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Russians and Their Games: Kasparov and Pajitnov Make the News

© Sean Weiser

Today, when every new break-through game seems to make your computer more and more obsolete, two Russians - Garry Kasparov and Alexey Pajitnov - have stuck with older, more well known games that attract a wider audience. These two don't seem to mind if the games they play and design aren't earth shattering new, but at least they're still great games.

The first, Garry Kasparov, isn't really news anymore and what he did isn't really about gaming, either. But it still very noteworthy. If you haven't heard it yet, here it goes - Mr. Kasparov, the Russian Grandmaster, lost a six game tournament to the IBM computer Deep Blue. The supercomputer, capable of billions of calculations per second, became the first computer to beat a world chess champion in a tournament. In a show of its abilities, Deep Blue defeated Kasparov in the final game in less than an hour. Garry Kasparov resigned after only 19 moves. Are computers smarter than man? Probably not, but it's still amazing how one can bring a champion to his knees.

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This is the time that big gaming companies release details about upcoming games for the rest of the year and the beginning of next, so it's no surprise that Microsoft has plans to release plenty of new games. Not necessarily a huge game, but one sure of being talked about, Microsoft's Entertainment Pack: The Puzzle Collection has been released. This new addition to the fun Window's Entertainment Pack was created by Alexey Pajitnov, designer of Tetris. The trial version of The Puzzle Collection can be found here. It's not the game that makes it a sure hit, it's the creator, Pajitnov. One of the best designers in the gaming industry, Pajitnov joined Microsoft last year after a stint with Spectrum Holobyte, another maker of computer games. When he arrived in the United States from his home in Russia in 1991, he formed a company called Tetris Co. along with Blue Byte Software.

The idea of Tetris occurred in the 1980's at the Computer Center of the Moscow Academy of Science. After creating it, he distributed it to others at the Academy and became an instant hit there along with the rest of the world. So far Tetris has sold over 40 million copies. Along with this classic and addicting game, Alexey Pajitnov has also created Welltris, Hatris, Faces, Knight Moves, Elfish and Fire and Ice.