PS3 investing in tangible user interfaces
During the Sony press conference earlier today, there was a sneak preview of a technological concept that takes the PS2's current motion detection (EyeToy) one step further. Using a camera and barcoded physical cards, a card game can become digitally visualised.
Augmented reality and tangible user interfaces are two research areas that various academics have been pursuing for some time, but are only just making it into the mainstream. While these ideas seem cool in theory, in reality we have to ask ourselves what value is added to a game by providing this interface. Perhaps we'll see this technology being used to strike out in innovative, unusual directions -- or perhaps, like many research ideas that are nice in theory but fall flat in practice, it will become a selling point that isn't taken any further.
