New Game Uses Chess Engine.


Aspyr has announced a stunning new game for the Macintosh that is the first to use Apple’s Chess engine, the technology behind the Chess application that ships with OS X.

Called X-Treme Checkers, the game will bring fully rendered 3-D checkers action to the Macintosh.

Possibly again. No one at Aspyr was really sure if there was already a 3-D checkers game for the Mac out there. Or, even, if there was one that used sprites or static art.

According to Aspyr, X-Treme Checkers will ship in time for the holiday season even thought they just decided to go with the project on Tuesday.

“We pretty much just have to make two 3-D checkers, one in each color… paste them in over and over again… and code the ‘kinging’ functionality… aaaaaaand I think that’s it,” Aspyr spokesperson John Reyes said. “[Lead developer] Ed [Anderson] thinks he’ll have it done this weekend.

“And he’s got a wedding to go to.

“Actually, I think he’s in the wedding.

Pausing to think, Reyes said “You know… it may be his wedding…”

Apple marketing claims that such is the power of the Chess engine, as well as the simplicity of certain board games.

“A lot of people don’t know this,” said an Apple source working on the Chess engine, “but there’s no AI in Chess. It just connects you to someone else somewhere playing Chess.”

Asked how it works when the user isn’t connected to the Internet, the source said “It just makes whatever move you just made. I can’t believe you haven’t noticed that yet.”

Aspyr isn’t the only company lining up to bring full-bore 3-D board game action to the Mac using Chess. Westlake Interactive is rumored to be looking at Chess mods for Stratego, Othello and even Trouble, pending the creation of a Pop-O-Matic plug-in.

“The Pop-O-Matic plug-in is a non-trivial development project,” said Westlake’s Ben Geiger. “The die itself is easy, but there’s a lot of other logic involved. Because, you know, if you pop a six… you go twice

“Uh… well… that may be it. But, still…”

Geiger added “It’s the plug-in capability of the Chess engine that makes it so valuable for lame developers.

“Wait, did I say ‘lame’? Because I meant to say ‘game’. Huh. That’s weird. God, I’m such a slut.

“Wow! Did I say ‘slut’?! Where did that come from?! Ha-ha! Because I meant ‘whore’. Sluts don’t take money for having sex. And I do.”

A Westlake spokesperson later indicated that no one named Ben Geiger actually works for the company, which would explain why he was dressed in heels and a push-up bra and walking up and down Aurora Avenue in Seattle.

Apple declined to comment officially for this story, which is not at all unusual.

33 thoughts on “New Game Uses Chess Engine.”

  1. OK. Maybe I won’t commect on the article. Maybe I’ll Just continue to comment on how cool I am to have 1st, 2nd and 3rd posts. I’m way cooler than the rest of you. Yea baby!!! I’m cool. I’m cool.

    **Does a little dance***

    **makes a little (figuritively speaking) love****

    **getting down tonight**

  2. OK. I will commect on the article.

    I hope thay do a Shutes & Ladders mode for Chess. I love Shutes & Ladders.

    **Still getting down tonight**

  3. It’s really lonely in here.

    **starting to sing**

    I’m so ronery. So very ronery. Poor rittre ronery me.

  4. “Chutes & Ladders” is a far superior game to “Shutes & Ladders”– a game I’ve never even heard of until now!

    Also does anyone else remember “Battle Chess”?

    That was the shit! All those pieces beating the crap out of each other! Awesome!

    Well, at least until you realize that it’s a game for playing chess. Then it goes back to being lame.

  5. Well isn’t there egg on my face now. If I wasn’t so awesome for having the first post I might actually be embarrassed.

    **still getting down**

    **I was way up there and it’s taking a little while getting back down.**

  6. “The die themselves are easy.”

    WHAT? The “die are” easy? I wold have thought that either the *dice* themselves are easy or the die *itself* *is* easy, but not your weird, grammatically incorrect combo. And I refuse to believe that this was a simple typo — this was obviously intentional. Cancel my subscription.

  7. I’m just posting here because I can’t get on the ER board at TWOP….

    Oh yeah, and checkers, or something. Yeah.

  8. I thought it was snakes and ladders.

    And there’s no magical posting time here. It’s already the 12th. 7am even.

  9. Speaking of heels and a push-up bra, I hear those are quite popular at Westlake Interactive for the, ahem, male workers around there.

    You go Glenda!

  10. Macca,

    TWoP = Television Without Pity

    Splendid: Go Strega.

    Find it here

    http://www.televisionwithoutpity.com/

    That’s the other site I waste my day reading.

    Did I say ‘waste’? I meant ‘enrich’.

    That’s odd. Tsch, I’m such an indolent arse.

    Did I say ‘indolent arse’? I meant ‘skiving git’.

    Er . . . no, hang on…

  11. How about “Sluts and Ladders”? Not sure what the ladders would be used for….. use your imagination.

  12. Maybe it should be “Sluts and Whores”, although what whould be the object of the board game? And could you still work in a way to use ladders?

  13. I think they were afraid poor impressionable american kids would be scared by the snakes so we get crappy chutes and ladders. Snakes are much better.

  14. “Sluts and Whores”, oh yes, who needs an object? you can be the pimp, and i don’t know where else i was going with this, other then i am a perv.

  15. ya know, I was all into recommending Big Bang Chess from FreeVerse while it was free. then, in version 2, they added shareware. nothing new to the chess thingee, just shareware.

    good thing I still have version 1

  16. Huh. I just noticed this, did anyone else? Across the top of MacOSrumors.com it says:

    “Today’s hot rumor: Four-way G5s”

    Apparently it’s said that for almost a whole week.

    I’m surprised we haven’t seen anything on CARS about that rumored hot four-way G5 action yet. What gives, MacGruder?

  17. Why read about a little Hot Four-way G5 action at MacOSrumors when you can watch it at the Mega-Post. They’ve been going at it for at least 2 weeks and right on top of Bill. Of course he hasn’t woken up at all during the whole thing, but we have video. By the looks of his blister those G5’s are SMOKING hot.

  18. I’d just like to say right now that I have nothing to do with any of this hot tub stuff. I wandered in there and they were already doing it and I had nothing to do with it and I don’t know what they were doing when I go there because I never do that sort of thing because of my deeply held religious beliefs and I would never get involved in that because that just isn’t something I would do and when I was talking about pictures of course I meant pictures of tractors what else did you think I meant come on I’m a good boy I am I would never get involved in that kind of sort of thing no matter how naked the girls and how freely the vodka muffins flowed.

    I was in the other room trying to convince people that I’m a ninja.

  19. I’ve looked in the Apple Technical Reference library, and I can’t find an answer to this question. Perhaps some CARS reader can help: does the Chess engine include full Murray Head support?

    ==Dwight

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