perception
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VR brings better motion capture to your video games
The problem with conventional motion capture is that you can't see the world you're supposed to be acting in. How do you get a feel for that epic fantasy landscape when you're staring at an empty room? Cloudhead Games has an idea. For its upcoming The Gallery: Call of the Starseed, it's using HTC's Vive virtual reality headset for motion capture, not just gameplay. The headset immerses actors in a scene while giving them more helpful teleprompting and visual cues. And when it's combined with a camera-free motion system like the Perception Neuron, you don't need a big, dedicated room -- performers can wander around a quiet corner of the office.
How a design firm built the 'Avengers: Age of Ultron' statue
#fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-519510{display:none;} .cke_show_borders #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-519510, #postcontentcontainer #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-519510{width:629px;display:block;}#fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-830714{display:none;} .cke_show_borders #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-830714, #postcontentcontainer #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-830714{width:570px;display:block;}try{document.getElementById("fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-830714").style.display="none";}catch(e){}The last Avengers film, Age of Ultron, capped off its world-saving adventure in a unique way: With a stunning statue rendering of our heroes in action. It was reminiscent of classical depictions of Greek gods and goddesses, which seems only fitting for the mythological titans of our time. The whole scene was produced by Perception, the company that Marvel also tapped to design Tony Stark's elaborate user interfaces (along with plenty of tech companies). In the above video, the company's creative director John LePore explains how they came up with the idea and went about creating it.
Meet the firm designing futuristic UI for Iron Man and Samsung
Remember Tony Stark's glass smartphone and transparent coffee table in the Iron Man movies? Or how about that gorgeous statue rendering of the Avengers in action at the end of Age of Ultron? You've got one company to thank for those sequences: Perception, a New York City-based visual design firm. It's carved out a unique spot building forward-thinking design concepts for films and major tech companies, including the likes of Samsung, Microsoft and Ford. Perception's work makes it clear we've moved on from the days when interface design was merely an afterthought for movies, and when few tech companies brought cinematic depth and emotion to their products. Now, there's a sort of virtuous cycle of design, where movies lift from tech, and tech companies find inspiration in films.
Pantech Perception official for Verizon, delivers motion-aware Android on April 25th
Unofficial details of the Pantech Perception have been around for long enough for the phone to feel old, but the truth is that it's only just getting started. The 4.8-inch, mid-tier Android smartphone is at last launching with Verizon on April 25th, and it should cost $100 on contract after subscribers cash in a $50 rebate. It won't trigger much regret among Galaxy S 4 buyers when it's carrying a more GS3-like Super AMOLED 720p screen, 16GB of storage, an 8-megapixel rear camera and a 2-megapixel front shooter. That said, Pantech does promise an extra level of software savvy: the company's customized variant of Ice Cream Sandwich (soon to upgrade to Jelly Bean) centers on a Motion Sense suite that lets owners wave their hands to answer calls, switch tracks or navigate contacts and photo galleries. While we can't say we're bowled over by that claimed advantage, the Perception may just hit the sweet spot for those who want an alternative to HTC and Samsung for a bigger handset.
Mobile Miscellany: week of February 18th, 2013
If you didn't get enough mobile news during the week, not to worry, because we've opened the firehose for the truly hardcore. This week brought confirmation of Pantech's next phone for Verizon, legal battles over the airwaves in India and a new smartphone to Virgin Mobile. These stories and more await after the break. So buy the ticket and take the ride as we explore the "best of the rest" for this week of February 18th, 2013.
Verizon-bound Pantech Perception leaks: 1.5GHz S4, 720p display, LTE and Android
Sure, Pantech's 4.8-inch Discover HD for AT&T had its official announcement around CES, and now it appears Verizon will get its own variant of the Android smartphone. The ever-resourceful evleaks has scooped up details about said device, dubbed as the Pantech Perception, along with the leaked press image above. As the report goes, it's apparently packing a similar 720p (1176 x 720) HD display, a 1.5Ghz Snapdragon S4 SoC, LTE connectivity and, naturally, Verizon markings. Details are slim aside from that, although, evleaks is implying it'll cost near to the $50 on-contract pricing of the Discover HD. As always, we'll keep you posted when more info arises -- there are more happenings from CES to catch up on in the meantime.
Ask Massively: Why we write about only the games you hate
Welcome back to Ask Massively because why not? You're here; I'm here. We've previously discussed defining MMOs and how we select the games and the news Massively covers. This week, let's talk about column selection and perception of story frequency. tomrobbins asked, "Why do you guys cover [WildStar] so intensely yet other MMOs you barely mention? This game can't do a thing with out getting an article written about it here, yet it's not even out. Other MMOs barely get mentioned. This site seems only about WildStar, EverQuest II, Star Wars: The Old Republic, and Star Trek Online lately." Does it sometimes feel as if we're reading different sites entirely?
Storyboard: The lies we tell ourselves
We all have our delusions. Some of them are very conscious decisions, like ignoring the fact that Superman Returns is a thing that actually exists. Others are more unconscious, like people who genuinely believe that the ancient Mayans put together a calendar predicting the end of the world in a few weeks. But they're always there, and all of us have a full set of them bred into us from years of social interactions and peer groups. We ignore, we obfuscate, and we reject facts that do not line up with our opinions. Make your own joke there about gamers declaring a game is or was a failure. Our characters often see the world with a lot more clarity. It's not that they're devoid of opinions; it's that they tend to base those opinions on the real story instead of what they saw or felt or thought. That's all well and good, but perhaps it's time for reasonable things like facts to take a hike in favor of some good old-fashioned delusions. After all, if we're all deluding ourselves in real life, shouldn't our characters get to occasionally stick their fingers in their ears and declare they can't hear anything?
Breakfast's super-speed reactive electromagnetic display is 44,000 dots of promotional awesome (video)
TNT wanted to launch its new crime show Perception, in style, and we have to give it to 'em, this is pretty cool. Working with professional technological tinkerers, Breakfast, they created a 23 x 12 foot display made up of 44,000 electromagnetic dots. Imagine those ticker boards you see at train stations, jazzed up with a little modern flavor. The dots are white on one side, black on the other, and move at 15 times the speed of their typical rail-station counterparts -- giving a real-time effect. The installation is set up in Manhattan's Herald Square until July 29th, and is fully interactive. When pedestrians walk past, the board updates to reflect their movement, and this "silhouette" interacts with words and images on the screen. Extra sensory stimulation also comes from the noise the board makes, literally letting you hear your movements. If a picture paints a thousand words, then 44,000 dots in a video paints even more. Head past the break to see the beast in action, plus more details on how it was done.
WoW Moviewatch: Perception
We've covered Perception by Ian Beckman before. You don't need to worry about getting kicked awake or trying to break out of your dream. I love the way Ian's brought WoW and the mind-bending realities of Inception together in one video. While I don't know how much narrative Ian actually intended, it's easy to piece together your own story just by watching these clips. What do you think is happening? Is it just a psychotic break, or is something more sinister happening? Regardless of how you interpret Perception, the graphics are top-notch and the final effect is a fun pop culture ride. Kick back and enjoy the bwoooooom. Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an email at moviewatch@wowinsider.com.
Invisibility cloak made of carbon nanotubes uses 'mirage effect' to disappear
If the phrase "I solemnly swear I'm up to no good" means anything to you, you'll be happy to know that scientists have come one step closer to a Potter-style "invisibility cloak" so you can use your Marauder's Map to the fullest. With the help of carbon nanotubes, researchers have been able to make objects seem to magically vanish by using the same principle that causes mirages. As anyone who's been especially parched along Route 66 knows, optical illusions occur when heat changes the air's temperature and density, something that forces light to "bend," making us see all sorts of crazy things. Apply the same theory under water using nanotubes -- one molecule carbon coils with super high heat conductivity -- and scientists can make a sheet of the stuff "disappear." Remember, it only works underwater, so get your gillyweed ready and check out the video after the break.
The Secret World's Tornquist talks truth, pain, and non-combat gaming
Rock, Paper Shotgun is back with part two of its interview with The Secret World's Ragnar Tornquist. Part one debuted yesterday and detailed a bit of the history behind the game's development as well as blurbs about factions, puzzles, and ARG thingamajigs. Today's installment talks about everything from Tornquist's recurring real world/hidden world motifs, to the endings of Lost and Dreamfall, to unfulfilled fan expectations. As you might expect, the interview errs heavily on the side of the philosophical rather than delving into gameplay specifics. Everything from the nature of truth, to Funcom's Secret World agenda, to the reticence of the gaming industry to evolve beyond kill-everything-that-moves is up for discussion. On this last point, Tornquist hints at the challenges inherent in designing non-combat gaming experiences. "It's difficult. You can't sacrifice fun. But then of course the idea of fun is ambiguous. Does it always have to be fun? Can't it be painful too?"
Breakfast Topic: How do you respond when others misrepresent WoW?
This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the Aol guest writer program that brings your words to WoW Insider's pages. A few months back, my wife and I were watching television, when suddenly my ears perked to the sound of a familiar phrase. The Big Bang Theory was talking about our beloved game! I had heard that this show employs people to keep its science talk somewhat authentic, so I listened curiously to see where they were going with this. Unfortunately, it appears that they don't exercise the same level of care when talking about video games. "You know World of Warcraft?" Wolowitz asked Penny. "The online game? Sure," she replied. "Well, did you know you that the characters in the game can have sex with each other? Hollywood has always treated video games more like a prop than a real live hobby, obviously. You're usually lucky when gaming characters actually continue mashing on buttons while they deliver lines, so an inaccuracy like this isn't exactly a surprise. Moments later, though, our phone started to ring. My wife picked it up and I faintly heard my father-in-law asking in his heavy Oklahoma accent, "What does Brian do in that game he's always playin', anyway?" She explained that -- despite tales of Moon Guard -- there is no mechanic in the game to have sex. Still, though ... to this day, when he asks about our "raider game," I swear I can see an incredulous eyebrow rise ever so slightly. Society and the media haven't always done their best to paint the MMO genre positively or accurately. News stories constantly highlight the worst-case scenarios, and innocent jokes like this can send the wrong impression to the uninitiated. Is there anyone in your life who is convinced that these stereotypes and falsehoods are true? Did you ever try to educate them, or do you just nod your head and laugh to yourself when they mention the game?
Cataclysm Beta: Racial changes in build 12984
A new build for the Cataclysm beta is pending and should be hitting servers fairly soon. In build 12984, we're going to see several races getting a few updates. Racial changes Human Perception is gone. Undead Cannibalize now also regenerates mana. (7% of total health and mana every 2 sec for 10 sec) Tauren Cultivation still increases your Herbalism skill by 15, but also lets you gather herbs faster than normal herbalists. Gnomes Shortblade Specialization Expertise with Daggers and One-Handed Swords increased by 3. Human Perception is gone? My poor dwarf will have extra reason to be Cannibalized? Gnomes becoming experts with daggers and one-handed swords? And the change no one could have seen coming, taurens can pick flowers faster? Anyway, enough with the amazement. What do you guys think of these changes to racials so far? [via MMO-Champion] World of Warcraft: Cataclysm will destroy Azeroth as we know it; nothing will be the same! In WoW Insider's Guide to Cataclysm, you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion, from brand new races to revamped quests and zones. Visit our Cataclysm news category for the most recent posts having to do with the Cataclysm expansion.
Anti-Aliased: Don't hate the playa, hate the developa
So I noticed something last week, in the comments section of my piece on UI design, that finally kicked me back into "endless rant" mode. It's a sentiment that I've noticed in the video game community at large for a while now, but I never really knew how to approach it until recently, thanks to my own life experiences with games. It's an idea that's pretty misinformed on how the industry works. It's the idea that the developers behind any given game are an idiots. According to commenters, they're all blind, non-gamer morons, bumbling around in the dark without the slightest sense of what game mechanics are actually fun. Why are these bumbling morons in the industry? Why don't they listen to the endless array of golden ideas that pop up on game forums? Don't they realize that these revolutionary ideas will turn every game into double-rainbow-crapping unicorns? Why haven't 15% of my readers (a totally accurate statistic, mind you) figured out how sarcastic I'm being at this point in the introduction? This week we're going after some of the common misconceptions about developers and game design, and how making a game as complex as an MMO is really never as easy as you claim it is.
Apple tops media impact rankings in Q2
While we tend to hold Apple's feet to the fire on issues with their otherwise stellar products, the world at large sees a glossy coat of scratch-resistant awesome all over the Cupertino brand. According to General Sentiment (a media measurement firm somewhat obviously named), Apple was not only discussed more than any other brand in Q2 of this year, they are spoken of in high regard. You see, General Sentiment has developed a new metric called Perception Value and to show off the difference between "Impact" or how much a brand was discussed online, and "Perception" or how well-regarded a company is in those online conversations, they've focused on the Perception Value of Apple in their 12-page report on Brand Exposure Analysis. Unsurprisingly, BP made it to #2 in terms of impact, as the spill in the gulf was widely discussed on Facebook, Twitter and blogs. In terms of perception, BP isn't sitting so pretty. Apple, on the other hand, ranks #1 because of successful iPad and iPhone 4 launches. [via Macsimum News]
Eye Illusions app will fool you over and over again
I have to admit it. I just love optical illusions. I remember buying books full of them when I was a kid, and sharing them with anyone I could find. Now, an incredibly complete collection of illusions called Eye Illusions has come to the iPhone and the iPad. For this review I've tested the iPhone version, which sells for US$0.99. The illusions are in categories, like disappearing objects, weird lines, color illusions, etc. The app has something my books didn't have -- video. There is a great collection of videos of seemingly impossible objects. You watch the video, and then you get a look behind the scenes to see how the illusion was accomplished. %Gallery-95023%
Iron Man 2: the gadgets (video)
When done right, a science fiction or fantasy film will leave audiences with a prescient glimpse into our actual gadget future. Remember the heady pre-iPhone, pre-Pureness days of 2002 when you first saw Minority Report? Staring silently, mouth agape, jonesing for a chance to partake in a multi-touch, transparent display future using nothing but gestures? Well now that Iron Man 2 has been released, we've got another chance to look into the high-tech crystal ball, this time envisioned by a team of artists at Perception who did the design, animation, and visual effects work that turned Tony Stark's transparent LG smartphone (pictured above), touch-screen coffee table, and holographic lab environment into an on-screen reality. The group was compelled by director Jon Favreau and the team at Marvel Studios to keep the UI elements "legible and logical, while still appearing to be several generations beyond the typical user experience." Perception tells us that some of its inspiration was directly attributed to Engadget as it researched near-term technologies for the film's future reality. No doubt, we do see influence from Emblaze's First Else navigation elements and limited color palette as well as Microsoft's InkSeine research at the heart of the doomed Courier UI. And if we're not mistaken, Stark's big ass computing table is almost certainly inspired by Microsoft Surface. Now get past the break and check out Perception's contribution to Iron Man 2, the future of Google search alone is not to be missed.%Gallery-92501%
ECA president encourages action against negative gaming stereotypes
Let's take a step back from all the hard hitting news for just a moment and listen to some conventional wisdom from Hal Halpin -- ECA president and certified defender of gamers everywhere. Over at IndustryGamers, Halpin wrote a touching (and personal) editorial piece about the perception of gamers, the perpetual stigmas we (all of us gamers) allow to be placed on us and what we should do about it.Essentially, the article tells gamers not to just sit idly when being slapped with negative stereotypes. Our cherished culture is just a bit misunderstood, but it's up to you to make others understand it -- define it for them. So ... get off your fat lazy asses, read Halpin's editorial, and keep in mind the next time someone slurs you because you're a gamer.[Thanks, Jack!]
A cognitive look at World of Warcraft
The Human/Computer Interaction Design group at Indiana University seems interesting -- they're apparently working on the connections between the Human/Computer interface, both studying what's already being done between humans and technology and thinking of new ways for the two to interact. And they're concerned with abstracts, not specifics -- they look not at which buttons are being pressed, but why and how the software informs you what to do next.One of the students in a class there has written up a cognitive account of what it's like to play World of Warcraft, which is a look at the game strictly through sense perception. Even if you're an experienced player, it's interesting to see the game in a new light like this -- rather than talk about the lore or the mechanics of gameplay, the writeup is all about the sights and sounds of the game, and how Blizzard's overall design clues you in to what can and can't be done in Azeroth.There's probably lots more work that could be done on this as well -- lots of games, including World of Warcraft, use design elements like colors and lighting to nonverbally clue you in on the next door to go through or where to send your attention during a scene or fight. Most of their other cognitive accounts are about actual UI design, but there are many, many things left for those studying user interfaces to mine out of the way videogames express themselves to the user.
