How Google Glass Could Change the Face of Gaming
The annual Google I/O Developer Conference started today, and that got us thinking about how Google Glass might revolutionize how we see life. Although the Oculus VR has rightly dominated the conversation lately, we began to wonder about how a gadget as compact as Google Glass might have a big impact on the way people interact with games and each other.
Altered Reality
Wonderbook: Book of Spells
A HUD-Free Interface
Dead Space 3
Voices In Your Head
Master Chief has Cortana, Batman has Oracle, Frank from Dead Rising has Otis Washington. Disembodied voices through radio, cell phones, and telepathy aren’t uncommon in video games. They offer guidance, observations, updates, and one-liners and can often take away the feeling of loneliness when trekking through a game. But what if they really could talk into your ear instead of through the main speakers? Furthermore, what if you could talk back? Players would probably have to stick to a list of preset commands until technology reaches a point where natural speech can be recognized. You could ask characters for status updates, run a scan of the area, or call in an airstrike on a location. Hopefully, it won’t be too much like using Siri, and games would employ a more personalized experiences. There is a great deal of potential. The character’s face could appear on the Google Glass screen as though it were a video call, and react as you change things in the world, like fix a power generator or rile up a giant monster that shakes the entire facility.Multiplayer Coordination
Rainbow Six: Siege
Live Game Walkthroughs
Friends can set up Hangout session and help each other out through tough areas of a game with a live real-time walkthrough. If that isn’t possible, then at least it would be easier to load up a YouTube video walkthrough and watch it more conveniently than glancing back and forth from game to computer/tablet screen, using Alt-Tab, turning the Steam overlay on and off for its web browser. An obvious extension of the live walkthrough is remotely coaching players to help them improve their skills.Quick Access to Information
Watch_Dogs
Mini-Games and Alerts
It can get annoying if your character has to completely lose touch with the world around him to interact with a mini-game, which could leave them vulnerable to a surprise attack. An obvious solution is to play mini-games, like the hacking challenges from Watch Dogs, through Glass. However, trying to see things on a tiny screen might not be a great gaming experience. A better alternative would be a visual alert or sound to let you know when someone is getting close or you’ve been discovered. Integrating the Glass screen as a second screen could greatly improve immersion. Think countdown timers while defusing a bomb. Glass could also provide subtle alerts when secrets and collectibles are nearby. The applications are almost limitless. Glass could become a lie detector in games during interrogation scenes, which would fit neatly into sci-fi games like Deus Ex: Human Revolution.Conclusion
Headsets like the Oculus VR completely removes the user from reality to immerse gamers into a virtual world. What makes Google Glass integration unique is that it allows increased interaction between the real world and the virtual world and communication between players. This interplay opens up a whole new level interaction and a different sense of immersion. It all depends on how well Glass catches on, but this could be the kind of subtle technology that changes the game.-
Shacknews
replySteven Wong posted a new article, How Google Glass Could Change the Face of Gaming.
The annual Google I/O Developer Conference started today, and developers are almost certain to discuss how Glass will revolutionize how you see life. Although the Oculus VR has rightly dominated the conversation lately, we started to thinking about how a gadget as compact as Google Glass might have a big impact on the way people interact with games and each other.-
[deleted]
-
What the fuck, did they change the Glass (I didn't follow the entire keynote)? I spent two days with that device and it's merely a small screen in the corner of your eye, it does not do Augmented Reality properly until they do a full-screen visor with HUD overlay.
-
full-view visor rather, with the screen integrated in the shades and not just in the corner. Quite frankly 80% of the people I demo'd it to during those two days expected exactly that (myself included). They expect it to be like in Terminator or Robocop.
-
-
Remember 5 years ago, back when Project Natal was going to "change video games forever"? Yes, enthusiast press, that's what you were saying! http://www.examiner.com/article/xbox-360-s-project-natal-looks-to-change-video-games-forever
Okay, let's handle these item by item:
"A HUD-free interface"... wow, how long has the war against HUDs been raging on? Since probably 2005 or so, AAA game designers seem to have derided HUDs as things that need to be relegated to vague icons way off to the side, if they're even on the screen at all. No more informative numbers; just a bunch of bar graphs. I haven't had a chance to try Glass to see how hard it would be for my eyes to change focus between Glass and a computer screen, but I'd rather have my ammo loadout in an FPS right on the screen, because I'll be able to glance at that faster.
"Voices In Your Head"... I don't think a game has done this right yet. There would have to be a ton of phrase routines loaded. Look at Binary Domain as an example; it didn't work too well.
"Live Game Walkthroughs"... I think Yahtzee said it best in his 2013 pre-E3 Next Gen Buyer's Guide: 'Surely if someone has sat down and turned on their PS4, it's because they want to play something, not watch someone else play something. If I was trying to enjoy a game and some prick kept pestering me to watch them play Twat Bandits 4, and maybe fight the final boss for them 'cos they can't be arsed, I'd tell them to fuck off! Any chance of getting a dedicated "Fuck Off" button on the controller, Sony?' http://zeropunctuation.wikia.com/wiki/Next_Gen_Buyer%27s_Guide
"Mini-Games and Alerts".... STOP IT. JUST STOP. We already lived this with the Wii and Kinect; it got old and stale.
A lot of the other stuff is just pipe dreams borrowed from Kinect and/or SmartGlass.-
The point isn't necessarily whether or not Glass would completely replace things like HUDs, but rather how it could enhance the overall experience. If a good percentage of people have a hands-free second screen on the for almost the whole day, then it seems like something that should be taken advantage of. Chances are, Glass users would be accustomed to glancing up at the corner for information, updates, and communication.
In my view, accessibility is one of the main differences between using Glass and the Wii U screen or Smartglass. Glass is hands-free, and if you're a user, you're likely to have it on practically all the time. You don't have to put your controller down or look away from the main screen for too long. For things like a game codex, the game could read the entry to you, like it does in Mass Effect 3, except through your earpiece instead of breaking out of the game to view it.
As for direct communication with NPCs, it doesn't necessarily need hundreds of commands to be fun. Just enough to be enjoyable or at least functional. Yeah sure, voice commands didn't work out well for Binary Domain, but that was one game using the last generation of hardware. For better or worse, the Xbox One is already built for voice recognition.
Mini-games, with or without Glass, are not likely to go away. I think that if you're already wearing Glass as an everyday tech accessory, then there's little reason why it can't make your games a little more fun. And ok, maybe getting someone to help you out or helping a friend out isn't your thing. It doesn't have to be. But there are tens of thousands of Twitch users that would probably disagree with Yahtzee's assessment.
-
-
my buddy's mother-in-law makes $89 hourly on the laptop . She has been without work for five months but last month her paycheck was $13410 just working on the laptop for a few hours. look at this web-site................www.cash29.com
-
