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IMTECH: Create The Matrix - Serious Games As Fully Immersive Sims


Via: Immersive Tech

Immersive Tech (IMTECH) is a non-profit think tank, based in Los Angeles and dedicated to promoting the development and adoption of immersive technology for the benefit of advancing fields in public interest, such as education, health, arts and entertainment.

The organization seeks to provide a new medium for human creativity, and sees boundless potential with the creation of perceptually-real, immersive environments.

Immersive Tech Kickstarter Project - Step Into A Serious Game

Immersive Tech - Create The Matrix - A Fully Immersive Simulation System (a new type of hackerspace)

IMTECH is creating a simulation system that used to just be science fiction. The goal is to provide the ability to create digital simulations that, as far as your brain can tell, is indistinguishable from physical reality. They essentially want to provide people the ability to lucid dream in a waking state :) Current virtual worlds provide people the ability to live out alternate realities, but unfortunately the interaction is limited to controlling an avatar through a flat 2D screen and a keyboard and mouse ... NOT very immersive :(

By creating a new, immersive platform, people can actually step INTO a video game and BECOME their avatar.

IMTECH Announces Nominees For Immersive Technology Awards

Serious Games can blur the barrier between the physical and digital worlds, thereby creating “immersive” experiences.

As you vote online for the Immersive Tech Awards that will recognize breakthrough achievements across five disciplines, you may find a number of nominees that are either Serious Games developers or Serious Games supporting technology owners.

PRESS RELEASE

LOS ANGELES (September 28, 2010) – Hollywood has its Oscars®, Broadway the Tonys, music its Grammys® and television its Emmys.

Now say hello to the Immys.

The Immersive Tech Awards (the “Immys”) will make their debut on October 21 at Immersive Technology Summit 2010, the world's first gathering of experts and aficionados dedicated to exploring the technological reaches of imagination. “Immersive technology” refers to software and devices that blur the barrier between the physical and digital worlds, thereby creating “immersive” experiences.

Five Immersive Tech awards will be presented at the summit, in the categories of arts/entertainment, health sciences, research/education, communication, and hardware. And in the spirit of the budding immersive tech community, fans are invited to vote for their favorites.

IMTECH’s board of advisors selected five nominees in each category:

o Arts/Entertainment

Avatar 3D, James Cameron; Universal Studios King Kong 360 3D, Peter Jackson; AR Drone, Parrot; Move, PlayStation; 360 Video, Social Animal

o Research/Education

The Allosphere, JoAnn Kuchera-Morin; StarCAVE, CalIT2; SWIFT (Second World Immersive Future Teaching), University of Leicester; Virtual Lap Band, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; SimHub, University Center of Greenville

o Health Sciences

Virtual Iraq, USC ICT; Da Vinci, Telerobotic Surgical System; Immersive Virtual Reality Pain Distraction, Hoffman & Patterson, HITlab, University of Washington; BCI wheelchair, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne; Walking Assist, Honda Robotics

o Communication

Immersion room, DVE; 3D Holographic Technology, Musion; IPresence, EON Reality; TiLR, Robodynamics; Polycom 400 Series RPX

o Interface

Immersive Wide Area Walking Center, WorldViz; G-Speak, Oblong; Touchsense, Immersion Corporation; Cyberforce, CyberGloveSystems; Neurosky Mindset, Neurosky

Hosted at Los Angeles Center Studios and organized by IMTECH, a new Los Angeles-based non-profit think tank, Immersive Tech will feature a full complement of industry speakers, panel discussions, interactive exhibits and product demonstrations, theater presentations in a 50-foot hemispherical dome, networking events and insider access to new technologies.

“Right off the bat, the Immy Awards make several powerful statements about immersive technology today,” said Nathan Makino, CEO, ImTech. “First, they testify to the remarkable diversity within immersive technologies – and we all recognize that we’re still in the early going. They also showcase the stature of those driving these technologies – individuals and organizations that are at once global and local, entrepreneurial and of the enterprise. We encourage everyone to check out the finalists online -- and vote.”

Among the speakers at the event: Dr. JoAnn Kuchera-Morin, founder of UC Santa Barbara's Allosphere; John Smart, Chairman of the Acceleration Studies Foundation; and Greg Hyver, Vice President of Business Development, for BCINet, Inc. Adobe and Virtual World Web are event benefactors, with sponsors and exhibitors that include Big Look 360, Blict, Doppel Games, Fixed 8 Lighting, Global Vision Communication, Immersive Media, Metaio, Monster Energy, Ogmento, Social Animal, SynLabs, TOOB, Total Immersion, UPrinting.com, Virtusphere, Vortex Immersion Media and xRez Studio.

Immersive Technology Summit 2010 is the first of what will become an annual conference, with focused seminars and special events held throughout the year. IMTECH marks the kickoff of an organized and enthusiastic effort to engage the Southern California community in a conversation around these emerging technologies.