http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/airhockey-over-a-distance/ Engadget Comments for Airhockey Over a Distance http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2008 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/airhockey-over-a-distance/http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/airhockey-over-a-distance/Jul 31st 2006 4:33PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/airhockey-over-a-distance/http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/airhockey-over-a-distance/
In other words, you're going to get a big warning, via video/mech lag of where the puck is coming... either that or they could even sync the video with the firing mechanism but that would still create a very slow game.

This is one step better than calling your friend over the phone and saying "okay, I hit the puck at a 36 degree angle at 4 meters per second... your turn". Unless they can simulate the puck and everything else, it's a waste and a poor example of potentially impressive technology.]]>Jul 31st 2006 4:37PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/airhockey-over-a-distance/http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/airhockey-over-a-distance/Jul 31st 2006 5:14PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/airhockey-over-a-distance/http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/airhockey-over-a-distance/Jul 31st 2006 6:03PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/airhockey-over-a-distance/http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/airhockey-over-a-distance/
If you think you have a lag problem with your favourite FPS, wait till you see this baby! I'd guess about 2 second delay. Oh, and that was with the two "tables" only about 10 meters apart.

Then let's talk about the guy in the back of the thing catching and then feeding the pucks... really funny to see, kinda reminded me of a marionette show.

So from the angle I was watching from, I could see the first player strike the puck, said puck would disappear into the machine, where marionette-guy would retrieve puck (most of the time, or pick it up from the floor), a couple of seconds later the second player across the floor would have a puck shoot out from his machine.

Now the really odd part of this thing was that what happened when the second player hit the puck (for a return volley). Player #1 would see on his video screen the puck inbound at a certain angle (and for anyone that has actually played air hocky, would have already calculated the required intercept location and be waiting for it), and be expecting the puck to emmerge at same said angle, but NOoooo the challenge comes from the fact that the puck would most of the time come out the OPPOSITE side of the machine to what was on screen, making for rather entertaining viewing (if not disconcerting).

Give the technology a few years and we might be onto something.
]]>Jul 31st 2006 8:05PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/airhockey-over-a-distance/http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/airhockey-over-a-distance/Jul 31st 2006 9:25PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/airhockey-over-a-distance/http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/31/airhockey-over-a-distance/

(For those who are too dense: I'm joking).
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