One of my favorite YouTube directors, Freddie Wong happened to make a video that is quite relevant to this site. The video is called ‘Future Motion Control Gaming’ and shows a fictional augmented reality gaming setup. But is this really the future of augmented reality and motion control gaming? Will it be possible to achieve what’s been shown off on the video? Step inside to see the video and find the answer to that question.
I’ve been tracking Silicon Micro Display’s ST1080 head mounted display ever since they announced it back in early November. We’ve already seen most of the specs, but one thing that was missing was the price. I was excited by the prospect of the ST1080 because Silicon Micro Display had claimed that “companies like MyVu, Vuzix, and eMagin have sold HMDs to the consumer market, but gained little traction due to high cost…”, then went ahead to say that the company would be addressing that issue with the ST1080. Did they manage to reel the ST1080 in at a reasonable price? Find out right after the fold.
About a year ago I bought myself the Astro A40 gaming headset which I’ve been quite happy with. I was browsing Astro’s website the other day and happened across a nice looking headset stand that is sold as an accessory for the Astro A40’s, but for some reason I immediately thought this attractive stand might be a great for showing off and storing the Sony HMZ-T1 head mounted display.
Today I was thinking about Silicon Micro Display’s ST1080 head mounted display. This unique HMD has a 10% transparent screen. When I first head about that feature, typical wearable computer / augmented reality applications came to my mind. Those are neat applications, but there’ a lot of development to be done in that department before we see really useful functions come from such applications of the ST1080. But then it hit me. There’s already a product on the market that would work perfectly with the ST1080. Enter Steel Battalion.
The Sony HMZ-T1 head mounted display is still almost impossible to come by right now, but my local store has one display unit. I finally made my way down, despite some nasty rain, so that I could give the HMZ-T1 a good hands-on test. I wish I had been able to spend more time with it (and perhaps I will soon), but I did get a solid amount of time to do some PS3 gaming (what else would it be in a Sony store!) on the unit and prepared a list of notes from my experience. I had hoped to bring you a video of the HMZ-T1, but unfortunately I was told that videography is not allowed in Sony stores, which I certainly wasn’t expecting. Alas, my notes will have to do! If you’re interested in hearing some honest hands-on info about the Sony HMZ-T1, have a read below!
If you’ve ever done any thinking about augmented reality seen a sci-fi movie, you’re undoubtedly familiar with the idea of a contact lens that provides the wearer with a super-futuristic heads up display that shows all sorts of awesome and useful information, augmented reality style. Well, we aren’t quite there yet, but work being done is bringing that technology ever closer to that vision. Today such devices are being tested, in several years we may see them available for consumer purchase.
Researchers have recently manufactured and tested a simple 1 pixel contact lens display. Though one pixel doesn’t sound very impressive, it could be used for something as simple as notifying the wearer of an incoming call, text, or email, or could be as useful as alerting a deaf person that a car may be coming up behind them.
The other week I reported that Sony’s HMZ-T1 HMD, which ‘launched’ on 11/11/11, had been backordered and pushed back to an estimated availability date of 1/17/12. All store stock was going to be diverted to those who had pre-ordered the HMZ-T1, according to Sony, because they had underestimated the US demand and apparently under allocated units to the region. However, it seems that the real story is that Sony underestimated demand worldwide.
Today, Silicon Micro Display has announced that they’ll be attending the annual Consumer Electronics Show which will be held from January 10th to the 13th.
CES is a huge consumer electronics exhibition (likely the largest in the US) and is a platform where tech companies go to announce, launch, and demo products that they plan on making and marketing through the coming year.
As I’ve watched a friend play Skyrim over the last few days, I’ve been blown away by the immense world that Bethesda has created. Not only is it huge, but it’s rather beautiful as well. “Slap on an HMD,” I thought, “and this would be a wonderfully immersive virtual reality world.” But as I continued to watch my friend play, I noticed how the interactions between the player and the non-player characters seemed to lag years behind the graphics. They were stale and scripted, unlike the sandbox world that contained them.
Much of the dialogue in the game has a non-player character (NPC) talking to the player about the world. The player gets to interact by selecting from a list of canned responses. Sometimes, the questions you want to ask or the things you want to say just aren’t in that list, and this truly detracts from the immersion. You don’t feel like you are in control because you’re limited to just a few choices. Your character doesn’t even speak the lines aloud; you just pick an option and the NPC starts responding. It also makes the NPCs feel less real because they seem like they are just a robot reading a script (probably because that’s what they are).
A world like Skyrim would be far closer to immersive virtual reality if the NPCs were able to not only hear your voice (through a microphone) but understand it and respond appropriately. Not only would you be able to ask the questions you really wanted to, but you’d have to be more immersed in the lore of the game to even know what to ask.
Voice recognition difficulty aside, having an NPC respond naturally to nearly unpredictable input is definitely a huge challenge, but it’s certainly possible. Games will become far more real when we achieve a level of AI where this is possible, and we aren’t as far away as you might think.
Though Sony oped to get their HMZ-T1 to the market prior to the holidays by putting it up for sale on 11/11/11, it is now officially listed as “backorderable”. What does that mean? Well, for one, it means that even if you buy today, you won’t be able to get one in time for the holidays. It’s unclear if even those who pre-ordered the Sony HMZ-T1 will get theirs by that point.
Though Sony’s HMZ-T1 is just going on sale today, you’re going to see reviews pop up from a few privileged sites that got to play with the futuristic looking 3D head mounted display early. Gizmodo Australia is one of those sites and their Sony HMZ-T1 review is already posted!
The reviewer gave the HMZ-T1 a rating of 3.5 stars; considering some of the evidence that sounds quite fair.
I’ll won’t spoil the entire review, but it sounds like the HMZ-T1 excels in visual and audio performance but there’s a big hurdle when it comes to comfort. The reviewer says that without spending time getting it to fit properly, it will be very uncomfortable. Even after getting it to fit just right, long sessions put strain on the neck and head. One image of a large red mark on the reviewer’s head after a long session of use was particularly illustrative. We shouldn’t be too surprised about this considering the 420 gram (.92 lbs) weight of the device.
The Sony HMZ-T1 and Silicon Micro Display ST1080 are some of the highest quality head mounted displays to ever step into the consumer market. I’ve seen a number of people ask, “which is better, HMZ-T1 vs ST1080?” I’ll be up front and tell you that, because I haven’t had direct experience with either of these HMDs (yet), I won’t be able to give a definitive answer to that question. However, I will compile here for those interested, a comparison of relevant specifications between the HMZ-T1 and the ST1080.
In addition to a retail model of the ST1080, Silicon Micro Display will be launching a less glamorous version of the ST1080 targeted toward developers. They are calling it the ST1080 DDK (display development kit). As with the ST1080 production unit the price is not yet announced but the company has confirmed that the DDK will go on sale in December. Alongside it, the production model will become available for pre-sale.
Silicon Micro Display CEO Paul Jin has confirmed that pricing will be announced for the production ST1080 on December 1st, and we’re expecting to see the DDK go on sale the same day. Presumably, the DDK will be less expensive than the production model because it appears to be quite a bit less glamorous and might use older prototype components. The thumbnail above is the only photo of the DDK that I’ve been able to track down so far, though the DDK might end up looking different than this.
For anyone who is seriously considering (and likely obsessing over) purchasing the Sony HMZ-T1 HMD, which is due out on 11/11/11 (just 3 days now), you’re head is likely mounted with lots of questions: Will the HMZ-T1 work with my current setup? Can I still have my HDTV hooked up to the source or do I have to switch back and forth between the HMZ-T1 and my HDTV? What cords are provided? Does the HMD need to be calibrated? What settings will I be able to toggle? Can I wear glasses while using the HMZ-T1? What input signals are accepted? Hopefully we can put a few of these to rest as the Sony HMZ-T1 documentation has come online a bit early, and there’s actually a good deal of information to be gleaned. Here they are for your perusal with some of the highlights below:
Silicon Micro Display announced the ST1080 head mounted display just a few days back through a press release on the 31st of October. The following day, they dropped dropped most of the specifications for the HMD on their site, including the impressive 10% transparent 1080p LCOS displays. We’re still waiting on the price which is to be announced on 12/1/11, but to whet your appetite, here is a gallery of early photos courtesy of the company’s website, as well as a full rundown of the specs of Silicon Micro Display’s ST1080 HMD.
