Gaming Archives - Page 2 of 9 - Situated Research

The Climb: The Most Head-Spinning Virtual Reality Experience Yet

December 30, 2015

Crytek’s new project for the Oculus Rift shows us exactly where VR gaming is going – towards heady and experiential gameplay

Above you, the craggy face of the cliff seems to stretch up endlessly toward the sky, offering perilously few footholds. In the far distance there’s a small village by a beach, bathed in orange sunshine – an exotic idyll. But below you there is … nothing. Nothing but a long deadly drop into the crashing sea far below. Your only option is to keep climbing.

From Privacy to Productivity: A Look at How Virtual Reality Could Change the Way We Work

July 25, 2015

Businesses someday getting on board with virtual reality will need to do some self-examination. Various VR tools are aimed at reclaiming productivity and improving interactions.

The fabled “promise” of virtual reality is expansive. At its loftiest, we’ve been promised not only changes to how we live and how we consume entertainment, but also to how we work.

Hands-on with Mattel’s new AR, VR View-Master

February 20, 2015

A View-Master for virtual reality: Hands-on with Mattel’s new AR, VR phone toy

Mattel is relaunching View-Master, but as a virtual reality and augmented-reality phone toy. And I got to play around with it for a bit…or at least, some of the tech behind it.

Welcome to the Age of Holographs

January 22, 2015

Up close with the HoloLens, Microsoft’s most intriguing product in years

We just finished a heavily scripted, carefully managed, and completely amazing demonstration of Microsoft’s HoloLens technology. Four demos, actually, each designed to show off a different use case for a headset that projects holograms into real space. We played Minecraft on a coffee table. We had somebody chart out how to fix a light switch right on top of the very thing we were fixing.

UX Without User Research Is Not UX

August 18, 2014

Summary: UX teams are responsible for creating desirable experiences for users. Yet many organizations fail to include users in the development process. Without customer input, organizations risk creating interfaces that fail.

A website’s (or product’s) success depends on how users perceive it. Users assess the usefulness and ease of use of websites as they interact with them, forming their conclusions in seconds—sometimes milliseconds.

London Firm Creates Mind-Controlled Commands for Google Glass

July 15, 2014

Forget voice commands and touch gestures: A London firm has developed a way for Google Glass users to control their devices just by thinking.

This Place, an agency that specializes in creating user interfaces and experiences for programs used in the medical industry, developed a software called MindRDR that allows Google Glass to connect with the Neurosky MindWave Mobile EEG biosensor, a head-mounted device that can detect a person’s brain waves.

Control VR Gloves Warp Your Fingers into Virtual Worlds

June 11, 2014

$350 device tracks your arms and hands with military-designed sensors

New technologies such as Google Glass and Oculus’ Rift headset are making it easier than ever for us to get our heads into augmented and virtual realities. But while we get our heads into these alternate worlds and use our eyes to check our emails, surf the internet, even destroy enemy starfighters with a spiral of missiles, our hands are left behind in the real world.

The What, Why and How of User Personas

May 13, 2014

One of the few proven ways to be successful in any business is to understand your customer’s needs and deliver quality products or services that satisfy those needs in the best way possible. Yes, it does sound too bookish but the truth is knowing your end user is the kernel of a customer-oriented business model.

Oculus Rift Will Finally Go On Sale To Consumers Next Year

May 1, 2014

Image: A man tries the Oculus Rift headset at Facebook’s F8 conference.

An Oculus Rift virtual reality headset for consumers could go on sale next year, a company representative told Business Insider at Facebook’s F8 developer conference today.

Management at Oculus VR, the Irvine, Calif.-company that Facebook bought for $2 billion earlier this year, will be “disappointed” if it doesn’t have a headset available at retail for ordinary people by 2016, according to an Oculus spokesperson.

Study Reveals Real Reason Behind Gaming Aggression

April 23, 2014

A new study has revealed that gamers are more likely to experience feelings of aggression from playing a game when it is too difficult or when the controls are too complicated to master.

In comparison, the research found there was “little difference” in levels of aggression when the games themselves depicted violence. Overwhelmingly, the deciding factor was “how the volunteers were able to master the electronic game after 20 minutes of play”.