FutureVigil (r) » Gaming

GLIMPSE THE FUTURE: AUGMENTED REALITY MONITOR

Jeffrey Newman — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 21:40:04 +0000

Take a look at the video on the right hand side of this website entitled FLIGHT SIMULATOR CURVED MONITOR. I haven’t tried it yet but I would sure like to! Slowly but steadily, progress is being made in the creation of more realistic virtual reality environments and that is combining with the richness and realism of graphics born of the video game explosion. This is just a tiny glimpse of many new developments that will enhance the our experience and ultimately create the feeling that they are entirely inside the environment. This will alter the experience in ways unanticipated and lead, I think, to the conception of more realistic virtual worlds like Sim City but where the avatars are life-size and physically interactive with other players. These developmens should also enhance the film going experience, if they are embraced by Hollywood which has been reluctant to change in the past. However, I do not see a melding of movies and video games in the near future. Please send me info on other augmented reality technology that is on the horizon.

VIDEO GAME HAS BENEFITS ON BRAIN FUNCTIONS IN CANCER PATIENTS

Jeffrey Newman — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:51:06 +0000

The results of a study, presented at the 10th International Congress of Behavioral Medicine, showed that playing the video game
Re-Mission (TM), specifically designed for young adults with chronic illness, has a broad impact on specific brain functions. Several key regions of the brain are activated when patients play the game, including neural structures relating to emotion and motivation, learning and memory. The game was developed in collaboration between HopeLab and video game developers, cancer experts, psychologists. Research shows it has positive impacts on health behaviors of young people with chronic illness. Specifically, it improves treatment adherence and increases self-efficacy. Data from the study can be found in the August 2008 medical journal PEDIATRICS. The general idea of customizing video games to engage and develop specific parts of the brain is under significant scrutiny under the mantle of “Serious Games.” However, the main line gaming industry, primarily producing shootem up, blowem-up crunch them games, has not found a niche here yet. I say yet because I believe there will soon be a wholesale recognition that games can be both entertaining and relevant to advancing our society. See Rev Rants video in the video block on this site for more and better thoughts on this concept. He is (or should be) considered a guru on this topic.

VIDEO GAME MELDING WITH FILMS NOT IMMINENT!

Jeffrey Newman — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 21:02:23 +0000

I know, I know. I posted a blog this very morning mentioning Ray Bradbury’s The Veldt suggesting that video games and films will merge sooner or later, creating this amazing interactive experience with almost any movie star who ever existed. Well, maybe I was a bit premature. You see, I posted a discussion on the topic on a game developer chatroom in Linkedin and the responses were cogent to the point they revealed my own obvious ignorance of some pretty basic video game versus film concepts, including the totally different approaches to story telling found in video games and films. Most games are done totally in the first person, as was pointed out by developer James Ball. The player is the character, so the narrative is, well, first person. So how could you fit this into the third person ineractions in a movie? There is a fellow names Anthony Burch a/k/a/ Rev Rant who really knows this stuff and has some great thoughts on the concepts including how difficult it is for a gamer to develop emotional attachments to anyone else in the games as opposed to film characters. Check his amazing rants at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wH1wXRvhSNA. The same guy says a lot more about videogames in other rants including one I posted on this site about how video games ought to be more than JUST fun. A worthwhile person to listen to. Well its time for a new video game film model to prove them all wrong. Jeff

FALLOUT (NOT THE) VIDEO GAME BEING MADE INTO FILM

Jeffrey Newman — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 17:40:55 +0000

FALLOUT 3 THE VIDEO GAME--NOT THE FILM BEING MADE!

[caption id="attachment_339" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="FALLOUT 3 THE VIDEO GAME"][/caption]The Fallout, a film being made in eastern europe(I AM NOW INFORMED NOT based) on the video game, (WHICH SEEMS SURPRISING AS FALLOUT WAS TRADEMARKED IN APRIL FOR FILMS CREATION) will soon start shooting. The post-apocalyptic thriller deals with the psychological conflicts of people striving to stay alive after the next nuclear war. The film is being produced by Europacorp and the writers are Karl Mueller and Eron Sheean. Fallout gamers should like this one, even though it may have no relation to their game (except is is a post-apocalyptic film with the same name and theme).

VIDEOGAME TREND–CLOSER TO REALITY: “CALL OF DUTY”

Jeffrey Newman — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 21:02:53 +0000

A video game coming out next month called “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2″ apparently allows players to be able to shoot innocent civilians in an airport in a realistic rendering of a terrorist attack. This was revealed in footage leaked from the video-game a few days ago. The game shows a face off against a terrorist threat designed to bring the world to the edge of collapse. The company creating the game said that they want the players to be emotionally attached and shocked. Gamers are warned the scene may be disturbing and they can choose not to play through the part. This upcoming game and others displays a trend to make video games as close to reality as possible. With rich realistic visuals and quickly developing computer graphics, video games are anticipated to offer a unique opportunity to step into a new kind of reality. Activision Blizzard Inc. expects the game to be one of the highest sellers and most profitable games in the history of entertainment. I look forward to the day when they also offer an intellectual as well as visual challenge.

FUTURETRENDS IN VIDEO GAMES

Jeffrey Newman — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 01:01:50 +0000

The video game industry, which is exceeding all expectations in profits and loyal customers is evolving and changing quickly. Over the next 5-10 years video gamers will demand more involvement and feel inside virtual realities in order to become more a part of the game. This will help to merge gaming with the film industry where multi-player teams become part of the movie plots competing against other teams world-wide. The social networking implications of these changes will mean that video games will become a new platform for making connections in business and personal lives and groups of games or “guilds” are expected to develop which will have an effect on our culture and real social changes. While graphics will continue to develop, plots and strategies will come to dominate in terms of importance where single and double shooter games will be perceived as overly simplistic and analytical and tactical challenges, combined with virtual reality will attract games thirsty for evolution. PC games are on the rise but the companies that will dominate are those that embrace these demands quickly as millions of gamers are watching closely.

BUENO DE MESQUITA–PREDICTIVE GAME THEORY GENIUS OR MATH HERETIC?

Jeffrey Newman — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 19:59:00 +0000

A 2007 article in Good Magazine written by Michael A.M. Lerner summarized some of the work of Bruce Bueno de Mesquita in mathematically predicting “virtually any international conflict, provided the basic inputs are accurate.” Bueno de Mesquita can also be seen on You Tube giving lectures and his work raise important but thorny issues on the use of math and game theory to determine reliably the outcome of major world events. I repeat earlier caveats that I am neither a math expert or futurist but I have started to examine the potential value of model simulations in charting the potential scenarios that may unfold on the world stage. Allan Stam, Professor of Political Science at Penn State created a study in 2000 to examine the validity of Bueno de Mesquita’s work in The October 2000 British Journal of Political Science. His study tended to support Bueno de Mesquita’s work, within certain limitations. A year before, Stephen Walt on the faculty at Harvard, wrote a work attacking the basic assumptions of Bueno de Mesquita’s approach using “rational choice” models. (rational actions where players are promoting their own interests. Sometimes, says Walt, players will not act rationally).All of this makes it more confounding to see whether the predictions are accurate for the purposes Bueno de Mesquita is asserting–consistent and repeatable findings that can reliably determine the outcome of major international conflicts. From a layman, I ask the following: what I am looking to see from Bueno de Mesquita is NOT JUST that he can achieve good results. What I would like to know is whether OTHER PEOPLE using the same model can achieve the same results using the same methods. As he claims to be using a scientific model, this, it seems to me is a necessary prerequisite . Maybe this has been done already and I stand to be enlightened.

If Bueno de Mesquita has found the secret to solving the Middle East crises, it should be used and he should reap praise for what has not come to pass for a long long time. I probably wouldn’t be so concerned about the potentially negative impact of his work if his claims were not so definitive. For example if Bueno de Mesquita suggested that his work uncovered a range of probable scenarios, I might not be so skeptical, which I am.