Written on October 10, 2008 – 2:56 am | by Maria Mihale |

Remember when you were a kid and your parents took you in those multi-hour car trips you hated so much because for a couple of weeks or so you had to enjoy their company and their company only, losing touch with all of your friends? And this wasn’t your only suffering, because you had to stand still in the backseat, all alone, having nothing to do in order to entertain yourself, as your mother didn’t approve of how you used to understand the concept of “having fun”. So you had to tolerate your father’s lousy taste in music and guessing games, and wait for you to actually be bored to death.

Wouldn’t you have loved to be a little child today, when kids have tons of high-tech entertainment to keep them sedated? And if you thought you’ve seen it all, well let me break the news for you: you haven’t, because a brand new cool-looking car-based video game is about to come out. Now tell me, isn’t it envy what you feel when seeing full console games in cars, which weren’t available when you were a kid?

It appears that a few students at Berlin University of Arts are taking backseat video games to a new level with the new Carcade. Created by Andreas Nicolas Fischer, Martin Kim Luge and Korbinian Polk, Carcade seems to be the possibility to never-ending games, with the potential to shut up children doing long-distance car travels. Designers described the device as “a concept for an in-car video game for the passengers, which captures the landscape and uses it as a video game environment. Existing objects, for example trees and architecture are recognized by the camera and enhanced by video game assets”.

This Carcade game uses a webcam attached to the side of the car and connected to an ordinary laptop in order to scan buildings and trees the car is passing by and make them part of the game. The player has to maneuver a spaceship and collect points while trying to avoid crashing into oncoming enemies. Best of all, these guys implemented a two-player game mode, so that Carcade wouldn’t become subject of war for little brothers.

The game is influenced by the manner of driving the car. This means that if the diver accelerates, the game becomes increasingly difficult. When the car comes to a stop, a different game situation evolves. Hopefully, the connection between the speed of the car and the difficulty of the game won’t be the reason for more accidents, as parents try to shut up their kids while they’re screaming at the top of their lungs “drive faster, mommy, drive faster, I have to improve my game!”.

There is no word about this project turning into reality, yet. But who knows, maybe a big video game manufacturer will reach a critical point of despair and will hit the device to mass production, after seeing this demo.



(Source gadgets.boingboing.net)