Video Games

Virtual Nature via Video Raises Concerns for Conservation

Nature photographers now use high-definition photography to bring unparalleled images of wildlife and a "you-are-there" experience approaching virtual reality to the viewer. It can be at once informative, thrilling and terrifying -- and all from the comfort of your easy-chair or sofa. While such video gives the public a view of nature never before seen, two biologists warn this technological wonder represents a proverbial double-edge sword. "Virtual nature, defined as nature experienced vicariously through electronic means, has potential benefits particularly for children dependent on adults for access to many natural areas ... yet virtual nature appears to directly compete with time previously allocated to more beneficial, direct contact with the outdoors." They call this phenomena "videophilia," which they define as "the new human tendency to focus on sedentary activities involving electronic media." Their concern is that such activities not only can contribute to a more isolated, sedentary and unhealthy lifestyle, but also may discourage people, especially children, from visiting parks or nature preserves and experiencing nature first-hand. And that, they argue, could affect environmental consciousness, which may hinder long-term efforts to conserve earth's dwindling tracts of wilderness.

A History of Video Game Development

In this presentation, Bill Guschwan will feature the works of Ken Kutaragi of Sony as a major figure in the history of the video game. Ken Kutaragi invented key parts of the PlayStation after creating the sound chip for the Nintendo NES. Like others in the Japanese computer industry he is interested in the affective experience of people with technology. His latest achievement with Sony was the PlayStation 3 which features his Emotion Engine which is a microchip with 9 coprocessors. Bill will use various PlayStation software and hardware examples to show how the technology advances are directly related to a change in the affective experience of the player. He will also draw parallels in other platforms such as the use of Apple's QuickTime data compression in the Macintosh's Myst, John Carmack's elegant 3d calculation design in the PC's Doom, and Miyamoto's innovative synced sound in the Mario games on the Nintendo. Finally Bill will speculate on why the PS3, despite superior hardware capable of supporting advanced game design, has been challenged by the XBox and especially the Nintendo Wii.

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The Ultimate War Simulation Game

Like my Grandpa always said, there were no naked human pyramids in Starcraft. There were no whiny anti-war Hollywood types or questionable war motives or granola-munching protesters. I'm starting to think that even World in Conflict, a real time strategy game so "realistic" it takes a NASA-built Quantum supercomputer to run it, has left me woefully unprepared to fight an actual war. Well, below is my open letter to the real time strategy gaming cartel. I want a war simulation. A real one.

Levitating joystick improves computer feedback

A bowl with electromagnets concealed below its base contains a levitating bar that is grasped by a user and can be moved in any direction. The magnets exert forces on the bar to simulate the resistance of a weight, or a surface's resistance or friction. LEDs on the bar's underside feed back its position to light sensors in the bowl.

Wiimote hack measures vehicle acceleration

There is a lot of technology in the Wii Remotes that we regularly wiggle around. While we were busy aiming for headshots and curveballs, one clever auto enthusiast figured out a way to use the Wii Remote to calculate G-forces and acceleration times.

3-D Modeling Advance

Researchers at Stanford University have developed a Web service called Make3D that lets users turn a single two-dimensional image of an outdoor scene into an immersive 3-D model. This gives users the ability to easily create a more realistic visual representation of a photo--one that lets viewers fly around the scene. To convert the still images into 3-D visualizations, Andrew Ng, an assistant professor of computer science, and Ashutosh Saxena, a doctoral student in computer science, developed a machine-learning algorithm that associates visual cues, such as color, texture, and size, with certain depth values based on what they have learned from studying two-dimensional photos paired with 3-D data. For example, says Ng, grass has a distinctive texture that makes it look very different close up than it does from far away.

Games For Work

Collection of Flash video games

The Hard Science of Making Videogames

See the top ten hurdles facing game designers today, and the cutting-edge tech that will soon make them relics of the past. Put the stereotypes out of your mind. Forget the zits, the Cheetos, the smell of too much time on a couch with the curtains drawn. Today’s videogames draw on sophisticated science like biomechanics, fluid dynamics and computational geometry to be lifelike and exciting. Here are the 10 greatest challenges of making them. See for yourself—it’s virtual reality, but it’s real work

Carnegie Mellon Collaborates With EA to Revolutionize Computer Science Education

EA's Hit Game "The Sims" Will Help Make Computer Science Education Fun. EA has agreed to help underwrite the development of Alice 3.0—a popular object-oriented, Java-based computer-programming environment created by Carnegie Mellon researchers—and provide essential art assets from "The Sims™," the best selling PC videogame of all time. "The Sims" content will transform the Alice software from a rudimentary, 3-D programming tool into a compelling and user-friendly programming environment. Development for Alice 3.0 will begin immediately and will span the next 18 to 24 months. Experts say that when the transformation is complete, the new programming environment will be in position to become the national standard for teaching software programming.

Unreal Tournament Game Programming for Teens Book Debuts

Unreal Tournament Game Programming for Teens, put out by Course PTR and authored by John P. Flynt and Brandon Booth, promises readers a structured but entertaining way to learn how to develop simple computer games using Unreal Tournament.