Games like 8-Ball offer many interesting challenges for both AI and optimization communities because of the continuous and stochastic characteristics of the domain. To succeed, a player must be able to plan the best sequence of shots and execute them with accuracy and precision, so that he does not lose the turn. The artificial players developed to date tend to take more than 30 seconds to select and execute a shot. Under a videogame setting, a player would give up playing the game if he had to wait that long for his turn. To solve this problem, we propose a real-time solution using a Monte-Carlo and Expectimax hybrid search algorithm with ray tracing techniques.

A presente dissertação tem como objeto de estudo o conceito de criatividade no âmbito dos produtos de entretenimento, em especial, os videogames. Sendo esse um conceito utilizado como categoria de análise no Laboratório de Pesquisa CiberCog, se pretende problematizar e redefinir seus parâmetros para futuras investigações. Desse modo, o objetivo é realizar a revisão do conceito de criatividade a partir de jogos eletrônicos com o intuito de desvendar como essa categoria pode ser utilizada para os estudos acerca das habilidades cognitivas requeridas (e/ou estimuladas) na fruição de produtos de entretenimento, em especial, os videogames. Os jogos selecionados para o estudo foram divididos em dois grupos (por meio do gênero em que são enquadrados): (1) jogos de ação e aventura e (2) jogos de plataforma. No primeiro, figura o jogo Assassin's Creed III (Ubisoft - 2012); já no segundo está Rayman Origins (Ubisoft - 2011). Para a execução da pesquisa segue a inspiração metodológica na Cartografia que estimulou a redação descritiva dos dados coletados.

Trata-se de trabalho que visa a apresentar os conceitos dos requisitos de direito de autor ? originalidade e express?o ?, bem como as limita??es legais. Essa abordagem abrange o sistema brasileiro e o estadunidense, em raz?o da vasta experi?ncia deste na abordagem da tem?tica direito de autor de videogames, para ao final fazer-se um estudo de caso envolvendo suposta viola??o de direitos autorais sobre elementos visuais do jogo, envolvendo uma empresa estadunidense e uma brasileira. Em raz?o dessa an?lise definiu-se originalidade como a cria??o, que ? sempre nova e dotada de um m?nimo de criatividade, sendo que na criatividade sempre se ter? a individualidade do autor. Quanto a express?o se estabeleceu que o direito de autor n?o protege o conte?do das obras t?cnicas e cient?ficas, somente a forma adotada, que elementos necess?rios para concretiza??o de ideias n?o s?o proteg?veis, que h? a impossibilidade de prote??o do formato de um programa e que h? possibilidade de prote??o de personagens. Ao serem analisadas as limita??es aos direitos autorais, foram identificadas como as mais relevantes a prevista no artigo 46, VIII da Lei 9.610/98 e as no artigo 6?, III, da Lei 9.609/98.No que se refere aos Estados Unidos, a defini??o atual de originalidade ? a n?o c?pia dotada de um m?nimo de criatividade, refutando-se a sweat of the brow doctrine. Foi apresentado o AFC Test, com base no qual a Corte distrital de Nova Jersey entendeu pela possibilidade de prote??o das express?es relacionadas ?s regras do jogo e seus aspectos funcionais, desde que dotadas de originalidade. O fair use, a merger doctrine e a sc?nes ? faire doctrine foram explicados. Com base na an?lise do caso proposto foi conclu?do que quanto mais pr?ximo da realidade o jogo objetiva ser, menor a probabilidade de prote??o autoral, pois existe um n?mero muito limitado de maneiras de expressar a realidade de forma fidedigna. Foi poss?vel constatar a grande aplicabilidade da merger doctrine e do artigo 6?, inc. VIII, da Lei 9.609/98 no caso. Ao final, foi conclu?do que a mera jun??o de elementos em dom?nio p?blico n?o torna o bem proteg?vel por direito de autor, sendo necess?rio o acr?scimo de elemento novo e que se exprima um m?nimo de criatividade ou, na aus?ncia desse acr?scimo, que a composi??o dos elementos em dom?nio p?blico seja nova e original.

Abstract Introduction: Training with exergames has been prescribed for health problems prevention, however, little is known about its influence on the self-perception of the physical condition and on the physical and motor skills (PMS). Objective: To investigate the effects of exergames (EXG) on the self-perception of the physical condition, level of physical activity and PMS in healthy young adults. Methods: Forty young adults, of both genders, were allocated by convenience into Control Group (CG, n = 20, 21.85 ± 0.62 years old), the individuals did not perform the physical training with exergames, and Intervention Group (IG, n = 20, 23.10 ± 0.61 years old), the subjects practiced exergames training (XBOX360 Kinect ®), in pairs, twice a week, for 12 weeks. Anthropometric measurements; self-perceived physical condition (International Fitness Scale-IFIS); International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) and PMS (flexibility; abdominal endurance; upper limb strength and endurance, agility and velocity) were evaluated. Results: The IG presented better self-perception of the physical condition; increased physical activity level in the leisure domain and enhanced PMS after 12 weeks of intervention, compared to the CG. Conclusion: The EXG was efficient to improve skeletal muscle function, to contribute to physical exercise adherence and to promote physical health in active young adults.

Playing video games is just fun at first, but this market moves almost 2 trillion dollars a year. However, despite the numbers, there are not many academic studies about this market. In this way, this research intends to expand a little this knowledge, particularly about the influences on the purchase intention of a new video game. There are several theories about the factors that influence it directly or indirectly, in which an adapted model based on the Theory of Consumption Values was used for this study. To adapt the scale, a scan was carried out on the generations of video games, market and particularities of this product, followed by a survey answered by 403 players and analyzed using SEM-PLS. The results showed that utilitarian and hedonic values, as well as switching cost and perceived risk considerably influence purchase intention.

AGUIAR, Ana Raquel Romeu. A construção da imagem do rebelde: uma análise do jogo Persona 5. 2018. 112f. TCC (Graduação em jornalismo) - Universidade Federal do Ceará, Instituto de Cultura e Arte, Curso de Comunicação Social, Habilitação em Jornalismo, Fortaleza (CE), 2018.

The present investigation explores the question of meaning production in video games, taking as foundation the subjectives conditions envolved in the relationship/interaction between player and game, within the scientific and academic literature environment. Part of the current discussion about the theoretical foundation of video games in general, which are postulated as a special category of objects in a transdisciplinary culture of constant transformation. It features electronic games (games) within a particular category of sensitive and reagents objects that participate in the constitution of a subjectivity in the context of the digital universe, which necessarily involves the relationship between human and non-human intelligence. Addresses this relationship from a multiple look, inter and transdisciplinary taking in count the socio-cultural, technological and semiotic aspects, which are formed in the context of discussing the status of the subject, object and world considered in the realm of the world and digital life. Incorporates elements of the discussion of post-structuralist philosophy, articulating an understanding of the concept of machinic subjectivity with the thematic aspects of the critique of representation, proposing to think video games in a structure coupled with the cognitive and sensitive faculties of human subject, that from his constitution as a system of signs of a-significant potential. From the nature of the particular object of study, this research develops the initial proposal for a qualitative and theoretical strategy, situating it in an exploratory examination of secondary data, direct observation via formal analysis of works and the production and documentation of a digital prototype game that explores the modes of relationship between the subject of the game, their avatars and the terms of playability, located from the conception of a academic and exploratory game. It culminates with the production and experimentation of a model that is heading toward a clearer idea of language devices operating in the construction of meaning in gaming, providing a contribution to increasing capacity for analysis and production of electronic games

This article offers a critical reading of the tensions between two contemporary regimes of game design: on the one side, seamless game design, which aims to smooth out the gaming experience by eliminating any form of rupture; on the other, a set of practices that can be grouped under the label friction-based game design, which embraces, provokes, or stages various forms of resistance. By analyzing several types of friction, the article identifies their effects on player experience (destabilization, disorientation, discomfort) and questions their critical potential. Friction is presented not as a flaw to be corrected, but as an aesthetic and political operator capable of shifting dominant norms of playability. In doing so, the study shows that these troubled—or troubling—games reveal the stratified, unstable, and manipulable nature of the digital medium itself, often concealed by fluidity-oriented design aesthetics.