The future of paintball
Not next year. Not even ten years from now. Most folks don't seem that interested or seem to assume that things will just continue along roughly the path they've been on so far. Unfortunately for them the future would say otherwise.
There's a technology on the horizon thatcould will make paintball, airsoft, RAM, CoD and just about everything else redundant. It already exists in a primitive form and there are no real technological breakthroughs still needed. It will let you feel hits like paintball, will no longer rely on honesty, and it'll revolutionise the spectator appeal of the sport.
It's called Augmented Reality, and maybe you already have it on your phone in a basic form. Meanwhiles google are actively developing it in the form of Google Glasses:-
A little exaggerated!
Here's how it would work. Everyone has some special gear - at minimum goggles and a gun, but potentially more if you want to feel hits via small electric shocks (see IRTactical) . The software tracks the exact position of your gear, your eyes and your gun in space in real time. When you fire no actual object comes out of the barrel, but that doesn't mean you can't see it. Through your AR goggles you can see so much more than the real world - monsters, planes, tactical overlays, health bars on friendlies. Rockets flying past your head. I'll let you imagine the possibilities.
What about spectators, I hear you cry! Besides the obvious fact that the digital overlay will also work with cameras, most real life spectators will own their own AR goggles or glasses, something like google goggles. Besides that, the tech will allow for virtual cameras floating around anywhere in the arena, and since the tech now also exists to construct different angles of real life scenes so long as you have a few cameras looking in that general direction, the physical objects will be in the virtual scenes too. Stats? All tracked automatically. No need for hard work by the event staff.
The thing is there is no "if" here, because we know it can be done and the tech is well underway. The only question is "when" and "who will be the first", and whether organisations like the PSP, NPPL or UWL will have the chutzpah to adapt when it comes along - or become the next Kodak.
Bring it on I say.
There's a technology on the horizon that
It's called Augmented Reality, and maybe you already have it on your phone in a basic form. Meanwhiles google are actively developing it in the form of Google Glasses:-
Here's how it would work. Everyone has some special gear - at minimum goggles and a gun, but potentially more if you want to feel hits via small electric shocks (see IRTactical) . The software tracks the exact position of your gear, your eyes and your gun in space in real time. When you fire no actual object comes out of the barrel, but that doesn't mean you can't see it. Through your AR goggles you can see so much more than the real world - monsters, planes, tactical overlays, health bars on friendlies. Rockets flying past your head. I'll let you imagine the possibilities.
What about spectators, I hear you cry! Besides the obvious fact that the digital overlay will also work with cameras, most real life spectators will own their own AR goggles or glasses, something like google goggles. Besides that, the tech will allow for virtual cameras floating around anywhere in the arena, and since the tech now also exists to construct different angles of real life scenes so long as you have a few cameras looking in that general direction, the physical objects will be in the virtual scenes too. Stats? All tracked automatically. No need for hard work by the event staff.
The thing is there is no "if" here, because we know it can be done and the tech is well underway. The only question is "when" and "who will be the first", and whether organisations like the PSP, NPPL or UWL will have the chutzpah to adapt when it comes along - or become the next Kodak.
Bring it on I say.
Interesting article. It makes me think about the future of HUD in Paintball
ReplyDelete