Digital Bytes

Death of the Joystick

Ever fancied moving objects in your favourite virtual games simply by thinking about it...

By the end of  2008 you will - thanks to a neuro-headset which picks ups electrical activity from your brain before sending it to your computer.

The headset - which will cost around £150 - can detect emotions such as shock, excitement and frustration as well as users laughing, smiling and winking. Additionally, it's fitted with a gyroscope allowing you to control a cursor or camera simply by moving your head.  Click here to find out more.

source: BBC

MindShare Interaction in-game advertising research

Despite the recent attention afforded in-game, there has been little convincing research to demonstrate its value as an advertising medium.  MindShare Interaction’s interest in this burgeoning market created the opportunity for a research project with leading in-game sales house, IGA Worldwide, to assess the potential of the medium by asking gamers their opinions of in-game advertising and by testing campaigns from three of MindShare’s clients. 

The main findings were:

1. All of the brands involved were more likely to be perceived as cutting edge or modern after the ads ran.
2. In common with other advertising studies we have conducted, perception and recognition improvements were all higher among younger age groups.
3. In-game advertising should primarily be used as a support medium, particularly for ‘mainstream’ brands.  Dynamically served in-game billboard advertising in its present form needs the synergy of regular lead media to drive the cues and associations in an online environment, where its appearance may be more unexpected.

For full details on the research, click below:

Google Brings Feed Reader to Wii

Source: Google Reader

Earlier this year, I acquired a Nintendo Wii. As I was recovering from Wii elbow, I began to explore the capabilities of the Opera-based Internet Channel. It occurred that Reader may be a lot of fun on the Wii, especially with many photo and video feeds.
Some weekend hacking confirmed my suspicions, and the rest of the team also seemed to think it'd be a neat side project. As some have discovered, we recently flipped the switch on this feature. If you'd like to try it out, simply visit reader.google.com on your Wii (you may find it even easier to just do a Google search for "reader"). Keep in mind that this is something very experimental, the labs of Google Labs if you will.