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NSA Video Games Paper - American Civil Liberties Union

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<strong>Games</strong>: A Look at Emerging Trends, Uses, Threats and Opportunities in Influence Activities<br />

efforts are moving beyond vibrating gaming controllers and into truly immersive<br />

sensory devices.<br />

• Nintendo has been at the forefront of major hardware manufactures and<br />

publishers in implementing haptics. Nintendogs is a popular game that elicits<br />

emotion through its advanced voice and touch recognition software, helping to<br />

create a strong emotional bond with the virtual pets. Users must talk and touch the<br />

dog to elicit a response from the virtual pet. Game designer Hideki Konno states,<br />

"It is one thing to type in a name and it is an entirely different emotional response<br />

to call and see the puppy turn its head and run over to greet you."cx Nintendogs<br />

has been an international phenomenon selling more than 4 million units<br />

worldwide. Also, the Wii, Nintendo' s newest gaming console, offers advanced<br />

interaction though wireless remotes where users must use the remote like they<br />

would use the item in the game. For instance, tennis requires the user to swing at<br />

the ball using different swings and techniques. The introduction of the Wii has<br />

taken interactive gaming to a whole other level of immersion.<br />

• Future devices employing haptics are not far off with some being marketed in the<br />

near term. One device by Novint Technologies, expected to debut later this year,<br />

allows the user to feel weight, shape, texture, dimension, dynamics, 3-D motion,<br />

and force effects.§§§§§§ Another product lets users interact physically with virtual<br />

objects. For instance, by using a sensor-equipped glove and a force-reflecting<br />

exoskeleton, you could literally feel the shape, texture and weight of an onscreen<br />

3-D object. ·- ~ · ~ Such devices are used now for virtual modeling, medicine and<br />

the military, but as costs decrease, haptic interfaces could become more widely<br />

available in the gaming space increasing immersion tenfold.<br />

Exhibit 4-8: Haptic Devices by Immersion 3D<br />

§§§§§§For more information on Haptic devices by Novint, see their webpage at http://www.novint.com/<br />

······· For more information on Haptic devices being developed by Immersion 3D, see their website at<br />

http://www.immersion.com<br />

FOUO -Not for Public Distribution<br />

Page 58

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