Can you feel it? The wave is coming.

With March, the first huge wave of game releases is about to crash. Prepare yourself!

Between a major new entry in the blockbuster "Far Cry" series — set in the United States for the first-time ever, no less — and a huge new entry in the Nintendo's beloved "Kirby" franchise, March is stacked with video game releases. 

And that's before we start talking about the hotly-anticipated "Sea of Thieves," a rare Xbox One and PC exclusive game, or the PlayStation 4 exclusive "MLB The Show 18."

Here are all the biggest video games coming in March 2018:

SEE ALSO: The hottest 30 video games you shouldn't miss in 2018

1. "Final Fantasy XV: Royal Edition"

Didn't "Final Fantasy XV" already come out awhile back? Yes, yes it did. In the case of "Final Fantasy XV: Royal Edition," you're getting the full original game plus a gaggle of new stuff. There's a new dungeon, a bunch of bonus items, and new areas to explore that previously were unexplorable. Think of it like the "Game of the Year" version, or the "Complete Edition" — it's a re-release that costs $50 and comes with a bunch of bonus content. 

Better still, on March 6 the "Windows Edition" of "Final Fantasy XV" finally launches. That means that, finally, PC game players can get in on the open-world epic that is "Final Fantasy XV."

Release date: March 6

Platform(s): Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PC

2. "Scribblenauts Showdown"

"Scribblenauts" is a zany franchise that encourages silliness and creativity at every step. By typing in various words, you're able to conjure stuff out of thin air — type in "chainsaw," and you'll get a chainsaw.

Traditionally, the games were focused on single-player, linear progression — and they were all on Nintendo handheld consoles. In the case of "Scribblenauts Showdown," you're using the same magical conjuring mechanism to face off against friends in minigames. And instead of playing it on Nintendo's 3DS, it's coming to PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. 

Release date: March 6

Platform(s): Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch

3. "Kirby Star Allies"

"Kirby Star Allies" is another fresh take on a classic franchise from Nintendo. The focus here is on co-operative play, with up to four players at a time floating around.

The game otherwise features classic "Kirby" gameplay, with relatively simplistic platforming and combat that's focused on Kirby's main ability: consuming enemies and absorbing their power, like some sort of pink necromancer.

Release date: March 16

Platform(s): Nintendo Switch

• Writer and director Kevin Smith suffered a massive heart attack Sunday night.
• On Tuesday, he went live on Facebook from his hospital room with an update.
• Smith got emotional in the video, saying he didn't want to die in that moment, but was "content."

Writer and director Kevin Smith, of "Clerks" fame, suffered a massive heart attack Sunday night after filming an episode of his AMC show, "Comic Book Men."

On Tuesday afternoon, Smith went live on Facebook with an emotional update for fans from his hospital room, in which he described his symptoms, what the emergency room was like, and addressed the Chris Pratt "prayer" controversy.

After Smith's heart attack, actor Chris Pratt tweeted that he was praying his "a-- off" for Smith because he "believes in the healing power of prayer."

Some mocked and criticized Pratt on Twitter for his "prayer" tweet, a few connecting it to what certain politicians have said after mass shootings, but Smith came to Pratt's defense in his video.

"Poor Chris Pratt, one of my favorite actors of all time, put up a nice tweet ... and apparently some people were like 'f--- your prayers,'" Smith said. "Please don't fight over stuff like that, it's a waste of time. Whether you're religious or not, somebody praying for you is with good intentions."

Smith said he experienced nausea and lost his breath, but didn't feel like he was in pain. Even though his father died from a heart attack, Smith said, he didn't think it was a heart attack.

"Honestly, I just thought it was mucus," he said. He also mentioned that he thought it was just "bad milk" because he threw up.

When first responders came, Smith said that they were "very patient with a guy who was deathly afraid to lift his shirt up." 

Aside from his shirt, Smith said once he was in the emergency room, he was "literally dying," but his biggest concern was "people seeing his d--k." "Never wanted to go to a doctor for that reason," Smith said. 

By the end of the video, though, Smith got emotional, and said that while he didn't want to die, he felt "content" during the scary experience. 

"What a ride it's been," he said. "There was calm ... I was always afraid that I'd be terrified of dying ... I've seen people die. I like life, life worked out for me and I don't ever want to let it go. But in that moment, even though I was 47, I was like 'that'll do pig.' I felt like Babe."

He ended the video by saying that the doctor cleared him to go home.

Watch the full video below:

SEE ALSO: The 16 best moments in Marvel Cinematic Universe history, ranked

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NOW WATCH: You can connect all 9 Best Picture Oscar nominees with actors they have in common — here's how

• Turns out Baby Groot is the son of the grown Groot that was in the first "Guardians of the Galaxy" movie.
• Director James Gunn revealed this on Twitter Tuesday.

Hold on for this one!

"Guardians of the Galaxy" franchise director James Gunn has always been heavily involved in the social media chatter surrounding his contribution to the Marvel Studios empire. So it wasn't a surprise when he jumped into the conversation when a tweet asking you to choose between saving Groot, one of the characters from "Guardians," or a Porg, the lovable creatures in "Star Wars: The Last Jedi," started making the rounds on Tuesday.

Gunn launched into a back-and-forth on this with "Entertainment Tonight" producer and host Ash Crossan, who was on the side of saving the Porg. Gunn made the case that Groot is an "advanced lifeform" while Porgs are just animals (or, as he later put it, "penguins").

Then later in the thread, Gunn tweeted this bombshell: Baby Groot, featured in "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2," is not the same Groot from the first movie, who sacrificed himself to save his friends in the ending.

Baby Groot is his son!

We look forward to more explanation by Gunn, because the fans of Marvel are not going to rest until he clarifies this tweet.

Many people, including the team at Business Insider, believed that Baby Groot was a piece of Groot from the first movie, and was just growing in size all over again. At the end of "Vol. 2," Baby Groot had grown up to become Teen Groot. We'll see what size he is when he appears in "Avengers: Infinity War" in May with the rest of the Guardians.

SEE ALSO: The director of last year's infamous Oscars telecast looks back on the "La La Land"-"Moonlight" mix up that ended up winning him an Oscar

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NOW WATCH: You can connect all 9 Best Picture Oscar nominees with actors they have in common — here's how

This is a preview of a research report from BI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service. To learn more about BI Intelligence, click here.

What is eSports? History & Rise of Video Game Tournaments

Years ago, eSports was a community of video gamers who would gather at conventions to play Counter Strike, Call of Duty, or League of Legends.

These multiplayer video game competitions would determine League of Legends champions, the greatest shooters in Call of Duty, the cream of the crop of Street Fighter players, the elite Dota 2 competitors, and more.

But today, as the history of eSports continue to unfold, media giants such as ESPN and Turner are broadcasting eSports tournaments and competitions. And in 2014, Amazon acquired Twitch, the live streaming video platform that has been and continues to be the leader in online gaming broadcasts. And YouTube also wanted to jump on the live streaming gaming community with the creation of YouTube Gaming.

eSports Market Growth Booming

To put in perspective how big eSports is becoming, a Google search for "lol" does not produce "laughing out loud" as the top result. Instead, it points to League of Legends, one of the most popular competitive games in existence. The game has spawned a worldwide community called the League of Legends Championship Series, more commonly known as LCS or LOL eSports.

What started as friends gathering in each other's homes to host LAN parties and play into the night has become an official network of pro gaming tournaments and leagues with legitimate teams, some of which are even sponsored and have international reach. Organizations such as Denial, AHQ, and MLG have multiple eSports leagues.

And to really understand the scope of all this, consider that the prize pool for the latest Dota 2 tournament was more than $20 million.

Websites even exist for eSports live scores to let people track the competitions in real time if they are unable to watch. There are even fantasy eSports leagues similar to fantasy football, along with the large and growing scene of eSports betting and gambling.

So it's understandable why traditional media companies would want to capitalize on this growing trend just before it floods into the mainstream. Approximately 300 million people worldwide tune in to eSports today, and that number is growing rapidly. By 2020, that number will be closer to 500 million.

eSports Industry Analysis - The Future of the Competitive Gaming Market

Financial institutions are starting to take notice. Goldman Sachs valued eSports at $500 million in 2016 and expects the market will grow at 22% annually compounded over the next three years into a more than $1 billion opportunity.

And industry statistics are already backing this valuation and demonstrating the potential for massive earnings. To illustrate the market value, market growth, and potential earnings for eSports, consider Swedish media company Modern Times Group's $87 million acquisition of Turtle Entertainment, the holding company for ESL. YouTube has made its biggest eSports investment to date by signing a multiyear broadcasting deal with Faceit to stream the latter's Esports Championship Series. And the NBA will launch its own eSports league in 2018.

Of course, as with any growing phenomenon, the question becomes: How do advertisers capitalize? This is especially tricky for eSports because of its audience demographics, which is young, passionate, male-dominated, and digital-first. They live online and on social media, are avid ad-blockers, and don't watch traditional TV or respond to conventional advertising.

So what will the future of eSports look like? How high can it climb? Could it reach the mainstream popularity of baseball or football? How will advertisers be able to reach an audience that does its best to shield itself from advertising?

Robert Elder, research analyst for BI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, has compiled an unparalleled report on the eSports ecosystem that dissects the growing market for competitive gaming. This comprehensive, industry-defining report contains more than 30 charts and figures that forecast audience growth, average revenue per user, and revenue growth.

Companies and organizations mentioned in the report include: NFL, NBA, English Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, NHL, Paris Saint-Germain, Ligue 1, Ligue de Football, Twitch, Amazon, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, ESPN, Electronic Arts, EA Sports, Valve, Riot Games, Activision Blizzard, ESL, Turtle Entertainment, Dreamhack, Modern Times Group, Turner Broadcasting, TBS Network, Vivendi, Canal Plus, Dailymotion, Disney, BAMTech, Intel, Coca Cola, Red Bull, HTC, Mikonet

Here are some eSports industry facts and statistics from the report:

• eSports is a still nascent industry filled with commercial opportunity.
• There are a variety of revenue streams that companies can tap into.
• The market is presently undervalued and has significant room to grow.
• The dynamism of this market distinguishes it from traditional sports.
• The audience is high-value and global, and its numbers are rising.
• Brands can prosper in eSports by following the appropriate game plan.
• Game publishers approach their Esport ecosystems in different ways.  
• Successful esport games are comprised of the same basic ingredients.
• Digital streaming platforms are spearheading the popularity of eSports.
• Legacy media are investing into eSports, and seeing encouraging results.
• Traditional sports franchises have a clear opportunity to seize in eSports.
• Virtual and augmented reality firms also stand to benefit from eSports.  

In full, the report illuminates the business of eSports from four angles:

• The gaming nucleus of eSports, including an overview of popular esport genres and games; the influence of game publishers, and the spectrum of strategies they adopt toward their respective esport scenes; the role of eSports event producers and the tournaments they operate.
• The eSports audience profile, its size, global reach, and demographic, psychographic, and behavioral attributes; the underlying factors driving its growth; why they are an attractive target for brands and broadcasters; and the significant audience and commercial crossover with traditional sports.
• eSports media broadcasters, including digital avant-garde like Twitch and YouTube, newer digital entrants like Facebook and traditional media outlets like Turner’s TBS Network, ESPN, and Canal Plus; their strategies and successes in this space; and the virtual reality opportunity.
• eSports market economics, with a market sizing, growth forecasts, and regional analyses; an evaluation of the eSports spectacle and its revenue generators, some of which are idiosyncratic to this industry; strategic planning for brand marketers, with case studies; and an exploration of the infinite dynamism and immense potential of the eSports economy.

Interested in getting the full report? Here are two ways to access it:

1. Subscribe to an All-Access pass to BI Intelligence and gain immediate access to this report and over 100 other expertly researched reports. As an added bonus, you'll also gain access to all future reports and daily newsletters to ensure you stay ahead of the curve and benefit personally and professionally. >> START A MEMBERSHIP
2. Purchase & download the full report from our research store. >> BUY THE REPORT

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• Sega took down the demo for "Yakuza 6: The Song of Life" after some people accidentally got access to the full game by downloading the demo.
• The demo was removed from the PlayStation Store only hours after being released.
• The cause of the problem is still unclear.

Sega quickly pulled the highly anticipated "Yakuza 6: The Song of Life" demo from the PlayStation Store after discovering some players had inadvertently gained access to the full game using the demo.

This discovery came only hours after the demo was initially released for PlayStation 4. 

The Japanese video game company tweeted, "We are as upset as you are, and had hoped to have this demo available for everyone today. We discovered that some were able to use the demo to unlock the full game."

In a follow-up tweet, Sega explained they don't yet know how players were able to access the full game via the demo.

At the time of publishing, Sega has not yet returned Business Insider's request for comment on the decision to take down the demo. 

When the demo was initially released it required more than 36 GB of storage, to the surprise of many video game critics. Kotaku, an online entertainment publication, suggests that the demo was so large because it actually contained the entire game, but was supposed to restrict everything beyond the first few stages of the game. 

Some players, who had downloaded what they thought was the free demo, simply continued playing through the rest of the game when the restrictions failed, according to Kotaku. It's still unclear how many people gained access to the full game, or whether they will be allowed to maintain the progress they achieved before Sega pulled the plug.

The action RPG was supposed to be released in full in April 17, and is expected to be one of Sega's biggest titles of the year.

Here's the official teaser trailer:

SEE ALSO: All the futuristic technologies in 'Black Panther,' and how close they are to becoming reality

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NOW WATCH: What it's actually like to hear voices in your head

• All five Spice Girls are attending the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on May 19, according to band member Mel B.
• The singer also hinted that the girl group could be performing at the reception.
• The rest of the guest list remains unknown, but St. George's Chapel can seat 800 guests.

The Spice Girls are attending Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's royal wedding in May, according one of the group's members — and they could even perform at the reception.

On Tuesday, Mel B (real name Melanie Janine Brown) told American talk show "The Real" that all five Spice Girls have been invited to the highly anticipated event.

When the show's host Loni Love asked: "Do you know anybody that you think is gonna go to this wedding?" she replied, "Yeah, I'm going... I don't know if I should've said that!"

As far as who else was attending, she added: "Well us five Spice Girls... why am I so honest?"

According to the Daily Mail, Prince Harry met the Spice Girls in 1997 after attending one of their concerts. He would have been around 13 at the time. Meghan Markle is reportedly also a fan.

When asked if the five-girl group — Mel B, Mel C, Emma Bunton, Geri Horner, and Victoria Beckham — will perform at the wedding reception, Brown responded: "This is where I'm just like... I need to go. I'm going to be fired!"

While the former pop star didn't reveal much about the invitations themselves, she added: "It was proper. I'm not saying any more!"

The couple, who announced their engagement in November, will marry on May 19 at at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle.

The chapel, shown below, can accommodate 800 guests — a much smaller venue than the 2,000-capacity Westminster Abbey, where Prince William and Kate Middleton married.

Here's a look inside St George's Hall, where Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will hold their reception:

The Royal Family will pay for the wedding, including the church service, music, flowers, and reception.

The couple are reportedly planning the wedding themselves, and want a "fun" event that the public can be involved in. It's likely to be televised.

Prince Harry's communications secretary Jason Knauf said: "They will be making sure it reflects who they are as a couple."

He added that Windsor is a "very special place" for Harry and Meghan, who have spent time there during their relationship.

SEE ALSO: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are planning their own 'fun' wedding at Windsor Castle in May 2018

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Apple has reportedly signed a deal with director M. Night Shyamalan that will see him create an original television show for Apple's online streaming service, Engadget reports.

It's unclear what Shyamalan's upcoming series will be about, but a few details have emerged about the project: It'll be 10 episodes long, will be written by British writer Tony Basgallop, and will be a psychological thriller.

Apple is spending money on new video content

Apple had $163 billion (£116 billion) in cash to spend at the end of December, and its CFO Luca Maestri told The Financial Times that "our target over time is to take that $163 billion down to approximately zero."

One way for Apple to reduce its cash pile is to invest in original content. It already has shows on its Beats 1 internet radio station from stars including Elton John and Drake, but it could ramp up its spending to include more exclusive content.

Right now, Apple includes streaming television in its Apple Music subscription. It has shows including "Carpool Karaoke" and "Planet of the Apps," but plans to release more. In fact, the company reportedly has a $1 billion (£738 million) budget for shows and movies that it will bring to its streaming service.

And with that budget comes new, high-profile hires from the entertainment world. It brought in Jamie Erlicht and Zack Van Amburg from Sony and has tasked them with bringing in original content.

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The 90th Academy Awards will finally be here on Sunday, after months of campaigning (and millions of dollars spent) by studios and independent distributors to get their best and brightest recognition.

On paper, it could turn out to be a dull night. A few categories (like best actor and best supporting actress) seem to be a lock for specific actors. And the odds-on favorites to win best picture — “The Shape of Water” and “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” — haven't been that popular with general audiences. Both movies’ combined domestic box office ($105 million) is around what “Wonder Woman” had its opening weekend.

But if we learned anything from last year’s Oscars, you never know what kind of surprises could come. And the best-picture race is one of the most wide open in recent years.

Here are our predictions on who we think will win the major categories and who we think should win.

The Academy Awards air on ABC on Sunday at 8 p.m. EST/ 5 p.m. PST.

SEE ALSO: The top 20 Marvel Cinematic Universe villains, ranked from worst to best

Best original score

What will win: “The Shape of Water”

This category has a lot of major talents gunning for the win, but it’s going to be Alexandre Desplat’s hypnotic score for “The Shape of Water” that comes out on top. It's a beautiful companion to the unique love story director Guillermo del Toro weaves.

WHAT SHOULD WIN: "Dunkirk"

It would be great to see Hans Zimmer nab the Oscar, as the stopwatch rhythm of his score for “Dunkirk” is so vital to the movie. If “Dunkirk” does pull off the win it could be a hint to how the night goes, as “The Shape of Water” and “Dunkirk” are up against one another in numerous categories, including best picture.

Best original song

What will win: “Remember Me” (“Coco”)

Honestly, there really is no contest. When Miguel goes to Mama Coco at the end of the movie and sings the song to make her not forget the memory of Hector, it just brings the movie to an incredibly high emotional level.

• This year's Oscar best-picture race is one of the closest in recent memory, as several films still have a chance at the prize. 
• Even audiences seem to be split, based on a new survey from ticketing company Fandango that asked over 7,000 moviegoers what best-picture nominee they thought deserved the award. 
• Audiences thought "The Shape of Water" deserves best-picture, but it's a close race even in that regard.
• The acting categories aren't as close. 

Unlike past years, best picture seems to be a toss-up at this year's Academy Awards. With the ceremony looming, it still seems like several films have a legitimate shot at Oscar's top prize on Sunday. And even audiences can't make up their minds as to who deserves the win.

A new Fandango audience survey asked over 7,000 moviegoers what film they thought should win best picture, and it showed how close the race is.

"The Shape of Water" ultimately came out on top with 19% of the vote. But several other films trailed close behind: "Dunkirk" with 17%; "Get Out" with 16%; and "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" with 14%.

All four of these films have a chance at best picture, and the feeling of audiences seems to reflect the unpredictable nature of this Oscars race.

"The Shape of Water" won the Producers Guild Award for best picture this year and director Guillermo del Toro has won every notable directing award, from the Directors Guild to the Golden Globes.

But it doesn't have best picture in the bag.

"Dunkirk" hasn't won major awards, but older Oscar voters might still be drawn to a World War II drama. "Get Out" recently won the Writers Guild Award for original screenplay, making it not only a frontrunner for the Oscar, but best picture, as well. And "Three Billboards" has gotten some major awards in acting, screenplay, and picture categories, such as at the Golden Globes and from BAFTA. 

Even films that got a lower percentage of the votes were close among moviegoers surveyed by Fandango: "Darkest Hour" got 10%, and "Lady Bird" and "The Post" got 9%. "Call Me By Your Name" and "Phantom Thread" didn't fare as well with audiences, with 4% and 2%, respectively.

The survey also asked moviegoers their thoughts on the directing and acting races, which aren't as close in a lot of cases.

Below are the results for the rest of Fandango's audience survey, including directing and acting Oscars:

SEE ALSO: The director of last year's infamous Oscars telecast looks back on the 'La La Land'-'Moonlight' mix-up that ended up winning him an Emmy

Best Director

Guillermo Del Toro ("The Shape of Water") 31%

Christopher Nolan ("Dunkirk") 29%

Jordan Peele ("Get Out") 23%

Greta Gerwig ("Lady Bird") 14%

Paul Thomas Anderson ("Phantom Thread") 3%

Best Actor

Gary Oldman ("Darkest Hour") 44%

Daniel Kaluuya ("Get Out") 23%

Denzel Washington ("Roman J. Israel") 15%

Daniel Day-Lewis ("Phantom Thread") 11%

Timothee Chalamet ("Call Me By Your Name") 7%

Best Actress

Frances McDormand ("Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri") 30%

Sally Hawkins ("The Shape of Water") 20%

Margot Robbie ("I, Tonya") 19%

Saorsie Ronan ("Lady Bird") 16%

Meryl Streep ("The Post") 15%

• Emma Thompson said that the scene in "Love Actually" when her character cries after finding out her husband is cheating on her is drawn from real life.
• Thompson said that her ex-husband, actor and director Kenneth Branagh, broke her heart, and it was a similar experience to her character in the movie.
• While married to Thompson, Branagh had an affair with actress Helena Bonham Carter, which ended their marriage. 

In 2003's "Love Actually," Emma Thompson drew her iconic performance from real-life heartbreak.

In the movie Thompson's character, Karen, finds out that her husband (played by Alan Rickman) bought jewelry for another woman. When she discovers this, she breaks down and cries. Then, when her husband comes back in the room, she pretends like nothing is wrong. 

"I’ve had so much bloody practice at crying in a bedroom," Thompson said at a fundraiser in London on Sunday, according The Telegraph. "Then having to go out and be cheerful, gathering up the pieces of my heart and putting them in a drawer."

"That scene where my character is standing by the bed crying is so well known because it’s something everyone’s been through," Thompson said.

The "practice" Thompson was referring to was from her relationship with actor and director Kenneth Branagh. In 1987, the two fell in love while playing a married couple for the BBC series "Fortunes of War." Two years later, Thompson and Branagh got married. They went on to star in several movies together including "Much Ado About Nothing" and "Peter's Friends" and were a popular couple in the UK. 

But in 1994, Branagh met actress Helena Bonham Carter while making "Mary Shelley's Frankenstein." The two had an affair. Thompson and Branagh announced their separation in 1995.

"I had my heart very badly broken by Ken," Thompson said. "So I knew what it was like to find the necklace that wasn’t meant for me. Well, it wasn’t exactly that, but we’ve all been through it."

Branagh dated Bonham Carter for five years. But Thompson says she has "no hard feelings" toward her. "That is all blood under the bridge," Thompson said. "You can’t hold on to anything like that. It’s pointless. I haven’t got the energy for it. Helena and I made our peace years and years ago. She’s a wonderful woman."

Bonham Carter and Thompson both starred in the later "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" and "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II." Branagh starred in only the second film, "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets."

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• Machine learning researchers taught a machine how to play Qbert for Atari.
• The computer program found a bizarre way to rack up 1 million points by playing the game "in what seems to be a random manner" and making the entire stage flash. 
• Artificial intelligence agents often find techniques to win games that a human would never discover. 

While the jury's still out on whether today's machine-learning techniques will ever create an agent that could rival human intelligence, one thing about the future of artificial intelligence is clear: The machines are really good at playing games.

And when the machines get good at the games, sometimes they come up with bizarre strategies and tactics that a human never would. 

For example: In a new unreviewed paper posted on Arxiv, which we saw through a tweet from researcher Miles Brundage, three researchers from the University of Freiburg in Germany trained an agent using evolutionary strategies to play eight different Atari games from over 30 years ago. 

For one of the games, "Qbert," the AI found a way to exploit a bug in between levels, make the entire stage flash, and then rack up unlimited points.

Seriously. Even if you have never played "Qbert," you can tell that the agent is crushing the game. (The goal of the game is to visit every square in the level and make them change colors by jumping on them.)

Here's the video — the glitch starts at about 20 seconds in.

Here's how Patryk Chrabaszcz and the other researchers describe what the agent is doing in the paper: 

In the second interesting solution, the agent discovers an in-game bug. First, it completes the first level and then starts to jump from platform to platform in what seems to be a random manner. For a reason unknown to us, the game does not advance to the second round but the platforms start to blink and the agent quickly gains a huge amount of points (close to 1 million for our episode time limit). Interestingly, the policy network is not always able to exploit this in-game bug and 22/30 of the evaluation runs (same network weights but different initial environment conditions) yield a low score.

The strategies that AI agents take to win games are often fascinating. When Google's AlphaGo Zero agent beat the world's best Go player, its lead designer bragged that it found strategies that hadn't been used in the thousands of years the game has been played. "It found these human moves, it tried them, then ultimately it found something it prefers,” AlphaGo's lead programmer David Silver said at the time. 

It's also worth noting that the Qbert agent described in the new paper is using a different machine-learning technique from AlphaGo Zero's reinforcement learning. 

The bottom line is that machine-learning researchers love games. The rules are clear, you can run them thousands or millions of times, and they're just plain fun— even when the machines start breaking the games. 

Read the entire paper here. 

SEE ALSO: Watch a computer beat one of the world's best 'Super Smash Bros.' players

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NOW WATCH: Elon Musk's The Boring Company sold out of these $500 flamethrowers

• Hulu's latest original series, "The Looming Tower," is a gripping political drama of the events leading up to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. 
• The 10-episode limited series stars Jeff Daniels, Michael Stulhbarg, Alec Baldwin, and Peter Sarsgaard. 
• "The Looming Tower" currently stands at a 95% "Fresh" rating on the reviews aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.
• Critics have praised the show's first three episodes, which all premiered Wednesday on Hulu, with subsequent episodes airing weekly.

Hulu's latest original series, "The Looming Tower," is a gripping political drama of the governmental infighting that led up to the events of 9/11.

The 10-episode limited series stars Jeff Daniels as John O'Neill, a special agent in charge of the FBI's counterterrorism efforts. Michael Stulhbarg, Alec Baldwin, and Peter Sarsgaard also star in the series. It's a dramatic adaptation of Lawrence Wright's Pulitzer Prize-winning, non-fiction book of the same name.

Critics have praised the wide scope of the first three episodes of the series, which Hulu premiered on Wednesday, with subsequent episodes appearing weekly. 

"The Looming Tower" currently stands at a 95% "Fresh" rating on the reviews aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.

The series earned praise from The Washington Post as an "instantly absorbing" take on Wright's book. 

The Boston Globe's Matthew Gilbert described watching the series as "like watching Tom and Jerry play a testosterone-fueled game of cat and mouse while a venomous snake quietly slithers past them in a suicide vest."

The "venomous snake" in the series represents the rise of Al Qaeda and Osama Bin Laden, whom the show depicts as being able to orchestrate the attacks of 9/11 as governmental infighting between the CIA and FBI steadily thwarts the US government's counterterrorism efforts.

"The Looming Tower" is thus far Hulu's most critically acclaimed release since the first season of its Emmy Award-winning dystopian series "The Handmaid's Tale."

Watch the first three episodes of "The Looming Tower" on Hulu.

SEE ALSO: RANKED: Hulu's 12 original shows, from worst to best

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NOW WATCH: You can connect all 9 Best Picture Oscar nominees with actors they have in common — here's how

Not everybody loves award-winning movies.

With 13 nominations, Guillermo del Toro's "The Shape of Water" is up for the most Oscars this year.

The film, which has a 92% rating on Rotten Tomatoes (and an audience score of 78%), has received mostly positive reviews.

But some critics hate it.

A lot of the negative criticism stems from a lack of fleshed-out, three-dimensional characters, leaving some wondering if Del Toro sacrificed character development for stunning visuals.

A few negative reviews haven't stopped the success of this movie so far. It won best director and best motion picture drama at the Golden Globes in January. "The Shape of Water" is a favorite to win several Oscars including best director and best original score.

But they are still interesting to look at.

Here are some of the worst reviews of  "The Shape of Water" from critics:

The Academy Awards, hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, air on ABC on Sunday at 8 p.m. EST/ 5 p.m. PST.

SEE ALSO: Our predictions of who will win at the 2018 Oscars on Sunday night — and who really should win

"The movie's worldview is as easy to like as the protagonist and her friends, but del Toro lays it on so thick that there's no room for counterargument or even independent thought."

Chicago Reader

"The more I try to find some kind of justifiable meaning and relevance, the more I find 'The Shape of Water' a loopy, lunkheaded load of drivel."

New York Observer

"I felt nothing for the characters which makes the premise of rooting for the misunderstood a moot point."

The Sun

• Lifetime's "UnReal" tells a story in season three that embodies the #MeToo movement.
• But writing for the season was complete before the movement started, according to showrunner Stacy Rukeyser.
• A year-long hiatus is actually benefitting the show because of the movement. 
• Rukeyser, who accused her "One Tree Hill" boss Mark Schwann of creating a toxic environment for women, told Business Insider how she makes everyone working on her show feel comfortable.

It might seem like season three of Lifetime's "UnReal" — which shows a main character coming to terms with a sexual assault that happened when she was 12 — was a direct result of the #MeToo movement. But it wasn't.

"I would love to say we felt a change coming, but we really did not," showrunner Stacy Rukeyser told Business Insider. Rukeyser is one of 18 women who came forward with accusations of sexual harassment against "One Tree Hill" showrunner Mark Schwann. In a guest column for The Hollywood Reporter published in November 2017, Rukeyser described the show's environment as a "frat house," even though the show was for teenage girls, and most of the main characters were women.

Rukeyser told Business Insider that she runs her show in a very different way: the key, she said, is positivity, and making your employees feel like they can talk to you.  

"UnReal," which follows the lives of employees and contestants on "Everlasting" — a fictional dating reality series based on "The Bachelor" — has always been ahead of the curve. Its first season explored mental illness in a way that no show on TV had before, paving the way for other shows to do the same, like The CW's "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend." The series stars Constance Zimmer and Shiri Appleby, who have both been nominated for Emmys for their roles. 

Cultural relevance

Season three is not the first time the show has reflected its time. Since the beginning, "UnReal" has either created a cultural conversation, or added to it. 

In addition to going deeper into the psyche of its main character, Rachel Goldberg, the show within a show had its first ever black suitor in season two, which aired in 2016. This sparked some controversy when people pointed out that over 20 seasons in, "The Bachelor" had never had a black lead, and had barely had any contestants of color.

In February 2017, months after season two aired, ABC announced that Rachel Lindsay would be the first ever black bachelorette, suggesting that the conversation "UnReal" started possibly had an effect on the show it was satirizing.

In season three, "UnReal" continues its cultural relevance, and is paving the way for stories reflective of the #MeToo movement.

In the new season, which started on Lifetime Monday night, Rachel (Shiri Appleby) is coming to terms with her rape. Her mother, a therapist, ran her business at their home, with patients coming in and out constantly. When Rachel was 12, one of her mother's patients raped her.

A beneficial hiatus

Rukeyser said that while the season certainly seems like a result of #MeToo, it's not: writing was already complete before the movement started. "Looking back on it, it just seems so lucky that they [Lifetime] held onto it [season 3]," Rukeyser said. The show was originally scheduled to air in summer of 2017. 

"I would love to say we felt a change coming, but we really did not," Rukeyser said. "We just felt things that we had experienced as women, and certainly some of it is women in Hollywood. We were just excited that we had a chance to talk about it."

A safe, positive environment

"UnReal" depicts a TV show that is anything but safe and positive. Its characters are mean to each other, and typically only point out the negative.

But on the real-life set, Rukeyser goes out of her way to ensure that no one who works on "UnReal" feels unsafe or unappreciated, given the nature of the show and given her experience with Schwann on "One Tree Hill."

"I definitely had been thinking for a very long time about all of the things I would do if I ever got a chance to run my own show," Rukeyser said. "I care that everyone feels ok and feels safe. And if you don't, I want you to come to me. So you have to set the standard from the beginning that this is important and something everyone should be aware of and then the same thing goes on set."

Rukeyser said the week her former boss Schwann was accused of sexual harassment, she flew to Vancouver for a season three table read.

"I said to everyone how important it was to me that everyone feels safe on this show, and I wanted to make sure they had my phone number, and my cell phone number, and that they knew they could call day or night," she said. "And that I take these things really seriously. And that something will be done about it."

Rukeyser said making people feel safe isn't the only thing a showrunner can do to create a great environment, which in turn helps make a better show. 

"There are hundreds of people who go into making this show, and I want everyone to feel a great sense of ownership," Rukeyser said. "TV is an incredibly collaborative medium. But I have learned if you watch the dailies and the wardrobe looks great, you call the costume designer and you tell them. If an actor has a particularly great scene, call them and tell them that. You don't call when the things are going wrong, basically. It's basically just caring, not only about the stories you're telling, but the experience you're having while you're making it."

"UnReal" airs Mondays on Lifetime at 10 p.m.  Catch up on the first two seasons on Hulu.

SEE ALSO: The director of last year's infamous Oscars telecast looks back on the 'La La Land'-'Moonlight' mix-up that ended up winning him an Emmy

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• NBCUniversal said that it plans to cut the amount of primetime TV ad time by 10% this fall.
• The media giant's sales chief, Linda Yaccarino, said the move is necessary given consumers' changing tolerance for advertising.
• To offset this ad reduction, NBCU is promising to bring more science to its ad targeting to make the remaining TV ad space more valuable.

NBCUniversal knows the traditional TV ad experience needs to change. So it's doing the once-unthinkable: it's going to run fewer ads.

The media goliath said that starting this fall, it will cut the amount of advertising time during primetime (its most coveted and expensive real estate) by 10 percent on all of its networks — from the NBC broadcast network to SyFy to E! and so on.

Linda Yaccarino, NBCU's Chairman, Advertising and Client Partnerships, said that the move is being driven by an overarching recognition that Americans' tolerance for ads is going down, and the TV experience simply has to change.

"If you look at the consumer experience, it needed to get better," she told Business Insider. "You have a population raised with the expectation of being able to ad skip or go ad free. You can’t deny that."

NBCU wants to make TV shows feel way less cluttered

Yaccarino said that through research, NBCU has found that it isn't just the amount of TV time that is soaked up by ads that irks consumers, but the way they were clustered and scattered throughout shows. So NBCU also plans to reduce the number of ads per 'pod' — or unique commercial break — by 20%, the company said.

"It was actually the clutter that bothered people," she said. "We were kind of beating them up both ways."

To be sure, NBCU is not setting out to make 10% or 20% less money from ads this year. To offset that reduction in ad time, NBCU will run a standalone 60-second ad break at either the start or end of each show that will serve as something of a marquee placement.

To that end, the company plans to use a blend of data and manual tracking to try and match advertisers with specific episodes of shows, based on themes from particular episodes. NBCU is calling this its "emotional algorithm," Yaccarino said. "It's going to scrub every script to the scene level."

Marketers will be able to place their ads next to specific scenes from shows based on dozens of content attributes, such as "family" or "fanaticism." "Think of it like a giant grid or jigsaw puzzle," she said. "We're actually going to program our ad pods. It's crazy that we haven't done this."

The thinking is that this will deliver people more relevant and effective ads while, at the same time, making TV ads overall more palatable. For example, an advertisement featuring a cute baby might end up running during an episode of a family show centered on a pregnancy plotline.

Hopefully marketers will be willing to pay more for less

And from a business perspective, ideally these new slots will sell for a premium, and make up for any lost revenue from the reduction in overall commercial time.

"The market will ultimately determine its worth," Yaccarino said. "We knew that we had to bring a lot more value to the table. Any brand marketer will tell you, it's all about the value that’s delivered."

NBCU's move may appear drastic, but probably inevitable, as the commercial television industry is facing secular decline. TV advertisers are starting to spend more on the medium, which appears to have peaked two years ago, Bloomberg reported.

"We're taking a big swing," said Yaccarino. "This is the first wholesale effort to reimagine TV ads. She hopes other TV networks follow NBCU's lead. "That will benefit the greater good of the TV ecosystem."

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• Actor Jim Carrey has become a political artist and activist on Twitter.
• He regularly tweets politically charged and timely artwork.
• A clear style emerged in the art back in November.

Actor Jim Carrey has gained a reputation recently for not only being something of a recluse, but for being an outspoken political artist and activist on Twitter.

Carrey has developed a passion for painting in recent years and spent time away from the spotlight to focus on his art. But in November, a particular new style from Carrey became clear on Twitter.

A drawing of former strategist to President Trump, Steve Bannon, that Carrey tweeted on November 10, 2017, appears to have set a precedent for the art that would come after it. The art features Bannon's face with the word "fool" drawn over it. That same day, Carrey tweeted a drawing of former Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore. Similar to the Bannon piece, Moore's face had the word "danger" drawn over it.

Carrey has regularly posted drawings since then, almost always inspired by current political events. His Twitter has attracted nearly 18 million followers.

On Monday, Carrey teased on Twitter that he would be "fading into the everything for a while." It gave the impression he would be taking a Twitter hiatus. (He's already boycotting Facebook because he said the social network "profited from Russian interference in our elections and they're still not doing enough to stop it.")

But on Tuesday and Wednesday, he tweeted the same image he did Monday, but with more words each time. On Tuesday, it read "If you woke up knowing," and on Wednesday it read, "You were everything that is."

We don't know what Carrey will say next, or what art he'll post, but until then, we've rounded up a selection of his politically artistic tweets since he debuted the distinct style in November.

Below is a timeline of Carrey's politically charged artwork:

SEE ALSO: Hulu's 'The Looming Tower' is a 'testosterone-fueled' political drama showing the lead-up to 9/11 — and its best-reviewed series since 'The Handmaid's Tale'

November 10, 2017

Tweet Embed:
https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/928860839309819904?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
I’m Steve Bannon and I endorse Roy Moore for US Senate.He stands accused of molesting a 14yr old girl,but at least he’s not a Democrat! ?8^¥ pic.twitter.com/p2ojKqVS47

November 10, 2017

Tweet Embed:
https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/929063564970622976?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Alabama GOP, if u can’t vote 4 Doug Jones at least don’t vote for an alleged pedophile. Do the decent thing and just stay home. ;^| pic.twitter.com/KPzIZKLj6X

November 29, 2017

Tweet Embed:
https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/935914112994832389?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
The GOP and WH have become sinister conclaves of souless traitors, liars and thieves - a gangrene we must remove so democracy can live. #killthebillpic.twitter.com/DzXdh68qVB

Spotify has filed paperwork for a direct public offering, an unusual process to quickly list its shares as it races with Apple to become the de-facto standard in the fast growing music streaming business. 

The 10 year old Sweedish company filed an F-1 prospectus on Wednesday for the offering. The company plans to list shares on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker "SPOT."

It listed a valuation of 1 billion Euros, though that figure is likely a placeholder number that could change as the offering gets closer.

Developing...

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• Young adults posed as students at a Kansas high school on the A&E documentary series "Undercover High."
• They found that the way teenagers talk about pregnancy and parenthood has completely changed from when they were in school.
• Teen pregnancy has become more socially acceptable, the undercover adults found.

Today's teenagers seem to be growing up faster than ever before.

Never is that more evident than when it comes to pregnancy. Once a taboo subject, teen parenthood has not only become more accepted among high-schoolers — in some cases, it's become a status symbol.

At least that's what seven adults observed when they spent a semester posing as students at Highland Park High School in Topeka, Kansas. The undercover students, ages 21 to 26, were featured on the A&E documentary series "Undercover High." Over the course of the spring 2017 semester, the adults made friends with students, took classes, and joined clubs in an effort to see life from a teenager's perspective.

In spite of data showing teen pregnancy rates are slowing down, the adults discovered that talk of parenthood was surprisingly common at Highland Park. Many of the high-schoolers openly discussed plans to get pregnant and seemed to envy other students who had children.

One of the undercover participants, a kindergarten teacher named Gloria, was alarmed by the nonchalant attitudes she encountered at the school.

"With these younger girls, seeing these other girls getting pregnant, they think it's fun and they think it's cute," said Gloria, who was 26 at the time the show was filmed. "That's scary to know someone who doesn't even know what life is about is about to raise another one."

"When did this become cool? When did getting pregnant become a thing?" she said.

Another undercover student, a 22-year-old named Nicolette, said she thought the advent of social media has something to do with the shift in attitudes. Early episodes of "Undercover High" centered on teenagers' relationships with their phones and social media, and how the two have transformed the day-to-day lives of high-schoolers.

"In every school around the nation, teen pregnancy has been an issue that happens. It's just part of life. But now I think social media plays a really large role in making that more acceptable," Nicolette told Business Insider. "Kids would post a lot about babies and things like that, and say 'I can't wait to be a mom.' That wasn't the case when I was in school."

The issue is especially personal for Nicolette, who herself had a child her senior year of high school. She said at the time, the subject was "very taboo" and she was "ostracized" by her peers.

"A lot of people were telling me: 'Oh, your life is over. You're not going to be able to go to college. You're going to drop out of high school,'" she told Business Insider. "I didn't feel supported at all."

Her experience at Highland Park, however, was completely different. For one, pregnant or parenting students could get counseling from social workers employed by the school. Highland Park also had a daycare center where students could drop off their children for the day. At one point 25 children would get dropped off, principal Beryl New said, although that figure decreased when some of the parents stopped coming to school.

Nicolette found herself making friends with female students who had children, and even started an after-school group where pregnant or parenting students could lend support to one another. Some of the girls were at risk of dropping out — only 40% of teen mothers finish high school, according to the latest data, and only 2% finish college by age 30.

"I know that feeling of being ostracized," Nicolette told Business Insider. "To be a teenager in high school is hard and on top of that adding being a teen mom — that's one foot in your youth and one foot in adulthood, and that's really challenging."

"Your life isn't over, but you do have to take alternate strategies to pursuing your future."

New, who left Highland Park after the school year to work as an administrator with the school district, said the school emphasizes responsible sexual practices in its health classes.

"As with anything, it's how the student chooses to apply the information that the teacher is sharing," she said.

SEE ALSO: Adults who went undercover at a high school found 7 things people don't realize about life for teenagers today

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• Spotify just filed the paperwork for its direct public listing.
• Like Snap, Facebook, and other tech companies that have gone the traditional initial public offering route, Spotify engineered a firewall to ensure the founders stay in control.
• Spotify has created a class of "beneficiary certificates" that carry voting power but no economic power.
• Spotify has issued 379.2 million shares to founders Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzen, giving them over 80% of the voting power.

After a lengthy buildup, Spotify has finally filed for its direct public listing— the unorthodox process that circumvents the traditional Wall Street initial public offering process wherein banks are hired to find buyers for the shares.

Spotify plans to list on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker "SPOT," according to the company's F-1 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

But once the shares are on the NYSE, technically anyone can buy them up. Spotify's founders, Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzen, have engineered a class of super shares to ensure they retain control of the company, according to the SEC filing. 

Spotify created a class of "beneficiary certificates" that carry voting power but zero economic power. They're worthless other than giving the holder one vote on company matters, and subject to certain exceptions, they will "automatically be canceled for no consideration in the case of sale or transfer of the ordinary share to which they are linked."

Up to 1.4 billion certificates can be issued to holders of ordinary shares, at a ratio of one to 20 per share, at the discretion of the board of directors.

Ek and Lorentzen, who already own a combined 38.9% of the ordinary shares, will each receive 10 beneficiary certificates for every ordinary share they own, for a total of 379.2 million. That gives them just over 80% of the voting power in the company. 

Spotify is taking a different route to going public, but just like high-profile tech IPOs such as Snap and Facebook, this measure effectively creates a firewall that keeps the founders in control, regardless of who buys up shares on the public markets. 

Spotify's beneficiary certificates will, in part, discourage any third-party from trying to buy up enough of the company to shake things up.

"The issuance of beneficiary certificates also may make it more difficult or expensive for a third party to acquire control of us without the approval of our founders," the filing reads.

The filing puts it in plain English — Ek and Lorentzen will essentially have total authority:

"As a result of this ownership or control of our voting securities, if our founders act together, they will have control over the outcome of substantially all matters submitted to our shareholders for approval, including the election of directors."

The board can issue more beneficiary certificates — there are more than 1 billion remaining from the total authorized amount — but, of course, Ek and Lorentzen sit on the board and control the voting power, so they'll have a say in that matter, too.

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• Music streaming service Spotify outlined its main sources of competition in paperwork for a direct public offering filed Wednesday. 
• Spotify is worried about the added visibility given to rival music services in hardware that comes pre-loaded with other music apps, which would include devices like the iPhone, Google Pixel, Amazon Echo, Apple HomePod, and Google Home.
• "Apple, Amazon, and Google, have developed, and are continuing to develop, devices for which their music streaming service is preloaded, creating a visibility advantage," the filing says.

Spotify considers outside devices that come pre-loaded with rival music services threats to its bottom line, which would include everything from smartphones, like the iPhone and Google Pixel, to smart speakers, like the Amazon Echo and Apple's new HomePod.

The Swedish music streaming service filed paperwork for a direct public offering on Wednesday, a process where Spotify offers its shares directly to potential investors, bypassing the typical Wall Street process of taking a company public.

The F-1 prospectus Spotify filed for the offering contains some revealing tidbits about what Spotify has historically viewed as its competition — namely, other types of streaming services, entertainment apps and programs, and anything that competes for user attention.  

But in recent years, there's a new sector of the business that could be threatening Spotify's music streaming stronghold: smart speakers and flagship smartphones that come with a different streaming service pre-installed. 

"Many of our competitors enjoy competitive advantages such as greater name recognition, legacy operating histories, and larger marketing budgets, as well as greater financial, technical, human, and other resources," Spotify wrote in the filing.

"In addition, some of our competitors, including Apple, Amazon, and Google, have developed, and are continuing to develop, devices for which their music streaming service is preloaded, creating a visibility advantage," the document reads. 

Beaten to the punch

Spotify has reportedly considered developing its own hardware in the past.

According to job listings first spotted back in April, Spotify was looking for candidates to build "a category defining product akin to Pebble Watch, Amazon Echo, and Snap Spectacles." 

But Spotify hasn't released anything yet, and in the meantime, Google, Apple, and Amazon all have their own versions of a smart speaker, all of which are tailored to the company's own music streaming service: 

• Google Home — which includes the Google Home Max, a powerful speaker aimed at music aficionados — will play music from Spotify, but also plays YouTube Music, Google Play Music, and Pandora. 
• Amazon Echoworks with Spotify, and much like Google Home, is a more open ecosystem — for example it allows users to set Spotify as the default mode of playback for song requests. The Echo also supports Amazon Music and Pandora. 
• Apple HomePod, which was released last month, can stream Spotify, but is designed for Apple Music — the speaker's "smarts" and voice controls won't work with any other streaming service.

A smart speaker would differentiate Spotify in the crowded field of music streaming services. At this point, many of the premium on-demand streaming services are viewed as interchangeable by consumers — they all come in at a similar price point of $9.99 and offer similar catalogs of millions of songs.

Spotify's concern over its competitors' "visibility advantage" also applies to smartphones like the iPhone and Google Pixel, which come pre-loaded with Apple Music and Play Music respectively. 

While Spotify has tried to set itself apart in other ways — like its popular "Discover Weekly" playlists, which use algorithms to suggest music you'll like — its lack of hardware and the preloaded music apps on popular smartphones are clearly points of concern as the company prepares to go public. 

SEE ALSO: Spotify, the music streaming service that's crushing Apple Music, just filed to go public in a very weird way

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