Ormai siamo abituati ad avere fra le mani controller wireless, precisi, funzionali e ricchi di tasti, se non addirittura sistemi complessi come Kinect e - a breve - i dispositivi per la realtà virtuale. Eppure, quando sono nati i videogiochi, i controller erano semplicissimi, quasi banali, come il joystick dell'Atari 2600 o il gamepad del buon vecchio NES.
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Augmented World
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News on Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, Mixed Reality, UX/UI Designer, Internet of Things, Artificial intelligence, Quantum Computing, continually updated from thousands of sources around the net.
Curated by
Mirko Compagno
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Tim Kring is making the most of new technology with the reboot of his hit NBC TV series, Heroes Reborn. Heroes Reborn creator Tim Kring is embracing augmented reality and video games to allow fans to delve deeper into the show’s universe, beyond the 13-episode TV series run.
NBC partnered with V Squared Labs to create a Heroes Reborn 4D augmented reality experience, which used Xbox Kinect, interactive audio, and special effects to allow fans to experience pyro-kinetic super human abilities. It debuted at San Diego Comic Con in July and was recently used at Times Square in New York City in September to promote the Sept. 24 launch of the show.
“I feel like augmented reality is where it’s all heading,” Kring says. “Virtual reality seems like the stepping stone to augmented reality. VR is where we are now, but the augmented reality experience—especially the one that we had at Comic Con—is the future. After all these years of doing this show and living in this world, I never actually had a moment where I felt like I had a power, and that augmented reality experience was the closest thing I’ve ever had.”
Mirko Compagno's insight:
'Heroes Reborn' creator Tim Kring: Why augmented reality is the future
While only some fans were able to play through Heroes Reborn 4D, everyone can play Heroes Reborn: Enigma, a first-person perspective puzzle mobile game that launches October 8 for $5.99.
There’s also a PC and console game, Heroes Reborn: Gemini, coming this winter. Both games, which were designed by Imperative Entertainment and developer Phosphor, are set within the five year gap between the Heroes and Heroes Reborn and explore new storylines within the universe.
“I always wanted to incorporate video games into this mythology but we did not have the time,” Kring says. “A lot has changed in the five years and we’re able to do these types of things much earlier. We built it into the writers’ room so that there were extensions from the series itself onto these two games.”
Kring says both of the games help unpack some of the backstory that will become familiar in the series. “They are a companion piece, but it was really important to me that the writers and I be involved so they’re not just crappy licensed games,” Kring says. “We really wanted them to stand alone so that the core gamers would actually find them cool. They’re going to be state-of-the-art beautiful premium games.”
And he sees potential for games moving forward within the mythology. “Games would be a huge thing for us to be able to keep that world alive while we’re off thinking about the next version of the Heroes filmed content,” Kring says. “That’s always been a big dream of mine. Games provide an actual world that keeps the canon and mythology of the show alive for the fans when the show is on hiatus.” 
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Virtual reality may be the future for video games but it can also help people with disabilities increase their independence.
Mirko Compagno's insight:
A new simulator at the University of South Florida is already making strides. The computer assisted rehabilitation environment, CAREN for short, gives researchers the chance to study and help with the development of physical therapy.
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Il medium videoludico si è spesso trovato di fronte a tematiche dal forte peso, molte legate alla violenza e alla presunta crescita sociale inadeguata del bambino. Questa situazione però, con la VR, non si è accentuata, in quanto facente parte ancora di una nicchia non proprio popolare quanto il videogioco stesso, ma ha formato pian piano delle discussioni ancora più complesse, che sono arrivate a toccare temi come la vita di tutti i giorni.
Mirko Compagno's insight:
Tra Toy Box e Oculus Touch è ormai possibile interagire online con una persona in maniera incredibilmente diretta, tanto da ridurre le differenze che si potrebbero avere rispetto ad un incontro faccia a faccia, soprattutto considerando il fatto che Oculus Rift adesso è controllato da Facebook, social network che fa della sua componente sociale la sua caratteristica principale; è quindi quello che succederà in futuro? Vivremo in un mondo dove le comunicazioni saranno esclusivamente digitalizzate? Non secondo Sheryl Sandberg, direttore operativo di Facebook. Possibile che le prossime iterazioni di Toy Box possano rivoluzionare il modo in cui comunicheremo?
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Fast forward a few years and the global gaming market is expected to rake in $86.1 billion in revenue in 2016. Driving this projection is the expected quick increase in consumer adoption of Virtual Reality (VR) technology hardware products such as Microsoft’s HoloLens, Sony’s Project Morpheus and the Oculus Rift. It’s no longer just about unique and memorable game characters and exciting incentives, but holistic and immersive user experiences.
VR will make its way successfully into consumer gaming because of clearer and more definitive user expectations for next-gen gaming experiences — and technologies like movement detection, sensors and beacons. Consoles like PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One have already shifted gamers’ expectations for visual fidelity and sound design. Such huge advances in user interaction elements taking place in incredibly immersive gaming environments (thanks, Nintendo Wii!) have created momentum for next–gen gaming hardware in the consumer entertainment industry.
Mirko Compagno's insight:
A Gapless Gaming Language
Gaming technology has always been used from an “external” perspective; the hardware is an accessory apart from the physical self. With VR aiming to blend our physical environments and virtual worlds, next-gen gaming experiences will become more visceral and life-like. Users will be able to use their five senses and manipulate their surroundings using their entire bodies instead of just a controller.
The key to the success of next-gen gaming UX is the removal of obstacles in front of the user, like unnecessary actions, buttons or even distracting visuals. Users will be able to immediately jump into their VR experiences without tutorials, manuals or even the game itself guiding them. Devices could even become weightless or, at the very least, be made from the lightest materials.
VR products (and Augmented Reality, as well) will continually aim to break down physiological boundaries.
The gamers’ fidelity to the experience was largely hinged on the game narratives rather than the seamlessness, ease and novelty of using gaming consoles. What will make these new gaming experiences so different from anything we’ve ever had before is that these VR products (and
Augmented Reality, as well) will continually aim to break down physiological boundaries. Yesteryear’s gaming experience designs allowed for stimuli-to-action interaction gaps, leaving it to our imaginations to fill in the void. Next–gen gaming experiences are not only going to be fully immersive, but will become less and less about users “playing roles” and more about being enveloped in a virtual world that feels absolutely natural.
Intuitive And Gorgeous: VR Gaming For All Ages
Though it became a cultural phenomenon and leapfrogged the Atari 2600, from a usability perspective, NES was a failure. From the poor ergonomics of the controller and a slow 8-bit processor, to clunky software that sometimes didn’t work at all (until you blew into the game cartridge), the NES was at its best, a total pain to use correctly.
The poor integration of the software (role-playing and storytelling aspects) and the hardware’s usability is exactly why Virtual Boy failed when it was released in 1995 — it was just too big of a mental leap for gamers. Explaining to younger gamers today that there was a time we played Mario Tennis using a table mounted VR headset is sure to get some laughs.
Simple and minimal interfaces are sometimes the most useful UX.
With the onset of material design, users also expect their products to be beautiful and simple, not just useful and functional. Nonetheless, it’s a well-known fact amongst UX designers today that good-looking interfaces aren’t necessarily very usable, and vice-versa — simple and minimal interfaces are sometimes the most useful UX. With this shift in expectations, users will come to expect HUDs (head-up display) and interfaces to become more minimal and gorgeous as much as they are intuitive and highly useful.
Three Next Steps For VR Gaming Development
First, designers must find the right balance between the new and the familiar. Users generally respond well to new and innovative products because these experiences introduce new ways we can interact with our environments and create new contexts for human-machine interactions. It will be critical for next-gen gaming to concurrently seize innovation and a sense of familiarity.
Reinventing the wheel too quickly might stupefy users, causing even the most technologically advanced hardware to end up like Virtual Boy. It was trying to reinvent the wheel when users didn’t even know what wheels should and can do in the first place. Second, usability testing must take center stage. User-experience can make or break the most elegant, useful and beautiful software and hardware products imaginable.
Ironically enough, consumers have spent most of their lives using products with poor UX, like our old VCRs (did anyone ever figure out how to get the time display to stop blinking?). Because VR technology in gaming is in its early stages of user adoption, designers, engineers, product managers and anyone on the manufacturer’s side should keep iterating and testing for what works. There’s a wide array of usability methods and tools on a UX designer’s tool belt that would make Batman’s look like it was a Fisher-Price knockoff.
The global gaming market is expected to rake in $86.1 billion in revenue in 2016.
Ethnography, cognitive walk-through and heuristic evaluations are just a few of the many methods to collect these qualitative data points needed to ascertain what resonates with gamers at a deeper emotional level.
Games allow us to explore uncharted worlds, enhance our own creativity and help us understand and solve complex problems in ways we never thought possible. Next-gen gaming experiences should keep these core ideals alive. If all else fails, games should ultimately just be fun, right?
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Il video che vi proponiamo mostra l'evoluzione dei controller videoludici negli anni, facendoci fare un tuffo nella nostalgia, nonché ricordandoci quanti passi avanti sono stati fatti nell'ambito dei sistemi di controllo. Pensare che negli anni 80 avevamo solo un tasto, poi due e ora siamo quasi in grado di farne a meno, usando direttamente il nostro corpo, non fa che riempirci di speranza per il futuro. E, nel caso di chi scrive, un po' di tristezza per il fatto che questa evoluzione l'ha vissuta in prima persona, ricordandogli quanti compleanni sono passati dalla priva volta che ha provato un videogioco.