16
Oct
2016
Oct
2016
Playstation 4 hardrive
How to add a bigger hard drive to the PlayStation 4.
https://www.facebook.com/techinsider/videos/595046657360361/
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more on game consoles in this IMS blog
Searching for "playstation"
23
Jul
2021
Jul
2021
AR blockchain doritos
categories: AR
“Using #augmentedreality (#AR) and #blockchain technologies, the game featured ‘Vatoms’, virtual objects that players can interact with.
Due to pandemic restrictions, the game, originally developed as an outdoor activity in other markets, was adapted to allow people to hunt for the packs in and around their own homes. Packs contained either Playstation symbol chips or an instant-win prize, which would then be stored in a digital wallet.”
Imagine, if it was not Doritos, but bones to build a skeletal system (Biology, nursing, medicine, etc.), philosophers (Philosophy, political science, social sciences) and the rewards or badges in the leaderboard. #gaming and #gamification
Read more at: https://www.campaignasia.com/article/why-11-million-filipinos-went-hunting-for-virtual-doritos/470820
24
Feb
2021
Feb
2021
VR on PS5
https://blog.playstation.com/2021/02/23/introducing-the-next-generation-of-vr-on-playstation/
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more on PlayStation in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=playstation
27
Jan
2021
Jan
2021
Apple AAPL
Apple AAPL is expected to launch its first virtual reality (VR) headset in 2022, which will be a forerunner of its much-anticipated augmented reality (AR) glasses
along with VR features like a completely simulated 3-D digital environment, the device might include limited AR functionalities.
Apple’s entry will intensify competition in the VR device market, which includes devices such as Facebook’s FB Oculus Quest 2, Sony’s SNE PlayStation VR, Microsoft’s MSFT Windows Mixed Reality and HTC’s Vive and Vive Pro.
global spending on AR and VR is expected to reach $72.8 billion in 2024 from $12 billion in 2020, reflecting a CAGR of 54%
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more on Apple Glass in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=apple+glass
16
May
2019
May
2019
DGBL in higher ed
Digital Game-Based Learning in Higher Ed Moves Beyond the Hype
By George Lorenzo Aug 4, 2016
Toolwire and Muzzy Lane, two digital game-based learning (DGBL) vendors that are making significant strides in higher education through their “serious game” products. The state of DGBL in higher ed is not nearly as prevalent and accepted as it is in K-12, but growing quickly.
Serious games feature evidenced-centered design, whereby data is collected, analyzed and adapted to the knowledge level of the player
Andy Phelps, director of the Rochester Institute of Technology Center for Media, Arts, Games, Interaction and Creativity (MAGIC) and executive committee member of the Higher Education Video Game Alliance (HEVGA),adds that “game-based learning has the opportunity to really challenge our assumptions about linear modes of educational interaction.”
Muzzy Lane, s higher-education-oriented Practice Series games, in partnership with McGraw Hill, feature titles in Marketing, Spanish, Medical Office and Operations.
The Challenge of Creating Worthy GamesBoth Toolwire and Muzzy Lane DGBL products are not of the “Triple A” PlayStation 4 and Xbox One variety, meaning they do not have all the high-fidelity, digital-media bells and whistles that are inside the heavily advertised war games and sports games geared toward the more than $99 billion global video game consumer marketplace, according to gaming market intelligence company Newzoo.
the state of DGBL in higher education consists of very effective digital games of less-than-Triple A fidelity coming out of private companies like Toolwire and Muzzy Lane, as well as from a good number of college and university game design innovation centers similar to RIT’s MAGIC. These include the Games+Learning+Society (GLS) Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison; the University of Southern California Interactive Media and Games Division, the Carnegie Mellon University Entertainment Technology Center and the New York University Game Center.
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more on DGBL in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=dgbl
30
Jan
2019
Jan
2019
VR Education Apps
categories: educational technology, instructional technology
7 Best VR Education Apps
Lauren Barack June 19 2018 Visit Mars, swim with sea otters and trek to Mt. Everest’s Base Camp
https://www.gearbrain.com/7-best-vr-education-apps-2579317090.html
Victory VR is known for its science curriculum which is aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards.
The BBC Earth: Life in VR app works on Google Daydream devices, like the new Lenovo Mirage Solo
Google Expeditions Android and iOS app is a virtual field trip that uses a Google Cardboard viewer.
Unimersiv is in the business of educational experiences — works on both Samsung Gear VR and the Oculus Rift, and takes viewers underwater to explore the Titanic and to one of our closest planets through the “Mars: Curiosity Rover,” app
Discovery VR app. The app works on nearly every single VR platform: Google Daydream, Samsung Gear VR, HTC Vive, Oculus Rift and Google Cardboard viewers using both iOS and Android devices.
Merge Cube is a $15 foam block
The Apollo 11 VR app. work with HTC Vive, Oculus Rift and PlayStation VR, and also Oculus Go
19
Jan
2019
Jan
2019
Fortnite is Instagram of gaming
The Most Important Video Game on the Planet
How Fortnite became the Instagram of gaming
https://medium.com/new-york-magazine/the-most-important-video-game-on-the-planet-c26988a8f497 Jan 11 2019,Brian Feldman
http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2018/07/how-fortnite-became-the-most-popular-video-game-on-earth.html
Every number released in conjunction with Fortnite is staggering, even within the context of a $137 billion industry. On the same day as its Fortnite Pro-Am tournament at E3, the video-game industry’s largest convention, the game was released for the Nintendo Switch, and within 24 hours it had been downloaded more than 2 million times. Analysts estimate that Fortnite is currently raking in more than $300 million a month, and has made its maker, Epic Games, more than $1.2 billion since its battle royale mode launched in late September.
Fortnite is virtually identical on every platform, and players can move from their PlayStation to their phone and back without missing a beat. Milligan first heard about the game back in September. “It was the next new game, like when Minecraft came out, but way more popular.”
The cadence of a Fortnite game is that nothing is happening and then, very suddenly, everything is happening. The game has three main modes: solo (every player for themselves), duos (teams of two), and squads (teams of three or four), but there are consistently around 100 players in every session.
Even when kids aren’t playing Fortnite, they’re talking about Fortnite or finding ways to profit from it.
Video games pioneered the dopamine-rush cycle. Using bright graphics and sound effects to make players feel continual accomplishment, arcade games were honed to make players feel like they needed to feed in just one more quarter over and over again — slot machines that kept people entranced without ever having to pay out. The addictive core of video-gaming never went away, even as games became more complicated: Every win, every high score, every 100 percent completion, every secret and Easter egg was a chance for a little rush of accomplishment and satisfaction.
And then mobile products learned to do the same thing. Give people goals, reward them with flashes of color, and you could entrance them into something resembling addiction. This was called, tellingly and unsurprisingly, “gamification”: Treat every app and every activity as a video game, with scores, prizes, and leaderboards. Snapchat rewarded users who talked every day with “streaks”; the exercise app Strava allowed you to compete with other joggers and earn badges; Foursquare turned the entire world into a game of king of the hill.
The process has come full circle. Fortnite is a gamified video game.
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more on FortNite in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=fortnite
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims/2018/03/31/ready-player-one/
23
Nov
2018
Nov
2018
Hololens in academic library
Blurred Lines—between virtual reality games, research, and education
p. 5 a LibGuide was created that provided a better description of the available software for both the Microsoft Hololens and the HTC Vive and also discussed potential applications for the technology.
Both the HTC Vive and the Hololens were made bookable through the library’s LibCalendar booking system, streamlining the booking process and creating a better user experience.
When the decision was made to bring virtual and augmented reality into the McGill University Library, an important aspect of this project was to develop a collection of related software to be used alongside the technology. In building this software collection a priority was placed on acquiring software that could be demonstrated as having educational value, or that could potentially be used in relation to, or in support of, university courses.
For the Microsoft Hololens, all software was acquired through Microsoft’s Online Store. The store has a number of educationally relevant HoloLens apps available for purchase. The app ARchitect, for example, gives a basic sense of how augmented reality could be used for viewing new building designs. The app Robotics BIW allows user to simulate robotic functions. A select number of apps, such as Land of the Dinosaurs and Boulevard, provide applications for natural history and art. There were a select number of apps related to science, mathematics and medicine, and others with artistic applications. All of the HoloLens applications were free but, compared to what is available for virtual reality, the experiences were much smaller in size and scope.
For the HoloLens, a generic user account was created and shared with person who booked the HoloLens at the time of their booking. After logging into this account – which could sometimes prove to be a challenge because typing is done using the headset’s gesture controls – the user could select a floating tile which would reveal a list of available software. An unresolved problem was that users would then need to refer to the HoloLens LibGuide for a detailed description of the software, or else choose software based on name alone, and the names were not always helpful.
For the Microsoft HoloLens, the three most popular software programs were Land of the Dinosaurs, Palmyra and Insight Heart. Insight Heart allow users to view and manipulate a 3D rendering of a high-resolution human heart, Land of the Dinosaurs provided an augment reality experience featuring 3D renderings of dinosaurs, and Palmyra gave an augmented reality tour of the ancient city of Palmyra.
p. 7 Though many students had ideas for research projects that could make use of the technology, there was no available software that would have allowed them to use augmented reality in the way they wanted. There were no students interested in developing their own software to be used with the technology either.
p. 8 we found that the Microsoft HoloLens received significant use from our patrons, we would recommend the purchase of one only for libraries serving researchers and developers.
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Getting Real in the Library: A Case Study at the University of Florida
Samuel R. Putnam and Sara Russell GonzalezIssue 39, 2018-02-05
Getting Real in the Library: A Case Study at the University of Florida
As an alternative, Microsoft offers a Hololens with enterprise options geared toward multiple users for $5000.
The transition from mobile app development to VR/AR technology also reflected the increased investment in VR/AR by some of the largest technology companies in the world. In the past four years, Facebook purchased the virtual reality company Oculus, Apple released the ARKit for developing augmented reality applications on iOS devices, Google developed Google Cardboard as an affordable VR option, and Sony released Playstation VR to accompany their gaming platform, just to name a few notable examples. This increase of VR/AR development was mirrored by a rise in student interest and faculty research in using and creating new VR/AR content at UF.
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Arnhem, J.-P. van, Elliott, C., & Rose, M. (2018). Augmented and Virtual Reality in Libraries. Rowman & Littlefield.
360 degree video in library instruction
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Hammady, R., & Ma, M. (2018). Designing Spatial UI as a Solution of the Narrow FOV of Microsoft HoloLens: Prototype of Virtual Museum Guide. In Proceedings of the 4th International AR & VR Conference 2018. Springer. Retrieved from https://eprints.staffs.ac.uk/4799/
‘HoloMuse’ that engage users with archaeological artefacts through gesture-based interactions (Pollalis, Fahnbulleh, Tynes, & Shaer, 2017). Another research utilised HoloLens to provide in-situ assistant for users (Blattgerste, Strenge, Renner, Pfeiffer, & Essig, 2017). HoloLens also used to provide magnification for low vision users by complementary finger-worn camera alongside with the HMD (Stearns, DeSouza, Yin, Findlater, & Froehlich, 2017). Even in the medical applications, HoloLens contributed in 3D visualisation purposes using AR techniques (Syed, Zakaria, & Lozanoff, 2017) and provide optimised measurements in medical surgeries(Pratt et al., 2018) (Adabi et al., 2017). Application of HoloLens extended to visualise prototype designs (DeLaOsa, 2017) and showed its potential in gaming industry (Volpe, 2015) (Alvarez, 2015) and engaging cultural visitors with gaming activities (Raptis, Fidas, & Avouris, 2017).
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van Arnhem, J.-P., & Spiller, J. M. (2014). Augmented Reality for Discovery and Instruction. Journal of Web Librarianship, 8(2), 214–230. https://doi.org/10.1080/19322909.2014.904208
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Evaluating the Microsoft HoloLens through an augmented reality assembly application
Proceedings Volume 10197, Degraded Environments: Sensing, Processing, and Display 2017; 101970V (2017) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2262626
Event: SPIE Defense + Security, 2017, Anaheim, California, United States
Event: SPIE Defense + Security, 2017, Anaheim, California, United States
To assess the HoloLens’ potential for delivering AR assembly instructions, the cross-platform Unity 3D game engine was used to build a proof of concept application. Features focused upon when building the prototype were: user interfaces, dynamic 3D assembly instructions, and spatially registered content placement. The research showed that while the HoloLens is a promising system, there are still areas that require improvement, such as tracking accuracy, before the device is ready for deployment in a factory assembly setting.
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Pollalis, C., Fahnbulleh, W., Tynes, J., & Shaer, O. (2017). HoloMuse: Enhancing Engagement with Archaeological Artifacts Through Gesture-Based Interaction with Holograms. In Proceedings of the Eleventh International Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction (pp. 565–570). New York, NY, USA: ACM. https://doi.org/10.1145/3024969.3025094
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Gračanin, D., Ciambrone, A., Tasooji, R., & Handosa, M. (2017). Mixed Library — Bridging Real and Virtual Libraries. In S. Lackey & J. Chen (Eds.), Virtual, Augmented and Mixed Reality (pp. 227–238). Springer International Publishing.
We use Microsoft HoloLens device to augment the user’s experience in the real library and to provide a rich set of affordances for embodied and social interactions.We describe a mixed reality based system, a prototype mixed library, that provides a variety of affordances to support embodied interactions and improve the user experience.
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Dourish, P. (n.d.). Where the Action Is. Retrieved November 23, 2018, from https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/where-action
embodied interactions
Computer science as an engineering discipline has been spectacularly successful. Yet it is also a philosophical enterprise in the way it represents the world and creates and manipulates models of reality, people, and action. In this book, Paul Dourish addresses the philosophical bases of human-computer interaction. He looks at how what he calls “embodied interaction”—an approach to interacting with software systems that emphasizes skilled, engaged practice rather than disembodied rationality—reflects the phenomenological approaches of Martin Heidegger, Ludwig Wittgenstein, and other twentieth-century philosophers. The phenomenological tradition emphasizes the primacy of natural practice over abstract cognition in everyday activity. Dourish shows how this perspective can shed light on the foundational underpinnings of current research on embodied interaction. He looks in particular at how tangible and social approaches to interaction are related, how they can be used to analyze and understand embodied interaction, and how they could affect the design of future interactive systems.
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Pollalis, C., Fahnbulleh, W., Tynes, J., & Shaer, O. (2017). HoloMuse: Enhancing Engagement with Archaeological Artifacts Through Gesture-Based Interaction with Holograms. In Proceedings of the Eleventh International Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction (pp. 565–570). New York, NY, USA: ACM. https://doi.org/10.1145/3024969.3025094
HoloMuse, an AR application for the HoloLens wearable device, which allows users to actively engage with archaeological artifacts from a museum collection
pick up, rotate, scale, and alter a hologram of an original archeological artifact using in-air gestures. Users can also curate their own exhibit or customize an existing one by selecting artifacts from a virtual gallery and placing them within the physical world so that they are viewable only using the device. We intend to study the impact of HoloMuse on learning and engagement with college-level art history and archeology students.
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Dugas, Z., & Kerne Andruld. (2007). Location-Aware Augmented Reality Gaming for Emergency Response Education: Concepts and Development. ResearchGate. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/242295040_Location-Aware_Augmented_Reality_Gaming_for_Emergency_Response_Education_Concepts_and_Development
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Library Spaces II: The IDEA Lab at the Grainger Engineering Library Information Center
https://prism.ucalgary.ca/bitstream/handle/1880/52190/DL5_mischo_IDEA_Lab2.pdf
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more on Hololens in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=hololens
27
Mar
2018
Mar
2018
IM 554 discussion on GBL 2018
Course title: IM 554 Developing Skills for Online Teaching and Learning
Topic for this week: Game-based learning, Virtual Reliability, and Augmented Reality
Audience: IM Graduate students working for K12 schools or in business
7:20 to 8:20 PM, Thursday, March 29. Instructor: Yun Claire Park
- What did we learn from last year: https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims/2017/02/22/im554-discussion-gbl/
- definitions and delineation of gaming and gamification
- the connection to BYOD
- What do we want to learn this year/today?
- more on gaming and gamification
- more on realities
- what is VR – virtual reality
Virtual reality (VR) is “a computer technology that uses virtual reality headsets or multi-
projected environments, sometimes in combination with physical environments or props, to
generate realistic images, sounds and other sensations that simulate a user's physical presence in a virtual or imaginary environment” (“Virtual Reality” n.d.) VR is accomplished by using headsets, such as HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, PlayStation VR, and Samsung Gear VR. The use of the headsets creates (and enhances) digitally constructed “reality,” thus providing excellent opportunities for simulations and learning through training and practice. Among a myriad of other definitions, Noor (2016, 34) describes Virtual Reality (VR) as “a computer-generated environment that can simulate physical presence in places in the real world or imagined worlds. The user wears a headset and through specialized software and sensors is immersed in 360- degree views of simulated worlds.”
from our book chapter: Video 360: The new type of visualization to help patrons enter the era of VR, AR and Mixed Reality (under review).
what is AR – augmented reality
“Augmented Reality (AR) supplements the physical environment with computer-generated sensory input such as sound, video, graphics, or other useful information – essentially overlaying the digital information on top of the physical world. Some consider the smartphone popular game “Pokemon Go” a form of consumer AR.”
from my book Chapter 12: VR, AR and Video 360: A Case Study Towards New Realities in Education by Plamen Miltenoff (under review)
what is MR – mixed reality
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Mixed_reality#/media/File:Mixed_Reality_Scale.png
- Video 360
- how to create non-expensive VR = Video 360 degrees
A two-dimensional flat frame
Consumer types of cameras
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More information on GBL in this IMS blog:
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=%22game-based+learning%22
more on VR in education in this IMS blog:
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=virtual+reality+education
more on AE in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=augmented+reality
10
Oct
2017
Oct
2017
VR headset future
VR’s future depends on you buying a dorky headset
Oculus, the VR company that Mark Zuckerberg bought for more than $2 billion, has a problem: It’s struggling to convince people to buy its gear.
Oculus Connect, starting Wednesday in San Jose, California. Facebook’s Oculus VR division promises discussions on how health care, movies and video games are adapting to this still nascent technology. One panel will explore how the disability community can benefit from VR gear and presentations.
Facebook chief competitors, Sony and HTC, followed suit. The PlayStation VR dropped to $400 from $500, and the Vive dropped to $599 from $799 all in the past three months.
Survios made Raw Data more widely available for Oculus, Vive and PlayStation VR. Survios is also looking beyond VR for customers, redesigning Raw Data to work in arcades as well.
Over the summer, Apple and Google announced new technologies called ARKit and ARCore, respectively, that are designed to help iPhones and iPads or any device powered by Google’s Android software marry computer-generated images with the real world.
A $2.99 app, Star Guide AR, highlights stars and constellations in the sky once you point your phone at them. Another, Ikea Place, previews furniture in your home with a tap. Walk around your living room and you can see the furniture you placed while looking through the screen on your phone. So far, both are available only for the iPhone.
App developers I spoke with say they’re excited by augmented reality and believe it may help spur people to buy VR systems as well.
Microsoft’s focusing on both AR and VR. In an October update to its Windows 10 software for PCs, the company is partnering with device makers like Lenovo, Dell, HP, Acer and Samsung to create headsets based on its designs. They’ll sell for as little as $300 each when they begin hitting store shelves Oct. 17.
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more on virtual reality in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=virtual+reality