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Virtual Reality Simulator for Battlefield 3


=VG= SemlerPDX

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Using currently available technology, a PC gaming rig has been assembled to create a working human interface for Battlefield 3 that is nothing short of amazing:

The Ultimate Battlefield 3 Simulator



You may have already seen the video here, or somewhere. A person steps into the center of a large pad in what looks like a room designed to capture the motions of an actor for a CG scene of a movie. He picks up a "gun" in the center of the room and begins to play Battlefield 3. Quickly we see his motions are transfered into the game as he crouches, walks, shoots, and gets shot - by one of 12 paintball guns covering the area of the pad!


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What you are seeing is an innovative creation set in motion in July of 2011 by Jason Bradbury and Suzi Perry of The Gadget Show. Produced by North One TV (Midlands), part of the All3Media Group in the United Kingdom, The Gadget Show has been around since 2004 and is currently on it's 16th season. They have made over 200 episodes and, in the UK, broadcast on Channel 5 on Monday nights at 8pm (GMT). The episode that features this astounding mechination is set to air October 24th, 2011 in the UK, called: ?Immersive Gaming Simulator Build?

Before you start scrambling for your checkbook or making out that list to Santa, you should know that this build consists of over $650,000 in parts, technologies, and softwares. Makes that new EyeFinity setup sound downright affordable, doesn't it?

When the people at The Gadget Show got the idea that the high-end graphics games we play are so greatly limited by the single, static monitor we all look at, they had the idea to change the way they are played. As a PC gamer who uses the NaturalPoint TrackIR 5 and TrackClip Pro for everything from the Falcon 4: Allied Force F-16 simulator to the ArmA 2 military simulator, I am used to the feel of my head motions being translated onscreen. This takes it to a whole new level wherein the "gun" you hold in your hands aims the crosshairs and your body itself turns the character around. They brought together a fantastic team of design and computer experts and challenged them to invent this one of a kind interface and make it into a reality.
A true First Person Shooter Simulator is born.


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The first, most notable gadgets are the gigantic 360 degree screen and the pad you stand on while playing. The screen has a 18 foot circumference and is 12 feet high with 5 projectors casting the images onto the dome screen. Imagine turning around, physically and in-game, at the same time - but the monitor constantly rotates with your body so that your center-line is synced with the huge monitor's center-line, around the 360 degrees.


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The omni-directional pad was made by MSE Weibull, of Sweden, and is pretty much a series of tredmills that run in all directions from the player. They, along with infra-red tracking cameras, translate real movements into game actions. This is made possible by an "XBOX Kinect camera hack" that makes such actions as crouching and jumping part of the data sent through the PC to the Battlefield 3 game engine. In addition to this, various LED's fill the room with lighting colored appropriate to the in game pixels via an ambient pixel-mapping software.


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In his hands is a gun with 4 motion tracker balls, and it appears to be mounted with a small LCD display that shows an image similar to that on the screen, but cropped around the crosshairs. He moves the gun so seemlessly with his body and head, it's hard to tell whether the crosshairs actually move with the gun, his head, or his body orientation. I guess we'll have to wait until October 24th to find out more.


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The 12 painball guns are arranged in groups of three around the player, at 4 points. Depending on where he is hit from in the game, and where he is currently on the pad, dictates which paintball gun fires and when. The player is wearing a full paintball helmet, and the "gun" he carries is completely wireless but doesn't fire paintballs itself. It looks like it has 2 triggers as well, with the second close to the end of the barrel.


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Clearly this is an interface that could not only transfer over to many FPS style games, but also to military simulators such as Arma 2 Operation Arrowhead, or Combined Operations. I can only dream of playing ACE, the Advanced Combat Environment Mod, using this rig. Muscle memory could be learned in this fashion, as well as a healthy fear of getting shot!!!


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From the Press Pack ...

EDITORS? NOTES:

The Gadget Show ?Immersive Gaming Simulator Build? will premiere in the UK on Monday 24th October 2011 @ 8pm on Channel 5.

The episode will be repeated on 5* at 8pm on Tuesday 25th October and on Channel 5 at 10 am on Saturday 29th October.


Please visit www.channel5.com/thegadgetshow for more information on the show.

PRESS PACK:

A video trailer of the simulator is available for embedding (for worldwide use) via http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQR49JGySTM.

ABOUT THE GADGET SHOW:

THE GADGET SHOW is a UK consumer technology programme that is currently in its 16th series. It has produced over 200 episodes since 2004. It broadcasts on Channel 5 at 8pm on Monday nights.

ABOUT NORTH ONE TV:

NORTH ONE TV (MIDLANDS) is the production company that makes The Gadget Show. North One TV is part of the All3Media group.
as
CONTACTS:

@TheGadgetShow
#gadgetsim
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  • 3 weeks later...
THANK YOU 2shea! !clap
This this is way cooler than the crappy virtual reality simulator I played at Wisconsin State Fair back in the day. Those old headsets are too heavy, this is the way to go with it, for sure. Muscle memory!!

[EDIT] On a side note, how amazing was it that THE Andy McNab, of Bravo Two Zero, was brought in to test the simulator?! Wow!!
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