My friends over in the Applied Game Theory team at MS Research. They won an MS-sponsored research contest and to celebrate, two of them dyed their hair, and they all got temporary tattoos.
In June I had a 7:30am meeting with some of the guys from the Applied Games research group. The crew was visiting from Cambridge, where they’re based, and despite jetlag and the ungodly hour (seriously, guys: 7:30 breakfast meeting? Gleargh.) we had a hilarious time.
So, WTF do they do? Well, according to their website, Our mission is to leverage the methods of approximate probabilistic inference for addressing relevant applications both in recreational games and in abstract decision games played in the real world. This means these guys make their living thinking of everything as a game … and they certainly seem to have way more fun than the average researchers.
They’re working on some cool super-secret stuff with Bungie and figuring out ways to apply their game-brains to typically un-fun stuff like online advertising. They taught me a few German phrases (quotienfrau!) and I taught them what “Brouhaha” means. (Ah yes: a noisy response to stimulus! Of course.)
Microsoft rises to the occasion – twice – as the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences honors its streaming-media and 3D platforms.
By Julie Evans
Originally published by MSW, May 2007
Anantha Kancherla, left, and Amir Majidimehr represented Microsoft at the Emmy ceremony to honor technical award winners
Microsoft walked off with two shiny statuettes from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences this week, underscoring its achievement in digital media and Hollywood’s growing appreciation.
The awards – one for streaming-media contributions and one for Microsoft Direct 3D versions 9 and 10 – were handed out Jan. 8 at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.
“It is a testament to the breadth of technology of Microsoft that in one evening, they receive a classic technical Emmy for their contributions to streaming architecture and an award for their contribution to game technology for the DirectX environment,” said Seth Haberman, who chairs the academy’s video games and technology panel. “It would be hard to imagine two technologies more impactful to today’s consumers.”
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