Virtual Air Guitar For Health

Virtual Air Guitar or Kung-Fu Live your way to better health using Virtual Air Guitar Company's new "real-time" sensing webcams.  I have no idea about latency but it will supposedly remove the background around you and insert you into the game (current platforms Xbox 360, PS3 and PC) but if this works and truly gets you in the game like Kick Ass Kung Fu - I am in!

Freemotion®

Our proprietary FreeMotion® technology (patents pending) is a computer vision library that allows accurate real-time tracking of the entire human body as well as background removal using regular webcams.

FreeMotion® Technology

Our proprietary FreeMotion® technology (patents pending) is a computer vision library that allows accurate real-time tracking of the entire human body as well as background removal using regular webcams.

FreeMotion® technology allows development of camera games for multiple platforms, even if the underlying camera technologies differ, such as one platform using a regular RGB camera and another using a 3D depth camera.

How it works

ORIGINAL IMAGE:

This is the original image from a PlayStation®Eye Camera or a similar webcam.

FREEMOTION® SKELETON TRACKING:

FreeMotion® Skeleton Tracking accurately tracks the player's poses and movements. This includes data for all body parts such as hands, feet and the head. In this imge, the tracker recognizes the player's punch movement.

FREEMOTION® BACKGROUND REMOVAL:

The player's image is extracted from the background and transferred into a game world. The background removal works in home conditions and does not require a greenscreen or any special background material. It can even remove people from the image who aren't supposed to be there! With FreeMotion® Technology, you can literally step into the game world and interact naturally with it. You'll feel empowered with magnified and expanded abilities.

Tech Validation & Perspectives

Our technology and patents have withstood the scrutiny of several due diligences. They have always been found to be the best existing real-time human tracking and background removal technologies on a regular RGB webcam. FreeMotion® has been integrated with several game engines, such as Emergent® Gamebryo®.

Processes & Tools

CURRENT PLATFORMS:

Xbox 360, PS3 and PC.

METHODOLOGY AND DESIGN PRINCIPLES:

We swear in the name of agile development, extensive prototyping early on and efficient and broad testing.

We take great pride in good processes and writing high-quality code.

We utilize Scrum with two to three-week sprints.

TOOLS:

Gamebryo® Lightspeed™, Scaleform GFx™, Autodesk® 3ds Max®, FMOD, Subversion, IncrediBuild, SN-DBS

In-house tools: FreeMotion® technology, an efficient Adobe Flash-based rapid prototyping system for camera games, a robust automatic testing framework built on top of CruiseControl.NET, automatic testing using NUnit, CPPUnit and PC-lint static code analysis.

In our development pipeline, all modules are compiled and integrated multiple times a day thanks to continuous integration. Every build is subjected to automated error, quality and performance tests. Issues are highlighted and developers receive feedback within minutes of committing code.

Exergamers United at AAHPERD 2010.

Great hands-on workshop and small group break out sessions. Already planning for San Diego 2011. Who's in?

Aahperd checkin

Getting psyched for the World's Largest Exergame Workshop at AAHPERD. Come and game with the best!

GDC 2010 arrival and first impressions

Hi Folks,

Just thought I'd send out some pics from the start of GDC 2010. I love the buzz of going to a new conference and in a way it's a lot like being a freshman all over again.  I guess that the benefit of lifelong learning and inner growth.  Right now at my table, there is a game company executive interviewing a prospective young employee, and it's fascinating to "listen" to them talk about monetizing social networking opportunities, GSM network capabilities, scaling-up operations, worldwide distribution rights, real-cash value of online credits.

Enjoy the updates.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from ExerGame Lab's posterous

GDC Exergame Session (Serious Games Summit)

Totally pumped to go to my 1st GDC in San Francisco! Our session will be moderated by Ian Bogost and will focus on Exergaming's successful commercial run of late.


Over a Billion Dollars Can't Be Wrong: Is Exergaming Success a Victory for Serious Games?
Speaker: Ian Bogost (Associate Professor, The Georgia Institute of Technology), Barbara Chamberlin (Extension Instructional Design and Educational Media Specialist, New Mexico State University Media Productions), Sheryl Flynn (Founder/CEO, Blue Marble), Ernie Medina (Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, MedPlay Technologies), Stephen Yang (Assistant Professor, SUNY Cortland)
Date/Time: Wednesday (March 10, 2010)   4:15pm — 5:15pm
Location (room): Room 133, North Hall
Experience Level: All
Summit: Serious Games Summit
Format: 60-minute Panel

Session Description
On a global retail basis the sales numbers for exergaming are quite significant. Over a billion dollars has been spent on products including Wii Fit, EA Sports Active, and Gillian Michaels. However, does this represent a stunning victory for game products that offer their audience something specifically beyond entertainment? This panel of leading exergame experts and researchers will assess the success of exergame products, pointing out how unique and powerful they can be. Despite identifying the success the panel will shine a spotlight on how despite the commercial success of exergaming its potential for important health outcomes is lagging. The goal is not to bemoan the differential most exercise products experience between sales and the reality of their use but to instead argue how exergames can succeed at closing their own delta between units shipped and healthy lives supported.

Idea Takeaway
This panel of leading exergame experts and researchers will assess the success of exergame products, pointing out how unique and powerful they can be. Despite identifying the success the panel will shine a spotlight on how despite the commercial success of exergaming its potential for important health outcomes is lagging.


GDC

GDC Overview
Introduction

The Game Developers Conference® (GDC) is the world’s largest professionals-only game industry event. Presented every spring in San Francisco, it is the essential forum for learning, inspiration, and networking for the creators of computer, console, handheld, mobile, and online games.

The GDC attracts over 17,000 attendees, and is the primary forum where programmers, artists, producers, game designers, audio professionals, business decision-makers and others involved in the development of interactive games gather to exchange ideas and shape the future of the industry.

VisionPlay(ers) Dance In My Head

Trendy Entertainment recently released some screenshots and trailers about VisionPlay, a PC camera-based video game peripheral.  It looks and seems to play like Sony PS2's EyeToy Play, Play 2 and other titles. I'm wondering if you're playing on a smaller PC monitor if you need to move as much to play compared to a large screen like in the trailers. Even with Project Natal's apparent 0.1 s, I have to suspect that VisionPlay's will be even longer, no? Will it defeat the Ultimate Camera-based ExerGame....EyeToy Kinetic?

Stemming from years of military-based research by Accelerond, VisionPlay is a revolutionary new video game technology that allows any low-resolution, off-the-shelf webcam and low-end PC to do full-body positioning and motion analysis.

Based on Accelerond’s advanced image processing algorithms, VisionPlay knows where your head, arms, legs, and torso are, their orientation, and distance from the camera. The VisionPlay system feeds these refined calculations to the video game (via an easy-to-use API) in real-time at 30hz, and the game can then use that data for any number of purposes.

Potential game applications may include a character that moves as you do in 3D, driving a car by gripping an invisible steering wheel, or even simply using your finger as a screen pointing device – all without the need for any custom peripherals!

The possibilities are endless, and we will be initially making use of them via a suite of physical casual social games. If you’re interested in finding out more about VisionPlay, the technology behind it, or even our plans for it, please get in touch This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it with us!

VisionTennis is our first VisionPlay game, currently in prototype form.
Features will include:

• Control of your tennis player with your body. They will move as you do, serve as you serve, and swing where you swing! Get a real work-out and improve your basic tennis skills – all while playing a video game!
• Singles and Doubles matches. Go head-to-head or team up with a partner. For 1 to 4 players.
• A variety of Racquet-based games, including Tennis, Squash, Badminton, and even ‘brick breaker’.
• Low system requirements - and any basic webcam will do!
• Instant, seamless online gameplay within your Web Browser. No installation necessary!

Coming in 2010!