Tis the season to reflect and review the year that’s about the scuttle its caboose into 2010.  It’s been a huge year for augmented reality after decades of R&D, finally hitting the public’s awareness.  Unfortunately, not all applications of the nascent technology showcased its possibilities.  Instead, some slapped it into use without careful forethought and understanding of why augmented reality will be one of the most important technological aspects of our collective futures. 

So I present what I believe are the 10 worst uses of augmented reality in 2009.  I’m only looking at the commercial applications of AR, because R&D should be given the freedom to test code without stringent use-cases to guide its development.  And often the commercial AR was bad because it was rushed onto market in a lame attempt to cash in on growing hype. 

10.  Hangman

While I never found an actual release of this game, the demo alone at the Tampa Internet and Technology Summit 2009 made me grimace in pain.  Hopefully HD Interactive scuttled their AR plans after this demo and redrew their strategy.  When I first saw this video, it inspired me to write this post. 

9. Firefighter 360

The “360″ in the name is appropriate because you’ll be spinning in circles putting out fires.  This app is similar to many others released that have a live camera feed, but don’t actually connect to any real world objects.  The fires and firetrucks are reached through a console controller style interface.  To really be AR, I would expect players to have to move around. 

8. Mosquitoes

The description for the game reads — “This fun game uses the compass and accelerometer for a super realistic ‘augmented reality’ effect.”  If you have to use the word super for your game, then you’re probably not going to be successful.  If the mosquitoes actually landed on me or I had to move around the room to attack them, that would be cool, but once again the only thing I’m getting out of this game is dizziness.

7. Arcade Reality

Another AR shooter that could be played in a virtual environment for the same effect as the augmented one.  They at least get points for multiple game play modes. 

6. Dodge Avenger AR Campaign

As Rouli has been chronicling, augmented reality for selling cars jumped the shark last spring.  Dodge didn’t get the memo and released this PC based campaign last month. 

5. Virtual Makeup

Games Alfresco found this scary gem of an AR video in its Not Ready for Primetime post.  We’ve seen lots of compelling try-on kiosks for other products like shirts, hats and jewelry, but turning your customers into scary clowns probably isn’t a great idea. 

4. Avon Perfume

I’ll be the first to admit I could be missing something in the translation, but didn’t anyone tell Avon that perfumes smell and augmented reality is primarily about vision?  And how many people sit around posing pictures with their perfume bottles. 

3. Twitter 360

This one is more about timing and scope than anything.  The Twitter 360 app received much press including this spot on the Augmented Planet, but that same week, Layar came out with its 3.0 version which made Twitter layers possible within its browser.  The lifespan of these narrowly focused apps are going to become shorter and shorter as the reality browsers and big name companies like Google get into the game.

2. Best Buy Campaign

I could have picked from any number of paper marker based augmented reality campaigns, there were a ton of them this year, but I chose Best Buy from last spring as the unlucky example. 

1. Always Feminine Hygiene Ad

An epic fail for so many reasons.  Besides being a typical paper-based marker campaign, the use of augmented reality had no tie-in with the feminine hygiene product.  The usage was so bad I had to rant about it in July. 

There we have it, ten of the worst uses of augmented reality in 2009.  While augmented reality is on the rise and many applications are impressive uses of the technology, we still have quite a few stinkers in the bunch.  Usually the culprit is misunderstanding of the technology or rushing it to the public without deciding if its actually fixing anything.  Blake Collins from OneZeroThrice expanded on this trend in his post about Who is, and Who Isn’t Augmented Reality. 

And because I’m a nice guy, if you made it to my 10 worst list or you want to stay off of it for next year, I’m offering up my post about the 10 Things Your AR App Must Have to Succeed to help you mend your errant ways.  I wrote it in anticipation of the over-hyped iPhone 3.1 OS, but it can be applied to any usage of the technology.  While its certain there are misguided plans hatching at corporate conference rooms all over the world right now that will make us groan and roll our eyes at their attempts at augmented reality, I’m buoyed by the knowledge that it only takes a few proper applications to change the world.

Inspired by Joe’s “50 Things I Learned at ISMAR“, I’m going to take a crack at 25 things since I was only there for half the conferance. 

1. Participation in ISMAR doubled from 2008 to 2009.

2. In the next six months it’s important that a few AR companies have success so funding will flow for the others. 

3. Projections should be used in big interactive spaces to allow for a shared augmented experience.

4. The Disney Imagineers showed us how AR can make a difference right now.

5. HMDs will bring stripper poles to every corner.

6. Magic lens is or isn’t the answer for AR.

7. Lots of great research isn’t making it to commercial usage. 

8. Apple must open up their video API, now!

9. Don’t wait.  Use the technology at hand to make the killer AR app.

10. Place is the new social networking. 

11. Augmented reality is NOT following Moore’s Law (but it can with enough money.)

12. Disney teaches us that the technology has to be invisible. 

13. Sell the experience not the technology.

14. Stop trying to reinvent old games using AR.  Create your own category. 

15. Augmented reality should be about 4D (don’t forget about time!)

16. We need indoor locative solutions.

17. History can be reborn with the right magic telescope.

18. Light-weight, fashionable HMDs aren’t ready yet.

19. Conferances at the same hotel at the Mountain Dew Tour makes for interesting people watching. 

20. I’m excited about the future of AR.

21. I saw at least five applications for AR on my factory floor, but no one is developing a commercial product for me to purchase.

22. Leverage the military to fund development for commercial.

23. I learned as much in conversations outside of the conference rooms than I did in them.

24. Don’t forget to tell a story.

25. Augmented reality pets don’t chew on the furniture (unless you want them to.)

My first thought after watching this video is: I wish I had a PS3.  I think the console use of AR will help popularize the technology.  While Sony’s motion sensing was one of the hot topics at E3, I think augmented reality should have had a more prominent place (of course, the Eye Pet requires some motion sensing).   Hopefully, Ori will bring us news from the floor soon.

Couple of notes from the video.  That is not a concept video but actual game play.  Also, the game will require purchase of the PlayStation Eye, which I assume will come packaged with the game.  I’m sure this game is only the first in a line of console AR games and I’m excited.  Unfortunately, there is no listed release date yet.

We’re still in the early Precambrian stages of augmented reality games.  A few different games are appearing here and there, but no earth shattering “must-have” game has crawled from the oceans yet.  Or as some say, AR needs its version of Pong. 

Below are two different games that were recently released, one professional and one amateur.  Both using AR.

Both are quick little games that don’t require a lot of time invested.  There is a huge market for these kinds of games.  And though these could be classified into the “Pong” type of games, they aren’t going to grab the world’s imagination, though I applaud the developers.

Gamers are much more sophisticated these days and require a greater threshold of entertainment to excite them.  I could be proved wrong, happily, by a Sudoku type game that breaks out the technology, but my guess is it will be more involved. 

Good games like good books have stories and characters that pull you into the action.   Recent games like Fallout 3, Oblivion, Half-Life, World of Warcraft and others, have characters and stories that stay with you even when you’re not at the computer or console.  The benefit the PC or console games have is the screen can take you to another place to tell the story.  For AR, until more sophisticated hardware and peripherals are available, we have to make due with cellphones and the space on desk in front of the computer. 

I think these spaces, while small are still big enough for the right characters and stories.  Build a little house on my desk and let me interact with a family that lives in the house.  Even simple AR markers can do the trick.  Tell me a good story and I’ll forget that they’re pixels.  Let me get to know the family, then give me a good villain to hate, even if its the neighbor next door that makes his dog poop on the family’s lawn. 

This axiom is true for big budget movies and its a lesson AR should carry with it from its infancy.  Special effects don’t tell the story, the characters do.  Compare two big FX movies like the new Potter movie coming out in July and the recent Terminator movie.  I want Harry Potter to overcome Voldemort, but I could care less about John Connor.

So give us a great story and make us care about the characters, even if its in the 10″ by 15″ space in front of our monitors.

Sometimes I wonder if thought controlled computers would be a bad thing.  During a business meeting daydream would I accidentally surf porn?

Fortunately the technology doesn’t work like that yet. 

But the technology for mind controlled computers (or brain-computer interface) is coming along.  Already three products exist or will soon exist on the market: the Emotiv, the NeuroSky MindSet and the OCZ Neural Impulse Actuator.  While the last one has the least imaginative name, its the only one current only the market (at about ~$100), though the NeuroSky MindSet is promising pre-order ships by late July 2009 (for $199). 

These BCIs work by responding to neural processes in the brain that generate motor movements and cognitive processes that modify motor movements.  Basically they translate brain activity into computer signals.  Once the signals have reached the computer, then the results depend on the creativity of the developer. 

What does this mean for augmented reality?  It offers another tool in the control toolbox for hands-free manipulation.  The downside is its another peripheral that will add to the cost of a complete augmented vision system.  Assuming the Vuzix VR920 that’s coming out in the fall is around $200, an iPhone is around $200 and a reliable BCI might be $200, then a complete system would be pretty pricey at $600, not including software add-ons. 

While BCI systems may seem years down the road, these videos have convinced me mass-market use may be closer than I originally thought.

NeuroSky ABC7 Segment

Playing Unreal Tournament3 using the OCZ NIA

EPOC Emotiv Systems @ tweakfest 09

Its easy to see how simple mouse movements and clicks using a BCI could allow augmented vision systems to be hands-free.  This would keep us all from looking like we’re doing hand stretches before a Happy Hands Club meet.

The Swedish Game studio A Different World has brought the award-winning AR game Ghostwire to the Nintendo DSi.  The move to the platform of the DSi should help bring AR games to kids and gain a wider audience for the technology. 

While this seven month old video shows the game on a cellphone, the concept should be the same for the DSi.

No word on the actual release date, but it can’t be too long since the game exists on the Nokia, my guess would be fall 2009.

If you’ve ever bought a marble run, rollercoaster or any other type of plastic track that requires hours of set up and falls to pieces at the wrong touch, then you’ll appreciate this idea. 

Last week, my wife and kids set up a marble run in our living room.  It took hours to set up because the tracks kept falling over.  The bases were too light to hold up any track over a foot tall.  Once they had all the bases secured down with heavy books they had to contend a new problem–the ball jumping the tracks on tight turns. 

They got it working finally, but making any changes to it would have been frustrating so the result ended up to be pretty static and they took it down that night.  I thought it seemed like a perfect solution for a console AR game. 

The advantage of using a console (Wii, XBox, Playstation3, etc) is that the structure of AR family entertainment center is already in place.  With a big screen TV, a wide open space, and camera, the living room could be converted into an exciting game center.  In much the same way that the Wii revolutionized interaction with the console games with gesture based gaming, AR could up the ante by providing a visual context for the games. 

Using the simple idea of the marble run, operators could place tracks in their living room using the controller.  The program could snap them together creaing fantasical designs.  If you wanted to learn more about physics, you could have a “realistic” version that shot the marble off if you made the tracks wrong. 

Roller coaster design games like Roller Coaster Tycoon have been around for years on the PC, but using AR could reinvigorate them by making the game come to life in the living room.   The use of AR should be brought to market in the same way as the Wii.  They didn’t have better graphics, but instead showed how getting people physically involved with the games got people interested, even people that had never played games before.

Tim Verbelen and Pieter Dhondt have brought us the results of their MSc thesis.  In the video they take the concept of a FPS (First Person Shooter) like Doom or Quake and apply it to the real world.  Using materials available to them like papervision and Wii controllers, they were able to put on an impressive demonstration of their game. 

While its not ready to become a game you can buy at your local game store, it certainly showcases what can be done even now with a little creativity and hard work.  Kudos on a job well done. 

It’s official.  I can’t get excited about AR marketing campaigns or AR products that don’t do anything.  I need an invisible creature on my desk that I can only see on my iPhone as much as I need a set of bowling pins. 

But I’m not going to sit here and complain about that.  Instead I’m going to give some suggestions for AR products I’d like to see in a series I’m going to do called–Steal This Idea!

This week I want to talk about a slice of the gaming market that is absolutely ripe for Augmented Reality–miniature gaming.  If you’re not familiar with miniature gaming, then I’ll break it down for you.  Miniature games are all about tactical combat on a table sized board with terrain. 

The fun of miniature gaming is standing around a table with a few of your close friends and outwitting them in tactical combat using insanely cool looking painted pewter figures.  I’ve played a variety of these games all the way back to Chainmail, the game that eventually spawned Dungeons and Dragons. 

The downside of these games is the high cost for the miniatures, poor portability of the equipment, painting the figures and arbitrating the rules.  These are problems augmented reality was meant to solve.  The style of play even works for marker AR because base plates are used to hold regiments of figures. 

I’d like to see a miniature game company pair with one of the big console game companies to create an AR miniature game.  The reason why this is a perfect fit is because most people with a console game like XBox, the Wii or Playstation will have a big screen to go along with their console.  A big screen is essential for seeing all the action on the table. 

Instead of having to buy a $600 painted Warhammer army, a high cost of entry, one could simply download an army to play.  The miniatures could be rendered in devilish detail down to the blood on the scythes of the skeletal horseman.  The console could arbitrate the rules in a convenient fashion, or if they preferred rolling dice, could read the dice thrown onto the table. 

Games could be played on a table near the big screen with all the details drawn onto the table using augmented reality.  This would keep the game active with opponents moving around the table rather than being stuck at a stationary screen like most computerized strategy games.  The actual resolution of the combat in gory detail would be a huge plus.  Armies could leap at each other, drenching each individual combattant in glorious battlelust. 

If these thoughts aren’t enough to get a fledgling AR game developer to jump into the fray, think about the demographic of the miniature gamer.  They’re willing to plunk down thousands of dollars for painted miniatures, terrain and battle tables.  They’d be happy to spend a tiny fraction of an army cost to purchase a new way to play an old game.