OutRun: Augmented Reality Driving Video Game

Hi - I'm Garnet Hertz. I'm a Research Scientist in Informatics. The project started with thinking
"What would it be like if this driving arcade game could actually drive?" There's a custom
piece of software - actually, a number of pieces of software that run here - that look
in front of the car and try to interpret what features there are in front of the car. In
this case, it looks specifically for roads, and then it draws that road shape in the style
of the original video game. So this software that's running looks like the old video game,
but it's actually an Augmented Reality type of system that tries to make the real world
look like a video game from the 1980s. I'm Walt Scacchi - I'm the Research Director for
the Center for Computer Games and Virtual Worlds here at the University of California
at Irvine. At this point, it's more of an exploration. It's an experiment, but one of
the things that's starting to arise from it is whole new ways of thinking about how game-based
virtual worlds can be embodied into physical devices in order to create new experiences.
One of the things that may come from the OutRun project are new ways of associating game-based
therapies for people who might be limited to electric chair assisted mobility. Kids
who have limited ability or are quadriplegic may be able to take advantage of some of this
technology if we can get it embodied in - rather in the form of an arcade machine
- also in the form of a powered wheelchair. So that's an exciting follow-on we see to
this project. It is a bit of an unconventional project and I think it's a testament to the
atmosphere and creativity of UCI and Computer Science that something like this can be done
- and something that can be done that really has never been done like this before. So,
for me it's an exciting place to be and to work that I can do work like this.