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Google Glass and the Future of Wearable Gaming

Posted by Soulskill on from the check-out-my-tetris-watch dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Google Glass is now becoming more widely available, but developers are only just starting to tap into the augmented reality specs' potential for gaming. A new report looks at some of the early experiments with the tech — leading the charge is indie developer Mind Pirate, the first studio to release a mobile game simultaneously on iPhone and Google Glass. But will others get on board? Will the explosion in popularity of virtual reality headsets help or hinder it? It's still a wild wild west.

'The potential of wearables will only be realized through thoughtful integration of hardware and software,' says Mind Pirate CEO Shawn Hardin. Right now, 'much of the mature infrastructure of the mobile arena' is missing in the world of wearables. The 'myriad of unique sensor and hardware configurations atop increasingly diverse operating systems' makes it particularly difficult for developers to get started."

39 comments

  1. Fuck off, glassholes. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

    "Because we can," is the essence of fascism.

    I can't think of a less desirable society than one where people voluntarily walk around continually recording and uploading data to a multinational corporation with strong ties with power. It's not just the destruction of the right to privacy, but the fact that people can be so dull and self-absorbed as to think that there's not enough of life worth experiencing without such a toy on your head.

    1. Re:Fuck off, glassholes. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Speaking of self-absorbed, while your straw-man over there (along with all those other cameras that already film you daily) might feel the need to record everything you do, most of us don't care about you that much. We just want a HUD.

      Are you really so uncreative that you can't think of any other purpose for this device except for constantly filming you? Have you no vision? (pun intended).

      How about, just once, someone says "Hey, cool, soon deaf people can have real-life, real-time closed captioning" or the like, instead of all the overblown scaremongering and It's-cool-to-hate-on-Google shit.

      And while "Glasshole" is some mighty clever wordplay, its smug arrogance is already so played out and tired, and the device isn't even actually out yet.

    2. Re:Fuck off, glassholes. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Scroogling time again?

      You Microsofties are so predictable.

    3. Re: Fuck off, glassholes. by meekerd · · Score: 1

      ^exactly

    4. Re: Fuck off, glassholes. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Swillden is that you?

    5. Re:Fuck off, glassholes. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      but it is such an incredibly bad concept of a hud. two bigger see through screens, in the middle of my view please; it makes so many more things possible.

  2. It'd be nice if Glass was unleashed. by sethstorm · · Score: 2

    If not for the intentional block surrounding face recognition and the general lack of availability, Glass would have a better chance at succeeding.

    Instead of having a heavily controlled device, how about letting a large amount of users figure it out? That way, you'd have less comments about Glassholes and more people really exploring the bounds of what *can* be done with it, not what *should* be done.

    --
    Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
    1. Re:It'd be nice if Glass was unleashed. by Harlequin80 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I finally got my hands on a pair to play with last week. My initial reaction was "This is sooooo awesome!" after a couple of hours with them though I was a little unsure as to what I would regularly use them for. The GPS map is extremely good while driving, it is far less distracting and intrusive than using a dash mounted gps. Also for those people who like texting while driving (naughty naughty) the voice recognition is amazing. The screen is also amazingly clear - you don't notice it till you look at it but when you do it is brilliant. Speaking of the screen you can very easily tell if someone who is wearing them is looking at something on it. You can clearly see the contrast when the screen is on.

      As for taking pictures of people without their knowing or recording everything it's just not happening. You either need to have you hand up near your head tapping it or saying "ok glass, take photo". It is actually a lot easier to take an unobtrusive photo with a phone. Where the camera comes into its own is taking photos while you are holding something with both hands. That and the ability to stream what your phone is seeing to the tethered phone - this means you can get a second set of eyes on things if you wanted.

      I wore them for a full day out and about and while they got a few looks nobody said anything at all. That may be thought because in Australia most people haven't really heard of them outside of the geek circles. When people did ask what these weird head piece thing I was wearing was they all wanted to play with it and ask about it. At least here no one seemed to care about the camera.

      In the end what I used it for mostly was to talk to the owner of the glasses via hangouts about how I was finding using them. I send a couple of text messages, answered a heap of calls and took photos of things I wouldn't normally just to test the camera. In the same kind of way that you do with a new phone to test the camera. I would be very unlikely to take many pictures with it if I owned one and wouldn't care if they removed the camera to stop people stressing.

      Finally I wouldn't recommend someone get this generation. The tech in the glass is obviously getting a little old now. There are a few noticeable instances of lag and it gets quite hot if you are using it. Not enough to be uncomfortable but definitely enough to be noticeable. Give it a modern phones processor and lower the power usage and it gets interesting.

      My feedback for google would be - make the screen bigger. It shows a decent amount of info but it is 16:9 now and if it was 3 time taller it would be much more useful. Find a way to have a low power status display that could be there all the time - eg like displaying a clock.

    2. Re:It'd be nice if Glass was unleashed. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      the article talks about gaming, but google's design wont work well at all. The screen is in the corner of your vision not front and center, it is too small, and it only has one screen which means you can't do 3d. Google must of paid some one big for this "report".

    3. Re:It'd be nice if Glass was unleashed. by sethstorm · · Score: 1

      That's enough for an overlay of game-related information - which could go one step further than things like the Logitech G15

      --
      Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
    4. Re:It'd be nice if Glass was unleashed. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      sure it could be used while playing a proper game on a computer or console (similar to how some games let you use a tablet or a smartphone as a second screen), but i wouldn't like to have to look at the corner of my eye for very long. I still think its uses are limited due to the design though (you could easily put that information on the corner of your monitor or tv while gaming). It seems to me that its much more suited to people that are addicted to their smartphone, and need to know the second an email comes in or face book post gets updated.

    5. Re:It'd be nice if Glass was unleashed. by sethstorm · · Score: 1

      As for taking pictures of people without their knowing or recording everything it's just not happening.

      The latter can be fixed, just that Google wants to make the regular Glass a boring device with all the interesting functions already removed.

      That, and it's not like such a command could be changed to be less obtrusive (such as an eye blink pattern).

      You either need to have you hand up near your head tapping it or saying "ok glass, take photo". It is actually a lot easier to take an unobtrusive photo with a phone. Where the camera comes into its own is taking photos while you are holding something with both hands. That and the ability to stream what your phone is seeing to the tethered phone - this means you can get a second set of eyes on things if you wanted.

      This would get around the Google Glass's unwarranted block on face recognition - just stream raw data out and have Something Else do the interpretation and feedback.

      --
      Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
    6. Re:It'd be nice if Glass was unleashed. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Another interesting product that I have run across is called Icis, manufactured by LaForge Optical(http://www.laforgeoptical.com/). I haven't taken the time lately to follow their development, but the direction they're working in for the display is rather nice. The display appears to be very cleanly integrated with the lenses which gives a nicely polished look. Time will tell if their product takes off, but it certainly strikes me as noteworthy competition for Google Glass.

    7. Re:It'd be nice if Glass was unleashed. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      i wouldn't buy google glass in 100 years, but that laforge model looks quite nice. These guys also have a much better concept than google https://www.spaceglasses.com/

    8. Re:It'd be nice if Glass was unleashed. by shadowrat · · Score: 1

      I finally got my hands on a pair to play with last week. My initial reaction was "This is sooooo awesome!" after a couple of hours with them though I was a little unsure as to what I would regularly use them for. The GPS map is extremely good while driving, it is far less distracting and intrusive than using a dash mounted gps. Also for those people who like texting while driving (naughty naughty) the voice recognition is amazing. The screen is also amazingly clear - you don't notice it till you look at it but when you do it is brilliant.

      huh. i guess it works for some people then. My own experience with it was that i couldn't make out anything on the screen unless it was positioned absolutely perfectly. Even then, i had to really concentrate to determine what i was looking at. If it slides just a little bit up or down my nose, the whole thing just vanishes and i can't see anything. I was left feeling like it was one of the worst ways to consume information i've ever seen. For reference, i do wear contacts. Maybe it just doesn't jive with that.

      Speaking of the screen you can very easily tell if someone who is wearing them is looking at something on it. You can clearly see the contrast when the screen is on.

      I'd agree with that. People are really sensitive to the direction other people's eyes are aiming. It's really easy to tell when someone is looking into thier glass vs looking anywhere else.

    9. Re:It'd be nice if Glass was unleashed. by Harlequin80 · · Score: 1

      I don't wear contacts and could see the screen clearly as soon as I put it on, so maybe that is the key. I did have to adjust the bridge slightly as the RHS of the screen kinda fuzzed out of existence when I first put them on. Once I shifted them about 1.5mm left I no longer had that problem.

      I wore them all day and only really touched them as much as you would normal glasses.

      I'd agree with that. People are really sensitive to the direction other people's eyes are aiming. It's really easy to tell when someone is looking into thier glass vs looking anywhere else.

      It's not just that - you can actually see the screen is on. It is black a lot of the time so you see this black square when you are looking at someone else wearing them.

    10. Re:It'd be nice if Glass was unleashed. by Grizzley9 · · Score: 1

      I wore them for a full day out and about and while they got a few looks nobody said anything at all.

      There will be mixed reactions even if some are too polite to say anything. I love tech and am wanting to try these but a guy had them on near me at a restaurant and I just wanted to tell him to take it off. Google hasn't perfected the social acceptance yet.

    11. Re:It'd be nice if Glass was unleashed. by Harlequin80 · · Score: 1

      No question. But the ones I was wearing were the first ones I had seen so in Australia the knowledge of what they are is very low. I got a fair few "what are those things" questions but even when I answered Google Glass most had no idea what they were.

  3. Jealous much? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    It's good technology to have around. Privacy, in your(and about most Glass Luddites) case, is just an excuse to kill a product you can't get. That, and the anti-Glass signs are more like announcements of being Luddites.

    The same argument could have existed for many other devices, but they've found their places.

    1. Re:Jealous much? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      is just an excuse to kill a product you can't get.

      Can't get? It's publicly available. Elitist much?

    2. Re:Jealous much? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why the fuck would I want to be a Glasshole?

  4. Shills by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    I wonder how much Google paid the author for this embarrassing piece of trash, and how I can get in on the action.

  5. Just make sure Wil Wheaton and Ashley Judd by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    are around when they start wiring the game to our brains pleasure centers....

    1. Re:Just make sure Wil Wheaton and Ashley Judd by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Crazy old coots and yer stupid TV show from the dumb ages.

    2. Re:Just make sure Wil Wheaton and Ashley Judd by Anubis+IV · · Score: 1

      I'm glad I'm not the only one that thinks of that episode whenever seeing a Glass.

  6. obligatory Star Trek by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/The_Game

    Google Glass is an alien conspiracy.

    1. Re:obligatory Star Trek by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nice! Two minutes apart. Cowardly minds think alike.

  7. Ghost town by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    "Google Glass is now becoming more widely available, but developers are only just starting to tap into the augmented reality specs' potential for gaming."

    It's not that developers are "only just starting". The issue is that most developers I know, myself included, have no interest in it. The last thing we need is more glassholes walking around forcing people out living their lives into Facebook spamvertising prisons.

    Some glasshole captures you minding your own business jogging one day and the next thing you know your inet connection is saturated with running shoe ads. I'll pass.

    1. Re:Ghost town by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Facebook spamvertising prisons.
       
      Facebook? You know Google makes these, right? The people who make money from mining your data? Or did you forget who's really at the root of all this? At Google, you are the product.
       
      Facebook would love the kind of thing that Google has pulled off... and you're blaming Facebook for it? Google perfected this business model and they are the kings of profiting from it.

  8. Happy Friday from the Golden Frogs! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Thank you for being a frog.
    Travel down the road and back in the hat again.
    Your heart is true, you're a pal and a cosmonaut.

    And if you threw a party, invited everyone you knew.
    You would see the biggest hat would be from me
    and the card attached would say,
    thank you for being a frog.

  9. social mixed reality by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The article does not mention mixed reality. The main difference between glass and oculus rift is that it adds contextual information on the reality instead of replacing it with a virtual world. Some ideas around this are under development for a while. I know for instance about this one http://youtu.be/hZXI69zzrvI or http://hybridearth.net/w People could meet at some place without being physically present.
    The other thing the article forgets is a consistent view for everyone. And that's because all glasses are connected to the internet.

  10. Privacy issues by EmperorOfCanada · · Score: 0

    Quite simply I don't care if google glass cures cancer, I don't want a bunch of Glassholes wandering around reporting on my every move. Google and many companies just like it have over and over been found to be scooping up as much data as they possibly can. So here we have people wandering around with a mobile video feed plugged straight into the google servers.

    So how about no. I want these things outright banned. My right to privacy far outweighs these people's right to be assholes.

    Good for gaming, don't care I want them gone.

    1. Re:Privacy issues by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I take it you want all cameras to be banned as well?

      No?

      The how about just phone based cameras, they are (largely) Google controlled and out looking at the world a reasonable chunk of the time. Google could be using Android to record your FUCKING DULL AS FUCK(1) life right now! Why did you think the battery life sucks donkey testicles on Android devices. Every time someone around you whips out an Android phone it starts to record you. Larry Page then watches YOU while masturbating.

  11. What a hoot! by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 2

    'The potential of wearables will only be realized through thoughtful integration of hardware and software,' says Mind Pirate CEO Shawn Hardin.

    Awesome corporatespeak Hardin. You must be the guy who conceptualizes, initializes, and brings action items to fruition

    In a synergistc way that leverages market impact of course.

    --
    The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
  12. slashdot sure seems to hate Glass by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I can't seriously be the only one who is excited about possibly having a real-life HUD, can I?

  13. Beware Augmented Reality by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I posted anonymously here some time ago about an experience I had and I'll do so again in this appropriate space. I was perusing youtube some years ago, curious about E.T's and peoples supposed recorded footage of them. I came across an unusual youtube video (supposedly leaked from the government) It was a strange video full of symbols for some kind of symbolic invitation for E.T's to contact you. I came at it with an open mind. The idea is you open up your mind to be tapped into by an outsider. I was weary of this so I determined that I was open only to being tapped into by those who walk hand in hand with creation, the one true God as I believed him/it to be. Nothing happened at first.

    I went to sleep and had a very vivid dream. I have had about 5~7 or so super vivid dreams in my life.I love them as they seem to have finer granularity and richer imagery than my already excellent eyesight can fathom - almost like you can see the sweat of a tree in the twilight.

    I had one of these dreams. It was the not too distant (at all) future in rural America. People were completely hooked to MMORPG (I assume that's what it was) gaming. An old gas station, and an old barn with people going about their business, except their business was tripping up and falling over the place - the world around them falling into complete dilapidation. In my dream, it started off with a chip but it became much more simple - some kind of nano tattoo that you could just get pressed on to you and then you could wire in that way. In my dream, society completely collapsed as a result of this. Perhaps some mass event drove everyone to stop doing their normal jobs and they didn't go back to reality as we know it. In my dream, the world descended into mayhem.

  14. stupid much? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    i dont know about the rest of /. but i can't stand google glass because the design is so bad. I want a hud (have for a very long time) but a little screen in the corner of my eye is next to useless, unless your addicted to facebook updates.