Augmented Reality [AR] game set in Melbourne

As a gamer and denizen of Melbourne [Australia], how could I resist this New Atlas article about an AR game set in the city I love?

‘The game is the first in the True Crime Mysteries series by indie studio 10Tickles, helmed by husband-and-wife team Andy Yong and Emma Ramsay. The couple are both fascinated by true crime, history and the city of Melbourne itself, and so set out to build an augmented reality experience that tapped into all three.’

You can read the entire article by clicking the link below:

https://newatlas.com/games/true-crime-augmented-reality-game-misadventure-little-lon/

cheers

Meeks

At last…a ‘real’ hologram, except it’s not a hologram!

If you remember how Princess Leia appeared as a ‘hologram’ in the original Star Wars movie, you’ll find this new technology incredibly exciting. Why? Because for the very first time, we have the ability to project an image into space…in real 3D:

I cannot stress the importance of this technology enough. VR is exciting and impressive, but AR – Augmented Reality – will become a part of our lives much, much faster. Why? Because the uses are almost unlimited. Imagine walking down the street and having a full-colour, 3D advertisement step out from the wall and ‘talk’ just to you.

Okay, adverts you can’t escape are probably a terrible example, but what about crafts? Instead of looking up a youtube video clip, you could snap your fingers and have a 3D presentation appear in your workshop, loungeroom, kitchen, whatever. You could look at that presentation from the back, front, side, top or even from the bottom for those tiny details that aren’t normally visible in 2D.

Well, this new volumetric display technology could well be the innovation that allows us to do all that and so much more.

-mumble- Those scientists might want to change the name though. VD just does not have the right ring to it. 😦

cheers

Meeks

Augmented Reality – it’s just around the corner

Vuzix knows that people don’t want to be embarrassed when they put something on their face. So the company is working hard to ship a pair of augmented reality smartglasses this year that will be thin enough to wear comfortably. The Rochester, N.Y.-based company unveiled its latest models, the Blade 3000 smart Sunglasses and the…

via Vuzix aims to ship thin augmented reality smartglasses in 2017 — VentureBeat

In Innerscape, Episode 5, I write about the NCTU agent following a digitally projected ‘map’ to his destination. In the trailer above, the guy wearing the AR smart glasses does the same thing. The details are obviously different, but the concept is the same. I am so chuffed. 😀

cheers

Meeks

Eye-tracking for VR [virtual reality]

I just found a really interesting article in my Reader. It’s about eye-tracking technology and its use in [some] games.

The current interface requires a learning curve to use without, imho, much added value. That said, I have to admit I don’t play first person shooters, or the kinds of games where speed and twitch response are key.

There is one area, however, where I can see this technology becoming absolutely vital – and that’s in VR [virtual reality]:

Eye-tracking is critical to a technology called foveated rendering. With it, the screen will fully render the area that your eye is looking at. But beyond your peripheral vision, it won’t render the details that your eye can’t see.

This technique can save an enormous amount of graphics processing power. (Nvidia estimates foveated rendering can reduce graphics processing by up to three times). That is useful in VR because it takes a lot of graphics processing power to render VR images for both of your eyes. VR should be rendered at 90 frames per second in each eye in order to avoid making the user dizzy or sick.

A brief explanation is in order for non-gamers. Currently, there are two ways of viewing a game:

• from the first person perspective
• from the third person perspective

In first person perspective, you do not see your own body. Instead, the graphics attempt to present the view you would see if you were actually physically playing the game.

In third person perspective, you ‘follow’ behind your body, essentially seeing your character’s back the whole time. This view has advantages as it allows you to see much more in your ‘peripheral’ vision than you would if you were looking out through your character’s eyes.

In VR, however, the aim is not just to make you see what your character sees, the idea is to make you feel that you are your character. A vision system that mimicked how your eyes work by tracking your actual eye movements would increase immersion by an order of magnitude. And, of course, the computer resources freed up by this more efficient way of rendering would allow the game to create more realistic graphics elsewhere.

You can read the full article here:

https://wordpress.com/read/feeds/26908997/posts/1307290866

I predict that voice recognition and eye tracking are going to become key technologies in the not too distant future, not just for games but for augmented* reality as well.

Have a great Sunday,

Meeks

*Augmented reality does not seek to recreate reality, like VR. It merely projects additional ‘objects’ on top of the reality that’s already there.

#VR – will it need safety standards?

The following quote describes the [current] experience of VR [virtual reality]:

‘“The gap between ‘things that happen to my character’ and ‘things that happen to me’ is bridged,” Stephan said. This distinction can transform an experience from merely flinch-inducing to sincerely frightening. “The way I process these scares is not through the eyes of a person using their critical media-viewing faculty but through the eyes of I, the self, with all of the very human, systems-level, subconscious voodoo that comes along with that.”’

Given how immersive even normal gaming can be, I do not find this phenomenon all that surprising. What I do find surprising is the genuine note of warning sounded in the article. You can find the entire story here:

http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/the-coming-horror-of-virtual-reality

[and thanks to the Passive Guy for pointing the way]

Back to VR. As a gamer, I’ve been thinking about the consequences of addiction for a long time, and in Emmi’s story [in The Vintage Egg], one of the ideas I toss out there is that in the future, legislation will stop gamers from ‘playing’ for longer than a few hours. For their own good.

Will society really impose restrictions on the use of VR and AR [Augmented Reality]?

-shrug- Who knows, but it is gratifying to find that someone else is also thinking beyond the ‘oh goody, a new, supa doopa toy’ to the possible consequences of using that toy. I suspect that we will have to have deaths before the technology is regulated, which is a sobering thought. One thing I am certain about, however, is that next five to ten years will deliver a world-wide, totally voluntary [and probably expensive] social experiment on disruptive technology. 😀

We live in interesting times, neh?

Meeks

 

Next gen #gaming for the masses

Jeri Ellsworth and Rick Johnson have been toiling away at augmented reality for years at their startup, CastAR. Their ambition to make a fun AR product has been cooking for a while, and they’re taking a very different approach to the next-generation gaming platform. And given Ellsworth’s background as an underdog, it’s no surprise she’s…

via How CastAR’s Jeri Ellsworth will use augmented reality for fun tabletop gaming — VentureBeat

This post was like a bolt of lightning for all sorts of reasons – it’s about gaming, it’s about everyday people and it’s the vision of an amazing young woman.

Women in technology are still rare enough to make me sit up and take notice. Women in technology who may be creating the very next big thing? Phenomenal!

Go girl. 😀

Meeks