Tag Archives: video games

Relax! Because video games will soon react to your physiological arousal

Posted on November 3, 2011 by Ryo

As technologies multiply, so too do our uses for them. In fact, video games in particular started out as nothing more than a form of entertainment – some would say “mindless entertainment.” But especially in recent years, games have turned from “fun” to “therapeutic” and “educational,” among having other cognitive and social benefits. This article won’t be about these benefits, though, but about where the industry is headed in terms of its biggest new hardware innovations, and why non-gamers should care about them. So far, it looks like the next big thing is a controller that can actually sense your physiological arousal.

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Posted in Culture, Medicine & Health, Technology, Video Games | Tagged history, robotics, video games | 1 Comment

Skeptikai Notices (Aug9) – Video games, news, hacking, Japan, science

Posted on August 9, 2011 by Ryo

Video Games:

Robots use Kinect to understand our world – Robots can’t view the world like we do, but technology is advancing, and soon they may be able to understand it enough to convince us that they can experience it similar to us. Researchers at Cornell University’s Robot Learning Lab have manipulated the Kinect system – created essentially for entertainment purposes for Microsoft’s Xbox 360 video game console – so that the robots could image their environments in “colored 3D pointclouds.” The accompanying video shows the world as they see it. The robots can locate objects, and robotics will probably be advancing exponentially, now that we have examples of robots learning skills through reinforcement – such as the robotic arm that learned to flip pancakes after 50 trials.

This is a preview of Skeptikai Notices (Aug9) – Video games, news, hacking, Japan, science. Read the full post (1408 words, 1 image, estimated 5:38 mins reading time)