ESPN's bowl coverage swaps out the telestrator for augmented reality GameView
We dug into ESPN's use of the Xbox 360 and EA Sports games to power its Virtual Playbook segments last year, but in preparation for this round of BCS bowl games it's upgraded the system with a bit of augmented reality. The new GameView system uses a tabletop 70-inch touchscreen LCD, a copy of NCAA Football '12 and four dedicated workstations to blend everything together and create a simulation for viewers to see the analysts move virtual players around the field. It should at least be more interesting than CNN's previous election coverage implementation, although we're mostly wondering when a combo of Kinect, Surface and old school electronic football will bring the experience directly to our living rooms to play around with. Check out the gallery for a few more screens and expect to see this implemented more during the upcoming big time bowl games -- no, there's no secret code Desmond Howard can input to get a national championship game between two college football teams that haven't already played each other, we asked.
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• GameView was developed to address the complexities of the Virtual Playbook remote shoots which had lengthy
setup times, weather issues and was not easily utilized by analysts.
• This solution brings the virtual field to the analyst, enabling control over the breakdown of a team matchup by
scaling, moving, and rotating the field.
• Also included with the GameView technology is the ability to breakdown multiple plays simultaneously.
Previously, only one play could be loaded at a time. GameView can now show a play that has a predetermined
outcome (e.g. a blitz resulting in a quarterback sack), and provides the ability to rewind and rerun the play while
detailing how adjustments to the play may contribute to a different outcome.
Equipment utilized:
• 70" multi-touch touchscreen
• Four top-of-the-line graphics workstations to render virtual elements
• EA SPORTS NCAA Football '12 game
• Jib rig to allow camera shots that accentuate the 3D rendering, and enable changing viewing angles.
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