Signature - Q1, 2008 - (Page 36) [R]evolution | By Keith Ferrell | Illustration by Tim Marrs | Q1 ’08 Games Gone Wild If you’re of a certain age you probably remember the thrill felt by millions when table tennis went electronic. For its time, Pong was a marvel. Today it’s retro chic you can play on Bluetooth enabled smartphones. Tomorrow’s technologies promise far more fantastic fun – virtual realities, gaming body suits and more. Experience More From the moment in 1972 when “Pong” machines first pinged their way into our coin arcades and, five years later, when Atari 2600 consoles brought “Pac-Man” and “Asteroids” (and dozens of other titles) into our living rooms, we’ve been in love with video games. Like any romance, there have been some rocky moments – economic busts, company collapses, games promised but never finished – but the story has mostly been one of dramatic, dynamic category growth, even as the devices we played became smaller. Pong arcade machines, after all, were nearly as tall as we are and consumed quarters as fast as we could insert them. Atari game consoles and their successors were smaller and brought limitless, quarter-less play into the house, but they tethered us to the TV. PC games quickly followed, but still we were limited by the length of the joystick or keyboard cord. The earliest portable game devices were simple solo-play versions of their larger console cousins. And phones, until recently, were mainly just phones. Those days are gone. Now, the hottest and most exciting video and computer games are as visually striking as movies – some of them more so – with sound effects, musical scores and plots to match. Game consoles such as Sony’s PS3 and Nintendo’s Wii are as power-packed as the high-end graphical computers of a few years ago. Laptops have become powerful, portable playing machines, and phones are the new hand-held game medium. The games themselves have evolved just as dramatically. Role-playing games let players create multifaceted characters and engage in epic quests; “shooters,” strategy games, simulators and sports games give players the chance to experience a sort of virtual reality; and massively multiplayer online games use the Internet to create vast virtual arenas in which thousands of players from around the world compete, quest and communicate simultaneously. Today, the same technology that enables phone handsets and headsets to change the way we communicate is driving a major transformation in the way we interact with our games. Both PS3 and Wii support multiple Bluetooth enabled controllers, allowing several players to compete with each other simultaneously without tripping over wires – and making it possible for video games to become true team activities. Other handheld gaming devices and cell phones can connect via Bluetooth technology to enable multiplayer games. In the perhaps not-so-distant future, innovative Bluetooth enabled controllers – such as data gloves packed with embedded sensors – might track and transmit hand movements on the minutest level, bringing new depth and more wow to everything from sports to magical quests against mythical monsters. As smart fabrics move beyond the glove to body suits, the illusion could become even deeper, with Bluetooth wireless networks providing complete interaction between and among games and their players. Bluetooth enabled game gear – controllers, gloves, heads-up display goggles, props – could one day let players not only put on their game faces, but also put the game on their faces, their hands, even entire bodies, immersing them in the most realistic, fantastic and compelling games ever created. Keith Ferrell is former editor of OMNI magazine and has written extensively on business and technical topics. 36 | SIGnature | Bluetooth.org
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