Watson (Technology)

He doesn't look as smart as Jude Law.

Trivia dorks beware, your hobby is in danger of being taken over by computers!!!  This is more or less true if you were to pit yourself up against this beast, named Watson.  Watson is a giant room with a bunch of servers hooked up together to compete in Jeopardy against former champions Ken Jennings (the guy that won 74 games in a row) and Brad Rutter (the guy that won the most money on the show, three and a quarter million).  It was designed with the intent to see if humans could program a computer to understand the human language well enough to answer some of the tricky, wordy, intuitive questions that Trebek could dish out.

So when a question is asked, it is essentially text messaged (or whatever) to Watson through what I can imagine as a bunch of tubes and then it tries to guess the answer.  A bunch of bars appear at the bottom of the screen to give the audience its top three answers and the certainty of each one.  However, its guess is as good as anyone's.  When answering a question about trains, it had 97% "confidence" that "finis" was the right answer, unfortunately; the very human trait of "thinking hard about something makes it true" does not work in Jeopardy.  Furthermore, it is in its own computer world as far as the game goes.  It does not know if one of the other contestants even answer the question previously.  In one instance, Ken answered a question incorrectly with the answer "What is the 20s?"  Watson then quickly buzzed in with a moderate "confidence" and said "What is the 1920s?"  Copying your neighbors work does not always work in high school and I think that translates well to games shows too.  Stick that logic in your mainframe and process it, Watson!

What is NO STUPID!!!!???? You're not human, no matter how much improper punctuation you use!!! 

Speaking of being in its own computer world we also see a flaw in his association with the category name when pertaining to the question asked.  During final Jeopardy, the category was "US Cities."  Watson answered the question with the response "What is Toronto?"  What!?  Its not even in the US.  Nice try, supercomputer, now paint yourself yellow with uncertainty (yes the color of his avatar changes based on how stupid he acts).  He made a similar mistake on the final day, he was asked about a review that the New Yorker did on a publication of sorts and responded with a person.

Deep Blue on Futurama.

It was a little upsetting when Trebek responded to Watson when it repeated Ken Jennings wrong answer.  Its not like its going to respond.  "Oh, sorry Alex I was too busy doing random calculations to pay attention to Ken."  It is not some guy that is playing Jeopardy, its a computer screen with a man voice!  Changing it to a woman voice does not make it a woman!  However, it does have an attraction to women apparently.  Watson appeared on Conan, where as a guest host, it tore into Andy Richter and shared its sexual experiences that it had with his wife.  Once again, Watson has advanced computers far beyond that of his older counterpart, Deep Blue (the worlds best chess playing computer, which in turn makes it the computer least likely to find a date for the prom).  It could only manage to be a guest appearance on the cartoon "Futurama" with less lines.

As far as everything goes, Watson proves that humans can create complex algorithms that exceed their own creators expectations, however; I do not believe this proves that we are anywhere close to AI.  Watson is a search algorithm, nothing more.  It is not smart because it is not intuitive.  Every time it answered a question wrong, it was way off.  There is still much to be done to perfect Watson even though its already so advanced and impressive.  Unfortunately, I am tough to impress, call me when someone programs a computer to win "Ninja Warrior."

Feminists v Gamers (Social)

"We have to talk about how it is humanly possible that something this kick-ass could have actually happened.  To do so, we have to understand what it means to have a penis on the Internet."
-Sean "Day[9]" Plott, Computer Jock (speaking of two gamers fighting over the internet, not on this matter)

Penny Arcade nerds.

So apparently there are some angry feminists out there who want some computer nerds dead, nothing to see here.  Well, maybe not.  Shakesville (a feminist blog) focused its attention to Penny Arcade (a nerd comic place) about issues revolving rape, rape culture, dicks, dick-wolfs, and everything in between.  Normally, this would just be another day on the Internet; however, this time the attention span of the Internet got a little longer.

Starting all the way back in August of 2010, Penny Arcade produced a comic illustrating quest completion and what that means to those who are left behind (The Sixth Slave).  In the strip, the hero rescues five slaves, as his quests demands, and then leaves the sixth slave behind to be tortured by phallic canines.  Within one day, Shakesville commences pointing the moral finger of the internet at Penny Arcade, accusing the writers as being insensitive and propagators of rape culture.  Thus begins, the angry feminists versus angry gamers feud.

I am not going to go into a long description about what happened in between then and now because, frankly, it's a lot.  I will certainly voice my all knowing/important opinion as well as that of a hardcore, even angrier, feminist (my all knowing/important girlfriend).

 My Reaction (a gamer's perspective):

This whole mess could be pin-pointed to the comic itself; however, as far as things go the reaction to the comic reflects how offensive it really is.  Over-exaggerated.  Shakesville went on the horn making the comic out to be an insensitive rape joke when it was not the central focus of the strip.  The comic does promote rape culture but you cannot call an English major a moron if he or she cannot do Calculus.  The creators of the comic did not know what rape culture is.  They most likely associated that with directly being associated with rape and/or rapists.  Their reaction was typical of someone who is being accused of something they think they are not.

All in all, the problem is the culture that is wrapped around the Internet, mainly, the bloggosphere.  This whole issue could have been reasonably solved if instead of raising a pen, Shakesville raised awareness.  A simple message explaining and educating about rape culture instead of attacking Penny Arcade would have been more effective in getting the desired results.  Unfortunately, this is the Internet.  Everyone has an opinion and apparently everyone else needs to know about.  Everyone wants to be a super-hero but its much easier when you are safe behind a monitor.  Everyone has egos as big as their following of keyboard warriors.

My Girlfriend's Reaction (a feminist's perspective):

I think that the activists who reacted strongly to the PA comic strip were well intentioned. When young women (or men) come to recognize themselves as feminists things that previously went un-noticed become enraging, which is a good thing.  We should all be more pissed off about the offensive crap we see and hear every day.  However, had that same person seen the comic strip 6 months earlier, prior to completing her or his WMST 101 course, he or she would have thought nothing of it.  It is in the least self-righteous and at most ignorantly over zealous to expect the general public to know what you've only just learned about rape culture. And while heated discussions are productive, even when misinformed, to learn and express oneself, the internet is not confined to the safety of your Socratic discussion class.  The permanency of blog posts caused what could have been a short, enlightening debate into an epic saga.  And in the meantime, victims were vilified, shamed, and silenced.

When we allege to speak up for a victim who is not ourself, we steal his or her voice in an attempt to make a more compelling argument.  Co-opting someone else's experience does not make us more right or our point more clear.  And really, that comic is not offensive solely because their might be a sexual assault survivor somewhere in the interwebs reading it, although that may be simplest way to try to gain sympathy.  It's offensive because it perpetuates a culture that excuses violence against women because our society undervalues us, which is reflected constantly in many more spaces and venues than a video game blog. I'm all about subverting the dominant paradigm, but I know that yelling at some video game nerds is not going to get me anywhere, and I'm sure many other feminists learned that important lesson.

The way the world works.

Apparently gamers and feminists can co-exist.  Obviously, my girlfriend (the one who minored in Women's Studies and went onto being an activist) has more insightful things to say on the matter than I (a computer scientist), but we agree on this matter.  What could have been an opportunity to educate turned into a "who has a bigger Internet penis" contest.

Bobby’s Burger Palace (Restaurant)

In the Smith Haven Mall lies a popular restaurant owned by celebrity chef Bobby Flay, Bobby’s Burger Palace.  Obviously, this “not-so fast food” joint is mainly focused on burgers.  It separates itself from other fast food establishments because everything seems to be and tastes fresh and made to order.

BBP Red or White?  What vintage is that?

Upon entering, you’re met with a relatively simple menu.  The menu has a handful of different tastes of burgers, a few salads and sides, a surprisingly good beer selection, and a questionable choice of wine.   However, there are no veggie-burgers on the menu.  I am not a vegetarian, but my girlfriend is, along with many other Americans these days, it’s a surprise that Bobby Flay will not cater to their tastes as well.

The décor is nice - simple with the option of table and bar style seating.  You pay upfront but you have a server as well that comes around asking if anything is needed (not your typical burger joint).  Waiting for food seems to take about 10 minutes and the wait staff is friendly. 

The food itself was pretty good and so were the sauces on the carousel on the table.  I had a Bobby Blue Burger (blue cheese, bacon, lettuce) and my girlfriend had a Crunch Salad (white cheddar, chic peas, kidney beans, and tortillas).  The portions were pretty healthy, lots of fries and the salad was large.  The beans and peas made it extremely filling as well.  As for the burger, since it was made to order it was juicy and the bacon was well cooked and not overdone.  In my opinion, I felt like the bun could have been a little bigger.

Overall, it was a good experience.  The bottom line was costly, two meals came out to be over twenty-six dollars; however, you get what you pay for.  My girlfriend and I enjoyed our meal and sitting at the bar allowed us to have a nice conversation with the people sitting next to us.  We were also treated to someone balancing five plates without the help of a tray, what a show.  I would definitely recommend this place to anyone that eat well and has about 45 minutes to spare.  

Metriod: Other M (Video Game, Wii)

Other M is the newest installment of the classic and popular Nintendo franchise, Metroid.  Behind its development was a team called "Project M" which consisted of programmers from Nintendo and Team Ninja (the team behind Ninja Gaiden).  The goal of bringing in new talent to this old franchise was to really re-invent the Metroid game.  Well, Other M is definitely a new take at a classic game, but does it work?

The first aspect of the game worth pointing out is that the game utilizes both first and third person views during game play while only using the Wii control without the use of a nunchuck.  Surprisingly, the Wii picks up on the transitions relatively well.  The premise for these two modes is that when you are battling enemies you could do powerful finishing moves during normal encounters in third person and finding secrets and pushing buttons and triggers could be done in first person, makes sense, for now.

The game is a graphical masterpiece.  It is probably the most visually beautiful game on the Wii right now.  There are colorful environments and some good looking cut scenes.  Along with the visuals the voice acting is pretty good for a console game.  Most video games have a lot of trouble with voice acting (Star Ocean, Final Fantasy are a couple that come to mind); however, Other M did a decent job in providing smooth audio to complement its graphics.

An excellent, vibrant blend of colors do wonders for this games visuals.

Unfortunately, that is about all that Other M has to brag about.  While it makes for a more dynamic game, the switching of cameras from first person to third person (although it was programmed very well) is frustrating to say the least because it is used so frequently in boss battles.  It is not easy to switch views in order to shoot a missile (yes, this could only be done in first person view) at a key weak point of a mini boss while there are a bunch of other enemies shooting at you at the same time.  Your moves are too quick often times and you wind up pointing the camera away from you target by accident.  Another flaw to this system is that the camera angles are fixed in third person view.  This could be unbelievably annoying at times when trying to make jumps from platform to platform.  You could scout out the platform in first person, but if you are too high above the platform and have to jump down, the angle cuts it off from view so you wind up guessing how far you have to jump.  

COME ON ALREADY!!!!!

Next on the vast list of shortcomings for this game is the inspection mode.  At certain times in the game, Samus (the protagonist that you play as), is forced to walk slowly, no jumping, running, using your laser cannon, nothing.  This is ridiculous.  When your fellow officer in game suggests that you search a building you figure "no problem."  Then as soon as you get going your instantly saddened by how inevitably long its going to take you to do so because you are walking sooooooooo slow.

Another odd aspect to the inspection angle is that at some points of the game it goes even further and forces you to stay in first person view, without any movement at all, and find clues on the floors, walls, or where ever.  You never really know what your looking for at these points in the game you just have to point the cursor around until you accidentally find something to lock in on.  The game does not even let up on this, you have to be on the money at pointing the cursor at what the game wants you to see.  These objects may be a very tiny name tag, a very small puddle in the grass that could be mistaken for a small inconspicuous plant, or a computer that you pointed to a million times before the game actually lets you lock in on it.  This does nothing to make you feel more involved with the game.  It only causes inpatients and frustration to the point where it has made me shut the game off.  Especially since for the most part, these clues lead to a mostly anticlimactic discovery.  

Ummm...what the hell am I looking for?

The finishing moves and action combos also needed a polishing while creating this game, or at least more testing.  Since the laser cannon is weak and awful (honestly, you may as well be lobbing vegetables at your opponents), your only choice in killing enemies in any sort of reasonable time is to use the finishing moves.  You perform this by jumping on enemies while your cannon is charged.  This feature, although great when it works, is just not polished enough.  You cannot perform this action while the enemy is performing its own attack.  If you try it during this period, you just keep awkwardly slipping of the enemies head and then probably taking damage from being in contact with it.  Also, instead of acquiring health by killing enemies like in other Metriod games, Samus has to charge herself when she is in a critical damage state.  When you are about one or two hits away from dying you have the option to try and recharge a bar of health so you could continue on.  The idea itself is not that bad; however, in order to do this you have to point the Wii remote up and hold the "A" button.  If you perform the action too fast you will find yourself rolling into a sphere (the ability that using the "A" button normally performs), which in dire circumstances, leads to death. 

One of the games finishing moves.

Yeah, that's pretty much the size of it.

Finally, the biggest complaint is about Samus herself.  Samus is supposed to be a bad-ass bounty hunter.  In this installment she finds herself having a soft spot for her old commanding officer and gladly takes his orders without question, even if they wind up hurting her in the end.  A perfect example of this is when you are in an area of the game that is surrounded by lava.  The heat from the lava does damage to you and in most other Metriod games you find an upgrade to your suit that helps you out.  In this game, you find out that you had it all along and that you did not activate it because this goofball commander does not trust you anymore...what an asshole!

Her dialogue suffers as well.  All of a sudden this silent warrior becomes a whiny and foolish cliche.  During the game, you stumble upon a facility that one of your comrades point out as a bio-weapons facility and that perhaps the team should scout out the head.  Not more than 5 minutes of game play later, Samus begins talking to herself.  She comes to the conclusion that it is indeed a bio-weapons facility.  There is no need for this re-iteration of information that was already out there.  This gives the feeling that the person who wrote the scripts for this game did not have much experience at all with it.  Even though this game had such great voice acting, the writing really takes away from it.



Overall, this game was a disappointment.  They had so much to work with, enough time to refine what they had, and the talent to make it happen; however, they dropped the ball.  As far as if a new take on an old game working is concerned, not this time.  The game forces to many awkward camera angles on you.  The game forces you to listen to endless bad dialogue.  The game forces you to have to claw through so many long and repetitive investigations.  The game forces you to do to much and all you get back in return is a mediocre gaming experience.  This game is one to rent, you'll play it once and then you'll be happy you won't have to pick it up again.

Top Gear USA (Television)

Top Gear UK is very successful and one of the most watched television programs in the world.  It would take a great deal to be able to use that name and live up to the hype.  That being said, no one could really blame Top Gear USA for performing the way it did last night on the History Channel.

This show is not this exciting.

As far as Top Gear episodes go, it was below average.  It was not very funny.  The writing was alright, typical of any UK episode, but the hosts (Adam Ferrara, Rutledge Wood, and Tanner Foust) were not good at their deliveries.  After they drove the Lamborghinis, they awkwardly teased the loser of the race (Tanner Foust).  The UK trio could have made it work but these three just do not seem to have the proper dialogue with each other to make it funny.  They managed to book Buzz Aldrin, the astronaut, as a guest, but the interview was uninteresting.  Finally, the car challenge segment (usually my favorite part of the show), which was a Dodge Viper SRT10 trying to out maneuver a Cobra Helicopter, seemed like it was really trying to force being funny.

Its alright for some episodes to not perform up to par, but this was supposed to be the first episode of the series trying to bring in the American market.  The whole point of Top Gear is be a fun show that does not take itself too seriously.  However, while tuning in last night, I had to endure awkward explanations of the different features.  The whole point of the Stig (the shows tame race car driver) is to be a mystery to the audience, he/she/it did not need an explanation, just an introduction...a funny introduction would be nice.

Clarkson, Hammond, and May just work too well together on an already established program to give Top Gear USA a chance to compete with it.  A better first episode would have included a better car challenge, perhaps something like turning a car into a boat.  We need to see more of the cast showing their personalities.  Either a more notable or entertaining guest (nothing against Aldrin, it was just a boring interview.  Part of this could be blamed on Adam Ferrara.) would make the "Big Star, Small Car" segment seem like a more memorable part of the show.

In the end, Rome was not built in a day.  Maybe Top Gear USA needs to build up in order to be compared to its English counterpart.  Fans of the Stig and motor mayhem will just have to wait and see if this new Top Gear trio could find enough chemistry to make some good footage to warrant a second season.