virtual reality

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Calif. Researchers Hack Kinect for World Of Warcraft

USC researchers provide software free online

(Newser) - It's about time academics applied their brain power to something really useful. Researchers at the University of Southern California have hacked Microsoft's touchie-feelie Kinect camera for the XBox to play the hugely popular World of Warcraft online game. What's even better is that the software they developed to do it—...

Player Makes $335K in Virtual Real Estate Deal

"Neverdie' busts record for real profit on single virtual sale

(Newser) - Afraid to speculate in the real estate market just now? Try the unreal real estate market instead, where one lucky player of the Entropia Universe virtual reality game is $335,000 richer thanks to sound virtual investments that earned him some real money. Entropia player Jon Jacobs—known online as...

Web Game Nets Creator $1.5M
  Web Game Nets Creator $1.5M 
Oct 8, 2009 2:13 AM CDT

Web Game Nets Creator $1.5M

Players pay for extra points to commit murder, mayhem

(Newser) - An Internet crime game has earned its young creator nearly $1.5 miilion. Torn, a text-based game noir that lets players commit murder and mayhem, boasts some 41,000 active players and 1.3 million account holders worldwide. The game is free, but players can opt to pay $5 a...

War Games Help Vets Cope With PTSD

Psychologists say virtual reality allows vets to confront and overcome trauma

(Newser) - Using realistic war games to re-create the sights, sounds, and even smells of combat is helping veterans overcome post-traumatic stress disorder in several clinical trials. Games like Virtual Iraq—modeled on Full Spectrum Warrior—help psychologists bring patients back to traumatic events and break down mental barriers. Researchers say the...

Harry Potter Charms Wii
 Harry Potter Charms Wii 
Jul 7, 2009 2:35 AM CDT

Harry Potter Charms Wii

(Newser) - Gamers don't have to go to Hogwarts to fly on a broomstick, stir up potions or win a wand duel. They can pull off virtually the same stunts by picking up Wii controls in the latest game created for the popular console. Electronic Arts' Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince...

3-D Movies Inch Toward the Holodeck

(Newser) - For filmmakers on the cutting edge, moviemaking has become a technological dance on an increasingly virtual stage, Wired reports. Producers now have virtual worlds built before shooting starts and routinely blur the difference between animation and live action. And though glasses are still required, 3-D cartoons are rapidly advancing from...

High-Tech Jacket Makes This More Vivid

'Virtual touch' jacket will stimulate film viewers in new ways

(Newser) - Moviemakers have a new tool to make your viewing experience more intense: a jacket wired with devices that use touch to stimulate the wearer, Fast Company reports. But the jacket is more than just the latest incarnation of smell-o-vision—rather than reproducing sensations being experienced by characters on screen, it...

Virtual Affair Ends in Real Divorce

Digital cheating destroys UK marriage

(Newser) - When a UK woman discovered that her husband had fallen for another woman, she took the not-so-unusual step of filing for divorce. The kicker here, reports the Guardian, is that the cheating took place not in real life, among real people, but in the virtual world of Second Life. The...

'Virtual Iraq' Helps Vets Face Stress

Treatment drags soldiers back to moments of crisis

(Newser) - Therapists are plunging US war veterans back into the horrors of battle—as therapy. A virtual reality treatment is helping them cope with post-traumatic stress disorder by returning them to scarring events until their shock value wanes. "When the ground starts vibrating and you smell smoke and hear the...

Digital Tutors May Edge Out Real Thing

Virtual educators don't get frustrated and kids aren't afraid of errors

(Newser) - The best education available these days may be a virtual one, scientists are finding. Today´s digital educators can teach anything from social to language skills—and don't get tired, bored or irritable, LiveScience reports. The programs are a perfect match for autistic kids, who often find face-to-face interactions overwhelming.

Growing Pains Yield Virtual Reality Check

Second Life founder answers critics, promises improvement

(Newser) - The paparazzi have left, but the party isn't over for Second Life, the virtual world's founder says in a combative interview with Der Spiegel. Philip Rosedale acknowledges that the media hype has all but dried up but says he hopes new voice and education tools will turn the spotlight back...

Ghosts and Ghouls Invade Virtual Worlds

Digital realms like Halo and Second Life are getting in the Halloween spirit

(Newser) - Take a break from scarfing candy to join in silly spookiness online. Wired gives you the inside scoop on special events and areas in your favorite virtual worlds dedicated to the holiday:
  1. Halo 3: A seasonal addition to the matchmaking playlist should keep players entertained for the 27 hours surrounding
...

3D Pioneer Delivers Lecture of a Lifetime

Beloved prof evokes ovations, tears with inspiring farewell

(Newser) - The "Last Lecture Series" is an academic task for some, but computer science prof Randy Pausch - who will live only 3 months with pancreatic cancer - took this talk to be literally his last, the Wall Street Journal reports. Yet he was exuberant as he showed photos of...

Out-of-Body Experience Induced in Lab

Study unlocks clues to near-death phenomenon

(Newser) - Scientists researching out-of-body experiences have discovered ways to trigger the phenomenon in volunteers, the BBC reports. Researchers using virtual reality goggles and  body images were able to trick participants into thinking they had moved several feet away from their bodies. The results, published in the journal Science, offer intriguing neurological...

Man Treats Virtual Wife Better Than Real One

Second Life getting in the way of first lives

(Newser) - A man who spends up to 20 hours a day playing the virtual-reality video game Second Life may be getting more fulfillment from his online wife than his real one—and his non-cyber-spouse isn't feeling fulfilled at all. Ric Hoogestraat, a 53-year-old ex-teacher, says his virtual matrimony is only a...

Real Priest Urges Virtual Soul-Searching

Second Life fertile ground for new Catholic converts, Jesuit says

(Newser) - A Jesuit academic is encouraging fellow believers to take the word of God to a new world—virtual reality. In a Roman Jesuit journal, Father Antonio Spadaro urges missionaries to preach the good life in Second Life, describing the online simulation game as packed with real souls to save, Reuters...

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