augmented reality
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Overheard at GDC: "Don't you feel like you're in Doom?"
"They need to do an augmented reality game in here. I mean, don't you feel like you're in Doom already?- A random GDC attendee talking about the labyrinthine, ExpoSuite corridors of Moscone West (pictured above, totally unaltered.)
Nokia project puts red boxes on things
"Copy that, Echo 1, I've got a lock on Pizzeria Dacca. Permission to take the shot?" Borrowing cues from heads-up displays you might find in the cockpits of fighter jets, Nokia's Research Center has cobbled together the MARA (Mobile Augmented Reality Applications) project for identifying the user's surroundings. Using a Nokia 6680 specially equipped with a big, ugly box containing accelerometers in all three axes, a compass, and a GPS receiver, the phone has enough information to precisely identify objects seen through its camera by appending stuff (like the aforementioned red boxes) to the on-screen viewfinder -- useful for identifying buildings, streets, and even friends (or "bogeys" if you want to stick with the fighter jet lingo). Though MARA is strictly a research project, it's apparently been under development for a good while now, lending hope that the system might eventually see production some time down the road. We have to admit, the cool factor is extremely high on this one, and we'd love to see it happen.[Via GigaOM]
Cell phones to become 'joysticks' of the future
Researchers in New Zealand have demonstrated how two Nokia Series 60 cell phones can be used to play a virtual tennis game. Like current mobile games, the action takes place on the phone's display. Only in AR* Tennis, players primarily use physical motions to control the flow of the game.To begin the game, players sit at a table across from each other, and a piece of paper is placed between them, representing the boundaries of the tennis court. Players serve the ball by pressing a number on the keypad. Serves are returned with a simple swing of the phone. Players know they've made contact when the phones vibrate and project a sound.The similarities between this format and Wii are obvious and could be signaling the beginnings of the next big trend in gaming. But, as associate professor in interactive and intelligent computing at Georgia Tech Blair MacIntyre points out, "The big question is whether folks can design compelling games using [this technology]."*Augmented Reality.
Gaze detector lets you hear with your eyes
If we're not absorbing information at an alarming and astounding rate 24/7, we start feeling a little hollow and frivolous, being surrounded with all this connected technology and what not. Thankfully Manabe Hiroyuki (pictured) at NTT DoCoMo took the time to develop and create the wearable headphone gaze detector; slightly less elegant than the traditional neural implant, with this system you could not only record the goings on of your days and "bookmark" important events, but also train the cameras to feed you information about your surroundings based on QR codes or possibly eventually object recognition; think of it as augmented aural reality triggered by giving a passing glance. Shine on, you crazy diamond - -we think you might just have Masahiko Tsukamoto beat this time.[Via pasta and vinegar]
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.
