Sony Rolly

I came across this moving speaker system a while ago, but thought I'd share it as it's fantastic!



The speakers move, turn, roll, spin and flutter to the sound, beat, rhythm and pitch being played through them.
I think it's a great piece of technology and I'd love to see them on the market! Although they might need to be developed so they wouldn't roll off the end of a table!

Edit: ... according to Wikipedia, the Rolly was released in 2007, but was discontinued soon after :(

Flatpack Festival

Today, my group went to Birmingham to visit the Museum & Art Gallery and also for Flatpack Festival 2010.

We started the day by seeing the Staffordshire Hoard exhibited in the Gallery. I'd been wanting to see this for a while and liked it a lot as I've always had a keen interest in history!
We looked around other parts of the gallery, including the British Watercolours exhibition and some interactive pieces, but we soon left to see Julien Maire's "Digit" (see video below) at the Central Library.

This was the first Flatpack Festival piece we saw and I was impressed. For this piece, Julien was sat at a table "writing" printed sentences by just moving his fingers across paper. Although I could see there was something under his fingers creating the text, I could not figure out how it was done! It was a pleasure to watch.

We then went to the Bull Ring to see the "Created In Birmingham" exhibit. The work here included photography, print, animation, sculpture, design and more. I liked a lot of the work displayed here and enjoyed seeing the work of both students and professionals.



http://www.julienmaire.ideenshop.net/
http://www.blogger.com/www.flatpackfestival.org.uk

Sky on 360

At the end of 2009, in one of the latest additions to the Xbox 360's wide variety of applications, Sky TV is now available to 360 users.

"The new service allows Xbox Live gold subscribers to access Sky content and is available on a variety of tariffs starting at £15 per month.

The channels available to Sky subscribers will depend on their existing television package."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8327565.stm

The user logs into the Sky Player on their 360 with their existing Sky account to register for the application, and the amount of channels you can view depends on the service you are already subscribed to.
Before this application was announced, I had always considered getting Freeview or Sky in my bedroom and was very happy to see that I didn't need to now! I used my parent's Sky account to register my 360 and can now watch a good mix of channels including some of the Sky Movies channels!
I think this is a great addition to the games console technology and has really expanded the uses of consoles.
One application I'd love though would be the BBC iPlayer, but unfortunately, only the PlayStation 3 has that available for now!

http://www.xbox.com/en-GB/skyplayer/

Plans...

I've planned to visit Wolverhampton Art Gallery this Wednesday (24th) to see the interactive pieces.

On Thursday (25th), I am also going to Birmingham with my 'Understanding New Media' group where I'll have the chance to see many different exhibitions and also go to the Flatpack Festival.

Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery:

Bridget Riley: Flashback – British Pop Art 1960s – Present
West Midlands Open
Turner to Palmer: British Watercolours 1800-1850
Staffordshire Hoard

Flatpack Festival:

“Digit” by Julien Maire, Birmingham Central Library
“A Thought. An Afterthought” by David Hurley, Created in Birmingham

www.bmag.org.uk/events

www.flatpackfestival.org.uk/

Christmas Lights Hero!

Just been looking at gaming for research towards my essay and come across a few cool things people have done with their games and consoles.

Here, the guitar hero game is rigged up to someone's Christmas lights!



... and here kicking a football at the corresponding colours to play the game!



I love how these additions add a whole new dimension to the gameplay.

Wolverhampton Art Gallery

I've been to the Wolverhampton Gallery many times in the past, but feel that it would be useful and interesting to go again to see some of the new interactive exhibitions. The 'Shift Life' exhibition ends on March 26th, so I will visit the gallery some time before then to view this work.

http://www.wolverhamptonart.org.uk/

http://www.shift-time.org.uk/events/shift-life.shtml

Interactive Derby

This weekend, I went to stay with my girlfriend in Derby. While I was there, we decided to go to The Quad Gallery in Market Place. Outside of The Quad is Derby's Big Screen. I've seen the screen many times, but it was especially interesting as an interactive quiz (A Question of Sport) was taking place. The questions were multiple choice and to answer, you had to stand and make movement where the camera for that answer was pointing. I found this to be a really fun idea and it reminded me of the lecture I'd had on interactive media.

In Derby's Westfield shopping centre, there was also an interactive advert for Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland. There was a mat/screen on the floor with the advertisement on it and when you walked across the surface, flowers and other ojects would follow your feet and things would emerge from keyholes on the screen. I had never really seen advertising like this, I think it would be great if it becomes more popular!

Derby's 'Big Screen':
http://www.bbc.co.uk/derby/content/articles/2007/05/10/big_screen_arrives_feature.shtml
http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/derby/hi/tv_and_radio/newsid_8406000/8406552.stm

Interactive Quiz:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/derby/low/things_to_do/newsid_8557000/8557140.stm

The Quad:
http://www.derbyquad.co.uk/

The Future of Gaming

I've been reading up on the past, present, future of gaming and have found some interesting articles.

Gaming predictions:
http://mashable.com/2009/11/09/gaming-predictions/

Games creators dicussing the future of the industry:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7250228.stm

The future of gaming lies with the Internet:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7258120.stm

A humorous look at the future of games:
http://www.cracked.com/article_15243_the-next-25-years-video-games.html

Microsoft's 'Natal' system. A motion-sensing system for the XBOX 360:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/e3-2009/5429957/E3-2009-Is-icrosofts-Natal-system-the-future-of-gaming.html


Demonstration of Microsoft's 'Natal' System.

HammerFest II

On March 13th, I attended a music festival in Prestatyn. With genres ranging from Indie and Emo to Rock and Heavy Metal (and a whole range of weird fusions), I started to think about the continual growth of music through the years.
With my preferred genre of music being Heavy Metal, I am passionate about its history, its subgenres and its impact on my own life. If I follow my plan to base my essay on things that have changed my own life, I will definately write about music - particularly Heavy Metal - and how it has affected me.

http://www.hammerfest.co.uk

... and here's the band who were the highlight of the festival for me!

History of Games

This week's lecture was based around the history of the gaming industry. Firstly, we explored the fact that with developed intelligence, play and enertainment becomes a necessity.

Dr. Stuart Brown is a pioneer in the research of play and says humor, games, roughhousing, flirtation and fantasy are more than just fun. Plenty of play in childhood makes for happy, smart adults - and keeping it up can make us smarter at any age.

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/stuart_brown_says_play_is_more_than_fun_it_s_vital.html

The first outbreak of games saw titles such as OXO, Pong, and Breakout emerge.



During the 70s and 80s, Atari was the recognized leader in all areas of videogames. Starting out and establishing the arcade industry, Atari set the stage for the gaming industry with the release of Pong, the first arcade machine game relesead in 1972.

Early platforms included Magnavox Odyssey, Atari, Vectrex and various coin operated machines. Gaming also made its way into the home on the Spectrum, BBC Micro, Commodore, Atari and Tandy machines.

Over the years, gaming has evolved dramatically to include 3D, multiplayer, virtualisation, real time and open world play.

http://www.gameinnovation.org/

^ Here we can see many of the great innovations made in the industry.

From the early part of the 90s, the industry has seen a huge market growth. With Nintendo's handheld Gameboy, Sony's PlayStation and then, later, Microsoft's Xbox consoles.

The technology has also been developed to incorporate photoreality. It is now possible to create an interactive world looking very close to "real" life.



This is Sony's advert for its Bravia recreated using the CryEngine2.

Essay Possibilities.

Recently I have been thinking more about what I would like to base my essay on. I have been considering writing an essay based around 5 things that have changed my life or that I couldn't live without. Possibilities include Facebook and The Internet, Heavy Metal music, iPods, TV, XBOX...

Facebook and other social networking sites help me to easily keep in touch with friends and relatives, plan events and discover new music, games and films.

Iron Maiden are my favourite Heavy Metal band and for me, are the epitomy of the whole genre. They have always inspired me and being a fan has given me the opportunity to travel to new places and meet many people.

Owning an iPod has made a big difference in my daily life. I can carry my entire music collection in my pocket everywhere I go, giving me a wide range of choice whenever I'm travelling or just at home. It's funny that 4 or 5 years ago I would have to choose 3 or 4 CDs before I left home and carry them around with me!

Television if of course a huge part of modern life. Even with the internet and mobile technology, it is still one of the best forms of entertainment, news and information. And with recent advances such as Digital, interactive, HD and the upcoming 3D TVs, the ongoing development of this 80 year old piece of technology is always interesting!

Microsoft's XBOX and indeed other consoles have always been a big part of my life. I've owned Sega Master System, Megadrive (I+II), PlayStation, PlaySation 2, XBOX 360, Gameboy Colour, Gameboy Advance, PSP... so I feel I've been watching the development of games consoles for a long time. From the movement of cartridges to discs, 2D to 3D graphics, the addition of online play, hard drives, HD, wireless hardware and other great advancements. The future of gaming looks very exciting!