Computer Games

It is a truth, universally accepted, that video games do not translate well to the big screen. From Assassin's Creed to the Super Mario Bros movie, the result is usually a compromised monstrosity, ignorant of the source material and quickly disowned by the studios, directors and actors responsible for it. There have been exceptions – Detective Pikachu was weird but fine and the Resident Evil films have their fans. But films based on games are usually a mess. Have licensing managers been looking at the wrong screen the whole time?

From the developers of Assassin's Creed: Odyssey, it sends the player out to face creatures drawn from the gnarliest Greek legends and rescue the gods. A platform game for anyone who thinks video games are too easy these days, Ori draws its play inspiration from classics such as Mario, Mega Man and Metroid, but its looks are bang up to date. Guiding a spirit through an intensely beautiful forest, you'll come up against puzzles and obstacles that challenge both your mind and your reflexes. Let's hope they're still sharp. Originally released in 1997, Final Fantasy VII is one of the most beloved and acclaimed role-playing titles of all time.

A new set of postage stamps will celebrate the history of the British video game industry, from groundbreaking space sim Elite to blockbusting action adventure Tomb Raider. Also featured are classic titles such as Dizzy, Populous, Lemmings and Sensible Soccer. "The UK has been at the forefront of the video games industry for decades," said Royal Mail spokesman Philip Parker. "In the 1980s and 90s young designers grappled with coding on the new microcomputers and set the template for the industry with iconic games. We celebrate some of their landmark creations on stamps."

It's all fun and games until you have to pick the Game of the Year. Looking back, this year certainly had its share of contenders for the top spot in our annual video game list. From new gaming IPs such as "Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice" to older stalwarts making a return to form like "Resident Evil 2," there was no shortage of games worthy of the crown. Like every year, however, we have to pick one title as the best of the best. Then again, that doesn't mean that we shouldn't recognize all of the other great games that came out, either.

Microsoft has shown that Minecraft can be an excellent test-bed for innovative AI development as its Minecraft AI challenge stumps machine learning systems. Artificial intelligence and machine learning have managed to solve some pretty complex problems in recent years, but it struggles with some problems that humans find easy to solve. Google's DeepMind AI researchers recently managed to train an AI to play the video game Starcraft II to such a high standard that it could beat most top players, but it couldn't cope with many unexpected and improvisational strategies. Minecraft has seen popular use as a learning tool in classrooms to engage young students in everything from physics to electronics, and now Microsoft is using it as a test-bed for artificial intelligence. The Minecraft AI challenge tasked coders around the world with building AI agents that could achieve several simple objectives that players tend to work out quickly: hunt for Diamonds.

It takes minutes for most new Minecraft players to work out how to dig up the diamonds that are key to the game, but training artificial intelligence to do it has proved harder than expected. Over the summer, Minecraft publisher Microsoft and other organisations challenged coders to create AI agents that could find the coveted gems. Most can crack it in their first session. But out of more than 660 entries submitted, not one was up to the task. The results of the MineRL - which is pronounced mineral - competition are due to be announced formally on Saturday at the NeurIPS AI conference in Vancouver, Canada.

Whether we're learning to cook an omelet or drive a car, the path to mastering new skills often begins by watching others. But can artificial intelligence learn the same way? A new challenge teaching AI agents to play Minecraft suggests it's much trickier for computers. Announced earlier this year, the MineRL competition asked teams of researchers to create AI bots that could successfully mine a diamond in Minecraft. This isn't an impossible task, but it does require a mastery of the game's basics.

Sign in to report inappropriate content. AI Dungeon is a new concept game that generates a story based on player input, in this series we are trying to beat minecraft. Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/VOKAImusic If you enjoyed the video, it would be great if you subscribed, left a like, a comment and turned on notifications. More videos will be coming!

It takes minutes for most new Minecraft players to work out how to dig up the diamonds that are key to the game, but training artificial intelligence to do it has proved harder than expected. Over the summer, Minecraft publisher Microsoft and other organisations challenged coders to create AI agents that could find the coveted gems. Most can crack it in their first session. But out of more than 660 entries submitted. The results of the MineRL - which is pronounced mineral - competition are due to be announced formally on Saturday at the NeurIPS AI conference in Vancouver, Canada.

Games have become a go-to testbed for researchers, where the benchmark of human intellect can be put to test in a somewhat reliable way. AI had been, in the past, pitted against humans in games of chess, poker, GO and more. These standard methods usually require years of game time to attain human performance in complex games such as Go and StarCraft. Today AI researchers are considering a new contender in the form of Minecraft to investigate intelligence in AI agents. Minecraft was created by Swedish developer Markus Persson and released by Mojang in 2011.