We’ve featured hacks before that are mash-ups of technologies from the Kinect and other motion gaming devices such as Nintendo’s Wii and Sony’s Playstation Move. Today’s featured hack is another example of that but one that blends the technologies of the Wii and the Kinect seamlessly to form an interesting take on the dancing video game genre.
WiiPop was inspired by the more spontaneous dances of today. According to the developer, WiiPop “aims to measure fundamental qualities of a freestyle dancer, like spacing, musicality and the incorporation of individual body parts in order to evaluate the dancer’s skill level. This concept enables the dancer to express himself, to be creative and to monitor the level of tools he uses in order to move.”
While it is presented as a video game which posits the possibility of analyzing and categorizing dance styles and behavior, the developer says that the main goal of the hack is to “investigate different software and hardware solutions to digitally encrypt the language of dance. This project does not intend to capture or judge the full poetry of dance art. It simply aims to push the level of physical detection and algorithmically categorization.”
It’s definitely interesting to see in action and one that we won’t mind keeping a close eye on. Currently in beta mode, the developer plans to release it as an open source app. Check out the project website via the link below for more details.
Very cool!