Multi-touching is good
by Conrad Quilty-Harper 
{ Feb 16th 2006 at 2:15PM }
A team at New York University have been hard at work
on a "multi-touch interaction surface": a touch screen that has the ability to read and react to more than
one finger or pointer at a time. This ability at the very least allows for multiplayer gameplay on touch screens. The
team have released a very impressive demonstration of their test screen, which you can view after the jump.The demonstration shows off a puzzle game similar to planarity, a virtual vinyl deck and a few "ooh, that looks pretty, I think I'll touch it" games. The possibilities don't end there though. Combine this multi-touch screen with locational force feedback and suddenly you've got a replacement for buttons and control pads. Imagine a future version of the Nintendo DS that replaces the buttons and D-pad with a tactile multi-touch screen.
[Thanks, Back_Lit]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Mullinator @ Feb 16th 2006 2:26PM
I had thought of this before when Nintendo first announced that the Revolution controller would be something new and different.
One idea I had was that it would be a controller that was just one big touch screen and each game could provide it's own unique button layout for the player to use. Occasionally new buttons could pop up whenever the game wanted it and the player could even move around and change the size of the buttons on the screen to suit their own play styles.
DG @ Feb 16th 2006 2:30PM
I saw this video a couple of days ago and was very impressed. It reminds me mostly of Star Trek or something similar, but seems like it could be great fun to play around with.
I doubt its practicality for the home use -- this has to cost thousands. Neat though.
DahCheet @ Feb 16th 2006 2:32PM
That is absolutely beautiful. The demo shows a ton of different functions that it can be used for. I especially enjoyed the google map like demo where the user went right into Boston and could find street. The picture album was also creative allowing the user to look at multiple pictures, resizing, rotating, and what not with them. Very useful for artists or hobbyists. The things you could do with video games is endless.
Angel Hawk @ Feb 16th 2006 2:41PM
Yeah, but you have to consider this as the technology of the future. It costs thousands now, but in the future... It's a bit like working silicon on a sub-particle level. Massively expensive to research, doesn't work yet, but once it does...The limits are endless due to Quantum laws.
I loved the lava lamp one, which made me smile like a maniac. The whole "clay-movement" idea really intrigues me. I loved that free 'cloud' game that was featured on Joystiq once.
What this says to me is the possible inclusion of touch analogs. Analogs are hard to put on handhelds due to protrusion, like the PSP. With touch analogs, it'd be easier. First person shooters would actually be good on a handheld with one of these.
Jonathan Harford @ Feb 16th 2006 2:51PM
“Imagine a future version of the Nintendo DS that replaces the buttons and D-pad with a tactile multi-touch screen.”
Pish tosh. Without feedback (visual in the case of the multi-touch demo; tactile in the case of gamepads), such technology would be unsatisfying to the degree that it's useless.
fawazr @ Feb 16th 2006 2:59PM
I'm way more interested in technology that intergrates multitouching and other great innovations into gameplay than better textures in an fps or movie playback.
Hamson @ Feb 16th 2006 3:14PM
That is SO cool. That would be so fun to use. The part where he manipulates the pictures reminds me of Minority Report.
krylon @ Feb 16th 2006 3:27PM
gimme.
now.
Matthew Rader @ Feb 16th 2006 3:32PM
Minority Report.
weaszel @ Feb 16th 2006 3:38PM
If I'm not mistaken, newer PowerBooks have multi-touch trackpads. You drag with two fingers to scroll in web pages and such.
32_Footsteps @ Feb 16th 2006 4:09PM
I'd be interested in a completely touch-screen controller if it allowed full customization. Like, you could choose which areas of the screen performed which functions, how large each "hot zone" was. If you could literally map the controller out based on how your hands are shaped - that would possibly be the greatest controller innovation ever.
Mind you, I imagine we're still at least five years from that, but it's certainly nice to dream.
Shard @ Feb 16th 2006 7:34PM
#5 I remember reading last year that someone had made a touchscreen that vibrated slightly, when someone was touching a button on the screen, to give it a slight tactile feel. And it's able to vibrate differently for different buttons so you wouldn't have to look to know what you were pushing. I believe they were testing them in cars...I'll have to see if i can find the article. It may be annoying and cause discomfort if your button mashing, but it is an option.
MonteyB @ Feb 17th 2006 11:28AM
Accenture Technology Labs has developed a completely scaleable, multi-user touch system. First of its kind, it can make any surface touch interactive, while allowing multiple people interact with the image.
I'm a developer for the 'Wall'. We have long thrown around the idea of developing a gaming application (we currently have something similiar to Duckhunt where you shoot toy guns at the glass), but we have neither the time or budget. But hopefully someday!
Check out a demo here:
http://wall.accenture.com/demos.asp
glitched @ Feb 22nd 2006 1:36AM
what song is playing in the background?
glitched @ Feb 22nd 2006 2:10AM
i knew that song sounded fricken familiar, and i listened to it a couple times and bam i remembered it was in a movie i saw about 2 years ago.... it plays as the credits roll in the animatrix... i cant beleive i remembered that... i guess a geeks mind is pretty useless that way