the engineers forsook The Jetsons and the past affects the science fiction of the night. Ever since I walked in the door decided instead to shrink the world to future. Allen Varney returns to discuss that fateful night three weeks ago my the size of a microchip. You can talk to the state of the art in 3-D video displays. wife and I do something at night that I “It’s the Year 2000, but where are the your best friend in Sri Lanka (whom Lara Crigger speaks to scientists about never thought we’d ever do. We play flying cars? I was promised flying cars. you’ve never actually seen in person) mind-controlled gaming. Erin Hoffman video games together. And it’s amazing. I don’t see any flying cars. Why? from your vacation spot in Aspen, either investigates the effects of brain training She is particularly fond of bowling and Why? Why?” from your webcam-enabled laptop or games on the elderly. And Spanner has become very competitive at it, with your Blackberry. And every day, the compares futuristic blood sport movies pro status and a high score of 284. - Avery Brooks, on Flying Cars world shrinks a bit more. to the reality game shows of today. This past weekend we took the Wii with Ahh, the flying car. If anything was an Paradoxically, the more available the So fire up your Smartphone, put the top us to her parent’s house for a late icon of 1950s American Cold War world is to us, the less reason we have on your grounded convertible down and Christmas. Her older brother and idealism, it was the flying car. Come the to actually visit it. Every time a new user gaze skyward with us, in this issue of younger sister both came with wife/ year 2000, long after we’d busted the stakes his claim to a corner of the The Escapist. At least there won’t be any husband and our 1- and 3-year old Soviets down to size, we’d take to the internet, we grow more connected to traffic obscuring the clouds. nieces in tow. When the kids were put to wild blue yonder in that most American each other, and our need to leave our bed around 8PM we all went up to the of contraptions, the mass-produced physical position becomes less significant. Yours, pool room and played the Wii all night automobile, and wrap an arm around our long, every night for the duration of our stay-at-home spouse, look back at our And so, here we are in 2007, closer to stay there. To be honest I don’t think 2.5 children and soar into the heavens the world than anyone in the 1950s my wife’s parents have played a as kings of the world. All this and more, could have imagined, but I still don’t videogame in their lives...but they got in the Year 2000. have my flying car. And as much as I like hooked on the wii. The second night my the present we’re in, the future of the mother-in-law played she reached pro Well, 2000 came and went, and while past had a much nicer ring to it. In this status and got a high score of 233. My European communism is dead and gone, issue of The Escapist, we’re investigating father-in-law tore up my younger my car still has tires, and unless I have other broken promises from the past, as brother-in-law in 3 rounds of boxing. We $500,000 and a pilot’s license, I’ll never well as what the new future, the one the probably had the most fun we’ve ever To the Editor: I’ve had a Wii for about know what it’s like to drive along the Z- scientists of old couldn’t predict, might had as an entire family and it’s thanks to three weeks now. Before the Wii all my axis. Why? Why? Why? have in store for us. Nintendo and their amazing little console. video game playing involved me going up to my loft and logging into WoW while The fact is, we don’t need flying cars. We New contributor Susan Arendt - Iain Burns my wife sat alone watching TV for the don’t need the Z-axis to travel faster. No, investigates how the science fiction from In response to “Skill-Stick day the page wouldnt open and i knew it companies will release games on both Revolution” from The Escapist Forum: was a goner. If I had the money I would the xbox360 and the ps3 because of I, um, hate to be the one to break it to have invested in seed because I think it their traditional control schemes, and you, but aside from the more was a great idea and that there is thus won’t exceed the xbox 360s power comfortable grip and the extra pair of definitely a niche in the game community on the ps3. shoulder buttons, the 360 controller is for this type of game. largely the same as the Xbox’s, and not - Atmosck terribly different from the Gamecube’s. - catalyzt So the innovative part is not the controller, but how it’s used. Not that it To the Editor: I think you should do an at all undermines the point of the article. article about how games are spreading It’s strange, though - sports games, by out. While 6th generation consoles were conventional wisdom, are the place you’d very similar in muscle it was not be least likely to see change in the uncommon for big-name publishers to formula. release games on all the consoles, meeting the capabilities of the weakest - Bongo Bill of the systems, which was the gamecube mostly because of the smaller capacity In response to “Seed on the Road” of the proprietary disk, but the games from The Escapist Forum: We never didn’t seem weak by comparison when got a chance to play seed even tho me something on the xbox could also be run and my boyfriend had long awaited it but on the gamecube. With the new we had connection problems and werent generation of consoles, the proscessing too keen on paying the price they power of the consoles is spreading out wanted for a game that appeared with the ps3 being much, much more broken. We crossed our fingers and powerful than the wii, with the 360 hoped it would get things straight and i caught in the middle. In an attempt to checked from time to time but then one have a larger potential buyer base, When it comes to the canon of literature, science fiction tends to get written off as the literary equivalent of junk food, enjoyed only by kids and socially awkward brainiacs who never quite grew up. Though some “experts” may find it difficult to give much weight to works involving robots and ray guns, few genres have proved as profoundly inspirational and prophetic. Whether it’s the “hard science” fiction of Jules Verne or the softer, more romantic stylings of H.G. Wells, it’s impossible to deny the long- lasting impact the works of early sci-fi authors have had. The question, though, is why? What is it, exactly, about these early tales of flights in hot-air balloons and trips through time that continues to touch us, decades later? As is so often the case, to find the answer we must go back to the very beginning.

In terms of being particularly influential, Verne had a lot going for him. He’s largely considered to be the first of his kind, the father of the sci-fi genre, and as such is given a reverence that his followers will never quite be able to equal. Ray Bradbury gave Verne the ultimate credit when he said, “We are all, in one way or another, the children of Jules Verne.” Polar explorer Admiral Richard Byrd said, “Jules Verne guides me.” William Beebe, one of the first men to explore the depths of the sea in a bathysphere, said his interest in oceanography began in the pages of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Robert Goddard, father of rocketry, was an avid Verne reader as a child. Verne also inspired a long string of authors, including H.G. Wells, who in turn inspired Arthur C. Clarke, and so on. Not too shabby for someone whose last novel was published nearly 100 years ago.

Also working in Verne’s favor is his choice to follow the path of so-called “hard science” fiction, meaning he imbued his wild tales with just enough science fact to make them seem not just possible, but inevitable. In From the Earth to the Moon, Verne describes a trip to the moon in a gunpowder-filled rocket that’s little more than a giant flying bullet. The trip as described would’ve crushed the rocket riders into squidgy jelly, but by fueling his rocket with something as commonplace as gunpowder, he makes it feel like it’s almost real enough to touch. Reading Verne’s story, it becomes easy to think that, with the right equipment, some elbow grease and a really good tailwind, we really could fly to the it shape. We have robots today because Lander in your morning newspaper. moon, or Saturn, or anywhere else the of their efficiency, practicality and safety, Interstellar travel, once the stuff of mood took us. and while we appreciate them, what we dreams, has become so commonplace really want are the automatons we’ve that we barely notice when the space There’s something about the idea of read about since we were kids. Asimov’s shuttle launches. There are certainly still leaving Earth’s boundaries, of not just Three Laws of Robotics are so ingrained ideas to be mined from the classics (I leaving your house, your town or even in our consciousness that we feel like still want my robot butler), but many of your country, but traveling to somewhere we’re already halfway to our own robot the stories that were once viewed as the laws of everyday life simply don’t butler, so we keep trying to make a robot amazing are now simply seen as quaint. apply, that’s positively intoxicating. Thus that could pass for human, not because we come across another component of it would be particularly useful or helpful, Of course, the obvious answer is that Verne’s particular brilliance: He, and but simply because we want it. modern sci-fi writers will take on the role other masters of the sci-fi genre, entices begun by their forefathers, but this, too, is us to visit other worlds, both literally and Without question, science fiction’s moderately unlikely. For one thing, people figuratively. We humans are a terribly greatest authors have kick-started the simply don’t read as much as they once curious and fickle lot, constantly peeking imaginations and lit the inner fires of did, and even when they do, much of what over our fences to see what’s on the some of the most important men and currently passes for science fiction is little other side. The only idea we like more women in history, but it seems more than gussied up fan fiction. (Honestly, than visiting some uncharted or somewhat unlikely that stories from sci- how many Star Trek and Firefly undiscovered country is the notion that fi’s golden era will provide the same sort novelizations do we really need?) It doesn’t we might be the first ones to do so, and of catalyst for the great minds of help that science fiction took a decidedly it doesn’t matter if that unknown tomorrow, if only for practical reasons. pessimistic turn about 20 years ago, territory is among the stars, under the Though Verne’s Nautilus was quite starting with the cyberpunk movement. waves or in a lab. amazing when he first described it in Granted, as Ray Bradbury said, “We do this 1870, it becomes slightly less awesome not to predict the future but to prevent it,” The genius of Verne, and successors like when viewed from a world where you but one can only read so many dystopic Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke, is can rent a sub for an hour or two to view views of the future before it starts to that their work taps into our innate pretty fishies on your vacation. Wells’ become really, really depressing. desire to achieve. Humans succeed as a War of the Worlds still makes for a great species because we’re constantly trying movie, but invaders from outer space are If sci-fi literature isn’t going to serve as to do more, be more, have more, and slightly less intimidating when you’re muse, what is? It seems possible, even science fiction feeds that need and gives yawning over pictures from the Mars likely, that tomorrow’s brilliance will find sponsored by its roots in today’s videogames. As a earning the title of Coolest Inventor Ever. on the path to greatness. Personally, I’m mode of entertainment, gaming is at A longtime player of Tomb Raider titles hoping someone playing Phantasy Star least as popular as science fiction was may see Lara Croft as the ultimate role Universe falls in love with the Partner when it inspired the likes of Goddard and model, choosing to emulate her by Machines that store your items and Byrd, and is oftentimes similarly studying archaeology or world history, deliver your messages. I may just get grounded in just enough science fact to traveling the globe to learn about cultures my robot butler yet. make it all seem possible. Gamers and civilizations long gone by. become devoted to their franchises of When Susan Arendt isn’t writing news at choice, becoming emotionally and There needn’t be such a delay between 1up.com or her weekly gamingcolumn, intellectually involved in the virtual world inspiration and payoff, however. A doctor Token Female, she’s training her cat to the games create, absorbing every might take a cue from the biomods of play DDR. nuance and detail they possibly can. The Deus Ex to try to improve upon current internet just makes it easier for them to prosthetic design, or a physical therapist indulge their passion; between may design a Lost Planet-inspired developer’s blogs and community exoskeleton that would allow a forums, fans have access to nearly paraplegic to walk again. The limitless information and discussion possibilities and permutations are nearly about game worlds, characters, vehicles, endless, depending only on what weapons and strategies. particular elements in a game become emotional touchstones for players. Given that kind of emotional investment, it’s not terribly difficult to see how games For most players, videogames are simple could still be providing inspiration long entertainment, an indulgence in after the player has hung up her escapism meant to distract them controller. It’s not a huge leap to imagine momentarily from the grind of normal that the middle-schooler who lives and life. For a special few, though, breathes Halo might one day try to devise videogames might very well plant the a regenerating energy shield, or perhaps seeds from which truly great ideas and fashion a holographic user interface life-changing innovations will grow. Who modeled after her beloved Cortana. A knows? Perhaps one day some Nobel die-hard fan of Half-Life 2 may someday Prize winner will thank Cliffy B., Will create a prototype gravity gun, officially Wright or Warren Spector for putting her I’ve invited Andrew to give me a demo of Sensor clamps attach to your fingers and The Journey to the Wild Divine, a special read your skin conductance and heart videogame he’d used while working at the rate variability; by varying these Rochester Institute of Technology. I look physiological signs, you can control at the game’s box, and in the corner, various elements in the game, from under hot air balloons and a waterfall, sits levitating a ball to creating a rainstorm. a pleasant-looking woman at her laptop Essentially, you play the game with your while menacing purple clamps crush her mind, forcing your body, and the game, fingertips. Inside the box is a CD to do whatever you command. interview with pop psychologist Deepak Chopra, along with The Journey to the While The Journey to the Wild Divine Wild Divine: The Companion Guide. Idly, I teaches you how to enter a calmer, more thumb through its pages, picking out restful state, not all biofeedback games phrases like “The Breathing Tree,” focus on relaxation. Some concentrate “Temple of Great Compassion” and “Axis on increasing your productivity, others of the Double Durga.” on maximizing your energy levels. “It all comes down to operant conditioning,” “You know, this is why people don’t take says Andrew. “Videogames can give you this stuff seriously,” I say, tossing the more immediate feedback.” book aside. Naturally, ever since I’d heard Andrew “Yeah, I know,” he sighs. He fiddles with mention these games, I’d been dying to a pod-like device, which, for all I can tell, give one a go. A videogame you play The Journey to the Wild Divine is just an overgrown USB port. “But it with your mind? Talk about a gamer’s “Just wait until you see the purple was the best I could get for under $500.” greatest fantasy. What could be more zebra,” says Andrew Cutter, a clinical tempting than the complete eradication technician at the University of The Journey to the Wild Divine is a of any physical effort whatsoever? No Rochester’s Sleep and Neurophysiology videogame only in the loosest of more hand cramps. No more carpal Research Laboratory. He smiles and definitions. Its gameplay takes input not tunnel. Just hook up the feeding tube, punches a few buttons on his laptop. from controllers, microphones or log on the computer and play until your Seeing my raised eyebrows makes his keyboards, but from your body’s natural eyeballs bleed. grin widen. “Trust me, you’ll get there.” rhythms, such as breath and heartbeats. More seriously, though, I was genuinely “Welcome to the Garden,” she drawls. She points me toward an eight-point curious about this convergence of mind “You are here because you remember pinwheel, ordering me to blow on the and machine. Controlling inanimate that you too are a Gardener.” The object and make it turn. For a moment, I objects with the power of thought has camera zooms onto a flower-covered hill, stare blankly at the screen, still been a mainstay of science fiction for where a woman dressed like a Lord of processing my task, before obliging her decades, but here it was, tangible and the Rings extra sits and writes in a large with a tentative huff. The pinwheel real. We’d invented the first book. She finishes her magic poem or nudges slightly. Intrigued, I blow harder, disintegration of boundaries between whatever and closes the tome, walking as if I were trying to spin a real-life man and tool. What could this new off into the distance. pinwheel. In response, the digital one electronic evolution mean for spins rapidly. paraplegics, amputees and autistics Suddenly, something materializes from a trapped by their bodies? What could it white mist. It is, indeed, a purple zebra. Okay, for all the gardens and zebras and mean for me? Would we one day become The Tolkien woman serenely leaps onto women in Ren Faire garb, that was kind ghosts in our own machines? its back, and they gallop away. of cool.

So far though, such speculation seems “Andrew … ” I’m not sure I can take this We Can Rebuild You … entirely unwarranted. For being the next much longer. He chuckles as he places Biofeedback games like The Journey to step in human evolution, The Journey to the purple clamps (much like the shade the Wild Divine are not the only way the Wild Divine looks awfully like a of that striped steed) on my fingers. scientists have been experimenting with medieval torture device. thought-controlled machinery. Recently, Now I’m strolling through a different artificial limbs like the Bionic Arm have Andrew starts the program. Onto the garden, this time situated on a white entered the clinical testing phase. screen swirl images of stars and nebulae, terrace. A plump, white-haired woman while an ethereal string quartet swells into dressed like Bilbo Baggins’ great-aunt The Bionic Arm is a six-motor cybernetic a one-note crescendo. “In the beginning,” welcomes me to the world of the Wild prosthesis controlled entirely by its monotones a sleepy, grandmotherly voice, Divine. In a husky smoker’s voice, she owner’s thoughts. Developed by Dr. Todd “there were and continue to be the great informs me that “this is a place of Kuiken, director of the Neural Engineering Gardeners, who live in the Metaverse, a magic.” I wonder how much she was Center for Bionic Medicine at the vast farm fertile with energy, creativity, paid to do this. Whatever it was, it Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, the intelligence and love.” wasn’t enough. prosthesis is the result of over 20 years of research efforts. “My goal with amputees I roll my eyes. She continues, unfazed. has always been to develop more natural and graceful prostheses,” says Kuiken. Since the Bionic Arm’s invention in 2002, Kuiken hopes to one day use the Bionic machines; by manipulating them at a “Prosthetic technology is primitive, and I seven patients have undergone targeted Arm for veterans returning from combat primal level just at the boundary of knew we could do better.” muscled reinnervation, says Kuiken, and operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. As of consciousness, we could bend them the surgery has been successful in all 2006, more than 400 amputees have entirely to our will. Through a surgical process known as but one case. Jesse Sullivan, a been treated in Army hospitals; the “targeted muscle reinnervation,” nerves Tennessee man who became the first to Bionic Arm, Kuiken hopes, has the Mind Over Videogame that once connected to the amputated be outfitted with the Bionic Arm, has potential to vastly improve their lives. I continue experimenting with The arm are rerouted, linking instead to received most of the media attention. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Journey to the Wild Divine, juggling healthy muscle fibers in the chest and Once a power line worker, Sullivan lost Agency agrees; along with money from energy balls and waving mystic wands. shoulder. The motorized prosthesis is both his arms in 2001 due to severe the National Institute of Health, Kuiken’s Eventually, however, I’m taken to a then attached the site of amputation. electrical burns. Four years later, he research is funded by a multi-lab grant courtyard, where a tall black man, also The rerouted nerves can now direct volunteered to test the new technology, from DARPA worth almost $50 million. dressed in Shakespeare’s hand-me- signals to the robotic limb using surface and his progress has been astonishing. downs, stares contently at a purple ball electrodes; thought-generated impulses The greatest surprise is that Sullivan has All this makes a thought-controlled floating by his outstretched hands. are interpreted and travel down the arm, actually recaptured some sensory ability videogame seem like a trivial enterprise; guiding its movement. The result: When with his robotic limb. He can now sense if we can construct artificial body parts He jibbers about more Gardening the patient thinks about moving his arm, heat and vibration with it, and if you that our minds can control, we can mumbo-jumbo crap, and by this point, he does. press on his chest muscles, he feels as if certainly design other electronics to I’ve learned to tune out anything that you’d touched his mechanical pinky. mentally interface with. Like Sullivan, we sounds remotely New Age or hippie- This is quite a step up from the body- can literally become one with our esque. Therefore, I almost miss it when controlled hands, hooks and other he tells me to clear my mind and that prostheses currently available on the with calm, even breaths, I can control market. Essentially just scrap metal, the ball at will. “We call it Peaceful wood and plastic co-opted by the patient Breath,” he says. Oh man. Whatever you to approximate the missing limb, these say, dude; I hope you got paid as much limbs are awkward and frustrating to as Great-Aunt Baggins over there. I click manage. “They can be clumsy, tiring and on the ball. hard to learn how to use, especially for those with higher amputations,” Kuiken I know I’m supposed to be calm and explains. “The thought-controlled arm centered instead of three seconds away allows its user to move in a more natural from losing my shit entirely, but I can’t way - simply by thinking.” help it. His faux-mystic demeanor is so unnatural and stilted that I’m finding it the screen. It took me more than five says. “You can teach yourself anything, hard to stop giggling and achieve my minutes to get that ball to move, but and to an incredible degree.” Peaceful Breath. In fact, the more I try eventually, I got it. I feel very strange to breathe slowly and deeply, the funnier and pleased with myself. For all its New Will we come to a point where computers his hokey speech becomes. I think I’ve Age hokum, the core game mechanic in become neuroprosthetics, electronic developed spontaneous ADHD. Man, I’d The Journey to the Wild Divine is actually devices that can literally read our minds? be the worst Zen Buddhist ever. really cool. After this, I still don’t know. The Bionic Arm is incredible progress, but judging I shake my head and start over, forcing Noticing my grin, Andrew smiles, too. by Journey to the Wild Divine, we’ve still my breath to be deep and powerful, like “Good job,” he says. “You did well.” got a long way to go. the inhalations they teach you in Pilates. But the ball stands still. The cello music I ask him what he thinks about The Thankfully, too. As fun as it was to seems to get louder, even angry. Bigger, Journey to the Wild Divine. He pauses levitate a ball with my thoughts, I’m not deeper breaths now, like a yak in heat. before replying. “Videogames have sure I’m ready to ride off into the sunset Still nothing. Andrew looks over at me gotten kind of a bad rap, because for a on a purple zebra. At least, not yet. and snickers quietly. I try again, but that long time, they were just about instant ball just isn’t going anywhere. gratification, something to do when you didn’t have anything else,” he says. “But Lara Crigger is a freelance science, tech With a sigh, I look away from the screen videogames don’t necessarily have to be and gaming journalist whose previous work to clear my head. My eyes light on my just for entertainment. You can use them for The Escapist includes “Playing Through fish, a little aquatic Buddha, swimming in for you, instead of allowing them to The Pain” and “How To Be A Guitar Hero.” his tank across the room. Watching him merely take up your time.” Her email is [email protected]. methodically pace his tank, figure- eighting around his shipwreck and While optimistic about the potential for schooling with his own reflection, I feel thought-controlled electronics and much calmer and lighter. The giggles devices, Andrew insists that Journey to have stopped. I breathe shallowly, but the Wild Divine’s importance isn’t the slowly and easily as well. technological advance, but in better understanding the power of our complex The man abruptly laughs. “There it goes! minds. “Our brain is pretty much set up Very good!” and I’m amazed to see that to do whatever we want it to do,” he the purple ball has levitated its way off Every “three-dimensional” game you Glasses; he’s the guy who did Text Mode play is a pussy. On your flatscreen TV or Quake II. There are several other kinds monitor, your so-called 3-D game of stereoscopic goggles, like electric presents nothing but an illusion of depth, shutter glasses that flick open and shut a sleight, a fake. When will we get 50 times per second in synchrony with computer gaming in three real, no- “right” and “left” frames on your monitor. kidding spatial dimensions? If you try playing Counter-Strike that way, please post Flickr photos of you Answer: By some standards, it’s already wearing the goggles. Tag them “dork.” here. But if you’re waiting for something really cool, stick with the fakes. The main problem with stereoscopic glasses is, after using them you throw Getting to Third up. Fortunately, there are many ways to A device that creates 3-D imagery is create autostereoscopic (non-goggled, stereoscopic. If the images are non-nauseating) parallax, such as viewable without special gadgetry splitting the screen via physical barriers, (glasses, goggles, ViewFinder), the polarization and beam splitting. A device is autostereoscopic. promotional .PDF brochure from 3-D monitor company SeeReal Technologies Flat-panel monitors create 3-D effects includes short summaries of some major using “spatially-multiplexed parallax” to hardware approaches. create a different image for each eye. Everyone knows anaglyph images, those You can also get an autostereoscopic movies and comic books with red and effect with software alone, such as the blue images printed out of register. The popular Raster3D program scientists illusion of depth arises when you view employ for molecular imaging. them with red-blue glasses. One Workstations that use Raster3D often anaglyphic computer game, among split the screen into side-by-side “stereo many, is Polish programmer Jacek pair” images, so you must cross your Fedorynski’s Quake II for Red-Blue 3-D eyes to see them in 3-D. The 3-D monitor industry simmers images with a 36 degree view zone at augmented environment – cheap continually. The Stereoscopic 3-D Web rates of around 2.5 frames per second” – sensors, mesh networks, ubiquitous Ring currently has 139 members. unexciting benchmarks for a Halo player. computing, haptics and what some call Established enterprises like Dimension “augmented reality” (AR). Technologies and Real D Scientific, as Some MIT Media Lab grads later founded well as relative newcomers like SeeReal, Zebra Imaging, a 3-D holographic Goldstein mentions ARQuake, a 2001-02 cater mainly to the military, oil companies imaging company that makes a cool research project by the Wearable and specialized markets like industrial Holo-Touch Workstation not far short of Computer Lab at the University of South CAD/CAM prototyping, scientific Minority Report. But again, they promise Australia in Adelaide. As described in the (molecular and medical) imaging and no gaming prospects. ARQuake FAQ, “We modifiedQuake to photogrammetry, the spy’s practice of take its view information from a GPS and deducing physical dimension of objects If you want this hard-nosed commercial orientation sensor, and so as you walk from measurements on photographs. tech adapted to something as frivolous around, Quake moves in sync with the as gaming, it turns out you must go – real world. Monsters and buildings Gaming? Not so much. In 2004, SeeReal where else? – on campus. appear to sit in the real world as though licensed its technology to the German they were really there, and then you can game company Trinigy for use in the Real Quake play a game of Quake while you are in Vision game engine – seemingly without In June 2004, the online edition of the the real physical world.” They used result. None of the other companies electrical engineering journal IEEE Quake because it’s open-source, and boast gaming connections. Spectrum made a rare venture into because they needed to keep the science fiction with Vernor Vinge’s story monsters stupid: “When running around Meanwhile, work in holographic “Synthetic Serendipity,” excerpted from outside, it is not possible to move at the animation, or holovideo, has slowed a lot his 2006 novel Rainbows End. Vinge same speed as on a desktop ... so if the since MIT’s famous Media Lab closed its presents a world blanketed with sensors, monsters are too smart and too fast, Spatial Imaging Group in 2004. The always-on and pervasively networked. they will always beat you. In Quake, we holographic video project created only Characters move easily through this two prototypes, the Mark-I and the Mark- ocean of mediated information, II, but “the Mark-1 display is capable of interfacing with it through contact-lens rendering full color 25x25x25mm images displays and clothing that senses with a 15 degree view zone at rates twitching muscles. Harry Goldstein’s around 20 frames per second”. The companion article to “Serendipity” Mark-II display provides 150x75x150mm outlines the tech underlying this use monsters which are intentionally you can’t move around. Arguably the slow and not too powerful, to give the world’s best-established 3-D view player a chance to actually beat them.” technology is the CAVE, or Cave The team later revised ARQuake as part Automatic Virtual Environment. Standing of the ongoing Tinmith project, which in a dark 10-foot cube with sides made includes their Black & White-like Hand of of rear-projection screens, you wear God. You yourself can’t play ARQuake – (groan) shutter glasses with positional the lab is busy, and the hardware costs sensors. Projected imagery surrounds way too much – but some of the you and moves in response to your head principals have started a company, A- movements. CAVEs have been around Rage (for “Augmented Reality Active for 15 years, and lots of campus Game Engine”) that is working on AR computer science departments have one. Sky Invaders, a commercial Space They’re used for medical visualization, Invaders-type game. prototyping, cognitive psychology research and urban planning, but not for The Augmented Environments gaming – at least not where the Board of Laboratory at the Georgia Institute of Regents can find out. Technology has created ARCraft, a real- time strategy game. “Using head In case you can’t muster the six-digit tracking and wand-based interaction, installation cost for your own CAVE, you each player navigates his or her fighting might try the budget versions, force around obstacles while hunting for ImmersaDesk and Infinity Wall – though the enemy. Our research goal is to these basically amount to home theater investigate how people can use AR to setups. work together (or against each other) in a shared virtual space while maintaining One nasty problem with CAVEs and remote physical spaces.” Again, though, augmented reality is, after you try it for ARCraft is private. You can’t play. Go home. a few minutes – stop me if you’ve heard this one – you throw up. Simulation If not augmented reality, what about sickness is caused by lag in the onscreen virtual reality? It’s just like AR, except visuals in response to your head movements. Even delays measured in or any assistive device.” Actuality targets That’s right – no gaming connection hold me back! – 3-D Snake, Duck Hunt milliseconds can make sensitive users medical markets, though an October whatever. For volumetric gaming, you and Pong. That, friends, is the state of queasy. They never talk about that on 2006 interview with Actuality founder can’t find anything beyond a few oddball the art in true 3-D gaming. Oh well, at the Star Trek holodeck. Gregg Favalora tantalizingly mentions art projects, like the Matrixx 3-D display least it’ll get here faster than your robot “exciting, hologram-like displays for the built in April 2006 by electrical housekeeper and your personal Volume, Volume, Volume desktop and arcade.” engineering students at the Delft helicopter. You’ve already noticed all these methods (Netherlands) University of Technology. still use bogus 2-D flatscreen fakery. For San Francisco-based IO2 Technology What was the Matrixx? In this case, it Allen Varney designed the PARANOIA genuine three-dimensional graphics out sells a “floating free-space interactive was a giant array of 8,000 red diodes in paper-and-dice roleplaying game (2004 in real space, you’re talking volumetric display,” the M2 Heliodisplay. It’s a high- 8,000 suspended ping-pong balls edition) and has contributed to computer displays. As the remarkably good tech fog generator that projects an image connected with four kilometers of copper games from Sony Online, Origin, Wikipedia article notes, the chief onto a cloud of micro-droplets. So far, it wire. This grandiose thingy, the largest Interplay and Looking Glass. problem with volume of the “Help me, generates only a 2-D image. Inventor electronic 3-D display in the history of Obi-Wan Kenobi” kind is the mind- Chad Dyner said in an interview, “You can the world, let passersby play – woohoo, boggling amounts of data it requires: play games on the Heliodisplay, but the “For example, a 24-bit 70 volume/sec picture quality would work for only certain 1024×1024×768 display might need up types of games today.” He added, to 180 GB/s transferred to the electro- optimistically, “This is not to say that with optic modulator components.” a future version this would not be more widely adopted.” Volumetric engineering has made slow, incremental progress, but it’s been Research continues. In late November acceptably steady. Actuality Systems 2006, Japan’s National Institute of already markets a pricey industrial 3-D Information and Communications display. “Perspecta provides hologram- Technology (NICT) and Kobe University like spatial 3-D full-color and full-motion demonstrated a thin-panel device that images that occupy a volume in space. forms 3-D images in the air. Users experience an all-encompassing 360-degree view and simultaneous What do all the companies and multi-view collaboration without goggles institutions cited here share in common? Over the years, we’ve been regaled by a ploughed into the earth by gigantic, vision of a wonderfully dystopian future tawdry publicity machines). where we - the little people - will be distracted from the vast liberties taken And what does it say about us, the by a corporate controlled tyranny by entertained, who watch these facile some form of bloodthirsty designer programs? Do we watch them due to sport, only to excel at that brutal form of their core entertainment values? Hardly. entertainment and change society by We watch them in the hope that scoring one last goal. something will go wrong, and for a brief and wonderful moment the triteness of Now, the millennium’s finally rolled Fear Factor will metamorphose into the around we see that, much to our life altering events of The Running Man. interminable vexation, there was no We would talk for years to come about computer initiated nuclear war, alien how we saw a “contestant” fall to his invasion or devastating global economic death on live TV, or skewered his brain collapse to usher in a new age of savage through the eyeball with a reinforcement entertainment and human based blood- rod, or ran headlong into another sports. Instead, we are plagued by a contestant and broke his spine in four society-gone-insane for a fun-murdering places before falling into a vegetative “health & safety” fad, and our chances of coma for 10 years. a drunken Sunday afternoon watching Houston battle Tokyo on the Rollerball It all sounds pretty repulsive when it’s rink are, if anything, further away from spoken about so blatantly, doesn’t it? realization than ever. But let’s not pretend that a show which promised and delivered this kind of There are attempts at investigating the fatal excitement wouldn’t have ratings notion, such as Fear Factor and Survivor, through the roof. Though it’s certain to but these are handled in such tooth- be remembered as a dire tragedy, Steve achingly saccharine ways the shows Irwin recently proved our love of could cause diabetes (with any dangerously real entertainment. Why semblance of credibility thoroughly else did people watch him aggravate animals for so long, if it wasn’t for the tamed it and branded it with something the cult movie, moral panic hit the put the failing videogame business on life chance that one of them would prove the of a chintzy visage. The story entailed a arcades of America. support until the early ‘80s. lethal abilities he regularly told us about? tyrannical government’s practice of No use complaining when it happens. distracting the oppressed populace by Despite protests from the company’s One way or another, Death Race proved staging a cross country road race which president, Pete Kaufman, that drivers gamers love for unnecessary violence, We may have developed a peculiar set of required the drivers to kill people en were in fact plowing down “gremlins” and an unspoken, unacknowledged sub- moralistic and socially-restrictive route to score points (the basis for many rather than human beings (despite the genre was born. boundaries when it comes to civilized a contentious computer game to come, prototype game having the wonderfully entertainment, and we may cluck our wouldn’t you agree?). As with many of esoteric title Pedestrian), Death Race Similar only in its approach to a tongues and throw sanctimonious eyes these murderous franchises, the was all conscientious objectors needed dystopian society controlled by barbaric skyward when it comes to violent sports, protagonist not only comes out on top of to condemn yet another form of entertainment, the 1974 short story but the fact remains that when all his chosen sport, but manages to topple entertainment. Placards were at the ready, programmed notions of civility are a government in the process. and it was time to picket the amusements. stripped away, violent, aggressive entertainment is intrinsically compatible Hell, if a few rounds of potentially fatal Naturally, the press leapt on the bullet with raw human nature. televised violence could get rid of some points of the story, and the more people of the nutcases running today’s world, objected, the more gamers wanted to play Naturally, videogames have stirred up who wouldn’t be tempted to get behind it. Although Death Race ultimately fell more than an equal share of the the wheel? among thieves, its mass publicity certainly controversy when it comes to flaunting supposedly decadent and irresponsible Even in 1975, opinions of acceptability forms of sadistic entertainment. Indeed, were considerably different than today’s. the industry was still new when the first More relaxed in some aspects sectarian protests against “playing the (infanticide and unprovoked murder digital bad guy” arose in 1976 due to an were no problem), while remaining arcade game inspired by the dogmatically Victorian in others (no controversial movie Death Race 2000. swearing, please, we’re reactionary). Movies were at least age restricted, but The forerunner to the videogame, videogames were for kids, and when the starring David Carradine and Sylvester new Death Race machine from Exidy Stallone, caused plenty of uproar all of gave players the opportunity to take on its own, though time seems to have David “Frankenstein” Cassidy’s role from Roller Ball Murder, by William Harrison, crowds went wild. The “sport” was simplified and exemplified. The nature of was adapted into the cult film we know tweaked to maximize on physical contact The Running Man was best explained in and love, Rollerball. Harrison’s vision, and the potential for carnage. This one simple outburst from the movie’s which utilized the designer blood-sport formed the basis for the sporting aspects wonderfully reptilian antagonist, Damon as an outlet for people’s increasingly of Rollerball, which in turn laid the Killian: “Well, it is a contact sport, OK? antisocial feelings, has had a foundations for a host of futuristic games You want ratings. You want people in considerably more profound impact on of savage consequence in both the front of the television instead of picket fictionalized, ferocious entertainment movies and our gaming media. lines. Well, you’re not gonna get that than Death Race. What’s interesting is with re-runs of Gilligan’s Island!” Indeed Rollerball is only part of a real-life legacy The films never really came thick and we are not, and for a lack of genuine that began in 1935. fast, but a steady drip-feed of varying entertainment in the style of The quality titles has sated some small part Running Man, we have been forced to A movie promoter named Leo Seltzer of our aggressive natures. Although look to fiction in order to satisfy our attempted to capitalize on the bizarre Arnie’s one-liners weren’t quite up to his feelings of social repression. 1920s trend for dance marathons, and usual standard, The Running Man was, by cross breeding it with the new roller curiously, a vast improvement over the But even these dramatized sports have skating fad, evolved the increasingly original book written by Stephen King encouraged people to physically explore labored spectacle into a simulated cross (under the pseudonym Richard Bachman). the more brutal side of their nature. The country race. Dozens of two-man teams The original tale told of a game show 1989 post-apocalyptic Australian movie were required to circle a race track whereby contestants volunteered to go on staring stony-faced veteran Rutger thousands of times on roller skates; the run from studio appointed hunters and Hauer, Salute of the Jugger (also known disqualified if both racers were off the were required to post in video diaries as Salute to the Jugger and The Blood of track at any one time. The twice a day, the disappointing twist being Heroes) has seen the contact sport Transcontinental Roller Derby became the studio made surreptitious use of the around which the story revolved mutate massively popular, but never more so postmarks to determine the whereabouts into an actual amateur league. than when catastrophe struck. of the ill-fated players. The object (in the film) was for two The sheer number of contestants (all The movie improved on the concept by competing teams of players armed with desperate to win the diminutive prize correcting the book’s major flaw: the rudimentary weaponry to place a dog’s money so they might claw their way out game. The rules in the book were skull on a spike at the opposition’s end of the Depression) often led to mass distinctly inconsistent and of the play area. Naturally, the means by collisions and injury; at which point the underdeveloped, while the film clarified, which this was achieved was pretty much left to the conscience of the team Brutal Deluxe, it’s the player’s misfortune Available for a plethora of different members. The movie then went on to and privilege to take this down-at-heel platforms from 1990 to the present inspire a group of German’s to form their gang of miscreants to the top, by fair day, Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe is own “jugger” league, which has received means or foul. A multitude of upgrade the yardstick by which every game considerable amateur recognition, and attributes, such as aggression, connoisseur should measure sports has since spread to Australia and the U. intelligence, speed and power, built the simulation and, by extension, come to S. Naturally, the weapons are well impoverished team into the fighting force terms with the savagery of human padded and contact is limited, but the of your design. Whether you preferred to existence and learn to revel in it. mere existence of independent jugger run rings around the opponent with light- teams exemplifies the feeling of footed intellectuals or score points by There are no apologies to make for dissatisfaction permeating the global brutalizing the opposing players with acknowledging all aspects of your super-sport business. lumbering animals, the team’s ability and animalistic psyche, and though we are direction were first decided in the gym unlikely to see any true form of the As the Jugger first took to the nuclear and not the arena. promised amusement this side of a wastelands, a U.K.-based software nuclear war, there is a wealth of material developer, The Bitmap Brothers, released The frantic, non-stop engagement puts out there for the discerning violence a sequel to one of their debut games, the player through a distinct physical junkie. This unique, unbranded genre Speedball, and redefined brutal-sport and mental ordeal while endeavoring to which has subtly permeated our media entertainment in a way that has yet to enact the simple task of carrying a metal for over 30 years is the unforgiving, be surpassed. ball to the opposite end of a steel-clad shameless pinnacle of raw pit and post it in a narrow goal mouth. entertainment, where sport is no longer In 1990, the beauty of mayhem, allure Due to the abundant lack of rules, this about winning and losing: It’s about of destruction and glamour of violence high-speed passage into enemy territory living and dying. were skillfully woven into Speedball 2: is no small task. There is nothing the Brutal Deluxe: a Commodore Amiga opposition cannot or will not do to Spanner has written articles for several game of pure, knuckle-whitening prevent enemy access. In fact, players publications, including Retro Gamer. He carnage capable of corrupting even the are actively encouraged to inflict is a self-proclaimed horror junkie, with a most devout pacifist into a blood hungry, sufficient damage to have unfortunate deep appreciation for all things Romero. designer-sport savage. competitors carried away on stretchers by robotic medics, being lavished with Taking control of the newest, most points for such vicious conduct. pitiable team in the Speedball leagues, Lurking beneath the roaring advance of concerned only with entertainment. technology and the ever-glitter of the While studies have shown the utility of American Dream’s advance into a games in healthcare – and in fact a Roddenberryesque stratosphere are a growing industry conference addresses series of frightening statistics: 4.5 specifically this – there has long been a million Americans currently have lamented gap between commercial Alzheimer’s disease, a number that has software development and the medical doubled since 1980 and is projected to community. But that gap, however reach 11.3-16 million by 2050. One in unsteadily, is beginning to close. 10 Americans have a family member that suffers dementia; one in three knows Now joining the fight against cognitive someone who has the disease. It is atrophy is one of game design’s brightest, referred to by medical professionals as Noah Falstein, whose road to the greater “a demographic time bomb” and an good passed through LucasArts and escalating epidemic that the American Dreamworks Interactive, and still continues health care infrastructure is not prepared through what he calls “pure-entertainment” to face. Government funds are pouring games via his private consulting firm. His into neurological research, and in the recent alliance with Quixit, a shiny new meantime doctors are rallying to preach company out to save our minds, represents prevention to their patients in the form a unique synthesis of neurological research of rigorous dietary maintenance and and game design that combines verified exercise – both physical and mental. scientific process with the growth and support potential of an online community – The overwhelming success of Nintendo’s and then makes it fun. Brain Age and Big Brain Academy represents a never-before-seen Games on the Brain phenomenon entering game Falstein has long been involved with the development: consumers purchasing serious games initiative, a branch of games not out of desire, but out of game development specifically aimed at perceived need. The chill of anxiety that applying game development principles simmers beneath such purchases brings and process to real-world challenges. an air of reality to a business formerly “I firmly believe that working on pure- And the science of fun itself – game business. “Brain training” games thus entertainment games is a noble calling, too; design – is no stranger to neurological reach into the heart of game design, and I don’t want to minimize that. But making structure and function. what they’re finding pushes the game games that are designed to entertain while industry as a whole. simultaneously achieving another purpose “Understanding how the brain works is (like brain training) is a very challenging very important to game designers. “In one sense, all games are cognitive design exercise, and it’s been interesting Nearly all the high-level game designers training tools! But in the specific [sense] purely on that level as well.” I know are at least interested in the field of games based on maintaining mental of brain research, and many know quite acuity, I see this as a vital, large subset For a designer whose work in the field a lot about brain function. I’ve found of serious games. I hope that in the includes such beloved and legendary that understanding how different kinds of future, games like ours will also be titles as Secret of Monkey Island, his decision making are done by different increasingly used in research trials to notions of game development’s potential parts of the brain has influenced my enhance understanding of the brain’s are concepts to watch. “I really enjoy understanding and designs of function. That would in turn benefit the games that are aimed at pure entertainment games, pacing them to game industry in general in many ways.” entertainment, too, and as a freelancer I use a mix of different brain function over mix my work with both entertainment- time. The great designs of people like A Mental Workout only and serious games. But I do think Wil Wright, Shigeru Miyamoto and Sid The intersection of third-party game that the field of serious games is likely to Meier have been exemplifying these development and mental exercise grow faster than other types of games - principles for years.” gaming is not unprecedented, but mental perhaps even eclipsing entertainment- exercise games face a series of only titles some day. So I’m committed While the idea of playing games to challenges: Either they’re not challenging to working in this area. But if I’ve maintain mental health isn’t necessarily enough, not varied enough or just plain learned one thing from a career in the new (the Alzheimer’s Association itself not fun. Researchers in the past have game industry, it’s to stay agile and to recommends the use of games as part of seen this last as a lesser concern, but as embrace change, so I hesitate to make a mental maintenance advisory package, the games-for-health initiative develops, blanket predictions about where it is and the effects of Tetris on brain researchers are increasingly realizing going. It’s one of the new game fields chemistry have had senior citizens that it may be the most important axis. to watch.” tapping away at the puzzle game for years), that idea is just now beginning to “I think the key aspect of games that gain enough ground as a respected makes them useful – not necessarily technique to break into medicine – and superior – is simple fun.” And “fun” harnesses that most elusive If we could achieve that, I think it would “We do think the eventual audience is golden fruit coveted by prevention- have a great impact on a lot of lives.” nearly everyone, but for a start we’re focused medical professionals: patient focusing on people in the Baby Boom motivation. Quixit, which was born when And if Quixit can, through methods that generation. Boomers are largely CEO Sheryle Bolton acquired licenses to doctors agree assist in the prevention of computer-literate, affluent and the France-based Happy Neuron brain cognitive atrophy, delay the onset of increasingly concerned about staying game panoply, approaches this challenge dementia, the Alzheimer’s Association sharp as they age. Well, as we age - this bidirectionally: from one angle using would agree that its contribution to the is one of the first times in my career I’ve Falstein’s design expertise to refine the solution would be major; 50 percent of been creating a game aimed specifically research-based Happy Neuron games for Alzheimer’s patients, according to its at people my age and older, since when I an entertainment aesthetic, and from estimates, could avoid the disease started I was a 20-something making another angle creating an online entirely if symptoms could be delayed by games that mostly teens played, and as community where hundreds of thousands five years. the gaming audience aged and expanded of potential users can share experiences, into older markets, I was always a bit engage in friendly competition and, very But reaching the right demographic can ahead of the curve. It’s nice to be back importantly for primary health be difficult. “One problem as I in the target age range again.” practitioners who may only see their understand it is a very human tendency patients once or twice a year, track and to stay in your comfort zone, and as with Strain Your Brain monitor individual progress. “Quixit is a physical exercise, it is important in But it ain’t all ginseng and rainbows. made-up word that hopefully implies mental exercise to keep trying new Particularly with the rise in popularity of Quiz, Quick and maybe even Quixotic,” things, pushing yourself to excel a bit. Nintendo’s brain training games, the Falstein says, and the online service Some people love crossword puzzles, medical community shows consistent promises a sleek and fun experience and feel that doing them will keep them skepticism, verging on disdain, for already lauded by its visitors. sharp. As you’d expect, in practice this games that claim to make you smarter. means they do stay sharp - at doing The concept of transference is a major “My father died of Alzheimer’s-related crossword puzzles. It’s important to concern in cognitive training: There is no causes, so I’ve seen first hand how cross-train and push different parts of doubt that Brain Age’s exercises can devastating the loss of mental faculties your brain, and making it fun to do so is make your basic math skills improve, but can be. I hope our games will prove to one way to encourage people to leave do they really make you smarter? The ameliorate, perhaps delay, some of the that comfort zone.” game’s mechanics are addictive and fun, process of decline for even a few people. so the thought that this exercise could actually be good for you gives brain training games a distinct commercial failure. Luckily, I don’t think anyone is advantage. But how much of that is claiming that sorting words or smoke and mirrors? Is, as some medical deciphering text is bad for you in any professionals have asserted, Nintendo’s way - and I’m confident time will show Brain Age a fancy crossword puzzle? it’s very good for you.” Can a videogame share an ethical ranking with diet pills? It seems likely that, with time and deliberation, the medical community at large “I think the biggest unique hurdle is just will come around. Brain Age’s own natural skepticism that our games - or spokesperson, Dr. Ryuta Kawashima, any games - will actually help people notably spoke against games as a waste of sustain mental acuity. It’s a chicken and time prior to his involvement with Nintendo. egg problem: Until you make the game If such a prominent brain researcher can and have large numbers of people using make the conversion, it speaks well for the it over time, you can’t prove it’s helping inspiration of future scientists. - and some people don’t want to fund you unless they have that proof in hand. For Falstein, Brain Age’s presence on the Luckily, Brain Age came along while we shelves, and its commercial success, were in the midst of our initial provided market proof, and despite fundraising, and I think that helped show Kawashima’s earlier skepticism, Falstein people that the basic principle is sound has hope for Brain Age’s long term results: for business. Perhaps soon we’ll get some hard scientific evidence fromBrain “The more data points out there, the Age and its sequels, which would make better for all of us.” the market better for everyone.” Erin Hoffman is a professional game Asked about the medical community’s designer, freelance writer, and hobbyist specific skepticism, Falstein said, “I think troublemaker. She moderates it’s understandable - I have a lot of Gamewatch.org and fights crime on the respect for the scientific method. But I streets by night. don’t think you can make any advance without trying and being willing to risk EDITORIAL PRODUCTION BUSINESS Executive Editor Producer Publisher Julianne Greer Jonathan Hayter Alexander Macris

Content Editor Layout Artist Director of Advertising Joseph Blancato Jessica Fielhauer Susan Briglia Russ Pitts Jason Haile Chairman of Themis Group Contributing Editor Lead Web Developer Thomas S. Kurz JR Sutich Whitney Butts Shannon Drake Web Developer Research Manager Erik Jacobson Nova Barlow Tim Turner

Contributors IT Director Susan Arendt Jason Smith Lara Crigger Erin Hoffman Spanner Allen Varney

Issue 79, © 2006. The Escapist is published weekly by Themis Group, Inc. Produced in the United States of America. To contact the editors please email [email protected]. For a free subscription to The Escapist in PDF format please view www.escapistmagazine.com