In the technology start-up space, China often gets slammed for having no innovation. However when we do uncover truly innovative things in China, it makes it stand out. I was recently shown an innovative mobile game, called Crows Coming that utilizes ‘move your body technology’ to play the game.
While many games on iPhone or iPad still use touch sensor technology, Beijing-based start-up, Vision Hacker has released a game that requires no touch at all, but instead for you to shake your head from side to side…um like you just don’t care?
The goal of the game is simple. A scarecrow in the middle of the field needs to protect pumpkins from menacing crows that swoop down to steal them. To defend against the crows, you control the position of the scarecrow by swinging your head from side to side, essentially head motion.
The technology behind the game is computer vision augmented reality or AR, something I’m very bullish on over the near future. To sense the position of your head the game uses the frontal camera of your iPhone 4 or iPad 2.
Vision Hacker also promotes the health benefits of playing the game, saying “you can play the game to exercise your head and neck after you work in front of the computer for a long time”. I can imagine people on the subway swaying from side to side, not just because they are dozing off to sleep.
The team is made up of computer vision researchers and top programmers in China.
The game was released on August 20th and sells on the Apple App Store for US$0.99. It claims to be the first Move Your Body game released on iOS.
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