Augmented reality games on mobile phones to become a true reality

Augmented reality games on mobile phones to become a true reality

Qualcomm have a serious plan in action to make mobile gaming even better and more profitable. First is the Augmented Reality SDK they will release soon – free of charge along with a 200,000 US dollar developers’ competition.

The second part is even better and extends beyond AR games – the key word is interoperability. Specifically, make the games on several different platforms, connected in a peer-to-peer network for multiplayer gaming that is not limited to single platform…

Working closely with Mattel (a major toy manufacturer – think, Fischer-Price, Disney toys, Barbie, Scrabble, and Matchbox), Qualcomm is looking to give Augmented Reality (AR) games a huge boost by releasing a free SDK for developers – and as a proof-of-concept, they created an AR Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots game.

The SDK will be available for public download this autumn and not long after that a developer challenge will start – 125,000 US dollars for first place should lure in devs to try and make the best game or app that makes the best use of Qualcomm’s AR technology. Second and third place get $50,000 and $25,000 respectively.

As for the Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em game, that will remain a proof-of concept for the foreseeable future. There’s a humorous demo video of the game running on the Nexus One, but Mattel says that the game must work across several platforms to be financially viable.

This is where the second part of the plan comes in – a peer-to-peer multiplayer platform that uses Bluetooth and Wi-Fi to link together several people on several different platforms.

There’s a funny demo video for that too – a Nokia N900, a Nexus One and a laptop play a game over both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. The connection is seamless – the Nexus One is hooked over Bluetooth, while the Nokia N900 uses Wi-Fi.

I don’t know when this tech will reach the market, but when it does it will remove a major obstacle to mobile multiplayer gaming – not having the same phone as your friend that just challenged you to a virtual robot fight.

Source: Pocket-lint, Qualcomm press release

ASUS Transformer Prime hits FCC

ASUS Transformer Prime hits FCC, exposes the quad-core CPU of Tegra 3

Undoubtedly, one of the most anticipated tablets of the season is the ASUS Transformer Prime. With its expected market release just around the corner (November 9), we already know almost everything there is know about the beast.

Now though, the FCC came to give us some more details of the Transformer Prime, virtually completing the puzzle. We got its official model name (TF201) and, even better still, we got photos of the internals of the slate, revealing what Nvidia’s Kal-El System-on-a-chip looks like.

Beautiful, isn’t it? The FCC also confirms the specs that we already knew. The Transformer Prime comes with a quad-core processor beast of a processor and Nvidia’s Kal-El chipset, 10.1 inch display and a battery keeping everything going for about 14.5 hours. The Prime will also have a full USB port as well as mini-HDMI one.

November 9 can’t come soon enough!
Source (1), Source (2) | Via (1), Via (2)

Design by Community Week 5: Connectivity

Design by Community Week 5: Connectivity, wired vs. wire-free

Design by Community, Week 5 – it’s all about connectivity, wireless connectivity to be more precise. The time has come to make a choice – wireless USB, wireless HDMI, or be a traditionalist and stick with wires?

Again Design by Community leads us to interesting topics of Now vs. The Future. For example, wireless HDMI sounds great (no wires!) but does your TV support it (probably not), or do you plan to upgrade by the time wireless HDMI gets into the mobile phone world?

Then again, you could just stick with DLNA – streaming content over Wi-Fi. Plenty of TVs today support it, but it doesn’t have enough bandwidth to stream uncompressed 1080p video. But it does have enough juice to stream compressed video, let the TV decode it and not the mobile phone that is limited by the battery.

The question about cutting the USB cable also has two sides – keeping the cable gives you an accessible way to charge your phone, the USB 3.0 specifications even allow for faster charging. But wireless USB plus wireless charging (both of which are in their infancy) are probably the way of the future, so why not make the phone future-proof?

Well, I’ll leave you to fiddle with the sliders. Next week, it’s the camera – the auto lens cover and shutter key have been decided on, but there’s more to camera than that.

Source