DTC Showcase

I was pleasantly surprised at the DTC showcase on Tuesday by all of the very unique and interesting short animations as well as the DTC awards. After sitting through about thirty minutes of video the two best ones that stood out to me were The Not-So-Serious Ski Movie and She didn’t mean to leave her date for someone else, they just had better chemistry.

When the Not-So-Serious Ski Movie first started I thought that it probably wasn’t going to be that interesting. I haven’t been skiing in years and I haven’t really wanted to, but when it started I was instantly drawn in by September by Earth, Wind and Fire. This song was perfect for the opening of the video and instantly set the tone. While referencing the television Marshall McLuhan states that it “demands participation and involvement in depth of the whole being. It will not work as a background. It engages you” (McLuhan 125). While this Ski movie is not television it is still a video which is engaging you in the same way TV does, through a screen. I think the music choice really helped to engage people, bringing them along for the ride. In other parts of the video where they were holding cameras at different angles while they skied also really helped to up my level of involvement. It almost made you feel like you were there and it did in fact make we want to go skiing again.

“We have now become aware of the possibility of arranging the entire human environment as a work of art, as a teaching machine designed to maximize perception and to make every day learning a process of discovery” (McLuhan 68). They definitely did a good job of using the human environment as a work of art beautifully capturing the mountains and the snow as well as other skiers, bringing whoever is watching the film up on the slopes with them. Using their snowy environment in different ways definitely helped to create an engaging video while creating a work of art at the same time. The way the video was arranged and edited was also great mixing in moments of fun with the serious skiing.

In Bogost’s book in his chapter on empathy he talks about how, “One of the unique properties of videogames is their ability to put us in someone else’s shoes. But most of the time those shoes are bigger than our own” (Bogost 18). This also applies to The-Not-So-Serious Ski Movie even though it is not a video game. Because of the editing that was done and the way some of the footage was shot, you can easily put yourself in their shoes. In this particular case I would not be able to ski like that, so it gave me an experience that I would not be able to have on my own.

Connecting this video to my Multimedia Authoring class, we talked about creative collaboration when we were working on our final project videos. I think that these 5 guys did a create job working together and collaborating to get some really great footage. Even if they were just being filmed they helped to make the video what it was.

This video was entertaining and beautiful at the same time, which is why I showed it to my roommates when I got back. I thought that it was good enough to share and that they would also think it was engaging. Since the video was on you tube it was easy to access emphasizing one of the points that McLuhan kept brining up; that we are part of a global village. “The new electronic interdependence recreates the world in the image of a global village” and in this case I think that being so involved with electronics and technology is a good thing, because now more people can have access to this video (McLuhan 67).

My Comments:

http://kthompsonsschoolblog.blogspot.com/2014/04/dtc-375-blog-8-cameras-in-1990s-to-today.html

http://textsandtechnologiessl.wordpress.com/2014/04/30/post-10-the-end/

Haptics

The chapter on Textures really stood out to me in today’s reading because we were also talking about it in class. How the bush strokes and the textures in paintings make the original painting more important than the millions of copies online. It is partially why people crowd in front of the Mona Lisa to see the actual physical work of art.

 “Even though image and sound make up much of their raw output, touch is an undeniable factor of gameplay” (pg 80).

One idea that I thought the book could have gone more in depth into was this idea of tactile computer interfaces or haptics. By the end of the chapter I was still a little confused as to what it was and if it was called haptics or rumble. Bogost mentioned the company Immersion so I decided to start there to figure out more.

According to their website, haptics is the science of touch.

“The origin of the word haptics is the Greek haptikos, meaning able to grasp or perceive.  Haptic sensations are created in consumer devices by actuators, or motors, which create a vibration.  Those vibrations are managed and controlled by embedded software, and integrated into device user interfaces and applications via the embedded control software APIs.” http://www.immersion.com/haptics-technology/what-is-haptics/

While the book jumps around giving information on haptics, this one paragraph explanation seemed to make more sense to me. More examples of this haptic or “rumble effect” were given and while the vibration in the game controller was obvious I hadn’t thought about the touch vibration on your smartphone when you call someone. Even when you are texting you can turn on sound and vibration. Since in class we are focusing on video games I didn’t even think of haptics in relation to my phone and iPad.

Use/Importance of Haptics

How to do things with Videogames	Immersion Website
Increased immersion: make the player feel more like a part of the game	Enhanced Realism: Haptics provide a sense of realism because the player can feel the action of what they are doing. Tactile feedback only serves to enhance both visual and auditory feedback as well.
Better feedback: rumble helps the payer with interface goals	Improved Usability: Haptics improve the usability through touch, sight and sound. Touch confirmation can provide a certain type of confidence within a game signaling that you have done something right. They engage more fully the users senses = improved usability.
	Restoration of Mechanical Feel: Touch screens do not provide the physical feedback we need with their flat surfaces. With haptics we become more confident on our phones once tactile confirmation is used.

The website and the book pretty much say the same thing about the use of haptics, just worded a little differently.

Lastly, there is a section on the website that directly addresses What Products Use Haptics? I found this to be very interesting and beneficial to look at. There are a lot more pieces of technology that use haptics than I realized!

http://www.immersion.com/haptics-technology/haptics-in-use/index.html

Here are some of the main examples that were given:

Gaming

Logitech G27 Racing Wheel

Dual-motor Force Feedback Makes You Feel Closer Than Ever To the World’s Greatest Circuits

“When cornering through high-speed, g-heavy turns it felt like we were actually at wheel of a sports car.”  -Wired

Mobile

Samsung Galaxy S IV

The Most Lusted After Android Smartphone to Date

“It’s also worth enabling the haptic feedback for Air View, as it gives it some much-needed physical feedback to this hover-based feature.” -Android Central

Consumer

Samsung Galaxy Gear

“In a wearable device, tactile feedback is an ideal means for alerting and notifying users in a completely discreet and non-visual manner.”

Medical

CAE EndoscopyVR Surgical Simulator

Most accurate physiology, better haptics, most advanced bronchoscopy content

“The EndoscopyVR simulator is a surgical platform that supplies a realistic training environment for both gastrointestinal and bronchoscopy procedures.”

“Now, using simulation, instead of walking in as novices, our fellows walk in with a fairly high level of experience.” -Dr. James C. Reynolds, Interim Chair of Medicine, Drexel University College of Medicine

I just find it really interesting that haptics connects the medical field to the video gaming world. The same technologies can be used in different ways one for teaching and learning and another for immersion and entertainment purposes. It is also interesting to think that the same technology that can help teach medical students is also put into our smartphones that we carry around with us every day.

Questions:

Do you really feel that haptic feedback is beneficial on smartphones/touch screens? I turn mine off when I get a new phone because I don’t like the constant vibration when I am typing. It is almost too much tactile feedback.

Do you like the vibrating controllers? Do you feel that is does in fact immerse you more in the game?

My Comments:

http://jonarthur1992.wordpress.com/2014/04/18/dtc-375-freestyle/

http://ktuftsprofessional.wordpress.com/2014/04/17/blog-8/

Rock Band/ Music

While reading How to do Things with Videogames I became most interested on the chapter about Music. I have been playing the violin and piano since I was very young so music has always been a part of my life. More specifically related to video games, I was an avid Rock Band player all throughout high school. My father and I would play it almost every day and I quickly rose to expert level on drums, guitar, and base. This is the one game that I have really played a lot and become attached to aside from Left for Dead 2.

The book refers to Guitar Hero and Rock Band as music performance games and I think that is a very accurate title. If you are playing the game in the right setting it can almost feel like you are actually playing the song. Creating an atmosphere like this can be very powerful and inspire some players to go out and learn a real instrument.

“…technology neither saves nor condemns us. It influences us, of course, changing how we perceive, conceive of, and interact with our world… it structures and informs our understanding and behavior” (pg 2).

Rock Band has succeeded in changing how many young people interact with our world. Playing this game won’t instantly give you the ability to pick up a guitar and play, but it can give you “a greater understanding as a listener” (pg 34). According to the article Will Guitar hero really make me a better guitar player?, being able to pick up on rhythms is one of the skills that you can get from playing this game. I know that I definitely listen to music a little bit differently and pick up more on the drums in the background of songs. I can pick apart the different instruments that go into creating the final composition.

Players can actually get electronic drum sets and hook them up to Rock Band 3 and play on Pro mode. This is more advanced and includes the symbols and hi-hat, but it more accurately symbolizes you playing the actual drums. It is teaching you to the play the drums in a fun way, with songs that you enjoy. I ended up doing this and now I know that I have a better understanding of music /drums since taking the game a step further to learn music in a more creative way than just staring at a bunch of sheet music. As a kid I never wanted to play piano because I didn’t want to take the time to sit down and learn the boring classical songs and all of the scales. While the technical knowledge behind music is something that everyone should learn, games like Rock Band are a great way to introduce music and teach it to kids in a fun way.

This reminds me of that one article we read where the teachers and video game professionals were trying to find a way to make a game to teach children different school topics. I see Rock Band and Guitar Hero as something similar. A fun way to teach children something new that they might not want to pick up otherwise. While the songs on these games aren’t necessarily for children they definitely work for teens and adults, getting more people interested in music.

In terms of these games changing our behavior, “In a 2008 study conducted in the UK, more than half of young people reported playing music games, a fifth of whom said they took up an instrument after the video games spurred their interest” (pg 33).

While Rock Band is specifically a music game. I also believe that music is one of the most essential parts to any video game. Just like music is very important in the movies, it can set the tone for the entire game. Without music and sound effects games would not be the same.

I think it would be really interesting to play a game without sound. I believe that being able to fully immerse yourself in a game relies heavily on the music and sound. Without it, games would not be as engaging. And if games are not engaging then they are no longer effective.

Questions:

For any reason have you had to play a game with the sound low or off? How did it affect your feelings towards the game?

What games have the best music? (ex. Final Fantasy) Does the music that is playing in a game affect the way you play? For better or worse?

My comments:

http://dtc375.wordpress.com/2014/03/28/blog-7-anthropological-examination-of-blogger/

http://tarrdtc375.blogspot.com/2014/03/7-study-of-life-blog.html?showComment=1397500174326#c8032270244483701354