________________________________________________________________________________________This article outlines an overview of new paradigms in social and physical interaction in mixed-reality entertainment. Social and physical interactions are constrained, and thus natural interactions are lost in most current digital entertainment systems. In order to regain natural interactions, we argue that mixed-reality technology has great potential for promoting social and physical interactions. In this article we present five research prototype systems, Magic Land, Human Pacman, Kyoto Garden, Poultry Internet, and Free Network Visible Network (FNVN), to explain methods to regain natural social and physical interactions in mixed-reality entertainment. We believe these systems are part of a new form of entertainment based on physicality, mobility, tangible social interaction, and ubiquitous computing. Some details, benefits, and issues regarding design are discussed.
Human Pacman is a novel mixed reality interactive entertainment system that ventures to embed the natural physical world seamlessly with a fantasy virtual playground by capitalizing on infrastructure provided by wearable computer, mixed reality, and ubiquitous computing research. We have progressed from the old days of 2D arcade Pacman on screens, with incremental development, to the popular 3D game home console Pacman, and the recent mobile online Pacman. Finally with our research system Human Pacman, we have a physical role-playing computer fantasy together with real human-social and mobile-gaming that emphasizes on collaboration and competition between players in a wide outdoor area that allows natural wide-area human-physical movements. Pacmen and Ghosts are now human players in the real world experiencing computer graphics fantasyreality by using the wearable computers on them. Virtual cookies and actual tangible physical objects are incorporated into the game play to provide unique experiences of seamless transitions between real and virtual worlds. We believe Human Pacman is pioneering a new form of gaming that anchors on physicality, mobility, social interaction, and ubiquitous computing.
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