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Video Gaming 2.0

The progression of what's popular in video gaming is starting to mirror that of other media, according to a Wall Street Journal report. The most popular games this holiday season--like "Guitar Hero III," "Rock Band," and all things Nintendo Wii--share an element of interactivity. They come with or require a special controller--like a guitar--that allows you to interact with the game differently than you would with a standard console controller. Similarly, traditional media has had to adapt to the consumer demand for greater interactivity. Later, that demand evolved into consumer-generated content sites like YouTube and MySpace.

Sensing this, game companies are already hard at work on the next level of interactive console gaming. In Japan, Nintendo just released a product called the Wii Balance Board, a pressure-sensitive device that allows users to do yoga and other exercises. Meanwhile, Richard Marks, a senior researcher at Sony Computer Entertainment, is working on a new technology for the PS3 that allows players to sketch drawings, scan them, and play them on the screen. San Francisco-based startup Emotiv is taking interactivity a step further: the company has produced a new method of measuring electrical brain activity through a helmet, so users can control action in games by thinking about what to do next.

Read the whole story at Wall Street Journal »

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