Human Pacman: A Mobile Entertainment System with Ubiquitous Computing and Tangible Interaction over a Wide Outdoor Area

Abstract

Abstract. Human Pacman is an interactive role-playing game that envisions to bring the computer gaming experience to a new level of emotional and sensory gratification by setting the real world as a playground. This is a physical fantasy game integrated with human-social and mobile-gaming that emphasizes on collaboration and competition between players. By setting the game in a wide outdoor area, natural human-physical movements have become an integral part of the game. Pacmen and Ghosts are now human players in the real world experiencing mixed reality visualization from the wearable computers on them. Virtual cookies and actual physical objects are incorporated to provide novel experiences of seamless transitions between real and virtual worlds and tangible human computer interface respectively. We believe Human Pacman is pioneering a new form of gaming that anchors on physicality, mobility, social interaction, and ubiquitous computing.

AntarcticAR: An outdoor AR experience of a virtual tour to Antarctica

“…In comparison, our project focuses on bringing a virtual environment to the user and providing information related to this remote place. This is similar to outdoor AR games [5][12] [18] in a sense that both present a virtual scene that has little relationship with the real world. On the other hand, they are different from our project, which focuses on users traveling into the virtual scene, rather than virtual game objects appearing in the real world.…”

A survey of mobile and wireless technologies for augmented reality systems

“…A number of systems (Tamura et al [28], Cheok et al [27], Piekarski et al [23], Papagiannakis et al [12], Hughes et al [32], Hollerer [8], Scmeil et al [40], Wagner et al [25] and Egges et al [11]) have employed mobile workstations (Figure 3), often aggregated together with other mobile equipment, in the form of a backpack (weighting 1-6 Kgs), so that the user can freely move in the real environment and have their hands free for input and interaction. These backpacks include amongst others, mobile workstations such as Dell™ Inspiron & Precision, Alienware™ and JVC™ sub-notebooks.…”

Towards a Service-Oriented Architecture for Interactive Ubiquitous Entertainment Systems

“…Ubiquitous computing has also applied in ubiquitous entertainment systems [3]. The emergence of mobile devices and the recent trend in 3G technology enables people to work, play games, or entertain themselves at home, office, or even on the move [4]. The capability of wireless devices to connect to a combination of networks such as wireless fidelity (WiFi), worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX), global system for mobile communication (GSM), and Bluetooth connections allows them to interoperate in a heterogeneous environment.…”