2007-02-15

  • Wii
    • Handful of the best little components
    • Console Game: A Short History
      • Games are social
        • Especailly console games
        • first console was you against a second player
        • because of its contrl scheme
        • Games are a space to play in
      • 1st Gen
        • Magnavox Odyssey 1972
          • all games pre-programmed
          • jumpers activated the built in games
          • color overlays on top of the screen
          • not popular
        • Pong 1975
          • analog paddle
      • Early engines of innovation
      • 2nd Gen: The Cartridge
        • Atari 2600 1977
          • weakest
          • yet most successful
        • Intellivision 1980
          • 16 bit
        • ColecoVision 1982
      • Crash of 1983
        • very crowded console market
        • bad decisions on next gen consoles
        • Commodore 64
          • stole the show
          • cost about as much as a console
          • guilt tripping parents into buying them instead
        • Bad Games!
          • Pac-Man
          • Custer's Last Stand
          • E.T.
            • made 4 million
            • sold 1.5 million
            • buried the remained under cement in New Mexico
        • Lots of reverse Engineering
      • 3rd Gen: After the Crash
        • Famicom (NES) 1985
          • had to call it an entertainment system
          • not a video game system, after the crash
        • Sega Master System 1985
        • TurboGrafx-16 1989
      • What's the Magic Number: 16 bit era
        • Systems
          • SNES
          • Sega Genesis
          • Neo-Geo
        • Starting to be more like Hollywood
          • profit margins shrunk
        • PCs started competing in the video game market
      • 2 1/2 Console Theory
        • 4G
          • SNES
          • Genesis
          • SNK NeoGeo
        • 5G
          • Sony Playstation
          • Sega Saturn
          • Nintendo N64
        • 6G
          • Sony Playstation 2
          • Xbox
          • Nintendo Gamecube
        • 7G
          • Wii
          • Xbox 360
          • PS3
      • Evolution vs. Revolution
        • Only 2x powerful as GameCube
        • Only 2x RAM
        • Expanding the market rather than competing in the same space
    • The Wii Remote
      • Should look like other remotes
      • blends with what you know
      • feel available
      • affordance
      • multiple approaches to it
      • Communication
        • Bluetooth Radio to console (30ft)
      • Sensing
        • IR positioning system
        • LED bar
        • could use candles instead
        • Orientation on the 2D plane
        • Accelerometer
          • Can't fix itself in 3D space
          • not positional, just gestural
      • Nunchuk
        • Also has accelerometer
        • and an analog thumbstick
      • Limits
        • Must be trained
        • programmer must imitate the move
        • Tutorials adapt to what the user is doing
        • even games have a training phase
        • try to stay within the mean
        • If they get close
          • then they store that gesture
          • different for every player
      • Components
        • Bluetooth Boarcom BCM2042
        • 11 inputs
        • Analog Devices ADXL330
        • IR camera (monochrome 1Mpixel)
        • speaker
        • rumble
        • power button
          • disconnects BT and powers down
        • Player LEDs
      • Gestural
    • XWand
      • visible LEDs
      • IR Led
      • Magnetometer
        • feels the earth's pull
      • PIC micro
      • accelerometer
      • gyro
      • button
      • RF transceiver
      • 4 AAAs
      • 1.5" diameter
    • Class Project
      • Darts?!
        • Could be VERY cool
        • Similarly, making/throwing a paper airplane
      • Marble Madness
      • Put multiple people in the same place
    • Suspension of disbelief
      • Believing the you're controlling it
    • Space is MORE important
      • it's not always going to go more and more for the Net all time
      • pendulum swing
      • overloading on different design paradigms
  • Class Blog
  • Prototyping
    • How you sell a concept
    • Rapid Prototyping
      • only so many hours in a day
    • Iterative Design
      • 3 time iteration
      • but some things are iterated indefinitely
      • not just one person iterating
        • could be an entire culture iterating a genre
        • iterating techniques, media forms, etc.
    • Midterm Wii Project
      • IR camera
        • Computer vision
        • tracking
        • Can we even do this?
      • Accelerometer
        • acceleration on 3-axis
        • motion
        • change in speed
        • gestures
        • communication
        • must decodify the forces back into gestures
        • Serial Read
          • do the gestures
          • look at the data feed
      • Bluetooth
        • Calbe replacement
        • Wireless connection
      • Vibrating Motors/Tactile Feedback
        • Use at least two
        • More fidelity
        • replaces sound
        • replaces another modality
          • helpful because it's not disruptive
          • works in areas when other modalities don't work
        • alerts you to someone trying to contact you
          • tap!
          • look at me
          • no message in itself
        • the white rabbit effect
          • filling in the gaps in sensation
          • timing just right
        • haptics
          • joysticks
          • buttons
          • most modern media forms start off with adult entertainment
            • in fact, this might be the touchstone of a potential mass medium
            • photos, videos, Net
        • tactics
          • virtual thing coming at you
          • effecting environment
      • Screen
        • iPod is only as good as the songs you have on it
        • Getting the Arduino into the computer
          • processing
            • push toward this
          • max/msp
          • director
        • 4-5 button switch
        • interactive eye candy
      • Then we combine each into three groups
      • Communication
        • Network of blogs?
        • Wiki?
        • E-mail list?
      • Presentation
  • Assignment
    • Quiz 6-11
    • Focus on 8 and 9
    • Bluetooth
      • Compile resources
      • make parts list
      • possible example code
      • examples of use (youtube video)
      • game examples