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Augmented Reality Shaping the Future of Games

Posted by Soulskill on from the since-diminished-reality-was-already-handled-by-beer dept.

Slatterz writes "Microsoft's Natal can recognize a player's skeletal structure, and also perform some sophisticated translation of body physics into in-game movement. As a control mechanism this is fascinating, but the next step is to merge the game graphics with the real world. Now, basic examples of augmented reality (AR) are being shown using a mobile phone, unlike previous demos which have involved walking around with a large backpack strapped to your body. A game titled Arhrrrr blends live-action video overlaid with game graphics. The processing is taken care of by Nvidia's new Tegra platform, while the game's 'maps' are generated by pointing the phone's camera (in this case 5MP) at a 2D drawing/printout lying on a table. The end result is a 3D world which seems to spring forth in real time, with buildings popping up as players move around the game 'map.' This story shows two other interesting videos demonstrating AR, including the ability to add real-life objects into the virtual game world and have the gameplay respond and react accordingly."

56 comments

  1. Oh, this ought to be interesting... by dwiget001 · · Score: 1

    Skellie (Natal's version of Clippie): It looks like you are trying to perform "Monkey Boy Dance". Choose the following options:

    1) Continue with "Monkey Boy Dance".
    2) Make someone else do "Monkey Boy Dance".
    3) Patent Natal's "Monkey Boy Dance" initiation methods.
    4) ...
    5) Profit!

    1. Re:Oh, this ought to be interesting... by damien_kane · · Score: 1

      Skellie (Natal's version of Clippie): It looks like you are trying to perform "Monkey Boy Dance". Choose the following options:

      1) Continue with "Monkey Boy Dance". 2) Make someone else do "Monkey Boy Dance". 3) Patent Natal's "Monkey Boy Dance" initiation methods. 4) ... 5) Profit!

      4) Apply ballistic trajectory to office furniture. There... fixed that for you

  2. Ready? by Spyware23 · · Score: 2, Informative

    As far as I know, Natal is still vaporware with some sexy CGI and PR. The live demonstration seemed crude when compared to the promising, albeit slightly ambitious CGI-movies.

    I realize that the technology to enable such a contraption as Natal are already available, but I doubt that Microsoft is ready to develop for such a system, and I also doubt that most of Xbox's fanbase is ready for this change in how people play games. Not sure if Microsoft should be betting all it's money on Natal.

    1. Re:Ready? by immakiku · · Score: 1

      I don't think Natal is supposed to be a replacement for traditional control mechanisms. As their researchers have said, it's meant to provide control for tasks that traditional controls aren't optimal for. I'm sure for certain game genres Natal will be great; while for others we can still use the handheld controller.

    2. Re:Ready? by rhathar · · Score: 2, Funny

      Science Fiction has lied to us - where's our VR with sex?

      --
      http://www.chaotickingdoms.com
    3. Re:Ready? by centuren · · Score: 2, Funny

      Science Fiction has lied to us - where's our VR with sex?

      The scientists who were assigned to work on that project haven't been heard from for years now.

    4. Re:Ready? by Xest · · Score: 2, Informative

      Well Microsoft have already shipped out 1000 dev kits to 3rd party developers so the technology is clearly ready to develop with.

      I've not seen any evidence of CGI yet, there seems little reason to think what's shown isn't real, certainly the Milo demo was pre-scripted of course because AI isn't that advanced but certainly there's no reason it wasn't responding to the given inputs via Natal as was suggested. Similar if you have a look on YouTube there's a few videos of various people using the system at E3. It's not as if the technology that comprises Natal is even all that groundbreaking, it's just the fact they've used all these bits of technology (facial recognition, depth sensing etc.) in conjunction with each other to produce something capable of a lot more. We've seen things like the Eyetoy and Live vision cam, Natal is different only in that it adds depth sensing to the equation to make it a lot more useful so again although it looks impression there's nothing about it theoretically that suggests there is any reason Microsoft would need to fake demos of it.

      I've said it before, I still think it's a way off, a good 18 months to two years away if not only because the 3rd party developers only got dev kits a month ago and they need at least that time to produce an AAA title that will make use of it.

      Regarding Microsoft putting all their money on Natal, I don't think they are, at very least it just augments what's already there. There's no reason you couldn't play Ghost Recon as normal but then use hand signals to command your ghost and point at where they should take cover, or physically move to dodge incoming projectiles for example.

      It doesn't have to be used as a full blown setup where the old is eliminated altogether somewhat like with the Wii but again, even that had the classic controllers produced for it and even the Wiimotes could be used in a similar fashion to a classic controller if really need be.

  3. AR Games are fun by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    I'm playing an Augmented Reality game right now. I'm driving my car, with my laptop on my lap, and my cellphone tethered to my machine. Uh oh, here comes another playe

    1. Re:AR Games are fun by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm still waiting for some augmented porn- maybe with inflatable interface?

    2. Re:AR Games are fun by FatLittleMonkey · · Score: 4, Funny

      AR has excellent collision detection.

      --
      Science is all about firing a drunk pig out of a cannon just to see what happens.
  4. Augmented Reality by Hogwash+McFly · · Score: 4, Interesting

    This tech has huge potential. Just yesterday I was watching the video for the Gizmondo 'Catapult' Game. Very cool. I've been looking at virtual reality glasses, and the Vuzix VR920 is a stereoscopic headset that has 3d compatibility with some games as well as head tracking. Attach a couple of webcams and connect it to a portable computer and you can walk around viewing an augmented version of reality, such as having a Terminator-style red overlay with scrolling code and primitive object recognition as shown here. You'd look like a complete dork walking around with it in public, but it's neat tech nonetheless.

    A co-worker and I were discussing how you could take a normal laser tag arena, paint all of the walls with patterns that can be recognised by intelligent systems, and combined with headsets you could have an augmented reality laser tag. In one round everything could be decorated in a futuristic theme with metal panelling, neon lights, another could be stone castle walls or a dusty Wild West theme. If the players are wearing patterned jumpsuits, you could overlay them with different skins so they appear to you as terrorists, zombies, whatever you want. You would need some pretty good tracking to calculate location so that people don't run into walls that appear further away and are able to shoot eachother with accuracy, but if implemented well it could be awesome.

    /geekout

    --
    Mother, do you think they'll like this sig?
    1. Re:Augmented Reality by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Just wait till someone hacks it to make the walls disappear

    2. Re:Augmented Reality by vertinox · · Score: 2, Interesting

      There are some tech demos out on youtube (here and here) that have AR running at 10fps on an iPhone.

      Combined with gaming the potential is huge.

      Imagine a D&D table top where the characters are alive or even augmented reality chess.

      And yeah... I had thought about an FPS laser tag game way back when as well. Hopefully we'll see that soon.

      --
      "I am the king of the Romans, and am superior to rules of grammar!"
      -Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor (1368-1437)
    3. Re:Augmented Reality by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You'd look like a complete dork walking around with it in public

      In other words, completely normal for the average slashdotter?

    4. Re:Augmented Reality by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      IRL CS

    5. Re:Augmented Reality by JustJenFelice · · Score: 1

      I attended a presentation on Tuesday, hosted by the Kansas City AMA chapter (marketing, not medical). The presenters were Chris Haas of Google and Drew Mitchell of YouTube. I was immediately struck by how frequently both presenters mentioned augmented reality, something that (in my experience) has been relegated to sci-fi stories and hypothetical tech discussions.

      Now, I'm not intending to make some sort of "Google is going into augmented reality" statement, as I am clearly in no position to make such a claim, but what I can say is that it is clearly on the radar for them (especially when put within the context of Wave). I just think that it is a very dynamic time, almost frighteningly so, for technology. It will be interesting to see where we go from here and how quickly we get there...

      --
      [Insert pithy line of moxie here.]
    6. Re:Augmented Reality by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Now thats an uber geek that would rock!

  5. Lies And Non-News by sexconker · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Microsoft's Natal can recognize a player's skeletal structure

    No it can't. It identifies a few joints.

    and also perform some sophisticated translation of body physics into in-game movement.

    If by sophisticated, you mean "primitive", sure.

    As a control mechanism this is fascinating,

    Not really, we've had this shit for ages, and it's never really taken off outside of fixed machines (arcades, real sports, etc.)

    but the next step is to merge the game graphics with the real world.

    I'd say the next step is launching the damned thing.

    Now, basic examples of augmented reality (AR) are being shown using a mobile phone, unlike previous demos which have involved walking around with a large backpack strapped to your body.

    And...?

    A game titled Arhrrrr blends live-action video overlaid with game graphics. The processing is taken care of by Nvidia's new Tegra platform,

    Ah, so this is just a slashvertisement for Tegra. Tegra is a fucking dog turd.

    while the game's 'maps' are generated by pointing the phone's camera (in this case 5MP) at a 2D drawing/printout lying on a table.

    So it takes a picture of a map and makes a ... map?

    The end result is a 3D world which seems to spring forth in real time, with buildings popping up as players move around the game 'map.'

    I've seen this before and it was nothing but a poorly executed gimmick.

    This story shows two other interesting videos demonstrating AR, including the ability to add real-life objects into the virtual game world and have the gameplay respond and react accordingly.

    Again, nothing new. We've had "take a pic and put it in the game" shit for ages. It's never anything more than a gimmick. When you let users make the content, it's just crappy designs with dicks everywhere. When you have companies make the content, it's all just fucking advertising.

    Seems to me people play games to get away from a lot of the bullshit in the real world.

    1. Re:Lies And Non-News by religious+freak · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Shit man, you have some anger issues. Seriously. This is another incremental step in tech, backed by big marketing, but it is a step in tech design/distribution. It looks to be damn interesting too.

      --
      If you can read this... 01110101 01110010 00100000 01100001 00100000 01100111 01100101 01100101 01101011
    2. Re:Lies And Non-News by im_thatoneguy · · Score: 1

      Do you have any idea what you're talking about? This stuff is neither ancient nor primitive. There was a company 2 years ago at siggraph which was getting a lot of attention with markerless optical motion capture. And 2 years ago it was incredibly impressive. And they only worked on a solid color background and required multiple cameras. Natal is really quite cutting edge. Especially if it works even somewhat reliably.

    3. Re:Lies And Non-News by vertinox · · Score: 1

      So it takes a picture of a map and makes a ... map?

      *sigh*

      The first thing I thought when I saw this piece of technology was chess (remember to let the Wookie win), Warhammer, Close Combat, and AD&D.

      If you can't correlate AR potential with table top games then you need to turn in your geek card over there ---->

      --
      "I am the king of the Romans, and am superior to rules of grammar!"
      -Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor (1368-1437)
    4. Re:Lies And Non-News by sexconker · · Score: 1

      Natal is 2 webcams, one tuned to IR.
      It's got some software behind it.

      It's not cutting edge.

      Do you believe the Milo/Milly demos? Those were scripted, you know.

    5. Re:Lies And Non-News by sexconker · · Score: 1

      What I've seen ISN'T interesting, is my point, and it's nothing new.

      Natal is all marketing. And it won't even be out for at least another year.

      Other attempts to incorporate real-world elements into games have always been a huge failure or a pointless gimmick. Same for drawing game elements over a video feed of the real world.

      This shit is gimmicky. No one has shown a way to make this shit improve gameplay. It's always "take a pic and have it be in the game" type shit.

      The ONLY advances we've seen lately are better image processing techniques and faster CPUs.

    6. Re:Lies And Non-News by tixxit · · Score: 4, Insightful

      while the game's 'maps' are generated by pointing the phone's camera (in this case 5MP) at a 2D drawing/printout lying on a table.

      So it takes a picture of a map and makes a ... map?

      The end result is a 3D world which seems to spring forth in real time, with buildings popping up as players move around the game 'map.'

      I've seen this before and it was nothing but a poorly executed gimmick.

      You are seriously underestimating this. Technically, it would appear it recognizes a 2d image in 3d space, positions and orients it in that 3d space and then can displays some 3D model/animation associated with that picture. Yeah, not a technical miracle, but the biggest marvel is not what it does, but the fact it does it cheaply (processing power) and does it well.

      I think their goal is to bring AR to the masses. It has a lot of applications, certainly outside of games. Did you watch the demo of them looking at the newspaper? Enhancing printed media is definitely a cool application. Imagine being able to hold your iPhone over your car manual and watch as a 3D diagram of a transmission explodes and reassembles itself. And the killer part of this is that it is running on a chip designed for phones; in other words, this is NOT one of those techs that you probably won't ever see in the real world. The demo shows it running well on a chip designed for the smart phones of TODAY. It will only take one killer app (probably not a game) and "AR" could be on millions of people's phones within a week.

    7. Re:Lies And Non-News by sexconker · · Score: 1

      How about, we already have games that do this?

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifvVLer7_d0&feature=related

    8. Re:Lies And Non-News by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Umm... you would be quite wrong.

      Natal is two cameras, one bog-standard webcam and one cutting-edge brand-spanking-new Time of Flight infrared camera that is only just now becoming cheap enough to put in consumer tech because of very recent advances in IR LEDs. It doesn't produce an image of the scene visible in the IR range, which would be boring. It produces a 200x200 pixel depth image, where every pixel is the distance from the camera, which is new and quite exciting.

      Google for Felicia Day (of the guild) trying out the breakout demo. It's clearly not scripted and has very little apparent lag...

    9. Re:Lies And Non-News by sexconker · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Why point a device at a manual and watch the diagram? Why not watch the diagram on the device?

      The tech is NOWHERE near being able to take a random 3D diagram to explode, nor will it ever be.
      There is information lost in the 2D diagram.

      If we're making diagrams with extra information for the reader (such as a different angle, or a colored height map or occlusion info), why not just make the fucking 3D diagram itself?

      It's a neat gimmick, but it's just that. They looked at a newspaper and got... a dancing goober? A video? Why the fuck wouldn't I just go to the content directly if I had access to it?

      Device points at thing.
      Device recognizes thing.
      Device checks database for content for thing.
      Device populates content.
      No content? Add gremlin for lols.

      That's all the newspaper demo was.
      I'd fucking just go straight to the content and skip the physical newspaper, and the dedicated device if possible.

      It's neat, but it's a gimmick.
      This is all just a slashvertisement for Tegra.

    10. Re:Lies And Non-News by tixxit · · Score: 1

      Why point a device at a manual and watch the diagram? Why not watch the diagram on the device?

      The tech is NOWHERE near being able to take a random 3D diagram to explode, nor will it ever be. There is information lost in the 2D diagram.

      Of course, that wouldn't make sense. The 3D model comes from somewhere else (which someone designed). Perhaps there is an RFID chip in the manual where your phone can go off and request the models/whatever that go along with the book, download them, then display them as you go (without you ever noticing a thing).

      If we're making diagrams with extra information for the reader (such as a different angle, or a colored height map or occlusion info), why not just make the fucking 3D diagram itself?

      Perhaps because you can make it easier to access. Especially if its just additional information that is more conveniently (and usually) accessed in hardcopy form, like a newspaper or a car manual.

      It's a neat gimmick, but it's just that. They looked at a newspaper and got... a dancing goober? A video? Why the fuck wouldn't I just go to the content directly if I had access to it?

      Because you have the content in your hands. The "extra" info is just that, extra. Or, may be you don't have access to it. May be it gets the information locally. Who knows. Also, not everyone wants to read a newspaper on a screen, but don't mind looking at their iPhone for a minute for some extra shit, like a vid or something.

    11. Re:Lies And Non-News by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What I've seen ISN'T interesting, is my point, and it's nothing new.

      You been watching the wrong videos then. Either that or you ain't got a clue what about the underpinning technology

    12. Re:Lies And Non-News by Crookdotter · · Score: 1

      I think you should imagine 5 years down the line, when every phone has the capability. I'm a science teacher. I imagine that in 5 years, I can get my hands on some AR science apps and roll them out to pupils phones (I'd hope the mechanism for doing this would be easy and built by then)

      Imagine clearing your desk then looking through your phone at a 3D model of a galaxy, spinning right in front of you, or taking a tour around the solar system right there.

      What about simulating predator/prey relationships on your desk, or any kind of simulation really.

      I can't imagine any of that getting old quickly. I also imagine that we will get AR glasses that don't look too dorky in the future too. Imagine a class wearing them inside a room with markers on the walls - the room effectively becomes a HOLODECK. You can dissolve away the real world and take them flying where ever you want. The amazing thing is that it is doable RIGHT NOW. We just need someone to build the thing and program it. It doesn't need any inventions 'down the line'.

      After that little revelation, you can see the uses for it in the home as well. AR will change a lot of things if they build it well.

    13. Re:Lies And Non-News by Xest · · Score: 1

      "No it can't. It identifies a few joints."

      Yes, enough to make a useful map of the relevant parts of someone's skeletal structure in a way that can be adapted to a game. It has proper depth sensing technology so it doesn't not suffer from problems of ambiguity as to where a particular part of the body sits in relation to other parts in a full 3 dimensions. This differs from the likes of the Eyetoy or the XBox vision camera in that they only work with a 2D image of the body and have to try and figure out from that where everything is, which as you say, is a much tougher problem in relation to tegra because extrapolating 3D data from 2D isn't easy or even possible at all in some cases. Again, Natal builds a full 3D model of what it can "see". It can't of course product a full skeletal representation, only what is obvious from the front and obvious externally to the human body, that's enough to do what needs to be done for Natal though and that's integrating it with games.

      "If by sophisticated, you mean "primitive", sure."

      Well, I suppose it depends how you define sophisticated/primitive. But I'd say being able to track the limbs of multiple bodies around a room in real 3D space rather than just working from a 2D image is pretty damn sophisticated. Working with a 2D image is what I would call primitive but Natal does not do that.

      "Not really, we've had this shit for ages, and it's never really taken off outside of fixed machines (arcades, real sports, etc.)"

      No we really haven't. I'm not aware of any consumer product that does full blown depth sensing to create a 3D map and can apply it to something useful like a game.

      "I'd say the next step is launching the damned thing."

      Agreed, dev kits only went out to developers last month though so I'd say we're at least 18 months off there being any games developed to make it worth releasing though so I doubt we'll see it for a while yet. Christmas 2010 would be the earliest I'd place my bets on but I'd be suprised if we see real usage before the next console generation in which Microsoft will probably make this a feature of the system.

      Your issue with Natal seems to be that you believe it's just taking 2D pictures rather than being able to build a 3D representation of the world. When you understand the difference with latter which is what Natal actually is you can begin to realise how big a step this is - you don't have ambiguity problems related to working things out from a 2D image. It's not perfect, it can't judge what's behind someone for example of course, but it's still a leap forward and is very much next gen technology, if not only because it's the first time we're seeing depth sensing tech. like that becoming cheap enough for this kind of usage.

      We will begin to see much better usage for this kind of technology far beyond just Natal, when the tech gets small enough to fit in a mobile phone for example there's no reason you couldn't go out, wave your phone round your car from every angle and have your phone build a 3D map of it that you could load into a racing game in perfect detail - dents and all or even potentially do the same with your house and load it into an FPS. It's also good for indie developers or film makes, mocap was always far too expensive for them but that's not necessarily the case when this tech becomes cheap enough.

    14. Re:Lies And Non-News by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's all the newspaper demo was.
      I'd fucking just go straight to the content and skip the physical newspaper, and the dedicated device if possible.

      Let's say you are reading a newspaper and run into an interesting article that has some up-to date content or multimedia or whatever available on the net. Which is easier, pointing "device" at the article or typing 'http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8115327.stm' on the "device"?

      If you are already on the web, then by all means click on the link and get the content. The point of this technology is to enable real world objects to act as 'links' or to have some other interactive properties.

    15. Re:Lies And Non-News by Gravatron · · Score: 1

      There was an anime released several years ago dealing with augmented reality, called Dennou Coil (a coil of children).

      In it, pretty much everyone wears these glasses that overlay a virtual world on top of the real one. It was so developed it was like living in a virtual world, as people had phones, pets, objects, etc, that only existed in virtual space. Kids used it at school for parts of their lessons doing exactly the sort of stuff your talking about.

      Really interesting show, clearly ahead of it's time the same way Serial Experiments Lain was in relation to the internet.

    16. Re:Lies And Non-News by Reapy · · Score: 1

      I strongly agree with you in it's gimmicky feel. I think the same way as you right now with the demos they show for this type of thing.

      But I can't help but feel that we just haven't seen a 'killer ap' for this kind of technology. I don't think it should be discarded entirely. I could see this type of tech being used instead as a different user experience rather then practical.

      I could see perhaps in a store where there is a local network with the DB of store items, and every item on the shelf has a 'marker' of some sort. Point your phone at the marker and it fetches the content from the DB and gives you the extra information about the product you are looking at.

      That is still gimmicky, but, I don't think it is necessarily a tech to dismiss right away, but yeah, the uncalled for excitement people have definitely should be shut down.

      When we have "Augmented Reality" headsets my wife and I can wear so I look like jonny depp and she looks like megan fox, then we're talking ;)

    17. Re:Lies And Non-News by sexconker · · Score: 1

      Natal IS taking 2D pictures.
      It's a webcam and an IR camera.

      IR camera provides a height map while the web cam provides the 2D image. There may be MINIMAL stereoscopy going on, or possible, but the IR camera is a much lower resolution and both cameras are in a fixed position.

      Mocap too expensive? What the fuck? Most games with a decent budget use motion capture for animations!

      If you think Natal will be able to scan your car or your house, well, get ready for disappointment.

      If you think this Tegra slashvertisement is about that, get ready for disappointment. Shit like what you want is not what the article is about, and is no where near ready. What we've seen are tech demos from a company looking to get bought out / get some investor cash.

    18. Re:Lies And Non-News by sexconker · · Score: 1

      5 years from now? Sure, stuff will be better then, but still a gimmick.

      Imagine NOT clearing your desk and looking at the same 3D model of a galaxy, spinning right in front of you, or taking a tour around the solar system right there.

      Holodeck? You mean a movie theater, right?

      Building a 3D representation of shit quickly is good. You can fly cameras by an area and do a few passes and have a 3D model for people to explore.

      Tying that to a special device they have to look at and position is a gimmick.

      All that has happened is that scanning shit in 2D and turning it into 3D has gotten faster and easier. This is not new nor is it newsworthy. This shit was done for Terminator 2 (most notable example most people have seen, nowhere near the first).

      If this tech were anywhere near ready and anything but a gimmick, the porn industry would be pumping obscene amounts of cash into it, and we would have had some very interesting content by now.

    19. Re:Lies And Non-News by sexconker · · Score: 1

      We had this in America with barcode scanners.
      It never took off, because it was a dumb gimmick.
      I think you can find them in some bookstores still. The idea was you would take a CD to the headphone kiosk, and then scan the barcode, and get sample tracks, more info, etc. They quickly realized having people move CDs and put them back in the wrong place or not at all was retarded. And that making people physically find the CD was an unneeded step. Now you just go up and browse their DB with a web interface.

      They still have this in Japan.
      It's a 2D barcode (on ads, products, etc.) you point your phone at.
      It looks shit up online for you.

      I never saw anyone in Japan ever use those things. They were everywhere though. Such as a box of koala cookies, each box has 1 of 6 different tops, collect all the tops, get a little animated koala or something, enter a contest, I don't know. I didn't have a phone with me and I don't read Japanese.

    20. Re:Lies And Non-News by Xest · · Score: 1

      No, you don't understand what the "IR Camera" does. It's actually a projector and a sensor that can project IR and use it to sense actual depth in the scene it's "looking" at. It is not a simple IR camera, it's full blown depth sensing kit.

      "Mocap too expensive? What the fuck? Most games with a decent budget use motion capture for animations!"

      Presumably you missed the "indie" part from my comment? Indie developers cannot for the most part afford mocap for exactly the reason india games don't have a decent budget. There are still a lot of good indie games out there though and giving them access to mocap tech. makes their lives even easier and allows their games to be even better.

      "If you think Natal will be able to scan your car or your house, well, get ready for disappointment."

      Well no, I'm not. I don't expect Natal to do it itself because it's designed to be sat under a TV near the XBox, but the technology that Natal comprises of most definitely can do that. As I stated if that tech makes it into mobile phones with GPS kit, tilt sensors and so on it would be trivial to use it to produce maps of real 3D objects that could be imported / exported.

      Again the only real issue here regarding Natal is you don't actually seem to understand the technology that it makes use of. If you can't understand the tech. how can you possibly comment on it's potential?

    21. Re:Lies And Non-News by sexconker · · Score: 1

      Yeah, it's an IR camera. We typically have IR emitters with those. The Wii has an IR camera and IR emitters.

      It can't sense actual depth in the scene, silly.
      YOU don't understand the tech. It gets a 2D image back and tries to fake some depth. Hell, it has problems seeing black people because of this. It's not FLIR.

      http://www.altplusf4.com/index.php/200906101983/Xbox-News/natal-doesnt-see-black-people.html

      http://www.giantbomb.com/forums/general-discussion/30/natal-cant-see-colored-people-wtf/247158/

      http://www.gamezine.co.uk/news/formats/xbox360/rumour-project-natal-struggles-see-darker-skin-$1302668.htm

  6. Rainbow's End - Vinge by religious+freak · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Vinge is a damn genius. If you haven't read it yet, check out Rainbow's End. For my book tastes, personally, it was a bit on the touchy-feely side (but I really don't like character development at all - I'm in the very small minority), but the science and concepts are really second to none.

    How soon until we see these augmented reality games embedded in our contact lenses and we wear "smart" clothing on a regular basis? I'm just waiting for the self-driving cars!

    --
    If you can read this... 01110101 01110010 00100000 01100001 00100000 01100111 01100101 01100101 01101011
    1. Re:Rainbow's End - Vinge by Walkingshark · · Score: 1

      Hah, try Stross. Halting State has what looks to me like a pretty damn good prediction for what AR games would be like a decade or two down the line. I can't wait to sign up for SPOOKS.

      --
      The world you experience is only a close approximation of reality.
    2. Re:Rainbow's End - Vinge by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Halting State was annoying because of that "second person perspective" the author used

    3. Re:Rainbow's End - Vinge by Gravatron · · Score: 1

      The anime Dennou Coil was about augmented reality in the near future. Fascinating stuff.

  7. Arhrrr by gbjbaanb · · Score: 1

    A game titled Arhrrrr

    Let me guess...its about .. ninja monkeys?!

    1. Re:Arhrrr by vertinox · · Score: 1

      Let me guess...its about .. ninja monkeys?!

      Versus zombies pirates.

      --
      "I am the king of the Romans, and am superior to rules of grammar!"
      -Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor (1368-1437)
  8. interesting parallel by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Augmented reality also shapes the kinds of videos I like to watch.

  9. great chance for creative engagement by panthroman · · Score: 1

    This tech + Legos = awesome!

    One of the reasons my folks didn't allow video games was because the games weren't social or creative enough. Video games today can certainly be more social, but I still think they lack user creativity. But this! All the castles we built with Legos, all the forts we designed with construction paper... a way to integrate that kind of creativity into video games just sounds awesome. And it wouldn't hurt video game reputation, either.

    1. Re:great chance for creative engagement by GMFTatsujin · · Score: 1

      I envision a world of Sims, where every thought that flits across people's minds is picked up by a meshcap, translated into a simple icon, and broadcast for all to augmentedly see. A world where people wander around, looking rapturously at nothing at all, twisting their hands around visions in the air, reacting in the real world to events that are only accessible through a shared hallucination.

      A world of meandering, pseudo-telepathic lunatics.

      And me, laughing with riches, picking all their pockets.

  10. I'm waiting for Natal to control nuke plants. by EWAdams · · Score: 1

    Whoops! Shouldn't have waved my arm in quite that way! Guess it was calibrated for a smaller operator. Bye, bye, Denver!

    --
    I piss off bigots.
  11. what they really mean by Mister_Stoopid · · Score: 1

    so by "sophisticated translation of body physics into in-game movement" I assume they mean "wave your left arm to jump, wave your right arm to shoot!"

  12. yep by x4r · · Score: 0

    future gaming can be social networking-driven(not "crowdsourced" as in today). imagine giant MMO's, which is developed/improved/maintained mostly by its inhabitants. in fact - only by them. from early scratches to end of lifecycle ... with self-sufficient(and very profitable offline for inhabitants) p.s. w/o artificailly tagreted by genres/comsuer .. MOO/RTS/FPS/RPG/other ? whatever. positioning happen INSIDE game. by purely social-driven mechanics and players actual preferences(in that time/mood). imagine AO/WoW/Eve-Worlds morped with facebook-/livejournal/AOL/Youtube-feats-backends on engine-constantly improved by its use(and by users efforts&money(w/o forcing $ 4 it)). explosively grows ... and working on similar to Folding@hole-horsepowering microkernel(but with much more focus on reundancy&failover, than perfromance&scalability). yep, like pictured on 2nd full time BSG movie or something.

  13. These guys are totally missing the better idea... by hort_wort · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Augmented porn! Walk into a bar, every person in the place is absolutely stunning! Plus you could have NPCs walking around. Never had a gorgeous babe / hunk living across the street? Now you can! I sense a new movie coming on: "How Shallow Hal Got His Groove Back"

  14. Augmented Reality? - PS3 has had it for years! by ihaveamo · · Score: 1

    Sony just hasn't advertised it right - PS3 is the premier augmented reality system - truely amazing AR stuff. Can't believe more people haven't taken it up. If you thought WII controls were innovative, stuff like Trials of Topoq, and to a lesser extent, "operation creature feature" are more fun than any Wii weirdness, without any controllers at all! The Eiffel Tower video on the link is just like what the underdated PS3 game "Eye of Judgement" has been doing for years... You can slam the PS3, but I believe it is the most innovative system when it comes to AR. I have friends come around and ask "Why hasn't anyone heard of this stuff?" PS3 AR stuff is petering out now, unfortunately. There is only a few AR titles for this year coming, such as EyePet and Eyedentify, neither take my fancy. Sad thing is, I can't find any shop even selling the playstation eye any more.

    1. Re:Augmented Reality? - PS3 has had it for years! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I dont think the ps3 stuff is petering out. the new stuff is way cooler than what's out already which is pretty limited. the eyepet looks great for kids.

      The problem with AR stuff on the ps3 is that its a console so you are working in whats called the magic mirror style, that is you only see the augmented graphics on the tv as if you are looking in a mirror of the real world.

      the phone AR uses the magic lens style which gives a much more immersive experience. Just wait for the glasses and contact lenses(which DARPA are apparently working on) for the real explosion in this tech.

  15. AR French guy not very convincing by Sprogga · · Score: 1

    The AR French guy in the second video wasn't very realistic. He was about as authentic as the French soldiers in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. They need to work on the technology.

  16. Some potential dangers... by MWojcik · · Score: 1
    You don't want to enable this when playing FPSes or MMOs...

    http://penny-arcade.com/comic/2009/6/5/