Innovative Gaming

One of the latest additions to the genre of sports, though perhaps still not a fully accepted on, is that of video gaming. With the introduction of region wise gaming competitions and famous world wide gaming tournaments such as the ESWC (Electronic Sports World Cup), gaming is definitely on its way to become a major sport. However if there still existed conservative people who refuse to allow gaming to be labeled a sport, they will shortly find their position considerably threatened when confronted with the incredible advancement in gaming, some of which contrive to make gaming a sport even in the conventional sense. I am speaking, of course, of Microsoft’s latest product unveiled at the E3 2009 Gaming Conference.

Hands free gaming, or at least a breakaway from conventional gaming which requires a keypad or jockey, is by now a familiar concept, especially after the success enjoyed by Nintendo’s Wii. However the Nintendo Wii achieved this merely by having a wireless controller, the Wii remote. Microsoft’s Natal however takes us many steps further. The system developed for Microsoft’s Xbox 360 game console, codenamed Natal, is all set to change the gaming scene itself with its breakthrough technology. By merely engaging two cameras capable of gauging depth, movement, colour and texture and without having to resort to cumbersome motion detectors it is capable of engaging with the player by perceiving their movement, expressions and even emotions as betrayed by expressions as they respond to the game situations on screen. Hence what it effectively does is make gaming as real as possible without actually plunging us in a virtual world. The player shall thus actually have to kick and throw punches in the air while standing before the screen during a hand to hand combat game while a person playing an RPG (role playing game) might have to explore virtual space by moving in the physical one. What is truly remarkable is the accuracy and sensitivity of the system despite its modest equipment. Microsoft’s claim that it can gauge emotions is fantastic enough without their additional claim that it can recognize and follow a ‘voice in the crowd’. Natal can supposedly recognize and respond to the player’s voice and even follow the player’s commands without being distracted by the voices of others who may happen to be in the room. This hitherto unimagined accuracy comes from the supposed ability of the software to read lips, in itself a task rift with complications when considering the need to tune it to different languages or adapt to different accents. Researchers even say that as with Honda’s Asimo Robot’s ability to understand three voices speaking at once, a multiplayer voice control may also be feasible in the future. While the public availability of Natal may still take some time, a potential rival to its success is already set to launch this year. Emotiv’s EPOC peripheral for gaming, or neuro-headset, was initially set to release on 2008 but its release date was postponed. The neuro-headset made big waves in the science and gaming circles when it was initially introduced and when released shall definitely claim a large part of the gaming market for itself. Designed for gaming on Windows PC, it is a wireless headset which when clamped onto the player’s head provides true hands free gaming experience. True to its name the neuro-headset reads the player’s thought patterns allowing the player to control the game with their mind. While the games designed to be played with the headset are as yet relatively simple unlike the better variety that can be enjoyed with Natal, the novelty of both is alone guaranteed to ensure great interest in the respective products.

The fact that remains amidst all the discussion of the innovations in gaming is that shortly after its acceptance into the category of sports gaming is progressing so much as to leave the rest of the sports far behind in the sphere of popularity alone. Being a great deal more accessible gaming has become the most entertaining and enduring of sports. Moreover the harsher critics who still dispute the linking of gaming with sports on grounds of their being relatively less physically demanding shall find their answer in Natal, since now we have gaming which not only requires physical dexterity but also makes available more exotic sports to the ordinary public.

The field of sports is indeed changing, and while the environment takes a big blow it is not unexpected perhaps that sports too should branch out in the ever expanding virtual world. Innovation has become the watchword of our times and the world is game for a whole new era of virtual sports. So there’s little left to say now save game on!

Pragya Mukherjee

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