Warcraft III on a multi-touch tabletop screen
by Christopher Grant 
{ Apr 5th 2006 at 11:27AM }
Apparently multi-touch interfaces are what's hot in research circles this year: first NYU, then Nintendo, and now Mitsubishi Electric Research Labs. And let's be honest, Mitsubishi really throws down here. Unsatisfied with pretty light shows or boring diagrams, they're out to research that ancient query, "But what about the games?" Using Warcraft III, the fellas at MERL are able to use voice and touch to control the game in what appears to be an impressively seamless fashion.
Shhh! Be quiet! Listen!
Can you hear them?
That's the sound of millions of DS gamers screaming, "We think touching is good too! We have a microphone!" What ever happened to Blizzard asking about interest in DS ports months ago?
[Thanks, Jon Choo]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
bandit @ Apr 5th 2006 11:47AM
Look out nintendo, now the PC and Microsoft sector are biting off of your handhelds too. Oh wait. Anyone remember Windows Tablet Edition and Microsoft Pocket PC? Anyway Fanboys be darned.
LINES @ Apr 5th 2006 11:58AM
Ya, Nintendo invented the idea of touching. Al Gore told me so.
bentendo @ Apr 5th 2006 12:06PM
Amen to that.
Starcraft + DS = WiFi Nirvana
What's taking Blizzard so long to do this??!?!
clu @ Apr 5th 2006 12:09PM
Thats pretty F-ing sweet. Strategy games are going back to their root, Im talking risk baby?
on a side note: whats with people whining about who invented what? no body "invents" stuff any more, that when out with Thomas Edison. People just mix and match concepts to suit their need. They engineer the technology. Touch screens have been around for decades, long before the DS or Windows Tablet Edition and Microsoft Pocket PC or Palm Pilots for that matter.
Chris @ Apr 5th 2006 12:21PM
Wow, that was really, really, really impressive....I want one.
AnimalTaglits @ Apr 5th 2006 12:23PM
It would get tiring playing a game like that for extended periods of time. With a mouse all you have to do is move your fist and lightly press your fingers. This would require full use of both arms. Not to mention that RTSs require a lot of clicking and moving.
Ectarth @ Apr 5th 2006 12:29PM
Ok, ok, ok... THAT's cool...
Snap @ Apr 5th 2006 12:34PM
Wow, very awesome!
steveg @ Apr 5th 2006 12:35PM
These guys are that's around the corner from where i work - i wonder if they'll do a live demo? :)
yo? @ Apr 5th 2006 1:00PM
lol, so whatever happend to 300 commands per minute? i think this kinda interface ought to do away without the voice requirement.
i mean when it comes to micro-management..
attack here, move here, attack here, move here, attack here, move here, attack here, move here, attack here, move here, attack here, move here, attack here, move here, attack here, move here, attack here, move here, attack here, move here,
not cool... better keep a bottle water beside u
but if u can play this w/o talking at all, this will rokc
DG @ Apr 5th 2006 1:22PM
To No.2: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_gore#The_Internet
mahmood @ Apr 5th 2006 4:11PM
actually using this to play against people would get you owned so hard it's not even funny
Uglypimp @ Apr 5th 2006 4:46PM
Technology is only useful when it improves an experience. I don't see a real improvement using this method versus using a mouse. Talking to a computer is still somewhat flakey and requires a precise pronunciation of words. I can imagine people getting into heated battles and their mouths not keeping up with their minds.
Maybe Warcraft 3 just isn't the best showcase of what this technology can do. Did it also appear that the image was projected from above? It looks like some of the screen was shown on his arms.
djphatjive @ Apr 5th 2006 6:37PM
"Thrust here!"
lol
joe @ Apr 5th 2006 7:02PM
looks cool but looks slow and painful
also if i used this my uber micro skillz would go to waste
Edward Tse @ Apr 6th 2006 3:07PM
Hi, my name is Edward Tse and I am one of the authors of this work. If you'd like to view some more details videos of our work please visit http://grouplab.cpsc.ucalgary.ca/tabletop/ also, we have written papers about using speech and gesture on a tabletop for games at http://grouplab.cpsc.ucalgary.ca/papers/2006/06-Multimodalgames-Tse-PerGames/06-Multimodalgames-Tse-PerGames.pdf
ParadyNexus @ Apr 8th 2006 12:39PM
Hi, my name is Edward Tse and I am one of the authors of the speech and gesture wrappers around Warcraft III and Google Earth. If youd like to view answers to your frequently asked questions and multi user videos of Warcraft III and Google Earth please visit www.edwardtse.com