Motion capture controls negate the violent video-game effect

Considerable research suggests that violent video game play increases players’ aggression. However, few studies have investigated this effect in the now ubiquitous context of motion-capture technology. Study 1 used a 2 × 2 design, with a violent (Soul Calibur) and non-violent (Lego Indiana Jones) game, played under analog (Playstation 3) and motion-capture (Nintendo Wii) conditions. Violent video game play led to less aggression when participants used motion-capture controls. Study 2 eliminated potential confounds by using the only game on the Wii system that can be played identically with or without motion capture (Punch-Out!!). Again, participants who used motion-capture were less aggressive. Study 3 looked for effects of cooperative vs. competitive play during 2-player motion-capture gaming (Soul Calibur, Wii). Participants using motion-capture controls in competitive and cooperative scenarios did not differ from baseline. These results run counter to standard models relating violent video game play to aggressive behavior, highlighting the difficulty in anticipating the effects of newer, more immersive technology.     

Games, Virtual Reality, and the Pursuit of Happiness

The paper discusses the aspects of games and virtual reality in human happiness.In the past few decades, scientists have focused most of their attention on developing technologies that sharpen only the minds or relieve minds and bodies of certain duties. The people become smarter but incredibly unhealthy. Health games seem to offer one solution to this problem. Entertainment based health interventions have a huge potential to transform healthcare. Most people love games.Play is a fundamental mode of expression, fulfills the human need to connect with the "other," and can even be fun. Serious play is also great exercise for the mind and spirit. The Nintendo Wii was a good start for motivating people to get off the couch. But Wii isn't good enough for virtual reality (VR) fans due to easy sensor cheats, but Wii is the first step toward liberation. For many people, the Wii is as close to VR as they've ever gotten. Health games and sensor based experiences have recently become the new, shiny promise of hope and change in our field. However, an affordable, untethered full body VR experience is still the Holy Grail. Playing Flower game was as close to VR. Liberated from complex controller buttons, the author role played a flower petal by using the controller's tilt sensor to navigate a sublime landscape.It was exhilarating, and for once, appreciated all the special realtime graphics effects that compensated for the absence of head tracking and stereoscopy, luxuries that was always expected from VR. The author concluded that health games is an exciting research area today. It's an opportunity to reuse what learned from decades of CG, VR, and digital game research, merge that with knowledge with other areas, and release new ideas into the world.     

Usability perception of different video game devices in elderly users

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the usability perception of seniors on video game use with different control devices. Twenty-four seniors participated in the study (12 women, 12 men, 69 years old in average) and eight children (8 years old in average). The setting included the use of two Kinect motion sensors, three computers, three projectors, three video cameras, two audio devices, the Angry Birds and Happy Sky videogames, one Xbox 360 console, a Nintendo Wii device and a Touchscreen configured so that participants could play the games in senior–child pairs. Data were collected according to user friendliness, experience and social interaction. This study suggests that video game control devices for seniors should be adapted to compensate for their function, sensor and cognitive limitations.     

Painting in the air with Wii Remote

The Wii, which is a home video game console released by Nintendo, has rapidly become the world’s most popular console since its release in November 2006. A distinguishing feature of the Wii is its innovative motion-sensitive controller, the Wii Remote, which could be used as a hand-held pointing device and that has brought many people to gaming for the first time. The popularity of Wii and the innovative design of Wii Remote provide us the motivation to develop a novel air painter system which includes basic painting functions, free sketching, and Chinese, English and Japanese recognition. Vibration and noise effect often influence the recognition of the system, so several fault tolerance mechanisms are proposed in this paper to reduce these effects. Moreover, a unifying character and free sketch recognition scheme, which is based on the stroke code sequences, is proposed to process the recognition. One of the advantages of this approach is that the same mechanism could be applied to the whole system and it could incorporate the fault tolerance mechanisms proposed in this paper.     

Materials Breakthrough Could Eliminate Bootups

Topics include a new version of Adobe Flash that streams Internet content directly to TVs; a project that is researching ways to build computers that don't require bootups; an open source, write-once-run-anywhere approach for mobile applications; and injuries caused by the Nintendo Wii game console.     

The impact of Nintendo Wii to physical education students' balance compared to the traditional approaches

The purpose of this study was to determine whether there is a difference between an exergame-based and a traditional balance training program, in undergraduate Physical Education students. Thirty two third-year undergraduate students at the Democritus University of Thrace were randomly divided into two training program groups of 16 students each, a traditional and a Nintendo Wii group. The two training program groups performed a specific balance program for 8 weeks, two times per week, and 24 min per session. The Nintendo Wii group used the interactive games Wii Fit Plus of the Nintendo Wii console, as a training method to improve their balance, while the traditional group used an exercise program with mini trampoline and inflatable discs. Before and after the completion of the eight-week balance program, participants completed a single leg static balance assessment for both limbs on the Biodex stability system. Two-way analyses of variance (ANOVAs), with repeated measures on the last factor, were conducted to determine effect of training program groups (traditional, Nintendo Wii) and measures (pre-test, post-test) on balance test indices (SI, API, and MLI). Where initial differences between groups were verified, one-way analyses of covariance (ANCOVAs) were applied. Analysis of the data illustrated that both groups demonstrated an improvement in SI, API and MLI mean scores for the right and the left limp as well. Conclusively, findings support the effectiveness of using the Nintendo Wii gaming console as an intervention for undergraduate Physical Education students, and specifically, its effects on physical function related to balance competence.     

A method of two-handed gesture interactions with applications based on commodity devices

Recent progress on human–computer interface technology has enabled more intuitive and natural communications between humans and sensor-based devices in many fields such as games, e-learning, augmented reality (AR), and medical image processing. While traditional human–computer interface devices such as the keyboard and mouse still dominate in our daily life, we propose a new method of two-handed gesture interactions to control applications based on commodity devices such as Wiimote, the primary controller for Nintendo’s Wii game console. Our main goal is to construct a unified way to interact with computers and their application systems just like using home appliances. The proposed system allows users to track their fingers moving in three-dimensional space in real time and define each gesture’s function by using the commodity devices.     

Sharetouch: A system to enrich social network experiences for the elderly

The Sharetouch system is designed for raising users’ participation in community events. We put three subsystems into Sharetouch: (1) community pond, (2) Waterball interactive game, and (3) multimedia sharing. Sharetouch is based on an optical touch device designed by the Joyplux Company with an infrared LED and camera. This device can support multi-touch functions within a large display area. The software of Sharetouch was developed within XNA and .NET frameworks. We project the users as fish in our community pond. Sharetouch displays all the friends as fish when the users log into the system. Therefore, the number of fish equals the number of friends of the users. This design encourages users to make more friends to increase the number of fish. Waterball is a game that combines virtual images and real objects. The concept is based on the Nintendo Wii games, as players hold controllers (real objects) to play the games (virtual images). We also apply the concept of the cloud flash drive to multimedia sharing to avoid the trouble of carrying a real flash disk. This study employed the TAM measure to measure the validity of Sharetouch in this social platform. Our findings indicated that all proposed hypotheses had a positive and significant impact on the intention of older people to interact with Sharetouch. Unlike the computer-based system, Sharetouch is created as a user-friendly interface system. Sharetouch can enrich the users’ social network experiences through its hardware and software architectures.     

Japanese activities in virtual reality

Most virtual reality hardware in Japan has been imported from the US, and the large-scale applications have focused on games, where Sega Enterprises and Nintendo remain the market leaders. In addition to its successful home video and arcade machines businesses, Sega is moving aggressively into the amusement-park ride market. Outside these markets, Matsushita plans to release three commercial products in spring 1994. One is an immersive system for product showrooms to help Japanese home owners visualize new kitchens before ordering them. Another is a massage chair that uses VR images and sound to help relax users. The third is an exercise bicycle that lets the user cycle through a 3D virtual world while exercising. Many Japanese companies are interested in VR technology as a problem-solving tool. They are making progress in its use in equipment operation. They also realize that the ability to operate devices intuitively by ordinary gesture-like motions can be exploited in many practical fields. This ability could make human-machine interfaces easier, even if these interfaces fall short of outright VR. This article reviews a few recent industry and academic research projects. The current worldwide recession has flattened the overall rate of growth in Japanese research and development spending. Nevertheless, Japan reportedly has approximately 20 major VR research projects, mostly emphasizing communication. Japanese emphases on long-term planning and on targeting development toward specific products are their strengths in this emerging technology     

Hacking the Nintendo Wii Remote

Since its introduction, the Nintendo Wii remote has become one of the world's most sophisticated and common input devices. Combining its impressive capability with a low cost and high degree of accessibility make it an ideal platform for exploring a variety of interaction research concepts. The author describes the technology inside the Wii remote, existing interaction techniques, what's involved in creating custom applications, and several projects ranging from multiobject tracking to spatial augmented reality that challenge the way its developers meant it to be used.     

Subjective and behavioral presence measurement and interactivity in the collaborative augmented reality game TimeWarp

Presence is usually assessed via a variety of subjective and objective measures. However, constraints often result in subjective measurements using questionnaires as a key method of data collection. In this paper we present a study of 44 participants of a collaborative augmented reality game known as TimeWarp which used both subjective and objective behavioral measures. Behavior as coded from video recordings of one scene of the game and self-reports about feelings of presence were compared. Our findings indicate that pointing behavior and verbal responses to the virtual content are correlated negatively to sense of presence. We further investigated the influence of subjectively perceived interactivity on perceived presence. We found that the interaction possibilities perceived by the participants predicted their experience of social presence with the virtual characters in the game. Furthermore, playing together with another person did not result in decreased social presence of the virtual characters. Implications for presence research are discussed.     

From visual simulation to virtual reality to games

During the past decades, the virtual reality community has based its development on a synthesis of earlier work in interactive 3D graphics, user interfaces, and visual simulation. Currently, the VR field is transitioning into work influenced by video games. Because much of the research and development being conducted in the games community parallels the VR community's efforts, it has the potential to affect a greater audience. Given these trends, VR researchers who want their work to remain relevant must realign to focus on game research and development. Leveraging technology from the visual simulation and virtual reality communities, serious games provide a delivery system for organizational video game instruction and training.     

虚拟现实技术在下一代网中的应用

介绍了虚拟现实、下一代网及其主要特征,重点分析了虚拟现实技术在下一代网中在多视点视频、大型多人在线室外FPS类网络游戏、分布式虚拟环境运行平台BH RTI、虚拟航空航天数字博物馆和城市景观服务等方面的几个典型应用实例。     

Motion games improve balance control in stroke survivors: A preliminary study based on the principle of constraint-induced movement therapy

Stroke patients with hemiparesis often exhibit an asymmetrical weight distribution, with the paretic leg providing less support and less weight-shift activity than the sound leg does. For upper-limb hemiparesis constraint-induced movement therapy (CIMT), where the sound limb is constrained and the patient is forced to use the paretic limb, has proven to be one of the most effective rehabilitation methods. However, this method has not been successfully modified for balance rehabilitation, since hard constraints on the lower limb are difficult to impose and can increase the risk of patient injuries. Here we introduce a novel approach that encourages stroke survivors to use the paretic leg for weight-shifting tasks during balance control training in a virtual reality setting. We recorded motion signals from each leg in real time and streamed modified versions of these signals to the Nintendo Wii Fit gaming system. By independently manipulating the influence of each leg during game play, we successfully forced the stroke survivors to increase the use of the paretic leg. Our preliminary clinical trial, including three patients with hemiparesis in the chronic phase, found that one-week of training improved patients’ ability to maneuver their center of pressure (COP) during a tracking task. More encouragingly, patient’s weight distributions became more symmetrical. These initial results suggest that manipulating control gains during VR rehabilitation may allow the principles of CIMT to be applied during balance training in stroke survivors.     

基于VR技术的三维射击游戏开发研究

目前三维游戏中利用了虚拟场景,以便捷的人机交互,为游戏者提供最佳的游戏体验.三维游戏的衍生在很大程度上推动了虚拟现实(VR)技术的更新优化,其涵盖了虚拟现实所有技术.本文基于VR技术设计开发三维射击游戏.首先分析游戏开发需求,其次设计三维VR系统结构与游戏开发流程,再次详细规划三维射击游戏功能模块,最后进行游戏人物、场...     

Virtual Worlds: A New Reality for Treating Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Science does not follow a linear path. Yet, persistence counts in research, and that's the case with virtual worlds. In the 1990s, many people perceived virtual worlds as a fad. Researchers and developers had to wait until innovations in networking, computer graphics, and haptics made the basic elements of VR inexpensive and ubiquitous. The Nintendo Wii is a great example of how technology has progressed in 15 years, with 100 times the performance and 1/100 the cost of high-end workstations from the '90s. Suddenly, a new virtual world is appearing on the Internet each week. Just as suddenly, many researchers can afford to expose many people to the technology, test hypotheses, and explore new problems. Modern society's problems aren't linear either and can appear almost from nowhere. In the 1980s, HIV caused governments everywhere to respond with huge new research programs, which are having an impact. Today's challenge is almost as pernicious because identifying and treating it is difficult - and its cost to society can be just as devastating. That challenge is post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and the science of virtual worlds might well be a major factor in meeting it.     

基于ARToolKit工具的增强现实交互操作研究

增强现实是把计算机生成的虚拟图像或其它信息叠加到用户所看到的真实世界中的一种技术。ARToolKit为增强现实技术的应用提供了一种方便快捷的开发工具,但多针对于浏览展示方面。本文在ARToolKit工具下针对AVI录像文件进行增强现实的应用开发,增加了用户和现实以及虚拟物体的交互操作,通过计算机视觉的方法着重解决把虚拟物体放置到用户在视频帧上指定的点。这些将为用户使用增强现实技术进行设计和规划提供方便。     

基于增强现实技术的AR赛车游戏

AR赛车是一款融入了增强现实技术的3D赛车游戏。在赛车游戏中运用增强现实技术．使得游戏有了全新的控制方式和场景效果。在游戏控制方式上,玩家不再需要用键盘来控制赛车,而是通过在摄像头前操纵有特定标识图案的纸片来控制赛车;在场景效果上,AR赛车不再像传统游戏那样始终处于虚拟场景中,而是采用真实场景与虚拟物体相结合。这些特点将会给玩家带来全新的游戏体验。     

Self-reported discomfort when using commercially targeted virtual reality equipment in discomfort distraction

Commercially targeted virtual reality (VR) equipment is gaining popularity and might be a viable tool for pain distraction. This experimental research aimed to discover whether active distraction techniques (such as commercially targeted VR and video games) result in reduced subjective discomfort relative to passive distraction techniques. The study examined a healthy adult population who experienced an experimentally induced discomfort task. Participants were 27 adults, 14 females and 13 males. Participants completed four tasks, a baseline measure of physical discomfort, video clip distraction (passive distraction), video game distraction (active distraction) and exploring a VR world using an Oculus Rift head-mounted display (active distraction). In all four test conditions, participants were asked to sit on a chair holding their non-dominant leg at a height of approximately 30 cm from the floor, up to a maximum of 5 min. Counterbalancing of task order was conducted to reduce effects of participant fatigue. The participants indicated significantly reduced self-reported discomfort in the active distraction tasks when compared to the passive distraction tasks. While the findings demonstrate the effectiveness of a commercially targeted VR technology in increasing pain tolerance, the relative benefits of this technology over non-immersive video games are not apparent.     

基于自由立体视频的露天开采虚拟现实的研究与实现

文章结合最新的交互式自由立体视频技术与露天开采虚拟现实技术,设计并实现了一种基于自由立体视频的露天矿开采虚拟现实技术的交互与演示系统。文章利用3DS Max和VRMap软件建立了某露天矿区的虚拟视觉模型,并将这些虚拟视觉模型按照适合立体显示的条件进行场景渲染和视频图象生成,最后结合虚拟场景的三维显示特性设计了交互式自由立体视频软件,通过该软件展示了虚拟现实场景。该系统克服了传统虚拟现实演示的局限性,用较低的成本支持更多的用户进行参与和交互,同时也具有较强的环境拓展性。