The Rapid Evolution of Interactive Media: - Smithfield Times, The (VA) - March 25, 2024 - page 1

March 25, 2024 | Smithfield Times, The (VA) | Staff Reports

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The world of digital entertainment is evolving at a remarkable pace. From video games at LukkiCasino to films
and beyond, emerging technologies are transforming passive media consumption into truly immersive and
interactive experiences. As the lines between physical and virtual continue to blur, the future points to
expansive, multisensory virtual worlds and augmented realities that feel impressively real.

Entertainment media needs to continue embracing new modes of interactivity that provide heightened
verisimilitude and user agency. At the forefront are innovations in augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR),
artificial intelligence (AI), haptics, volumetric video, and more. Integrating these technologies in creative ways
can craft unparalleled experiences unattainable with traditional media .

The Current State of Immersive Media

Interactive digital experiences are already abundantly seen across various entertainment verticals:

* Video Games – Games continue to push the boundaries of virtual interaction with photorealistic graphics,
believable AI behaviors, expansive multiplayer worlds, and support for VR/AR headsets. The level of
immersion and agency within video game virtual worlds rivals passive non-interactive media .

* Theme Parks – Amusement attractions incorporate AR, projection mapping, simulators, and interactive
elements into rides, shows, and environments. Disney and Universal theme parks exemplify cutting-edge
mixes of physical and virtual.

* Streaming – Streaming platforms are expanding beyond passive film/TV watching into interactive stories
(Black Mirror: Bandersnatch) and shared virtual spaces (Fortnite concerts, VR chat spaces).

* Social Media – AR filters and lenses give users new ways to express themselves and interact with virtual
objects/characters in real physical spaces.

Across all these categories, entertainment experiences are defined by their level of responsive immersion,
multisensory feedback, and user influence over the outcome. Whether battling a video game boss or
designing a virtual avatar, consumers become active participants instead of passive viewers.

Key Emerging Technologies Poised to Transform Interactive Media

The following technologies show particular promise for pioneering the next generation of digital
entertainment:

Augmented Reality (AR)

AR overlays virtual elements onto the real-world environment. AR headsets like HoloLens 2 and Magic Leap 1
allow users to view and interact with 3D holographic objects positioned realistically within physical spaces.
Such a seamless blending of real and virtual provides limitless opportunities for revolutionary entertainment
applications.

Potential AR use cases include interactive stories occurring in real-world locales, multiplayer simulations
overlaying parks/buildings as play spaces, theme park rides augmented with believable fantasy creatures,
and more. Mobile AR apps like Pokémon GO already illustrate the appealing possibilities.

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

AI algorithms enable interactive virtual characters and objects to behave intelligently in response to user
actions. Smart AI NPCs (non-player characters) can hold natural conversations, dynamically
collaborate/compete with humans, and react realistically to open-ended choices beyond pre-programmed
limitations.

Sophisticated AI will significantly enhance the believability and unpredictability of virtual interactions – from
video game quests to simulated scenarios across media . The tech can also automate and optimize content
creation pipelines.

Haptics

Haptics provide tactile and force feedback for more immersive physical engagement with virtual worlds,
including sensations of touch, pressure, vibration, temperature, pain and more. Controllers, gloves, suits, and
other haptic interfaces simulate physical interaction missing from most VR/AR experiences today.

Applying advanced haptics allows users to feel virtual environments and objects as though they're
substantively real. This revolutionizes applications like digital theme park rides, combat/physics-based games,
therapist training programs, remote surgery, digital prototyping, and other interactive use cases dependent
on responsive tactile qualities.

Volumetric Video

Volumetric video captures actual people and real-world objects as three-dimensional data. This digital scan
data allows users to view and interact with photorealistic holographic renderings of real things (vs CGI
models) in virtual/augmented worlds.

The tech opens up many promising applications, including placing users alongside their favorite celebrities in
virtual hangouts, inserting realistic people/creatures into interactive stories, simulating schools/offices with
real teachers/coworkers represented digitally, or preserving important historical figures as interactive AI-
powered holograms.

Multi-Sensory Feedback

Truly immersive interactive experiences must provide appropriate multi-sensory cues synchronized with user
actions. These can include visuals, audio, haptics, motion/position tracking, temperature, wind, vibration and
more. When sensory input closely matches what one would expect in equivalent real-world scenarios, the
brain perceives it as more embodiable.

Crafting entertainment tech to stimulate senses beyond just visual/audio can encourage greater psychological
presence. Rides simulating extreme forces, attractions producing heat/cold air blasts, 4D films with seats that
move/poke viewers, motion platforms, and vibrating accessories that react to virtual events all provide
examples of enhancing immersion through expanded sensory feedback.

Motion Tracking

Precise full-body motion tracking lets users physically interact with virtual worlds using natural movement
mechanics. Tracking hands, eyes, and whole bodies without perceptible latency or data loss ensures
interactions directly match user intent. This level of input freedom sustains believability, as users are
uninhibited to move and behave exactly as they would in an equivalent real situation.

Reliable whole-body tracking paves the way for limitless interactive applications dependent on free-range,
natural user input. These span realistic sports/dance simulations, combat/adventure games promoting active
movement, physical rehab programs, virtual social spaces reflecting genuine body language, unlimited VR
world exploration, and essentially any interactive experience reliant on unfettered kinetic user engagement.

Integrating Multiple Technologies for Optimal Interactive Experiences

While the above technologies each provide standout benefits individually, combining them in creative ways
holds the most disruptive potential for pioneering groundbreaking interactive entertainment.
For example, multiplayer augmented reality thereviewscasino games could overlay park spaces with fantasy
worlds, leverage advanced AI to incarnate characters who intelligently assist/impede users, incorporate haptic
gloves providing tactile feedback when handling virtual objects, and track natural user movements/gestures
to influence interactions and gameplay.

Such a system integrates sensing, processing, and output technologies to craft responsive virtual worlds that
feel impressively tangible and realizable. The range of sensory, kinetic, atmospheric and psychological
feedback loops between user and virtual systems synergistically enhances the sense of immersive "presence"
– the benchmark of transcendent interactive media .

Creators should consider multifaceted approaches that holistically account for sensory, input, cognitive and
emotive factors defining interaction with virtual characters/worlds. Focusing narrowly on only visual polish
risks crafting gorgeous yet shallow experiences. But incorporating advanced input, biometrics, motion
capture, haptics, multi-perspective displays, AI and more can birth truly groundbreaking and inhabitable
interactive worlds unattainable via traditional media .

Conclusion

Digital entertainment continues progressing from passive media consumption toward active participation
within responsive virtual worlds that feel believably real. Embracing emerging technologies like augmented
reality, advanced AI, haptics, volumetric capture and multisensory feedback systems can provide the building
blocks for crafting unprecedented interactive experiences marked by new heights of immersion and agency.

The ultimate goal should focus on user "presence" – the deep psychological conviction of actually existing
inside virtual environments instead of merely observing them. Presence only emerges when virtual
interactions, behaviors and feedback closely align with real-world counterparts – a technological challenge
requiring creative integration across many bleeding-edge inputs and outputs.

CITATION (HARVARD STYLE)

Reports, S (2024) 'The Rapid Evolution of Interactive Media: Embracing Emerging Entertainment Technologies', Smithfield
Times, The (VA), 25 Mar, (online NewsBank).
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