Victim of Culture

The future of the Wii2 may already be showing

Johnny Lee is a nerd’s nerd.  He wasn’t simply satisfied with owning the hard to find Wii.  No, Mr. Lee wanted to make a cool little gaming system even cooler.  And he succeeded.  That’s a nerd’s nerd.

Specifically, Mr. Lee is behind the famous tech demo using a pair of glasses to make the Wii present actual 3D images using head tracking software.  In turn, this technique will now be used in Electronic Arts Boom Blox title.  Not too shabby Mr. Lee, but he wasn’t done there.  A new tech demo shows off using the Wii as a virtual whiteboard, a use that Lee notes could save schools thousands of dollars.  Again, not too shabby.

The last bit of tech he shows off is using the whiteboard with multi-touch, a la the iPhone.  Again, a pretty neat trick, but added all together these three techs seem to hint at something bigger.  Imagine a Wii2 with multi-touch screen capabilities and 3D head tracking.  What could that be used for?  For anyone who recalls the doomed Virtual Boy, you could be easily building state-of-the-art 3D titles that exceed even it.

Imagine a handball title, similar to something you might see on the PlayStation’s EyeToy, except the ball actually comes out of the screen at you.  You hit it back and it flies back into the screen at your opponent.  Imagine a gun shooter where you literally had to take cover behind 3D objects to avoid being shot.  Yes, this does sound a bit like a Holodeck from Star Trek, but it also sounds reasonably plausible.

Nintendo’s intention, so they say, with the Wii was to shake up the industry.  They certainly have already done that, but the long term shake up may be more akin to an earthquake.

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