I don’t know what’s happening lately, maybe it’s because I’m in Japan, or maybe because we finally reached a certain point in tech, but every 2 weeks there is some new announcement that makes me feel like I am living in the future. Just a few days ago I saw a video of 2 guys flying over Dubai with a jetpack. I saw some guy with a surfboard that had a jet engine attached to it – they called it a new sport. There was the HoloLens announcement. There are drone deliveries and people are excited about space again.
I was talking to some coworkers in our coworking space and showing them the video I recently made about Tokyo Indie Fest. At that game conference I got to try the Oculus rift as well as the Samsung Gear VR. The difference between these is that one uses a computer to render the data to the Oculus whereas the second one uses a smartphone for the display. I am not sure where the renderer is located in the case of the Samsung Gear VR.
So when I say coworkers I mean the other guys in my coworking space. Not my Mono colleagues. Anyway, for months they have been working on their project, which is an augmented reality game. I got to try it today. Basically you have a sensor on your wrist that connects to a smartphone. The sensor is this product called the Myo:
![Myo](http://johanronsse.be/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/thalmic2-1392085652772.jpg)
Then just like the Samsung Gear VR product you strap a smartphone to your head (in this case it was a Sony Xperia) and it’s time to play! The game involved shooting fireballs from your hand. No, really. Fireballs from your hand.
![](http://johanronsse.be/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/still.jpg)
Basically you would clench your fist so the muscles in your arm would tighten. When you release your fist the muscles untighten, the sensor gets a signal and BOOM! – you see a fireball coming from your hand. I probably looked like a total dork but for one moment I felt the power.
![](http://johanronsse.be/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Kamehameha.jpg)
We chatted a bit about possible uses cases and this could make a game like laser shooting a lot more interesting. The idea for now is to make a 3 vs 3 game as seen in Hado’s concept video. From what I’ve seen it’s hard to pull off VR, and from the demo I tried it isn’t quite there yet. This counts for all VR stuff at the game conference as well. The resolution is too low and the software is too slow, but I think with some dedication and newer hardware we can reach that VR point that it actually becomes nice and a preferred way to play video games. I love it when people are working on hard problems so to these guys I say: がんばって!