chess over the Internet with real human players, either on a live server or over a long time by email (a new form of correspondence chess).
The best chess software in the world gets stronger every year, as advances in hardware speed make it possible to analyse more moves in the same amount of time. So far, humans have still had the edge when it comes to learning from history ? that is, having an overall tried-and-tested strategy ? but software makers are rapidly building huge strategy databases that hold almost every chess strategy known to man. Today, it is thought that the modern successor to Deep Blue, named Hydra, could beat any human in the world, although this hasn?t been tested.
The rise of computer chess has split players in two directions. Some have embraced it, creating a game known as advanced chess, where players are allowed to use computer software to allow them to explore all the possible moves on the board and choose the one they think would be best. On the other hand, there is arimaa, a version of chess deliberately created to be very difficult for computers to play. As the pieces are moved many times on each turn, the computer cannot ?think? as far ahead as a human can, and the computer cannot store strategies as the opening positions are random each time. Today, the best arimaa programs cannot beat even moderately skilled human players.
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