Coolest Booth Technology (For the Industry)
Jim Henson Interactive
We're Muppet freaks here to begin with, so we're a bit predisposed to be friendly towards Henson, but as the show went on, we kept hearing a buzz about the company's small room in Kentia Hall (the refugee hall of E3). Curious, we strolled over to find an incredible machine on display: The Henson Digital Performance System. Made for the industry (not the public), this fascinating device lets puppeteers manipulate onscreen characters in real time. Based on the same technology used to control servo based puppets, such as Yoda, the HDPS lets the puppeteer use two hands to move a character's facial features and mouth. What's the big deal? Well, for one thing, cut scenes may be a lot less expensive for developers to make in the future. If they're not happy with the mouth movement, etc. of a character after one take, they no longer will have to spend weeks reanimating the sequence. They can start from scratch in mere seconds.
|
Coolest Booth Technology (For Gamers)
3Q
Born from a medical imaging company, 3Q lets you add a personal touch to your deathmatching. Five minutes in a photo booth gives you a 3D mapping of your face that can be used in at least 11 Quake III, Unreal Tournament or Half-Life powered games. We're not talking stretching your picture over a pre-rendered head, distorting your image. We're talking a complete, 3D facial map that is incredibly realistic. Uploading is easy. And a just-launched community page will let you trade skins and make your games a lot more exciting. The technology's currently available in San Jose, Seattle and Dallas (and coming to other cities) for roughly $15. If you're into shooters, it's a great way to customize your online persona.
Screen shot gallery
|
Coolest Booth Technology (Misplaced)
FirstPerson Immersion Video
What this company was doing at E3, we're still not sure. But hey, it gave us the chance to peek at a really cool technology that could revolutionize interactive entertainment. FirstPerson is the group that had the good luck to hold the Britney Spears press conference the first day of the show, guaranteeing interest for the clearasil-crowd at this year's show. We wandered by the booth on Saturday, though, and admit that what they had on display captured our interest. A new camera allows the company to capture a 360-degree view of what's happening at any sort of event, whether it's concerts, sports or film. Using your gamepad or mouse, you can rotate around the screen, zoom in or out and control what you want to see. Care to watch Britney declare she's not that innocent? You can do that. Want to watch her backup dancers for a while instead? Just a quick movement of your thumb and you can do it. Is there a gaming use for this technology? No. Are we eager to try it out in other formats? Definitely.
|
|
Back to the beginning...
|
|
|
Miscellaneous Awards - WRE's E3 2001 Awards