Mario goes virtual reality...again.

by Ross Miller { Aug 2nd 2005 at 7:00PM }

Now everyone, calm down, this has nothing to do with the Virtual Boy. Far from it, in fact. Students from Carnegie Mellon University have created a virtual reality program where you get to play as Mario himself. The headset moves Mario's head, and thus your point of view. Wave your arms up and down to make yourself run, and raise one hand to jump (just like Mario does in the Nintendo game). A very fun project, and a great way to spend college money. No, really, I think this is a fun way to get kids motivated to learn.

I'm thankful that's not actually the Revolution concept, though - the headset would be too much of a drag to wear during games. But then again, a virtual reality Smash Brothers…

[Thanks, Timmy]

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

UDH @ Dec 18th 2005 10:08PM

I want one!!

racco @ Dec 18th 2005 10:08PM

this sounds great! but whats with dissin' the Virtual Boy?!? ok it was a flop, and ive only played an emulated version of it, but i found Mario Clash to be an absolutly briliant game. almost tetris like in its ability to make me want to play and play and play again!

kikthinking @ Dec 18th 2005 10:08PM

yay cmu! <3

chill @ Dec 18th 2005 10:08PM

Virtual Boy was a Virtual Turd!

Mario @ Dec 18th 2005 10:08PM

where can you buy one

Colin @ Dec 18th 2005 10:08PM

I almost died a happy man but I saw the second line. Then I died a little on the inside.

Darius Young @ Dec 18th 2005 10:08PM

Hey! This could double as a workout! Seriously, since you have to move your arms to move Marios, you could add resistance by adding wrist weights!

I wonder how games get input? Maybe the game downloads to the goggles somehow?

Useful_Arts @ Dec 18th 2005 10:08PM

I think the RSS feed is jacked.

Iced_Eagle @ Dec 18th 2005 10:08PM

Neat! :)

norebonomis @ Dec 18th 2005 10:08PM

OK, SO THIS IS REALLY INTERESTING BUT LETS DO A LITTLE MORE RESEARCH!

this is so old. check out the properties in windows media player "Building Virtual Worlds Exhibition 2002"

i wish joystiq wouldn't scan articles on some well informed fan blog for juicy stuff. just to have something to post.

this is three years old and when it was posted on another blog two days ago the author actually mentioned it's age. how stupid!

Ross Miller @ Dec 18th 2005 10:08PM

Well, old or not, we had never reported on it - we weren't even around back then. But despite the age (and I'm sorry I didn't clarify the age in the article but I found it to be a moot point), I thought the article itself was pretty cool, and since many people come to our site for both the newsworthy and the slightly-skewed, I thought this appropriate. Despite its age, its entertaining nonetheless.

Rob @ Dec 18th 2005 10:08PM

Should this not be posted just because it happened several years ago? It is not like it had a press release back then.

Since I don't have time to scan multiple blog sources, I don't mind if joystiq consolidates things for me.

transformania @ Dec 18th 2005 10:08PM

Building Virtual Worlds is a VR game prototyping class. There's been a whole bunch more cool stuff made since 2002. All of the projects were made with either Alice (www.alice.org) or Panda3D, Disney's open-source game engine (www.panda3d.org)

http://panda3d.org/videogallery.php

norebonomis @ Dec 18th 2005 10:08PM

no way, it's completely cool and i thought it was awesome when i saw it on a different blog several days ago. but you should point out that it is three years old.