e534 — Hiding in Plain Sight

e534 — Hiding in Plain Sight

Author: Michael Rowe, Michael Martine, Andy Piper November 24, 2025 Duration: 29:22
facade of the Musée du Louvre
Photo by Tim Wildsmith on Unsplash

Published 24 November 2025

e534 with Michael, Andy and Michael – AI and ML training data, camouflage, ppen source Zork, Deadpool VR, NPH movies and a whole lot more.

Michael, Andy and Michael start things off with with an intriguing AI analysis of the heist from the Louvre.  The Ars Technica article takes the examples of mathematical machine learning and human psychology to show how both were defeated what was considered to be ordinary versus suspicious.  This is a terrific reminder on the importance of the training data sets used for AI models and how the “performance of normality became the perfect camouflage”.  Michael R highlights the On Intelligence book, and Michael M brings up visual pattern recognition of the human form which ghillie suits help disguise.

Switching to a hackster.io article, the die is cast – or rather the die is 3d printed.  Andy shares his thoughts on this bluetooth enabled die, and mentions how dice have featured prominently in the the podcast over the years.  E132 from 2016 appears to be the earliest reference to dice in the show notes.

Next up is Microsoft’s announcement to open source the Zork family of text based adventure games from Infocom.  Zork is another favorite of the podcast, and e78 from 2014 is the earliest reference!  Then the team discusses the Deadpool VR game.  The Kotaku article mentions that  Neil Patrick Harris does the Deadpool voice acting in the game.  This leads the cohosts down the rabbit hole of NPH acting with a number of movies and TV shows.

Oh, and the reason for the “I don’t want a McRib” part of the show title was because the Kotaku article kept serving up McDonalds McRib ads to Michael M, while Michael R with his PiHole does not get such ads.

What is your favorite NPH movie or tv show?  Have your bots 🤖 drop our bots 🤖 a line at @gamesatwork_biz@mastodon.social (our home for now) and let us know! 

These show notes were lovingly hand crafted by a real human, and not by a bot.  All rights reserved.  That’s our story and we’re sticking to it.

Selected Links

AI

Ars Technica article: How Louvre thieves exploited human psychology to avoid suspicion—and what it reveals about AI

Wikipedia article: On Intelligence: How a New Understanding of the Brain will Lead to the Creation of Truly Intelligent Machines by Jeff Hawkins

IMDb: Now You See Me: Now You Don’t 2025 movie

Wikipedia article: Ghillie Suit

Bluetooth Dice

hackter.io article: Travis Bumgarner’s Dice of Sending Are Bluetooth-Connected Dice for Fairer Digital Roleplays

Games at Work e132: Wake Up! (For earliest description of dice)

Games and NPH

The Verge article: Microsoft makes Zork open-source

Games at Work e78: The Show is Already in Progress (for earliest reference to Zork)

Kotaku article: Deadpool VR Is A Game For Deadpool Fans And Nobody Else

marvel.Fandom.com : Wade Wilson (Earth-616)

IMDb: A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas

IMDb: Starship Troopers

IMDb: Doogie Howser, M.D.

IMDb: Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale


The weekly conversation hosted by Michael Rowe, Michael Martine, and Andy Piper, Games At Work dot Biz, explores the intersection where our digital play and professional lives collide. This isn't just a review show; it's a deep dive into the technology that powers our hobbies, the business behind the leisure, and the cultural news shaping both worlds. Each episode feels like pulling up a chair with three friends who are as passionate about the craft of game development and the evolution of hardware as they are about the pure joy of finding a great new title. You'll hear specific discussions on everything from the latest graphics card impacting performance to the narrative design of an indie darling, all filtered through the lens of professionals who live in the tech space. The Games At Work dot Biz podcast operates on the belief that the games we play and the tools we use are inextricably linked, offering listeners a consistently thoughtful and engaging analysis that goes far beyond a simple score. Tune in for a regular dose of insightful commentary where the serious business of technology meets the serious fun of games.
Author: Language: en-us Episodes: 50

Games At Work dot Biz
Podcast Episodes
e541 — Invisible Llamas [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 29:33
edited picture from Lars H Knudsen: https://www.pexels.com/photo/a-close-up-shot-of-a-llama-7845603/ Published 2 February 2026 e541 with Michael and Michael – Stories and discussion on AI with local Claude (and Clawdbot,…
e540 — Saucer Separation Button [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 35:29
Photo by Aneta Pawlik on Unsplash Published 26 January 2026 e540 with Michael, Andy and Michael – Stories and discussion on mobile controllers, AI playing Anchorhead, Zork & Roller Coaster Tycoon, an isometric NYC, human…
e539 — Wikipedia is 25! [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 38:29
Michael R brings back Ian Hughes to discuss the recent changes with Meta’s VR investments, cool content on Apple’s Vision Pro, the new Creator Studio bundle, and 25 years of Wikipedia. While Andy and Michael M are not av…
e538 — MagSafe Stacking [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 30:47
Photo by Michael Martine, Blowing Rock, NC 2022 Published 12 January 2026 e538 with Michael, Michael and Andy – Stories and discussion on CES2026, EuroTech, PhoneTech, AI playing your games for you so you can watch and a…
e537 — Reading, Listening & Building Together [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 32:13
Photo by Scott Gruber on Unsplash Published 4 January 2026 e537 with Michael M and Andy – ringing in the new year with the amazing power of music to move and heal, LEGO and retro builds and a whole lot more. Andy, Michae…
e536 — Can we skip all AI this time? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 36:53
Photo by Alexander Grigoryev on Unsplash Published 22 December 2025 e536 with Andy, Michael R, and guest host newly-retired Ian “Epredator” Hughes – a dive into gaming in 2025, retro computing and games, how to fix old p…
e535 — The Poetry of DOOM [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 36:13
Photo by David Klein on Unsplash Published 15 December 2025 e535 with Michael M and Andy – adversarial poetry to jailbreak LLMs, iFixit’s FixBot, power of digital twins, putting the breaks on Rewind, Nintendo Virtual Boy…
e533 — Rings of Power [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 32:16
Photo by Fallon Michael on Unsplash Published 17 November 2025 e533 with Andy, Michael and Michael – rings to chart the heavens and control your home, repurposing smart TVs, retro La Machine and Vectrex hardware made new…
e532 — Spooky Scary Tech Skeletons [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 34:00
Photo by Chris Charles on Unsplash Published 3 November 2025 e532 with Michael and Michael – Halloween Spooktacular edition with AI whale communications & implications, robotic vacuums that phone home, ad supported TVs a…
e531 – Games and Such [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 32:02
Epredator created AI Generated image Michael R and Ian “Epredator” Hughes get together for a chat about #gaming, #VR, and #technology. We talk about some of our favorite comfort games, how they are procedurally generated…