[From Nottingham Trent University; see also coverage from BBC Newsbeat]

Excessive videogamers transfer virtual experiences into real world impulses

Wednesday 21 September 2011

Some videogame players are becoming so immersed in their virtual gaming environments that when they stop playing they transfer some of their virtual experiences to the real world, according to new research. The first of its kind study, led by experts at Nottingham Trent University, reveals that some gamers experience ‘Game Transfer Phenomena’ (GTP) which results in them doing things in the real world as if they were still in the game.

Extreme examples of GTP have included gamers reaching for a search button when looking for someone in a crowd and seeing energy boxes appear above people’s heads.

The study, Game Transfer Phenomena in Video Game Playing – by Angelica Ortiz de Gortari and Professor Mark Griffiths from Nottingham Trent University’s International Gaming Research Unit, and Professor Karin Aronsson from Stockholm University – will appear in the next issue of the International Journal of Cyber Behaviour, Psychology and Learning.… read more. “‘Game Transfer Phenomena’: When videogamers transfer virtual experiences into real world impulses”

[From 3DTV.com (important note: as of September 22, 2011 the original post at 3DTV is infected by a Trojan Horse)]

MIT Develops a Panoramic 3D Motion Picture Camera System

By Mike Lata on September 19, 2011

MIT continues to show interest in 3D technology in film; and has just developed a camera rig that aims to completely immerse viewers into the picture. The reason it offers such immersion is that 3D pictures being filmed with this camera will have 360-degree stereoscopic 3D. This will allow images to appear all around viewers. What is also interesting about this new camera rig is that it has been (at leas partially) funded under NASA.

“School Safety Summit announced today that a new panoramic 3D motion picture camera rig developed at MIT under 2 NASA contracts, and capable of producing stereoscopic 3D cinema spectacles that completely surround the audience, will be tested by Colorado education leaders and community partners to visualize the schools of tomorrow,” according to a press release from Market Watch.… read more. “MIT develops a 360-degree stereoscopic 3D motion picture camera system”

[From Computerworld]

Opinion

HAL 9000 — not just in space anymore

Your phone and other devices are quickly evolving into intelligent robot assistants you can talk to

By Mike Elgan
September 17, 2011

Computerworld – A few years ago, the Pentagon launched a program to create a fully functional HAL 9000 — the intelligent software robot depicted in the 1968 sci-fi classic 2001: A Space Odyssey.

If you’ll recall, the movie HAL carried on conversations in natural language, monitored the spaceship and communications from Earth and notified the crew about important events just at the right time. HAL could also make decisions, prioritize and learn.

The Pentagon’s project was called CALO, for Cognitive Assistant that Learns and Organizes. The five-year program enlisted more than 300 researchers from at least two-dozen universities. This massive effort was organized by a brilliant guy named Adam Cheyer, who served as the project’s chief architect.… read more. “Your phone and other devices are quickly evolving into intelligent robot assistants you can talk to”

Gamer Commute video brings gaming world to life

Here’s a change of pace post: The short (2:17 minute) video Gamer Commute by FreddieW (Freddie Wong and Brandon Laatsch) provides an entertaining example of the merging of real and virtual, illustrating a form of inverse presence.… read more. “Gamer Commute video brings gaming world to life”

[From PhysOrg.com]

Reach out and touch 3D characters with RePro3D

September 17, 2011 by Nancy Owano

(PhysOrg.com) — Lonely gamers who have felt the pain of being separated by a screen from their favorite personalities now have a way to reach out and touch their game characters, and that new way is RePro3D. A group of researchers from Keio University in Japan have come up with a 3-D screen that lets the user, glasses-free, see and “touch” characters on the screen. The word “touch” is in quotes because the technology is about a 3-D parallax display with infrared camera that recognizes the movements of the user’s hand and the character on the screen reacts to the movements instantly.… read more. “Reach out and touch 3D characters with RePro3D”