Nintendo Wii augmenting reality?

This is fairly old news that was posted on digg. But...still would be an interesting addition to these games. VR would would be better...

That's a whole lot of maybe right there.

With the given hype, I think the damned controller could reach up there and touch a little bit of the sun.

I have to say the potential abilities of Wii is great, but only because we do not know its limitations as of now. What the writer suggested in the article would be the next best thing in gaming, but I am not sure if the controller would be that flexible to do such things he proposed.

Yes, virtual reality most likely will never happen because augmented reality as so many more advantages but augmented reality is to new to implement into a game system.

Total and complete bullshit.

I'll print this comment and eat it for breakfast if anything like this becomes true.

Such pessimism. How about we be excited and hopeful and encouraging for a change. Wow.

This was mostly based on a link here:
http://revolution.joystiq.com/2006/04/29/nintendo-press-briefing-ticket-scan/#comments

The direct link:
http://mozlapunk.web-log.nl/log/5681487

Seems that someone made some predictions that came true, and these are people's interpretations.

Here was my response, and I maintain it still:
Just think for a second.
Conventional games CANNOT be played in the ways you guys are mentioning.
But conventional games are being developed for the Wii.
And, if this was true, every developer would have needed to have known about it for months, to simply come up with designs, and no way could thousands of people not leak this over months.

Lastly, this would put Nintendo entirely out of the TV based console business. It would leave conventional gaming in the hands of Microsoft and Sony. If this concept were to fail, Nintendo would have no offering. Nintendo would not do this. They are smart enough to keep their backup. They kept the GBA alive when the DS launched in case the DS failed. They kept the Gameboy alive during the Virtual Boy launch in case that failed.

Nintendo would not release something this out of the box without having a backup plan.

I agree with vc. this cannot advance gameplay. if anything, this is a 3D eyetoy, nothing else.

While I think the article contains some interesting speculation, I think it's in the wrong direction.

The Wii offers, not a step forward in the direction of augmented reality (though the webcam idea is neat), but a step forward in the direction of gestural interfacing.

Until this thing hits the market, the closest we've come to gestural interfaces are the unwieldy gloves and proprietary software of MIT experimenters. The fact is, though, that once the Wii hits, it will effectively be the first mainstream hardware that allows for interaction with a computer based purely on gesture. The importance of this idea cannot be understated; it's widely acknowledged that technological innovation often starts in the videogames industry, with technology developed for videogames eventually making its way into other parts of our lives.

So yeah, it won't surprise me if other videogame developers adopt similar methods of interaction, and the way we play games will essentially have been changed; however, the real issue is the idea that this will affect the way in which we interact with computers in general, not just our games. Sure, this isn't truly gestural since it requires a remote, but who said technology happened in leaps instead of steps?

I have to say that I felt a bit disappointed after hearing the name "Wii" (first thing I thought of was the woemns TV network, "we") But its way better than any Mountain Dew/MTV/Military/white trash/green inspired name.

I know what your saying, "but corwin, your such a little girl for liking nintendo. Whats your favorite game, animal crossing! lol lol" I may look like a wuss for playing nintendo, but ill be wuss with the 5 story mansion while the xtream inspired gamer is mixing the cement to my new 5 car garage.

My Red Steel cross hairs are on you. You now who you are.

I'm going to call Nintendo's bluff here and now. I want a revolution (no not a whole Rev v. Wii argument) to the gaming industry, and I think that the Wii will take great steps in that direction. I don't belive the hype about the "FINAL SECRET" though. I refuse to believe that anyone, even Nintendo, would be forward thinking enough to meet everyone's preconceived notions about this console. I remember when the Wiimote was revealed, and the level of shock and awe that existed in the gaming community. Yes, there were some people who understood it, and realized its potential, but there were others who saw there dreams dashed. There was no Nintendo On level announcement. By talking about this "FINAL SECRET" (I just love doing that) they are setting themselves up for a repeat senario. People like the one who wrote this article need to quit the guessing game. It is just fuel for the curiosity of those with far too much time on their hands. Keep in mind, that I'm not saying there will be no final secret, just that we cannot expect what it is. It may be quite small. I remember the secret "changes" the the Gamecube controller that were too sensitive to reveal. In my gut I just have the feeling that E3 will be that too familiar moment all over again. (At least we now have the consolation of some kickin' games to play.)

Finally.

I only posted this like, what, a week ago? In two comments?

#60: http://www.joystiq.com/2006/04/28/wii-unique-like-google-says-nintendo/2#comments

Biggest argument I have to support this theory as copied from my other post linked above:

"Iwata has been quoted as saying that he hates the confines of the television screen and wishes to do away with that. Wishes to make it so that video games aren't shown on monitors or screens. It's possible that his dream is going to take place on the Wii.

Think about it. Ignore the renaming. You've never once seen the way the Wii is played. We've been able to see hands moving the controller and see people playing it from the perspective of the TV. But we've never seen the entire picture."

PS - It's not the Nintendo Wii. I think you guys already reported on that. It's just the "Wii".

This is total crap. A lot of fanboy / wii-ner hearts are going to be crushed when nothing of the sort is revealed.

There's still a population of crackpots who believe that Nintendo ON is real.

I believe where most of this speculation actually comes from is someone claiming to be an "insider" spilled some information on the revolution awhile back, and one hint they said was "kodak theater = mushroom kingdom" or something along those lines. Then when some press get an invitation with the section saying "Mushroom Kingdom", they assume this insider that leaked some info may be somewhat credible

Sadly I don't think I will get what I'm after with this Wii apart from maybe racket sports.

I want to be able to play a number of sports that use the wii's motion sensing abilities and Nintendo is in a perfect position to make the Wii the number one console for sports games.
Playing sports titles on consoles doesn't require any of the physical skills the real game requires of course, maybe the planning but not the execution.
This is where the Wii SHOULD mop up.
I want to strap an incarnation of the Wii controller on my snooker cue and actually cue the ball the way I really cue, using real weight in the shot and suffering the same inaccuracies I get in the real world due to bad cueing.
Proper darts at last by hitting a button to release the dart instead of throwing the controller.
Proper cricket/golf/bowls...the list is endless.

Unfortunately I can't see me getting all this for a few years, maybe if the Wii is super successful, but it all comes down to demand, and let's face it, snooker and darts games are hardly at the top of peoples wish list.

Purchase will be guaranteed if they get the sports onboard, it's what I like.

" I believe where most of this speculation actually comes from is someone claiming to be an "insider" spilled some information on the revolution awhile back"

http://mozlapunk.web-log.nl/log/5681487

That certainly was interesting. We'll see just how far Nintendo ends up going with the Wii in one more week!
Paul Gale
1up.com

interesting stuff.
but i doubt this'll be inplemented into games untill years from now.

but who knows....

There is only one mystery for me: what does the final motion sensory bar look like?

http://revolution.ign.com/articles/694/694785p1.html

There are no pictures of the motion sensory bar, and I for one would like to see some. This bar can potentially be more intrusive in the living room than the Wii case itself. One concern I have is about people who have mounted flatscreens on their walls. Does the sensor come with mounting brackets? Has Nintendo done away with the bar in lieu of something else?

This is an example of the stuff I would like to know more about. Less Nintendo On / Total Immersion nonsense, more facts.

"PS - It's not the Nintendo Wii. I think you guys already reported on that. It's just the "Wii"."


Oh right, like iPod, not Apple iPod. /rolleyes.

Lame and trendy Starbucks marketing FTW!

One of the hints given by the informant is “Use the right side of your brain!”. Here are a few functions of the right hemisphere of the brain.

* Spatial abilities
* Face recognition
* Visual imagery
* Music

spatial abilities as in sensing your surroundings, ability to determine where objects are around you. This a long with facial recognition and visual imagery does sound a lot like something you would expect from the augmented reality. I for one cannot wait for E3 to find out more about Wii and its capibilities.

Gamedaily apparently has a short memory. The Total Immersion video was making the rounds over a year ago and was revealed to have no relation to Nintendo at all. It was just a typical demo of the sort that has been at Siggraph for decades but rarely results in a real product. Some things eventually become real things you can buy, like the EyeToy. I first saw an interactive paint system via gesturing in front of a camera in the late 70s (very low res and only four colors), then later using an Amiga and a video camera genlocked back in 1986. Numerous versions followed but few cared until it became a $50 toy for an inexpensive game console.

The setup for the Total Immersion demo is far too expensive and complex to become a consumer product any time soon. Even if the hardware verged on free the chances of making it into something the average consumer could implement in their home is terribly low.

Too many times in the past a big secret mondo deluxe surprise being held back for E3 turned out to be more than a little disapointing. Something on the order of announcing a new entry in a popular franchise and acting as though this is a stunning surprise.


Perhaps Nintendo has some real secrets left but I'm inclined to doubt it. Once you get past the desire for continuing mystery there is plenty enough to the Wii to keep developers busy fulfilling the potential. In all probability there will be no miracles and after E3 the speculation can end and Nintendo can get down to business.

I don't believe the huge set-up seen in the "Total Immersion" video may be realeased at a small price tag...

But what about a more simple, basic feature, using that kind of technology, for a golf or tennis game, by example? Just some simple parts of a game?

I mean, these (french) guys were already workin' with Airbus, Nissan in 2004... it's not "theorical technology never to be used before 2020", and by the same time, Nintendo spent fortunes in Research and Development... 22 billion yens in 2005 alone, guys! And they are workin' on their revolution since Iwata became President, 4 years ago... with some ideas maturing for at least 10 years!

I may eat my own words, but for me, it's kinda obvious something big is still to be showed, and we'll really say WOW when in some way, games will come OUT of the screen...

Btw, i may eat my words once again, but for me, Wii isn't the final name, it will be a variation around the "Wi-Fi" name, maybe the Nintendo Wiifi or something like that... they'll tell us we didn't have the full picture, the full name, the full possibilities of the console... like one element missing, and it's not really the same, see what i mean?

In one week, we'll all know for sure... and we'll see who is who, and who we'll have to eat his own words: they're written all over the internet, now....

Frankly, I don't see how "augmented reality" (through use of an attached camera) adds ANYTHING to the videogame experience. So you can see yourself holding a virtual object on your tv screen and, using rev remote, you can manipulate the object. Great. Tell me how that experience is significantly more fun and immersive than the stupid gimmicks already offered by the EyeToy.

Furthermore, as evidenced by the EyeToy and the Logitech webcam software, none of the technology in the Nintendo rev remote is even required to pull off a lot of those so-called "augmented reality" parlor tricks with the exception of virtual object manipulation. While those tricks are neat, they really don't translate at all into games or a gaming interface. That linked article is just plain dumb.

Maybe I'm missing something, but "augmented reality," at least of the sort seen in those demos, does NOT seem to be what Nintendo has in mind for their system.

It will change gameplay. Well, the only way I can see it now is advancing current gameplay. Sword fighting and FPS just became some more than twiddling a few analogue sticks and pushing buttons. It suddenly starts to interacts ARMS. a huge leap forward. fingers were exercised to high heaven back in the old days. using the whole arm is a leap way into the front. it's not full augmented reality but its way more than anything else, they have eyes and legs to sort out before it can be full VR. or AR as the fancy new word seems to be.

There will be new countless new genres, new everything. New gameplay will come from that. And I jolly well can't wait for something new. finally.

This is a better video that shows some of the games:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXOpCY1kHLw

bah i think N is going down the drain.
DS sucked, GC was great but not all to many games compared to PS2 and now they all make a big deal out of a damn controller and the name Wii.
COME ON!!!! Sony is making great hardware that can exist for years to come.
Personally i want great graphic and a good story in a game. I am sure both PS3 and Xbox360 will have. But Nintendo tend to come up with kiddie things which amazingly sell pretty well (DS, 10000 where Mario&company is involved) and not this lame controller and the name. I for one will never spend any money buying any N product as i see them focussing on a totally different market and abandon players who been loyal since the 8-bit console. On the other hand i think they do not have the capital like Sony or MS to invest in REAL hardware and compete.
People tend to talk about graphic isn’t everything but for me it is a BIG thing. Of course there are many crappy games but many are very nice and with good story also. And with times they get better.
And this controller will make the games so impersonal and childish i think. Almost like removing the feeling for the movement and make it a movie based game much like Dragon's Lair.

Great. More "experiences", and fewer games.

If there's one thing we should've learned from the virtual reality experiments in the 80's and those Atari joysticks that didn't auto-center, is that there has to be a fixed point of reference for a controller to be effective. Your wrist doesn't count. Coordinating the controller, your hand, your eyes, and the screen, all in different points in space, is anything but natural for a lot of people, especially if what shows up on the screen is a 3rd person view. As an interface designer, I see a lot of problems with this kind of controller, and don't think it'll have much importance for games, except as a "laser pointer", which also causes issues depending on the size of the screen or how far away it is.

If it's true that the accesory controller has motion capabilities as well, I can imagine how complicated a simple game can get, especially since developers are under pressure to actually use these features.

I don't get the Virtual Console concept, either. Download games from the Internet, and indulge the "we" community, but there's no ethernet port? Thanks for enticing us to buy more hardware, Nintendo, while the Nintendo fanboys complain about all the 360 options available. Lots of things about Wiivolution are just gimicks.

Still, don't underestimate the shopping power of people who don't really know what they're buying. I tried a number of EyeToy games and thought they were all total, pointless, gimicky crap, but there's no denying that the thing sold.

If Nintendo is serious about augmented reality, the thing will sell initially, but will probably have a short lifespan. No wonder they're trying to keep their hardware costs as low as possible, push re-releases, and recycle game engine code again and again. I wonder how long after the launch of Wii they start shipping the new, smarter, slimmer, glossier Wiii.

Sure this is not a practical deployment, and there is a 0% chance the Revo- er, Wii will be anything like that video clip, but this is how great ideas get started.

It starts in small settings, looks wacky, and eventually is molded into a format that can be easily produced and shipped to millions (ask the Wright Brothers). I think the point of this post is to show the potential of the system, not what it is going to have right out of the box. In fact, I doubt Wii will have anything remotely similar to this ever produced for it. But, given 10 years down the line, people will look back and see that the Wii was a first step in a new direction.

Tell me, who's going to look back in ten years and have anything to say or remember about 360 or PS3? Even if Wii fails, there will be someone in a few years who will perfect the technology and make it work. That's what this clip was showing, potential. Right now, and this may be proven correct at E3 next week, it would seem there is a great deal of potential present in Wii. Time will tell.

This video was linked as a proof of concept only. There has been a lot of hinting and teasing at what the final secrets may be, but no one said that you have to set up model buildings on your coffee table.

Man, the ridiculous things being said without anything to back it up.

#6 - "Conventional games CANNOT be played in the ways you guys are mentioning."

Uh, can you back this up? Cause I'm calling you on it. Wii will obviously be getting unique games, but conventional games won't be an issue. I can't imagine how I'd use a gyroscopic controller in Super Monkey Ball or to balance in Tony Hawk. You forget that Nintendo could very easily release other controller shells, as mocked up by IGN a while back. Easy enough. Plug the remote into the shell and you instantly have your controller, be it SNES, N64 or Genesis.

#6 - "But conventional games are being developed for the Wii."

Yes, see above on why that's irrelevent. Besides, new properties are being developed from the ground up (as well as existing ones) around the control abilities.

#6 - "And, if this was true, every developer would have needed to have known about it for months, to simply come up with designs, and no way could thousands of people not leak this over months."

This statement is pure speculation and the people who needed to know could very well keep the secret. Half the fun is the reveal and saying "I knew," you know?

#6 - Lastly, this would put Nintendo entirely out of the TV based console business.

No one said that the Wii would not use a TV.

#6 - It would leave conventional gaming in the hands of Microsoft and Sony.

Nintendo is made it clear that they are carving their own path and they are not concerned with Microsoft and Sony's paths, though they are all fighting for your dollars. Besides, Nintendo is trying to redefine "conventional" gaming.

#6 - If this concept were to fail, Nintendo would have no offering.

Yeah, cause the Nintendo DS sales are terribly low. Oh and no one buys GBA games anymore. Oh and no one in the US is foaming at the mouth for a DS Lite. I hope they come up with something to fall back on soon! (note heavy sarcasm)

#6 - Nintendo would not do this.

Really? Says who? I think Nintendo has been known to take some pretty bold risks, only some of which are successful. As much talk about disruptive technology, they've been building us up to something radically different. I don't know what it is any more than the next guy, but we can all agree, that they are taking big risks with Wii. THEY ARE ALREADY DOING IT.

#6 - They are smart enough to keep their backup. They kept the GBA alive when the DS launched in case the DS failed. They kept the Gameboy alive during the Virtual Boy launch in case that failed.

Why do you insist on the idea that Nintendo only can have one successful product at a time. The DS wasn't meant to replace the GBA, it is a seperate product line, not meant to "replace" anything. Virtual Boy was not mean to "replace" the GB, either.

#6 - Nintendo would not release something this out of the box without having a backup plan.

You're impossible.

have you guys ever considered that the article may be some of the right ideas...but in the wrong direction?

http://www.geek.com/news/geeknews/2005Oct/gee20051007032628.htm

what about some form of naked eye 3D? what makes it different from a standard screen is only a barier with columns which effectively redirect different light patterns to each eye seperately...crazy stuff...and who knows what could come of it. Just an idea

If they do, I hope it fairs better than the Gizmondo...

Easily the most interesting post on Joystiq in a month. If even half of this turns out to be true, the Wii will be the most revolutionary console since the Atari introduced multiple games on one console with the 2600.