I have, of course, been following all the tech and gadget news coming out of CES 2011 and there have been some interesting things other than stacks more TV’s and tablets.
This tech invention though is different, intriguing, tactile and clever.
Watching the video I love the tipping one cup into another that occurs towards the end.
Its not quite nano technology, but it is a breaking up of the traditional screen and device. Just as cloud breaks the processor/memory models up and spreads them this breaks the display up too. Nanotechnology separate individual pixels next? Now that would be interesting. Each pixel able to act as an independent physical unit based on its proximity to others.
So watch out for Sifteo 🙂
future
Product development crowds – Kinect hacks
I have really enjoyed the explosion of Kinect hacks that have taken place in such a short period of time since the release of the Kinect. The technology of the Kinect is fascinating in its own right (you can read more from the actual engineers here)
However its the consumer use of the device on easily accessible devices that really is driving things forward. Previously games hardware is locked away with preferred developers, its hard for ideas to happen anywhere other than in the studios. Here however we have people trying out all sorts of demonstration applications, some are sensible, some are mad but they all really help drive forward the product development.
Microsoft were initially saying they were unhappy at this, but I find that hard to believe in this day and age as giving things over to people to experiment and share globally is crowd sourcing at its best.
Not every demo gets released as an opensource piece of code but many of them are using an open source base and a commercial product with the Kinect.
In many ways this will expose more people to the concept of open source development. Let face it most people would not really grok the open source and sharing interaction that goes together to make software like Linux or Droid or even Opensim. However when video pop up os a device they have only just seen in the shops and may indeed have, doing things that are not sat on the shelves of game shops it becomes very real and prompts the question how are they doing that? Why are they doing that? Why are some people just giving away what they have done?
No doubt the games developers are looking at all the hacks and getting seeds of ideas or seeing things as proof of concepts that will drive even better kinect games.
Kinect and motion sensing is not the be all and end all of Human computer interaction but it does work well for youtube and vimeo demonstrations and pushes the world forward. Now if the Kinect had been locked down as Xbox only and not hacked in this way there would have only been about 20 kinect applications whilst we wait on the more polished production of the the games companies.
Standards exist already as can be seen from this article from the excellent Kinect Hacks site which is a great place to follow this trend.
Happy New Decade
Well here we are in 2011 and after a very eventful 2010 its looking even more exciting for the coming year.
The excellent news came through that Series 2 of The Cool Stuff Collective has got the green light, so watch this space, and I guess the wikipedia page will need updating very soon 🙂
My own wikipedia page survived a bit of a review based on notoriety between christmas and new year too. This is a very strange experience to be part of a crowd sourced discussion but not really be in a position to directly engage or join in the discussion. It does of course have that Ego altering feeling attached to it, but I was also intrigued by the appreciation of the processes, rigour and politics that apply to wikipedia. It is very easy to say its written and edited by everyone, but there is much more to it than simply the wiki technology. Wiki governance is something that tends to be overlooked in enterprise usage I think.
Anyway I am looking forward to the future as always, knowing there are some really cool things going on, but its worth giving this Second Life Machinima production a watch about the spirit of giving. Its a great piece of work 🙂
Happy new year everyone.
Hello 3d gaming
I have now had to chance to spent a decent amount of time trying out my panasonic 3D 42″ TV. I have been intrigued by the demos of 3d content I have seen and in particular the consequences for gaming, and what prolonged gaming feels like.
There seems to be enough 3d content out there to warrant the upgrade. Xbox, Ps3(games and 3d blu ray), and Sky 3d all having things to offer
The first extended game I had was a few hours on Gran Turismo 5 on the PS3. Initially this was a disorientating effect using the in car view, the layers of HUD information being closer than the car details meant it was a little harder to take in the peripheral information from the HUD. After about 20 minutes though I think my brain adjusted and it became a very compelling experience. If anything it was braking that became more obvious, and some of the turn in points and reference points were more obvious. I have been playing driving games for a long while and have seen others struggle a little with the concept of slowing down for corners as unless you immerse yourself into the experience mentally you can’t feel the forces of the car. The 3d certainly helped with this. Spinning out was also a bizarre experience and it seemed to be quicker to deal with that and have the situational awareness.
Equally wearing the glasses has an odd bubble effect that makes it feel a bit more like it does when you get in a car. After the initial 20 minutes adjustment I felt no more odd finishing the session than playing normally.
Next up was Black Ops on the Xbox 360. Turning the 3d on was a bit more fiddly than in GT5 as the TV did not respond automatically and you have to select side by side 3d, the PS3 switches things automatically. (It seems Sky 3d doesn’t switch either).
The HUD crosshair is a little distracting initially as it breaks the immersion, there is an option to turn this off but that seemed to crash the machine! That aside the experience is brilliant IMHO. I had played through most of the game already but the last few chapters in 3d were amazing. The disorientated running around towards the end with the “numbers” zooming around was a stunning piece, and I am looking forward to going back and trying things like the first vietnam sequence.
However the test was really to play the online training multiplayer with bots and with @asanyfuleno. I found that I felt more in control and aware of my surroundings. I think this may be similar to the driving game mental model. I know that in FPS’s it takes me a while to feel the levels. I felt instantly connected to the environment and whilst this would still not equate to pwnage online I felt the 3d levelled me up, at least in situational awareness.
The view down iron sights and cross hairs is also remarkable.
As with the driving the glasses did not get in the way, but seemed to place you somewhere other than the room you are actually in. This was not something I was expecting to happen, but thinking about it it makes sense.
The third game was Tumble on the PS3 with Move. I have said before how fantastic Tumble is with the tactile feedback and I have to say it is very much enhanced by the feeling of space crated with 3d. The need to use the shadows of the blocks as reference points just melts away.
So a nights gaming on 3d was enhanced and from my point of view will only get better as we get more used to it and designers take advantage of it. I think being an old school gamer I will still play 2d games and with a 4 year old in the house (where the advice is to not use 3d for under 7’s) means we can’t do all 3d gaming yet. However as many of the games I end up playing are 18 rated that is not such a big issue.
There was an additional serendipitous happening when I purchased the TV from Best Buy, whilst waiting for the box to come out of the stock room I got talking to the head of the 3d TV section, who also happens to run a startup creating 3d displays(more of that in a later post). It was fascinating to be talking to someone who knew a lot about the subject. Its one of the reasons I like Best Buy, no pressure or hassle salespeople and when you do talk they know their stuff. This was by contrast with my experience when I popped into Comet to get an extra audio optical cable, the salesman was pleasant enough but when he asked if he could help me I was not expecting to have to explain to him what an optical audio cable was for. He also made the usual “pay more for cables as the signal is better” type of comment which for many digital things simply isn’t true anymore.
So…. shop in Best Buy!
Monkey hands and e-ink
Episode 12 of the Cool Stuff Collective and poor old Sy Thomas has got a monkey app obsession is turning into monkey. I get to turn up and show off e-readers and to talk about the future of e-ink, what it is and how it works.
As with all the subjects there is a lot to cover, ad in this case there are a few products to show.
First though I get cheered in to Muse Uprising whilst those hands are waved around 🙂
As I say in the intro the written word is still one of the best gadgets we have, its here on this blog for a start and works great for me 🙂
I have always found e-ink a fascinating concept. Being brought up on screens, CRT then LCD and on to OLED, they have a shiny quality to them. However e-ink just looks like its not been turned on yet, like the protective example cover is still on them, then you turn a page and it changes.
When we get the principles of e-ink applied to any surface it will be amazing.
If you think about the e-ink too as an adjustable but camera based trackable marker you end up in an interesting but scary loop I think.
Whilst on the written word, we have the Cool Stuff Wikipedia page and I am incredibly honoured to have my page but it would be great if Sy’s page got written. I have put a request on the biographies request page if anyone fancies doing it 🙂 You don’t have to mention the monkey transformation.
I had refrained from photos that did not have me in them, for no other reason than copyright, but the real monkey (right) and the “needs a good iron” Sy monkey on the left was just too funny to not post. The tail gag and the end of the show is just so surreal and brilliant monkey acting from Matt.
Game design – Virtual Goods World Perspective
I attended, and spoke at, the Virtual Goods World Europe 2010 conference on tuesday morning, held at the Millennium Mayfair hotel. There was a great line up though I had to miss the afternoon and day two with a combination of family things to sort out and the Cool Stuff Collective wrap party.
Of all the talks I heard the one by Zhan Ye was the most insightful. Obviously working in the virtual worlds industry for quite a few years means that some of the content is more of a re-enforcement, after all it is generally for people to come and learn. However Zhan Ye covered his personal experience on the transition and difference between the stock AAA game title and the more casual and social game experience and in particular how China has spent many years leading the way in creating these experiences which western developer are now having to come to terms with.
There were some elements that rang very true about the current crop of social games, a recipe for the genre.
Introduce conflict – bragging rights, friends scoreboards all give an incentive to compete and publicly show off.
Sell convenience – This is where the monetization (horrible world) comes in. Playing to the time poor but cash rich who still want to be in the game and maintain status.
Add peer pressure into play – With conflict also comes friendship. If you are going to let down a friend who has invested lots of time and money you do not want to be the spoil sport.
Zhan Ye was also quick to point out that these manipulative tactics raise moral questions about fleecing or manipulating players. The answer to this morality is gamers free to leave.
This tied in with another nice quote “Have to be a player before they become a payer” from Anthony Royce Sony at a later panel.
This got a little cheer from the game developers in the room. In all the talk of monetization and cash generation that virtual goods produce there is still a willingess to not just cash in but make something people want to play and interact with.
On the panel I talked on the final question was about brands that worked and ones that didn’t. All my worst examples were generally film ties ins, as they showed a cashing in with either a AAA game or a bad mobile or web experience, with little thought, care or respect for the player.
My best example though was Moshi Monsters. Having seen this at its earliest stages on a visit to Mind Candy I know that there was not just a money making core to this but an integrity and a reason to create it. The education without education and hence the winning over of parents and kids alike has made this quite rightly very popular. It has extended out into related merchandise and physical products but still seems to maintain that initial spirit. I heard that Michael Acton’s presentation on it the following day was superb too.
On a personal and performance style note. The room was an unusual layout for the conference but as people were at round tables many people had laptops and pen and paper handy. I noticed when I did my little intro “I am known as epredator online ” there was the usual slight grabbing of attention, “so feel free to google for me” was the same level, but when I said “or look me up as epredator on wikipedia” lots of pens got reading and heads looked at screens. A swift follow up with the Cool Stuff Collective plug and it was starting to sound a bit over the top, so I mentioned if anyone watched this Saturday I was not really in the show as usual but merely dressed as a big banana.
Its a fine line that I walk between over doing my excitement and enthusiasm for the industry with my own ego trip so it is great to have some mad material to draw on and provide some balance.
Kinect – Open source explosion
The wires are full today of the results of some work by Oliver Krelos and others taking the only just released Kinect and applying it to places other than the Xbox 360 set of games. This is all very opensource and hacky, but it shows what can be done in a very short time when talented people, not always in the original company, have access to the kit and freedom to operate.
Much of the code is starting to be released (though a dependent piece of code if not yet) also as it is GPL licensed I am sure many corporate colleagues will be warned off, however its here
Virtual Goods World Europe – Conference time again
It feels as if its back to normality with the Virtual Goods World Europe conference this coming week in London.
I will on a Panel at 12:00 on Tuesday 16th to discuss “What are the obstacles to greater brand participation?” to virtual goods.
The panel consists of a good cross section from the industry.
Mr Pano Anthos,CEO, Hangout Industries
Mr Ian Hughes,MD, Feeding Edge
Ms Margaret Wallace,CEO, Playmatics
Mr Adam Caplan,Vice President (Virtual Currency), SuperRewards
I am there with a general virtual world and hence virtual good hat on, but also combining the gaming startup that I have embarked upon which relies on gaming and virtual goods being out there to interact with.
I had said yes to this ages ago and so only just remembered to ask for my bio to include the fact I am a (fledgling) TV presenter on The Cool Stuff Collective 🙂 Of course this is also the week where the show running Mon 5pm CITV and Sat 9:25am ITV1 does not have a full future tech feature in it 🙂 Just a cameo as a banana. That certainly gives me some gravitas for the panel…
Virus, Rock and Roll and Brain Control
A strange combination of words in the title, but then that is what happens when you get (happily) dragged into the developing madness of The Cool Stuff Collective.
Episode 9 aired this evening though is the one that will be on the mainstream ITV1 channel on saturday 13th November.
I was watching it whilst at the BCS where I was about to run a session on Virtual Worlds in Healthcare for the Animation and Games Development SG. So there was some surprise I was sitting in that open office watching CITV streaming and crying with laughter at the whole show. Or was it a way to deal with the mild embarrassment or the “I can’t believe its all turned out this awesome”.
In this show the future tech piece is about mind control devices, the NeuroSky headset and Mindflex toy. This is amazing enough and it was an interesting piece to make work. The devices prefer to be fitted properly and given a little time to calibrate in a quiet environment. So obviously a TV studio and throwing 2 headsets Sy’s way may not have been ideal, but it actually worked.
However from a more personal viewpoint it was an honour to be able to play Rockband 3 with the new MadKatz guitar on screen. Sy was in Spandex, Monkey on the drums with elvis glasses and me in a wig and shades and yes…. my leather jacket finally made it on screen.
We were playing for real too, “I Love Rock and Roll”.
Monkey’s drum solo was hilarious too!
This show had yet more, and probably something that I will get a certain degree of stick about, but as far I am concerned it is what this show has been all about. People trying funny things and they generally work 🙂
We had been infected with a virus in the studio and my diagnosis of it see’s me over the course of the show get more and more wrapped up until Monkey fixes it by rebooting the show. This works great but leaves me with the School Choir virus, and yes…. I sing in a daft voice on the TV.
So those years of playing Rockband/Guitar Hero came in useful, likewise the trying to sing (which I can’t) on Singstar things like “The Final Countdown” also came into play.
Of course this just adds to the complication when people ask “so what do you do now then?”
Star Wars AR – StAR wARs I guess?
This video is doing the rounds of using the world around you as a backdrop for playing a tie fighter shooting turret game on the iphone.
There have been some great advances in using the iphone tilt and touch to control Star Wars related games and I am sure the Kinect game will be equally evocative with motion control for force and lightsaber.
It is probably that 1977 and Star Wars in general has been the grounding for many of the gamers and inventors of today that it is so obvious to replicate the things we saw back then into games tech in out hand today.
Likewise these advances in holography quickly get on to referencing the holograms seen in Star Wars.
All very amazing tech indeed and closer than we think.