WearableGames
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Woven's wearable platform for gaming, cool points and a whole lot more (video)
TshirtOS showed us one take on wearable gadgetry earlier this month, and now it's Woven's turn. This particular e-garment packs quite the selection of hardware, as you can see above -- a trio of LilyPad Arduino boards (and some custom ones), a Bluetooth module, 12 x 12 RGB LED "screen", speakers, bend sensors, a heart rate monitor, shake motors and a power pack. You'll need to accessorize, of course, with a smartphone for hardware harmony and to run companion apps. So what's it for, you ask? Well, the creators are touting it primarily as a "pervasive" gaming platform, and even seem to have a working first title in the form of SPOOKY (think gesture-based ghost-fighting). Other uses (which appear a little more conceptual) see Woven as a workout companion, TV remote, Wii controller, social network alerter or simply a fashion accessory. Check out the videos below to see it in action and imagine all the fun you could have in the five minutes before you're ushered into that padded room.
Wearable game launching soon
While alternate reality games of the past have been deployed as viral marketing campaigns for standalone video games, newer ARGs are looking to physical merchandise as a means of funding and distribution. ARGs are usually characterised by a trail of puzzles left across various in-game websites, solved by players working alone or together.However, new ARG EDOC Laundry differs from precedent; its puzzle trail is wearable, in the form of a boutique clothing line which launches in March. The designers hope that their "skater" style clothing will become a talking point, tapping into the puzzle-solving, game-playing subconscious. This isn't the first ARG to sell puzzles, but clothing is a novel direction for games in general as well as ARGs--it will be interesting to see if it takes off.
