VizWorld.com

Organizers of the 2010 World Cup have worked with Total Immersion and CrossPlatform.TV to deploy a series of kiosks around the world in preparation for the big game.  The kiosk will show video of passers-by and overlay randomly selected country’s flags over their face, giving the illusion that they have painted a country’s flag on their face, and then play the selected country’s national anthem.

It’s not terribly interactive, but it is a fascinating experiment in trying to build international camaraderie by making fans imagine themselves as if they were fans of another country’s team. How would they feel if they had that other country’;s flag painted on their faces and heard its national anthem? Were they from that country, they would probably feel proud. How does the AR make them feel? Perhaps like a more worldly, sympathetic person. That sounds like a positive World Cup experience.

Now, I’m not a big fan of Soccer (or Football, for that matter), but from what I know of it, it’s a big deal.  I can imagine these kiosk’s will not last long before some disgruntled British Soccer fan obliterates it for showing Spain’s flag and anthem on their face.

via World Cup 2010 Promotions to Use Augmented Reality.

Science augmented reality, sports, total immersion

At the Nike 6.0 BMX Open Tour, in Chicago today and tomorrow, Total Immersion will be showing a fun Augmented Reality game based on scratch-off cards.

Every visitor to the Nike tent will receive a scratch-off card, offering a chance to win a pair of Nike 6.0 shoes and additional prizes – all based on the spinning wheels of the first-ever AR-generated slot machine. To activate the slot machine, the attendee displays the card in front of a camera, and his or her image is projected onto a larger screen. On screen, the card morphs into a big 3D slot machine that then appears in the attendee’s hand. The slot machine counts itself down and automatically spins – and if three matching images appear, it lights up and rings to celebrate the winner. Several winners will be declared daily.

Initially at the Chicago Nike6.0 event, this will be touring with the Dew Tour in Boston, Portland, Salt Lake City, and Orlando.  The AR system is also available on the Nike website from any webcam-enabled computer, although you will need a Spectator Guide to use it.  I figure those will be available online as well in a day or two.

See the full press release after the break.

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Graphics, Hardware augmented reality, contest, nike, total immersion