All Work and Play - Game Invaders: The Theory and Understanding of Computer Games - page 173

companies, big and small, are seeking to drive this revolution forward and gain a
slice of the new interactive pie for themselves.
Great Street Games is a U.K. company that uses heat sensing technologies and
large scale image projections to create compelling multiplayer games that can be
played outside and do not require players to hold or otherwise knowingly interact
with any interface technology. Basically an overhead projection system projects
simple geometric imagery down onto a public space and the heat sensing technolo-
gies identify people and their proximity to certain projected graphics. By stepping
onto certain shapes players can take control of them and then interact with various
actor signs and so on. In this way people and graphics are associated and players
can interact in a very intuitive manner.
Microsoft's Kinect, known as Natal in development, has attracted a lot of atten-
tion because it appeared to take the interface technology away from the player
altogether. Using real-time infra-red, image recognition, AI, and other innovative
technologies, Kinect can identify and track a number of players through their body
gestures and thus drive gameplay. Like Great Street Games' technology, Kinect users
do not touch, hold, or wear any interface technology of any sort and don't have to
know how it works. In the development phase a range of games were hyped/hypoth-
esized among which were a driving game and a quiz game. Kinect Joy Ride is a
commercial example of the former. The quiz game has not had a commercial release
yet. Basically there was no interactive sign: players' voices and body gestures placed
them physically inside the game answering questions in teams.
Most readers of this topic will be aware of the DS Lite in its various incarna-
tions and the fact that it augments the traditional hand-held with a touch screen and
limited voice recognition. Later versions include a camera and other technologies.
These are the gameplay technologies represented in column one of Table 11.3.
Using CBS we can quickly gain some insights into the similarities and differences
between these technologies and indeed how traditional or revolutionary they really
are. As we discussed earlier, the traditional console/PC platform places the player
outside the game in direct contact with some interface technology that connects with
a console/PC which interfaces that technology to the game engine as represented in
row two of the table.
Interestingly, and perhaps surprisingly, the Wii has the same profi le as the tra-
ditional console/PC. By augmenting the traditional interface technology, Nintendo
has allowed players to incorporate far more intuitive actions alongside traditional
button presses and the like. One result, of course, is a huge commercial success.
Another, perhaps unexpected, result was that many hardcore gamers came to dislike
the new style of gameplay which is far more accessible to the casual player.
With Great Street Games and Kinect Joy Ride, the profi le has now changed.
These technologies draw players further into the gamespace by making the players
themselves the sign of intervention. Both technologies represented here use infrared
and heat sensing technologies to identify the location and movement of players and
associate an interactive sign within the gamespace with them. As the player moves
so the interactive sign moves appropriately. In Kinect Joy Ride the player makes
steering and gear change movements which are picked up by the image sensing