Live from E3 ’09: The Return of the Glitz or the Future of Gaming?

Posted on June 3, 2009 by Ori Inbar

Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) is the bastion of the video games business. If GDC is for developers, E3 is for the suites and the media, the best timing to launch a new game, console, or business in the interactive entertainment world.
This event typically epitomizes the progressive blending of movies and games and this year also marks the return of the glitz.

E3 junk Pile

E3: A junk pile in front of the LA convention center

What about the future of the gaming industry? Can you find it here?

Here are the top 4 news that caught my attention.

1) Microsoft’s project Natal

Probably the most far reaching announcement of the pre show press conference was a new addition to the Xbox that will “change the way we interact with computers” (Bill Gates). A depth sensing camera and chip that recognizes natural human gestures, developed by 3DV Systems and acquired by Microsoft. More on the announcement at Seeking Alpha.

Although this is just a concept video, it seems that technically Microsoft has leapfrogged Sony’s eye toy. But Sony has already been dabbling with camera based applications for several years now. Expect a good fight between the two. Competition is good.

2) Peregrine Glove – Iron Will tech

Peregrine play

My biggest disapointement was the Peregrine Glove. It promised to be a “Wearable technology like no other”. It looks very cool, but it turns out to be  just a touch sensitive glove. Using your thumb touch different parts of your fingers to feed the computer with various commands…on a good day it could replace the keyboard when playing a real-time strategy game.

3) RealityPro by Digital Extreme Technologies Inc.

As I stroll through the crowded ailes on the show floor, I notice two geeky looking guys fighting with imaginary swords…and huge markers cover their forehead and weapons…

AR sword fight

Meet Bob Ladrach (with my kind of hair style) VP product development at Digital Extreme, an Augmented Reality enthusiast since 1992, showcasing a concept AR sword game. The demo was using Vuzix VR with mini cams and Artoolkit markers glued to it.

Bob gets AR: he preaches that it should be low cost, user friendly, and that it should look cool. AR technology is maturing; all it needs is someone to create an experience that people would want to pay for.

I buy that.

XTD Goggles

DXT think they can pull it off. They’re working on RealityPro a mobile AR hardware platform: goggles + portable mini computer + input devices for interaction with objects and characters in the 3d world.
“Reality Pro turns a walk in the park into a quest.”

DXT is essentially a hardware company and will encourage developers to build games and apps loaded on “easy to use mini cartridges”. Ultimately the content is what will make or break this device.

Games alfresco: How’s it different than A_rage‘s attempt?
Bob: 4 years of hardware advancement.

Games alfresco: when will it be ready?
Bob: in about a year.

Games alfresco: how much will it cost?

Bob: I can’t really tell. The first, probably $2500. Down the road it will be reduced to $400-500 a piece.

A bit sketchy, but good luck Bob!

4) Mightier

A nice surprise awaited me at the IndieCade booth, an organization dedicated to showcasing the future of independent games.

And here is one example from E3 ’09:

Mightier

Mightier!

Mightier solve

1. Print puzzles on real paper

2. Draw your own shapes based on the hints (dots and numbers)

3. Draw your own character within the given frame

Mightier view

4. Point the solved puzzle and character to your webcam

5. Based on your own “art” the game generates 3d shapes that help your own created character reach its target

Yes, you’re still glued to the screen, but it’s a nice step towards blending the real and the virtual.

Wish Mightier luck in winning the 2009 IndieCade festival.

So, are any of these game changing? You be the judge.

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

Filed under: AR Events | Tagged: , , , , , , , | 6 Comments »

Where 2.0: The World is Mapped – Now Use it to Augmented our Reality

Posted on May 26, 2009 by Ori Inbar

O’Reilly’s Where 2.0 event is a tightly run ship. One track for all attendees, fast paced 20 minutes sessions, discussing laser focused topics.

Low tech location services at Where 2.0

Low tech location services at Where 2.0

I got my fair share (3 minutes!) to educate the audience about how AR could impact our life, as part of the Mobile Reality panel, covered by Rouli.

A show of hands survey confirmed that only 5% of the audience was familiar with the concept of augmented reality before the event. Not too surprising considering the percentage among the general population is less than 1%.

What came out strongly at the event is that unbelieveable amount of data is being captured about people, places and things around the world. This data combined with sophisticated models (such as Sense Networks) result in the existence of super intelligent information about the world that we still don’t really know how to use.

My point is not a shocker: all we need is to tap into this information and bring it, in context, into people’s field of view.

***

For some time now, researchers in the augmented reality community have attempted to leave markers behind and leap into the great world of outdoor AR (alfresco). These pioneers typically hit walls such as low accuracy of GPS, lack of 3D modeled environments, and the usual device-specific limitations.

Where 2.0 gave stage for two new approaches to map the world that may help overcome the traditional challenges: Earthmine and Velodyne’s Lidar.

Earthmine uses its own camera-based device to index reality, at the street level, one pixel at a time. They have just announced Wild Style City – an application that allows anyone to create virtual graffitis on top of designated public spaces. However, at this point, you can only experience it on a pc!

Why not take advantage of their 3D pixel inventory of the world to make these graffiti work of arts available to anyone on the street? All is needed is some AR magic and a powerful mobile device.

The second novice approach is Velodyne’s Lidar. Remember Radiohead’s funky laser (as opposed to video) clip?

They did it with Lidar.

Now Velodyne is embarking on a broader mission to map the outdoors. Check out this experiment.

Can AR researchers harness these new approaches to index reality?

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

Filed under: AR Panel | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments »

GDC 2009 Roundup: a (tiny) spark of augmented reality

Posted on May 4, 2009 by Ori Inbar

The dust over GDC 2009 has settled a while ago and finally I got to reflect on the AR experience at the show.  Guess which headline would summarize it best:

a) augmented reality was the talk of the show

b) the expo floor was swarming with AR demos

c) AR games snatched lucrative game awards

d) none of the above

dsc03400

A friend in San Francisco wearing retro AR goggles

Unfortunately (d) is the right answer.

But – and it’s a big ‘but’ – the ignition spark was there. The seed was planted. The first shot of the revolution was fired.

(OK, maybe the last metaphor went too far.)

Here are 5 triggers I identified that ignited the spark:

1) Blair

The first GDC augmented reality talk – ever: Blair MacIntyre covered the latest and greatest about mobile augmented reality in front of a packed room of game developers. Awesome.

2) Demos

Was it the first time AR demos (and more demos) were presented at a major Game Developer Conference ?

Not sure – but it certainly was my first…

3)  Mentions in talks

Was Blair’s AR talk an isolated case?

Perhaps as a main topic it was. However, for the first time, I heard significant mentions of AR in multiple other talks. Check them out:

A talk about pervasive gaming. I liked the title: “Beyond the Screen: Principles of Pervasive Game” by the folks from Pervasive Games. The played with the concept in which the whole world is the playground.  These games, are founded in the belief that doing things for real is pleasurable. Games that harness reality as a source book have interesting dynamics.  Everything in reality matters to the game, the game play emerges from coincidence, and real and artificial blur.

Jane McGonigal fantastic talk “Learning to Make Your Own Reality: How to Develop Games that Re-invent Life As We Know It” introduced a concept she calls programmable reality. Augmented reality is among the key technologies to enable that idea.

Camera Based Gaming: The Next Generation by Diarmid Campbell attracted the attention of a room packed with game developers. He talked about Sony’s upcoming camera games for the PlayStation 3 such as Eye Pet. Armed with the EyeToy camera, these games will have the power to extract amusing gestures from players. Not quite AR – but sure smells like it.

Stretching Beyond entertainment – AR made a surprise appearance in a high profile panel discussion feturing some of the gods of the gaming industry: (from right) Ed Fries , Lorne Lanning,Bing Gordon,Will Wright, and Peter Molyneux.
The best quote award went to Ed Fries for saying: “We need to take game mechanics and apply them to the real world”.

dsc03394

4) Meet ups

Dinners, lunches, business meetups, brainstorming sessions – haven’t had that many meetings with AR enthusiasts since ISMAR 2008…

5) The iPhone

When it comes to bringing AR to the masses – the iPhone is a category on its own . And it doesn’t even know it yet…why the iPhone changed everything

-*-*-

Will we ever get to see answers a, b, or c become a real headline?

Most likely in the next few years, if you ask me.

A (tiny) spark was ignited.

Filed under: AR Events, AR Games, AR Tracking, AR User Experience | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments »

GDC 2009: More Augmented Reality Demos at Game Developer Conference

Posted on March 26, 2009 by Ori Inbar

Reporting live from GDC 2009 in San Francisco: it’s just getting better!

From Blair’s team at GA Tech:

Zombie Attack on Nvidia Tegra

From Beyond Reality at the Dutch pavilion:

Pit Strategy

Stay tuned for more…

Filed under: AR Events, AR Games | Tagged: , , , , , | 3 Comments »

GDC 2009: First Augmented Reality Demo at a Game Developer Conference

Posted on March 26, 2009 by Ori Inbar

As soon as the exhibition floor opened today at the Game Developer Conference (GDC) in San Francisco, I rushed to visit the Vuzix-Metaio booth to witness the first consumer-oriented augmented reality booth ever to exhibit at GDC.

I was not disappointed. Just watch this clip.

Stefan Misslinger (Metaio) did a fantastic job  acting it out, don’t you think?

Vuzix also had on the display the upcoming-anticipated-long-awaited-soon-to-be-released 920AV AR glasses. It wasn’t in working condition, but Vuzix promised it will be released this fall.

When the event kicked off, I offered to serve as your eyes and ears; Peter Milford took the offer and expressed his curiosity about the latest from Vuzix. This one is for you Peter: yours truly posing with the goods.

vuzix920v

Now the key question is:

how would you rank the look of these specs on a dork-to-cool scale?

Filed under: AR Demos, AR Events | Tagged: , , , , | 10 Comments »

GDC 2009: I Have Seen The Future Of Games and I Wasn’t Alone

Posted on March 24, 2009 by Ori Inbar

In front of a packed room, Blair skips the typical introduction to augmented reality (he knows his audience) and dives right into demonstrating how fun AR is. What better video to explain it in a game conference than showing Roku’s Reward.
blair-gdc-1
Blair explains the essence of AR play:  tight integration between the real and the virtual. He then shows examples of existing handheld AR games: The invisible Train,  a Gizmondo game, and of course his own baby: ARf running on an iPhone.

He’s excited about the next generation of handhelds (e.g. from Nvidia Tegra, TI OMAP) which are going to make the experience more pervasive and popular.

But why do AR at all?
How can you go beyond just an eye candy?

You have to use the new game mechanics that are made available. And as always create compelling stories and game play.

Now a little bit of technology for the geeky audience:
how do you do tracking?

He quickly goes through various types of techniques: markers, natural feature tracking, and 3D tracking. Daniel Wagner from Graz is mentioned multiple times.

Handling camera and lighting is mentioned as key for a good experience.

And of course graphics. In order to create a more believable and tangible look don’t forget shadows, occlusions, physics, and how about a rotoscoping-like look?

Now for some more examples of games developed by his students:
There’s a whole category of table top games which emphasize interaction between players. It’s fun to see when players get into the game, they point into thin air, refering to the virtual objects.

Blair describes the game Bragfish: using a Gizmondo, multiple players around a game board navigate virtual boats to capture fish in a pond. Interesting social interactions emerge such as pushing and obstructing each other…

Art of defense: a co-op game for 2 players running on Nokia 95.

ARf: a virtual pet toy on the iPhone. where you can interact with a pet that walks on your table. Scratch the table and the cute virtual dog will sniff it.

Joe Warpin: flying in a helicopter and shooting terrorists in a building. Only the building is really a chair covered with markers…

AR Zombies (just finished this Saturday): running on Nvidia Tegra – this time – shooting Zombies. Graphics are nice. Lighting changes to reflect the themes.

blair-gdc-2

Outdoor AR and large area AR will become reality in the near future and will be really cool.
And with that optimistic note, he’s opening the floor for questions.

Question: How can you go and play in a ad hoc site and play with no pre-prep?
Blair: in the future games will be able to recognize with no prep. Example is SLam which maps the environment while playing and then allows to play there.

Question: Are you using other sensors such as infra red?
Blair: I don’t do that stuff – but others do…there are some expensive sensors systems that work well and open up very interesting stuff.

Q: you could solve the problem of outdoor modeling with a captive audience (I am an ARG guy…)
Blair: absolutely. See what Microsoft is doing with Photosynth. Military has done that in submarines to track people in case of emergency.

Q: You mentioned that AR could be exciting and terrified…what did you mean?
Blair: When you can see an alternative reality it could be really fun (and scary)…that’s what I meant.

Q: Could we use the same indoor markers for outdoors purposes?
Blair: too much work…too many markers are required. They’re ugly. But you could overcome thee challenges with clever design.

The time is up but a long line is stretching in front of the podium – people want to hear more.

blair-gdc-3

After the talk, I had a couple of hall conversation; folks were totally intrigued with the new opportunities.

I have seen the future of games and I wasn’t alone.

Such a shame this is the only AR session at GDC. I am back to my pursuit of more AR vignettes.

Did I just see Ron Azuma (one of the fathers of AR) in the room?

Filed under: AR Events, AR Games | 3 Comments »

GDC 2009: Why the iPhone Just Changed Everything

Posted on March 23, 2009 by Ori Inbar

Robert Tercek Chairman of GDC Mobile kicks of the Mobile summit with “Welcome to the Next Level! ”

He speaks about the state of the mobile gaming world (looks much better than last year) and even spends a moment on our favorite topic: Virtual layers superimposed on a fictitious reality. He admits it has only been done for advertising so far.

Next is a session I have been looking forward to: “Why the iPhone just changed everything” by
Neil Young founder of Ngmoco :)

When it comes to mobile games, everything before the iPhone was lame. Mostly because of the carriers, the devices, and their usability.
With the iPhone a new Everything was born.

As a game machine it’s so much better than anything before.

4 major Changes:
1) The market – iPhone has more installed based than the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP. 165 new apps per day.
Short term problem: Clutter + pricing pressure.
Long term – awesome opportunity.

2) The games – Graphics are better. The experience is better.
And it’s always connected. new opportunities for social, multi players.

3) Game making – fantastic SDK and a much faster development cycle.

4) and Publishing.
There’s never been a better time to be an independent developer and to create a closer relationship with customers.

Then comes the Ngmoco plug: they help create hits by focusing on largest audience appeal, superior execution, and making sure it’s native to the iPhone
There other job is helping games get in front of as many people as possible.
The Ngmoco platform helps is that endevour: analytics, silent download of levels and episodes, promotions engine.

The session ends in high note: iPhone is current the top dog.

Off to a coffee break.

Filed under: AR Devices, AR Events | Tagged: , | 3 Comments »

Is the Future of Games Lurking at the Game Developer Conference?

Posted on March 23, 2009 by Ori Inbar

I am on a flight to San Francisco, barely dodging a thunder storm, for what I expect to be an inspiring week at the Game Developer Conference .
I have been to hundreds of conferences in my career – GDC is one that usually satisfies the crave for inspiration – big time.

Here’s what I’ll be looking for:
The Mobile Games Summit has a bunch of sessions focused on the iPhone such as “Why the iPhone just changed everything”. It also features probably the first major session about Handheld Augmented Reality in the history of GDC (can you believe that?). Blair MacIntyre is best equipped to shoulder the challenge.
You’ll surely find me at the intriguing session: “Beyond the Screen: The Principles of Pervasive Game Design“. Although when Markus Montola speaks about ARGs he means Alternative Reality Games – not Augmented Reality Games – I believe it will be a treat.

Other sessions serve as stepping stones in my pursuit of the ultimate augmented reality game:
Get Smart About Smartphones: Insight Into the Future of Mobile Gaming
Bringing Meaning to Mobile Entertainment
Getting Serious About Alternate Reality: Designing a Different Kind of ARG
The Human Play Machine

Experimental Game Play Session is always fascinating. I wonder what year an AR game will be featured.

Jonathan Blow, Clint Hocking  and Jesse Schell are among the top reasons I am here this week. They’re super smart, artistic, entertaining, yet humble. They remind me why I am so attracted to this industry.

I also wish to ask Will Wright after the session “Stretching Beyond Entertainment: The Role of Games in Personal and Social Change”  if he’s doing anything related to his (celebrated among the AR community) quote: “Games should increase our awareness to our immediate environment rather than distract us from it”

Of course, I’ll be looking for green inducing tips (not what you’re thinking) in sessions such as “Early Stage Funding for Video Game Start Ups”.

The exhibition area usually feels like a SyFy convention. I’ll be looking for the future AR hardware from Vuzix, Nvidia, Microvision, and other contenders (Microsoft?).

Most importantly, I wish to meet like-minded folks.
My first stop is an AR dinner (plotting next year’s AR-attack on GDC) on Tuesday.
I would like to think that among the more than 5,000 attendees, there are at least 50 with a strong interest in Augmented Reality Games. I’ll be in their pursuit…

If you’re at GDC – please give me a buzz.
If not – use me as you’re eyes and ears – what would you have looked for?

So Is the Future of Games Lurking at the Game Developer Conference?

We’ll find out this week.

Filed under: AR Events | Tagged: , | 2 Comments »

Augmented Reality Today – Ori Inbar Speaks at WARM 2009

Posted on March 9, 2009 by Ori Inbar

Games Alfresco is celebrating the first year on the air.

Among the festivities, I am sharing a talk I gave at the Winter Augmented Reality Event (WARM ’09) at Graz University (Austria) this February.

It makes the case for unleashing Augmented Reality into the mass market – Today.

The best part was the post talk conversation with a group of AR enthusiasts at the University. I guess I managed to get their juices flowing.

Hope it will have a similar effect on you.

Here it is: a year of research distilled into 16 minutes of uncut, fast-paced presentation – with a twisted voice over.

Vodpod videos no longer available.

Many thanks to the augmented reality community for your contribution. I couldn’t have done it without you.

Are you in?

Filed under: AR Events | Tagged: , , | 20 Comments »

« Previous Page — Next Page »