Siobhan O'Flynn's 1001 Tales http://1001tales.posterous.com tracing the roots & tendrils of storytelling today posterous.com Tue, 28 Dec 2010 14:16:00 -0800 WOW!!! Kinect Hacked to Play World of Warcraft: Welcome to the Future of Gaming | Fast Company http://1001tales.posterous.com/wow-kinect-hacked-to-play-world-of-warcraft-w http://1001tales.posterous.com/wow-kinect-hacked-to-play-world-of-warcraft-w

Excerpt:

"Kinect hacks are coming thick and fast, but here is one that will set millions of PC gamers' hearts a-flutter: A hack that lets you gesture control a game of World of Warcraft.

The tech is coming from the University of Southern California's Institute for Creative Technologies, where a team has built a toolkit, dubbed the Flexible Action and Articulated Skeleton Toolkit, which lets them quickly harness Kinect's various image processing and motion-sensing powers to whatever bits of code they desire. This middleware, with some tweaks, lets FAAST quickly facilitate "integration of full-body control with games and VR applications," via a clever processing server that streams the user's skeleton pattern, including body position and gestures which can be mapped onto keyboard controls.

The code is free for non-commercial use, because the Institute has big plans for it--including simple, medically inspired games for rehabilitation of motor-skills after a stroke, and even for reducing childhood obesity through "healthy gaming" (though, given the wild flailing Kinect-playing requires, the health of coffee tables and trinkets around the world might be in danger)..."

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Tue, 07 Dec 2010 03:27:00 -0800 Great Video & a Lot of Passion here: BBC News - Tech Know Cosplay: designing game character costumes http://1001tales.posterous.com/great-video-a-lot-of-passion-here-bbc-news-te http://1001tales.posterous.com/great-video-a-lot-of-passion-here-bbc-news-te

Dressing as a video game character is one way fans turn an often solitary pastime into a social occasion.

Many cosplayers, as they are known, have gathered outside stores for the latest release of World of Warcraft, one of the most popular games on the market.

Donning dwarf, elf and troll costumes, gamers braved sub-zero temperatures to get their hands on the Cataclysm expansion.

As Ellie Gibson found out, there can also be a serious element to the hobby, with some people treating the art as a way to build a living.

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