Hasta La Gadget!

Next-gen gaming won’t be truly immersive until it blows, Disney Research believes, and it has the Kinect accessory to fix that tactile omission. Aireal uses a focused blast of air, fired from a compact cannon designed to sit alongside a sensor-bar like Kinect, to make action on the screen feel all the more realistic; shown off at SIGGRAPH in July, the cannon can track a player around and synchronize with the gameplay.

In the brief demo video shared on Aireal so far – you can see if from the 0:44 point – a gamer plays a goalkeeper simulator, with balls fired toward them on-screen. The challenge appears to be knocking as many of the balls away, using physical movements tracked by a Kinect; the Aireal sits next to it, firing puffs of air at the player to recreate the sensation of objects impacting.

Disney Research describes the system as creating “interactive tactile experiences in free air”, and it relies on the inherent stability and range of a vortex of air. By spinning the flow of air around the central axis, the blast can be made far more precise and reach further into the room.

The developers – Rajinder Sodhi of the University of Illinois, along with Matthew Glisson and Ivan Poupyrev of Disney Research Pittsburgh – don’t say exactly what the range of the Aireal cannon actually is, only “large distances.” The system is “scalable and inexpensive” they claim, though would presumably need to be made more compact if it wanted to gain living room acceptance.

However, you could easily imagine Microsoft integrating Aireal into a future version of the Kinect sensor bar, which was updated for the Xbox One revealed earlier this week. The new Kinect has more accurate motion-tracking – now capable of identifying not only skeletal movement, but musculature and force, and even measuring heart-rate – as well as advanced microphones for voice control of the next-gen console.

So far, though, attempts to make gaming more immersive have tended to treat the sense of touch with relatively broad strokes. At most, there’s some sort of haptic feedback from vibration of the gamepad; the Xbox One controllers, for instance, have tunable vibration to suit the on-screen action, but harness systems and similar to spread the sensation across the player’s body have generally met with resistance.

Disney Research’s approach – though perhaps less targeted than strapping vibration motors across your torso – does away with the issues of clumsy bodywear, and it could also be used to good effect in media types other than gaming, such as movies and TV shows. Whether that will make it an acquisition target for one of the big game companies remains to be seen.

VIA Geek; ExtremeTech

Disney Research Aireal adds real force-feedback to Kinect gaming is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Microsoft has attempted to reassure privacy-perplexed gamers that the new Xbox One will not be a permanent spy camera in their living room, promising that the updated Kinect sensor will support “completely secure” shut-down modes. Kinect will be a standard part of the new Xbox One package, with the new motion-tracking bar even more accurate and perceptive than before, capable even of tracking a gamer’s heart rate with no physical contact.

There’s a new 1080p camera for video calls, and a new IR camera which can see in the dark; they can be used together to track skeletal and muscular movements, as well as whether the gamer is off-balance. Skin color and transparency can be used to measure heart rate, a feature which Microsoft says it expects to see integrated into exercise and fitness games.

Meanwhile, a new multi-microphone array is apparently even better at locking onto the user’s voice and ignoring background noise. That’s essential for the new speech control systems the Xbox One offers, as well as for use in Skype video calls.

However, the new attentiveness has also worried privacy advocates, who are concerned that Microsoft’s freshly-alert Kinect could be too intrusive in the living room. The camera won’t be removable altogether, Xbox group program manager Jeff Henshaw reiterate CNET, but there will be other ways to ensure the One isn’t listening in.

“The system is designed to have Kinect be an integral part of the experience. It’s not the case where you’ll be able to remove the camera altogether” Henshaw clarified. “But you’ll be able to put the system in modes where you can be completely secure about the fact that the camera is off and can’t see you.”

Henshaw pointed to Microsoft’s existing privacy policy around Kinect, though that’s likely to be updated closer to the One’s launch to take into account the new features of the updated sensor. As it stands, though, the exact nature of the “completely secure” modes is unclear.

Still, what is clear is that Microsoft would prefer for Xbox One owners to keep their consoles active, given the Kinect is vital for waking it from standby with spoken commands, and then using voice to switch between gameplay and TV, as well as search for channels and shows. We’ve more on the Kinect – and Xbox One as a whole – in our full wrap-up of yesterday’s launch event.

Xbox One Kinect includes “no listening” modes for living room privacy is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

This marketing analysis tool, under development by Fujitsu, uses technology to sense people’s movement. By analyzing how customers behave in response to merchandise, entirely new kinds of marketing information will be obtainable.

“This exhibit is designed with retail stores in mind. The system determines how people choose products, whether they were interested in a product already, and what products they compare, using Kinect and a camera.”

With regular POS systems, the only information obtained is how much merchandise has been sold. But by using this system, it’s possible to find out how customers acted while contemplating the purchase of a product. This system could help with marketing by showing how customers behaved when they were thinking about buying a product, but didn’t complete the purchase.

“For example, we think this system will make it possible to analyze how a person considered two products, found it hard to decide between them, and finally chose one of them. It’ll enable analysis to go deeper, regarding whether a person who had difficulty deciding was a man or woman, and how old they were.”

“Rather than using this system by itself, we think it could be used in conjunction with RFID tags and other sensors. Also, rather than using Kinect to detect people coming and going, it could be combined with more specialized sensors. In fact, all this system does is collect data, so when it comes to analysis, it could be cross referenced with point of sale data and big data, or the system could be used to correlate information regarding the effectiveness of introducing customer loyalty points programs. So, we hope this system will be utilized in combination with Fujitsu’s all-round solutions.”

Event: Fujitsu Forum 2013

This Video is provided by DigInfo.tv, AkihabaraNews Official Partner.

You’ve already read our hands-on with Xbox One’s new Kinect and wireless gamepad, but perhaps you noticed our inability to test the gamepad’s new “impulse triggers?” Well, we’re glad to tell you we’ve just mended that exception.

First things first, though — we got hands-on with the new gamepad in a more finished state (which is to say “with the impulse triggers and the new Start / Back buttons). The most noticeable difference is one that most gamers will likely overlook initially: the new texture on the edge of the analog sticks. Head below with us for more!

Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals, HD, Microsoft

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Will Microsoft’s Xbox One be the one gaming console to purchase over the Wii U and PS4? That’s a question we’ll have to wait until later this year to answer, so let’s stick to the present. Redmond made a huge showing across both the software and hardware fronts today, ensuring gamers will have lots to look forward to. Whether you missed parts of the keynote or are looking for specific stories from the event, we’ve got you covered right here. Click past the break to find a full directory of today’s news, from our exclusive look at how engineers built the Xbox One to details about fresh titles like Call of Duty: Ghosts and Forza Motorsport 5.

Filed under: Gaming, Microsoft

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