The Real Life Mario Kart

When you enter what game designers call the “magic circle” you enter the world and abide by the rules and procedures of the game.  Waterloo expanded the circle to include a real life track with power-ups. The power-ups and go-karts were controlled by compact RIO (cRIO) that receives the signals from the items and makes the according adjustments to the control of the car.  The items work with radio frequency identification (RFID) technology; the items hold a specific signal that activates a reaction when in the vicinity of a go-kart.  All the karts were connected wirelessly via a router.  Every kart’s router was connected to a central wireless router, which held the variables that each kart could use to share their information.  The system was run on LabView, a graphical programming language that allowed them to have one code for the acquisition of signal on the go-kart and one for the running of the items on the main pc.   They used this system to create a greater game framework that puts the player in the “magic circle”.

            The jump that waterloo made was a demonstration of the advancement of augmented reality over the past 10 years.  The technology needed and the ingenuity required to create a game in the real world gives only a select few who could get the funding and the tools needed to create the game.  As such there aren’t very many well-designed real-life games.  People on the Internet dream of bringing their favorite games into the real world, such as the Internet sensation FreddieW who specializes in live action videos.  Many of his videos focus on the world of gaming.  One such video is a creation of how Mario Kart would play out in the real world.  Waterloo took this innovative to a new level and made a working game.  They broke the boundaries because they adapted and used the technology that we have today.

            Mario Kart in real life is a massive technological innovation.  Technology has seen exponential growth over the past 30 years.  In the 70’s the government or companies mostly used computers.  In the late 70’s companies began to push the idea of a “home computer”.  Home computers began to sell in the 80’s and were very limited in what they could do.  Jump to the early 90’s and computers were more advanced where they were able to run CD-ROMs (introduced in 85).  Now in 2013 we are able to have small handheld computer in our pockets.  Video games have evolved a long way from simple games on a computer to large strategic games on new consoles.  Home systems were created and new ways of involvement in the games were created like wireless and motion control.  Now the next step in innovation has come, bringing games to the real world where players can interact with the game on a physical level.  Yet there are some psychological and social impacts we must consider.  Referencing the recent movie Gamer (a movie where the characters are humans in real life that die), what is the next step for first person shooters and other games with killing?  Gamer poses a problem that could occur in our society that may impact us psychologically.   Where will we draw the line on human involvement?  We as a society will have to face this problem in the near future.

http://thecreatorsproject.com/blog/real-life-imario-karti-with-rfid-tagged-power-ups

http://www.waterloolabs.com/#!ep07-system-overview/c1l2j