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Augmented Reality Quake
DrGonzo writes "Take a tour of campus an shoot some monsters. The Wearable Computer Lab at the University of South Australia has developed a
prototype wearable Quake suit. " I'm a little skeptical
of this, but it sure would make the frisbee golfers on campus look like the normal
ones.
You'd definitely want to let campus security know before you went out ot play your first game.
Looks like it wouldn't be that comfortable, and of course you'd look out of place. Otherwise cool. I wonder if the shots they show are real or what they propose it would look like.
Most people would die sooner than think; in fact, they do.
That one shot with the bridge is scary. I can't tell if the bridge is really there or not. With sufficiently good graphics, you could easily break a leg/neck.
-prator
If you wanted to play paintball, but didn't have any friends who did, this would be a great way to get outside and have some fun. It could also take the paintball/lasertag-style game to the next level. Instead of just shooting each other, you could launch a coordinated attack on the horde of monsters at your school. Buffy expansion pak, anyone? I don't play paintball, but I imagine that it's mostly running around and you only shoot a couple of times. This sounds like you could shoot stuff all over the place.
The obvious problem is looking like a complete idiot in public. But for some of us, that happens anyway, so who cares?
The obvious useful application for this is the military/police force. I can imagine them setting up common scenarios that soldiers/officers would be required to run through on a regular basis. This would almost be like getting real experience, and it would keep everyone in shape, too. Much better than computer simulations where they sit down, or are confined to a room. I wonder if they plan on making a bundle selling this to various enforcement agencies.
c-hack.com |
I have a few issues with this. I wouldn't care what other people thought I looked like but I would care about being hit by a car or jumping into someone. Are there alternative to differentiate between humans walking around or do the monsters pass through them? Is there anyway to "recognize" a moving object to warn the user not get "hit" by it? I see enough people have trouble walking without the added distraction of playing a game at the same time. For many people, I think mixing reality with electronics is a recipe for distaster (ie: cellphone and accidents).
Bill, can you factor this prime number for me?
Having done research with HMD's (Head mounted displays), I am pretty sure they never had 640x480 headsets for $700. The problem is that the optics and screens are super expensive, if you want them to be wearable for any reasonable amount of time. A couple of problems: Even if they could manufacture a really nice high quality HMD for $700, there STILL isn't a large consumer market for it. They would need to build something that wows people for $200, which just isn't possible with current display technologies. The other problem is field of view. Most modern consumer headsets have pretty limited FOV. Increase the FOV, and you effectively blur out the image. Makes text tough. I wouldn't wait for any cheap HMDs.
As for your question, VR as popularized by fiction, is a LONG way off. I don't think it was ever really alive. The problem is just that there are too many parts missing, too expensive, or just not there yet (good quality feedback, sourceless tracking) for anything more than expensive research projects.
I think maybe once we figure out some sort of brain-computer interface, we may see some real consumer VR. But I doubt much before that.
"Of all days, the day on which one has not laughed is the most surely the one wasted." -Sebastian Roch Nicol
Hey, this sounds like a really expensive way to play a game similar to paintball, but not nearly as fun. Why not just play paintball instead? Or if you want to go the more 80s route, you could play Lazertag instead.
Wow, "Nerds" wasn't the first thing I thought when I looked. More like. "Wow!", "fascinating", and "this guy is a genious".
You on the otherhand, elicited an immediate response from me after reading your post.
You are an idiot!
Most people get it! Unfortunately, people like you have to suffer an entire lifetime.
Someone develops a novel idea that could lead to fascinating advances in technology for the next 100+ years and the only comment you can gome up with is. "NERDS"?
-Oy Vey