Physical gaming: Out of the lap and into the living room

Abstract

Diarmid Campbell talks about camera based games such as those using the EyeToy and, more recently, the PlayStation Eye camera. He looks at the many different techniques that can applied to analysing video images and how to use them as a game input mechanism. For each technique, he explains how it works, ways in which it can be used and, more importantly, where it can fail. The presentation is illustrated with plenty of videos and live demos to keep you awake. It looks at techniques from past games but also those from games currently in development and finishes with what lies on the horizon. BioDiarmid grew up in Cambridge and then moved to London to study Pure Mathematics at Imperial College. He has worked in the computer games industry since 1998, initially at Computer Artworks, working on several titles including the best-selling action/horror title, The Thing. Since 2004, Diarmid has been head of the EyeToy R&D group in Sony's Studio London where he has built up a research group investigating hardware and new computer vision algorithms for their range of EyeToy and PSEye games.