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360-degree gaming on a projector-equipped iPhone

by Mike Schramm May 10th 2010 at 10:00PM


Our friends at Joystiq found this one -- it's a jailbroken iPhone hooked up to a picoprojector, with the software using the compass and the accelerometer to determine exactly where the projector is aimed. That brings in a fun augmented reality touch -- you can move the iPhone around real space to determine where a turret is pointed in the virtual one. It's a little harder to explain than to show, but the hardware in the iPhone tells the projector what you're looking at, so moving the iPhone moves the view.

How do we get from this interesting jailbroken solution to a real game? The iPhone hardware needs an upgrade, and best-case scenario is that it gets a projector built into the iPhone itself. There are already phones that have projectors built in, but as I learned at Macworld when I used this projector, the limiter isn't the projector hardware; it's the battery. The power source was as big as the iPhone itself, and even then only lasted about the length of a movie. So it'll be a while, probably, before Apple is convinced to include a projector in the phone, and then delivers hardware that can actually keep it sleek and streamlined.

Until then, this demo makes the old gears go about what's possible with a setup like this. Very cool.


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Our friends at Joystiq found this one -- it's a jailbroken iPhone hooked up to a picoprojector, with the software using the compass and...
 

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7 Comments

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CJ

Here's another demo of Microvision's game gun...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZQxB1nGAJo

May 13 2010 at 5:08 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
CJ

Microvision has already developed a gun peripheral that does more or less what some of the comments are suggesting....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnvoTd6a_Dc

May 13 2010 at 5:05 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
xian06

i was thinking of this with a silent hill type game. a gun w/ mounted light/projector where you only see the flash light...


--- imagin the scary s!^#......

May 11 2010 at 8:07 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Steven Fowler

I can understand the appeal of a miniature projector in a media device like the iPhone or iPad (though, owning a 16mm movie projector, even high end video projectors don't really impress me), but while the concept of this game makes sense, it would be infinitely better on the iPhone itself. The only thing this setup lets you do is say "hey guys, look, I can play a game and project it on a wall!" Unless you live in a perfect white sphere this game would be completely unplayable. I'm all for using the accelerometer for pseudo-VR type games though.

May 11 2010 at 12:38 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Dave

So.. what I'm thinking is this... Have a gun peripheral, with the projector built in to it, battery in the stock, and a mount point for the iPhone.

The only problem I foresee is my dumb ass running into walls in my tiny crap box of a house.

May 11 2010 at 3:21 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Chris

Got to admit that is pretty cool.

May 11 2010 at 1:51 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Steve

Cool idea. It's obviously not very fully-formed, but you're right, it shows potential.

In fact, although it would be expensive, could you imagine if you had three or four of these projectors in an array that surrounds your field of vision?

Lots of potential.

May 10 2010 at 11:08 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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