Microsoft Maluuba AI Dominates Atari 2600 Ms. Pac-Man

I had an Atari 2600 back in the day, and one of the game I played a whole a lot of was Ms. Pac-Man. I sucked at it. I got devoured by ghosts constantly, and never racked up much of a high score. Microsoft’s Maluuba AI on the other hand is a dominating Ms. Pac-Man player.

Maluuba taught its AI how to play the Atari VCS version of the game using multiple reinforcement learning algorithms, and the system was able to get the highest score possible in the game of 999,990. I have no idea why that is the highest score possible in the game. You’d think you could keep going if you wanted to.

Ms. Pac-Man is much harder to play than original Pac-Man, and is apparently not as predictable as the original game, making paths to victory more complex. Watch the video for more details, this is one serious arcade gaming AI.

[via Hot Hardware]

Charity Arcade Accepts Any Coin Currency as Tokens: Insert Care

If you’ve ever gone abroad you probably had spare coins from the country you visited. You can change it back to your country’s currency or keep it as a memento, but more often than not they’ll just end up stashed in your drawer, “for when you go back.” Sweden’s airport agency Swedavia and the Red Cross have a brilliant suggestion: use those foreign coins as arcade tokens.

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Red Cross and Swedavia’s Charity Arcades are currently found at Stockholm Arlanda Airport and Göteborg Landvetter Airport. These interactive donation boxes will let you play Ms. Pac-Man, Galaga or Space Invaders in exchange for any coin. As you may have guessed, all of the proceeds will be donated to the Red Cross.

Add Super Hexagon, Battletoads and I Wanna Be the Guy to the Charity Arcade and they’ll have enough money to end world hunger within an hour. That and destroyed cabinets.

[via Swedavia via Neatorama]

Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man In Love Throw

This Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man throw blanket from Penelope and Clyde would make a great anniversary gift for the right pair of gamer geeks. Celebrate your love by celebrating the love of these two classic game characters.

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It is the perfect way to get warm while sitting on the couch playing old school video games. At the end of the day, it’s all about love, whether you are human or a ghost chomping bunch of pixelated fruit.

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The throw measures about 4’3″ wide and 3’4″ long and is hand crocheted with 100% Acrylic yarn. It sells for $165(USD) over on Etsy. Each one is made to order, so be sure to allow plenty of time if you want one.

Guy Builds Impressively Detailed Mini Ms. Pac-Man Machine

It must be awesome to own your own vintage arcade machines, but for most of us they take up too much space. Not to mention that they usually take some serious restoring too. This miniaturized Ms. Pac-Man by James Mitchell is the perfect solution. It is a mostly scale replica in every detail. It looks spot on.

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The cabinet is made of 1/8″ plywood. The graphics were printed out and scaled down from the full-size machine. Under the hood it has a BeagleBone Black with a 4.3″ touchscreen, USB speakers, and a battery-backed power supply. Even more impressively, James built the whole thing in three days when he realized he didn’t have anything to show at this year’s Bring a Hack dinner after Maker Faire.

You can get more details on the build here.

With arcade cabinets this size, you could have an entire arcade on your desk.

[via Hack A Day]

Ms. Pac-Man Shoes: Walka, Walka, Walka

What gamer girl wouldn’t want a pair of Ms. Pac-Man high heels? They look sexy and stylish. These heels are made for gaming. And that’s just what they’ll do… You know what they say, High heels, high scores.
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These Ms. Pac-Man shoes were made by Tilted Shoes on Etsy and you won’t find a better high heel game shoe of the Ms. Pac-Man variety. So what if they cost $186(USD) a pair? You can’t put a price on wearing a video game on your feet.

Who knows? Maybe you will meet a guy wearing some Pac-Man shoes and have lots of little Pac-Man Juniors.

[via Neatorama]

Stop-Motion Tribute to Ms. Pac-Man & Donkey Kong

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Office space meets gaming legacy in motion with this brief, but fun, YouTube video.

When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade. When life gives you a butt-load of Post-It notes and nothing much else to do when in the office, then why not make a splashy stop-motion video like Michael ...
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Chase Down Some Power Pills with a Ms. Pac-Man Latte

I like my lattes with plenty of sweetener in them, but I think that I’d be fine with a dose of power pills instead of sugar or aspartame if that’s what they’re serving these days.

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This Ms. Pac-Man latte was carefully composed by expert barista Andrew Alcala (aka MonkDrew), who clearly knows his way around a cup of espresso and some foamy milk.

While he hasn’t made a whole lot of other geeky lattes, he does have a nice Triforce and a couple of awesome dragons among his many other creative beverage designs. I can only imagine such artistry slows down the line at the coffee shop a little bit.

Giant Ms. Pac-man Game Takes Up A Whole Room

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One of the classic arcade games of the 80s, Ms. Pac-man, is back as an art piece in an expo. The surprising new part, here, is it’s size, as it takes up a whole room.

The lastest Babycastles Summit , had this very special creation, a room-sized 3d Ms. Pac-Man ...
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