t e c h i e - t a l k s ::: technology at its best

At CES 2008, we’ve seen several devices that take interactive entertainment to the next level. Gone were the days when you need to push buttons to make things work as they are supposed to. Goodbye wires and goodbye infra-red devices.

When it comes to video games, Wii had set the standards of the future interactive video games. At CES 2008, there are similar technologies that hopped on to the motion-sensing interactive games bandwagon.  For example, GestureTek incorporates Wii-like functions into their handphones which allows users to play games by swinging their phones around. Unlike the Nintendo Wii which uses an accelerometer for its handheld controllers, GestureTek uses motion sensors in cameras and softwares to detect background movements of the handphones. In the not so distant future, you might see people swinging their fists along the streets as they try to complete the next level of Pro Boxer 2. How about men in suits lunging around the broadwalk, playing their GestureTek enabled handphones and trying to win Roger Federer at Grand Slam 2010?

Other than gaming consoles, there are also technologies increases movement/activities of the normal couch potatoes. These innovations involves Wii like remote control that needs movement of the arms to navigate around TV channels and your latest photo albums on your media centre. Hilcrest Labs made a remote control that does just that. Now the couch potatoes/Wii fans have something to cheer about! Watch the video to find out more.

Lastly, this next innovation doesn’t need the Wii-like handheld controller. With the 3DV Systems, you can get a fine workout playing your video games without the need of a controller. All you need are your fists (or yourself), the ZCam system itself and probably a well-lit room. And unlike the two technologies mentioned above, this is one hell of a smart system. The ZCam camera is able to understand and capture the depth dimension of objects. This is akin to humans telling whether an object is near or far from their view. They accomplish this feature by using the basic principles of distance vs time in the propagation of light. The ZCam sends pulses that reflects off any object that is near its vicinity. Depending on how far the object is, these pulses reaches the ZCam at different instances. The ZCam then does a on-the-fly calculation of the depth of the object by using these information.

Most of the innovations above will most likely not be out on its own. The products of 3DV Systems and Hilcrest Lab will be sold to television manufacturers or game console manufacturers instead. These will truly change the way we watch our television shows and/or play our next console games.