Video courtesy of The Gadget Show.

What do you get when you mix Battlefield 3 with an omni-directional treadmill, full dome projection screen, motion tracking, wireless gun controller, 12 paintball markers, and surround sound? YOU GET THE MOST IMMERSIVE VIDEO GAME TO DATE!!!!

Some of the top technology experts in Europe got a hold of a pre-release copy of Battlefield 3 to make this beast of a system. The simulator drops you in the actual battle zone where every bullet fired by the enemy might actually make contact. This adds a hell of a lot more anxiety before you decide to rush that bunker!

If you are in the UK, make sure to catch them on The Gadget Show, Channel 5 at 8pm on October 24th. I truly hope that this is a feat of engineering and not one of good marketing, I look forward to seeing it in action live.

Using AR technology, the guys at Corridor Digital have developed a totally new way to experience the heat of battle. Complete with bullet animations, sound effects, and a heads-up-display, LASER Academy fully immerses the players into a lifelike shootout.

It also looks like they are planning to have a large scale game in November, check out for updates. You know I’ll be there.

We had the opportunity to attend SIGGRAPH 2011, Vancouver this past week and were really happy with what we saw. It takes a certain level of innovation to excite us at this stage of the game but the exhibitors this year definitely did not disappoint. The video above is a compilation of just some of the things we got to see in the Emerging Technologies section of the event.

Since it is not entirely clear what the functions of everything in the video is, I will do my best to explain each briefly in order here:
(please keep in mind that some of these names are not official)

Face-to-Avatar: A blimp that houses a projector, microphone, and camera for new age telepresence applications. It can display either a static image or a stream being sent to its on board wireless receiver.
Cyclone Display: A display that spins disks with different patterns on them. The speed of the disk, along with the speed that the projector is flickering at, determines what colors you will see. Essentially each disk is a sort of pixel.
ISCAN3D: A 3D scanner for your iPhone that works in a few minutes on just input from 5-30 pictures.
InteractiveTop: A twist on the game of tops with graphics and sounds galore. It tracks the collisions and features a magnetic controller for each top too.
Mommy Tummy: A strap on tummy that is used to simulate both the joys and stresses of pregnancy.
Recompose: Actuated Surface: A series of actuators that can be controlled using gestures as well as direct manipulation.
Vection Field: A device that can influence pedestrians to walk in a certain direction by displaying a certain dynamic pattern.
Toucheo: An immersive multi-touch workstation that can be used to easily manipulate 3D assets.
Telenoid: A telepresence robot that can transmit voice and facial movements and is neither male nor female, young nor old.
Virtual Crepe Maker: A haptic representation of fluid dynamics that has been made fun by the crepe making game.
True 3D Display: A 3D display that uses laser-plasma technology to output a virtual object with the amazing resolution of 50,000 points per second. (A part broke in transit and they only were able to operate it at half of its capability.
Thermal Interactive Media: A display that senses the temperature of its input and reacts accordingly.
PocoPoco: A new age musical interface and sequencer with 16 solenoids that are loaded with sensors.
HAPMAP: A sort of haptic navigation in which the user holds a device in their hand which simulates the feeling of sliding your hand along a railing. The “rail” is on a pivoting actuator so that it can steer the user in the right direction.

[From The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)

This is a quick installation prototype paired with the libfreenect Kinect drivers and of xKinect. The system is doing skeleton tracking on the arm and determining where the shoulder, elbow, and wrist is, using it to control the movement and posture of the giant funky bird! This was all done within a day using openFrameworks and libFreenect. The 3D depth camera for arm tracking, courtesy of Microsoft and the open source / Do-it-Yourself community

Anyone interested in making projects with the Kinect and openFrameworks is strongly encouraged to check out: openframeworks.cc/?forum/?viewtopic.php?p=24948#p24948

Also keep an eye on the libfreenect GitHub for latest updates to the driver: github.com/?OpenKinect/?libfreenect/?

For more news and videos on immersive technologies visit : www.immersivetech.org
Follow us on Twitter: @immersivetechla

This video is copyrighted by Theo Watson and Emily Gobeille: design-io.com

Developer Florian Echtler at TISCH (Tangible Interactive Surfaces for Collaboration between Humans) has hacked Microsoft’s Kinect to create a simple proof-of-concept HD video of using a hacked Kinect camera for multitouch-like interaction. Written using libfreenect and libTISCH (http://tisch.sf.net).

Echtler accomplished the hack by hooking the open source Kinect driver that’s floating around the web to his custom multitouch software library. His hack is rough, but functional, and it’s definitely a sign that Microsoft could eventually offer the same sort of multitouch functionality for browsing pictures directly on the Xbox 360.

This was done on Ubuntu Linux using libfreenect and libTISCH.

For more news and videos on immersive technologies visit : www.immersivetech.org

Follow us on Twitter: @immersivetechla

This video is copyrighted by Tangible Interactive Surfaces for Collaboration between Humans: tisch.sourceforge.net

Listen while, ImmersiveTech Chief Strategic Officer, Harold Tan at Opportunity Green 2010 explains how immersive technology relates to sustainability at the Los Angeles Center Studio. Be sure to see ImmersiveTech there again at the upcoming Immersive Technology Summit on October 21st, 2010 at the Los Angeles Center Studios.

The world’s first ever Immersive Technology Summit will be held at the Los Angeles Center Studios (LACS) on October 21st, 2010.

For more news and videos on immersive technologies visit : www.immersivetech.org

Follow us on Twitter: @immersivetechla

Think Rock Band is cool? Then you totally have to check this view out. This is how Freddiew envisions how a rhythm game might look like in the future. Here the rock and roll classic “Noob Slayer” is being played with an simulated overlay of Augmented Reality. Augmented reality meets rhythm gaming! No more glancing back and forth at your instrument and trying to match what is happening on the screen. With augmented reality, everything is overlayed for you right on top of the real world. If things were to get any easier, the game would play itself for you! This is just another awesome example of what augmented reality and immersive technology can do to improve well… just about everything!

The world’s first ever Immersive Technology Summit will be held at the Los Angeles Center Studios (LACS) on October 21st, 2010.

For more news and videos on immersive technologies visit : www.immersivetech.org

Follow us on Twitter: @immersivetechla

This video is copyrighted by Freddiew: facebook.com/freddiewspage

Brainball is Smart studio’s (The Interactive Institute Sweden) first completely hybrid research project game. The players move a ball on a table by the sole use of their brainwaves. Encouraging competition through relaxation, the game objective is to score a goal on the opponent’s side with the least possible action. The players’ brainwaves control a ball on a table, and the more relaxed scores a goal over the opponent.

They are using Emotiv’s headset here to interpret the brainwaves but I am curious as to how the results is translated into actual actions. Perhaps some kind of magnetized system underneath the table? Anyone care to make a venture?

The world’s first ever Immersive Technology Summit will be held at the Los Angeles Center Studios (LACS) on October 21st, 2010.

For more news and videos on immersive technologies visit : www.immersivetech.org

Follow us on
Twitter: @immersivetechla

Vimeo: www.vimeo.com/immersivetech/

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/groups?mostPopular=&gid=1839260

Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Immersive-Tech/314045571248?ref=ts
This video is copyrighted by The Interactive Institute Sweden: www.tii.se

The patient is controlling his cannon by using both real and imagined hand and tongue movements. The signals are recorded from the surface of his brain, known as electrocorticography (ECoG), and the cortical changes that are associated with his motor intentions are detected by a computer and converted to machine commands (i.e., moving the shooting cannon).

This is just another example how BCIs (Brain Computer Interfaces) are creating new ways to enjoy old games. Granted the game is really simple but even the most complex games we have today started out simple and increased in complexity. We’ll have to get these simple games to work well with BCI first before we move on to more complex games. However, it is important to keep in mind that every journey begins with a first step.

The world’s first ever Immersive Technology Summit will be held at the Los Angeles Center Studios (LACS) on October 21st, 2010.

For more news and videos on immersive technologies visit : www.immersivetech.org

Follow us on
Twitter: @immersivetechla
Vimeo: www.vimeo.com/immersivetech/
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/groups?mostPopular=&gid=1839260
Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Immersive-Tech/314045571248?ref=ts

This video is copyrighted by Center for Innovation in Neuroscience and Technology: cint.wustl.edu