While the 2012 Olympics continue in London, another meeting of nations and cultures happened within the UCLA Game Lab this past week. Not to discuss or compete in sports, but to share new innovations in video game technology.
Sega Japan researchers from the video game company’s arcade research and development division visited the Game Lab out of an interest in the students’ past and present video game projects, along with the intention of giving a talk of their own.
Preceding a powerpoint presentation on their game development process, the researchers were shown around the Game Lab and introduced to the students and their work, including the arcade backpack that was recently displayed and exhibited at the Electronic Entertainment Expo.
Rather than being constrained to one venue as was the case with past arcade games, the Game Lab circumvented this problem with the arcade backpack. This piece of simple, yet innovative, hardware features a classic wooden arcade cabinet attached to shoulder straps for mobility. A laptop slips into the viewer slot, where the traditional six buttons, joystick layout serve as the player’s controls.
Game Lab manager David Elliott said the researchers seemed genuinely interested and impressed by this show of creativity, which lines up with Sega’s more whacky ideas as demonstrated in the their own presentation.
The researchers held nothing back as they explained the development processes, rules and purposes behind a few of their more uncommon projects. These included a crane mechanism and foam block set-up designed for children, as well as a real-time strategy card game that uses an infrared table. They even presented a restroom-based video game in which sensors are placed in a urinal and a screen at eye level. The accuracy of the urine stream determines the kind of input on the screen.
Nonetheless, Elliott said that he and the other Game Lab attendees appreciated these considerably different approaches to games because it validated their own creative endeavors, unlike the current American video game market.
“I thought it was admirable of their company to take these central risks. “¦ That’s something the Game Lab really stands behind,” Elliott said.
He also said that this similarity in direction formed a connection between the two groups, bypassing the language barrier and allowing the video game creators to find common ground and develop from their meeting.
“We’re fans of technology and it’s always exciting for us to hear about different solutions to hard problems, and in turn this becomes more fuel for our inspiration,” Elliott said. “There was an affinity between us.”
Compiled by Colin Reid, A&E senior staff.