Georgia Tech's Spring 2011 Crop of Games - Nerds, Puppies and Asteroids

It was only five months ago when we reported about the first set of mobile augmented reality games coming out of Qualcomm Augmented Reality Game Studio. The studio, a partnership between Qualcomm and Georgia Tech's Augmented Environments Lab, gives students the tools to create AR games and gives us a peek their crazy ideas. Now, a new crop of games is out of the studio's doors, and here are my favorites:

Dodger Dodger is a simple game where you are tasked with escaping falling asteroids. This game smartly harnesses the mobile platform to add another dimension to the game. Not only does the player needs to move left and right, he also needs to move the phone back and forth in order to avoid the asteroids:



Nerdherder is obviously the bastard step child of last semaster's Nerdferno. Instead of dodging asteroids, you need to avoid eye contact with girls in this one:



The goal of Puppy Plus is to teach your child basic math skills using a cute puppy living on a deserted island, surrounded by pirate ships. It makes perfect sense, trust me:



You can read more about these games and others coming out this spring on Qualcomm AR game studio site; Don't miss the narwal safe sex guide.

Weekly Sunny Linkfest

Before we begin with our weekly pile of links, here's a message from Christine Perey on behalf of "the program committee of the Third International AR Standards meeting":

The committee has decided to extend the deadline for position papers to June 6th (5 PM UK). Please find more information and guidelines for the position papers: http://www.perey.com/ARStandards/third-meeting-position-papers/

Now, back to our regular programming:

• The community is still abuzz with the Augmented Reality Event:
• Microsoft's ARE Read Write World talk courtesy of @MetaverseOne (who worked hard to edit this video together) - check out his site for more clips from ARE.
  
Very nice ARE2011 roundup at TechZulu
• ARE2011 keynote by Blaise Aguera y Arcas. As usual, computer vision wizardry is to be expected
  
• But lest us forget about the European counterparts: Augmented Planet 2011 and the AR Summit (which ironically falls for me on a trip to the United States)
• Latest Windows Phone version, Mango, discovers GPS and compass based augmented reality two years too late. We want "strong" photosynth based AR, and we want it now!
  
• Zombie Room is an augmented reality puzzle game that looks kinda interesting http://omy.gd/0ojvF but in what way does AR makes it any better?
  
• Zugara shares data from their usability testing about augmented reality For ecommerce

This week's video goes to you Dr. Who fans - I'll never understand your ways. Sean McCracken apparently does, and thus created this Android app, available on the Android market to display an augmented version of the TARDIS. Everlasting glory to the first fan who will create a video of Daleks shouting "augment! augment!"

Have a nice week, and good luck Noora

Weekly Augmented Reality Linkfest

It's a link apocalypse!

• Many of the AR community went to the second annual Augmented Reality Event. Sadly, I wasn't able to be there, but luckily, Augmented Citizen share some thoughts and presentations from the event, Locative Media have some "pirated videos" of the keynotes and Layar uploaded videos of a couple of their presentations to Youtube. If you have a video or a blog post about the event - send me an email or give me a tweet.
  
• Sander Veenhof is a genius (there, I said it!) and Layar should be paying him money for choosing their platform if they don't already do so. This time he came up with a way to use augmented reality to create a world wide synchronized dancing routine. It's an augmented macarena!
  
• With Disney's mobile phone projector you can play games on walls and interact with real life objects.
  
• Tablets and democratization: Metaio & Layar pinpoint next steps for augmented reality (via @bruces).
  
• Sony SmartAR delivers high-speed markerless augmented reality and according to Engadget, it also blows minds.
• Scott Blake creates art using QR codes.
  

This week's video is of a simple augmented reality game, called Tapcloud with an interesting premise. By chasing virtual cloud (and looking a little bit foolish), the game forces you to get some exercise, and even counts the number of calories you burned once it's game over. The game is available for free on the app store, so you have nothing to lose (except, again, calories).

Have a tremendous week!

Weekly Augmented Reality Linkfest

ARE2011 is only two days away, and I'm going to miss it (this time its my fault, and I can't blame Delta Airways). I'm a lame excuse for an AR blogger, I know. If you go there, please shoot some videos and share!

Here are a few AR news stories to make the wait seem shorter (btw - have a link to share? contact me on Twitter @augmented):

• Tish Shute interviews Vernor Vinge on the promise, progress and threats of AR. "I see four or five concurrently active paths to the Singularity ... If we humans want to keep our hand in the game, AR is an important thing to pursue."
• Sending text messages while driving is a risky behavior, is augmenting reality while driving doubly so?
• Much have changed, even more stayed the same - virtual reality and augmented reality in 1990, a lot of potential limited by available technology
• Cyborgs and the augmented reality they Inhabit - I must confess that although this discussion seems interesting it's too much philosophical for me
• What's better than a phone with a 3d display? A phone with a 3d display used to augment reality, a collaboration between LG and Wikitude
• If you are a Junaio user and live in Ireland, you can win a Mazda.

Our weekly video comes today from the Future Lions 2011 contest, where young advertising professionals are called to "Advertise a product from a global brand in a way that couldn’t have been done five years ago, to an audience of your choosing". Tom Houser and Victoria Trow came up a way to use augmented reality as an alternative source of income for record companies. I am a bit of a skeptic, but it's an interesting idea nonetheless:



Have a great week!

Weekly Augmented Reality Linkfest

Took a break last week (missed me? you should follow me on Twitter), back today with many AR links:

• Happy Mother's Day! It can be even happier if you get your Mom an AR cake (via DMFO)
• Tish Shute and Ori Inbar hold an interview with Bruce Sterling - it doesn't make sense to write fiction about augmented reality nowadays as AR is not fictional topic anymore.
• As part of the ARE2011 media blitz, Sterling was also interviewed, together with Vernor Vinge on ReadWriteWeb about augmented reality in the workplace.
• Plush toys on sale at a virtual store, existing only in the augmented world of Layar.
• AR games in real life, a photoshop contest at Kotaku. AR remake of 'They Live' won first place.
• From now on Wikitude will come preloaded on millions of BlackBerry devices
• The augmented version of the lowly doorbell is a nice use of Junaio
• Guy has an AR marker tattoo done, going to regret it when AR goes completely marker less.

This week's video is just cute rendition of a possible augmented future, featuring Super Mario Bros villains in real life (via Neatorama):

Have a splendid week!