AbleGamers Goes to the Expo.

After speaking to many Game Developers Conference attendees, the consensus was that this year's conference was not as impressive as previous installments. Game companies are cutting back costs to keep up with difficult economic times and it showed.

Prior to the conference start, the number of attendees was expected to be down from last year. The expo in the North Hall at the Moscone Center in San Francisco had many empty booth spaces. The booth swag was not much more than a few brochures, pens and stale candy.

Still, AbleGamers raided the expo and navigated the booth maze to highlight some of the more interesting exhibits on our quest. Consider this information your own personal swag.

Is 3D the next big thing?

Upon walking into the expo area your eyes were immediately drawn to the ceiling by Sony's hanging speech bubbles with phrases such as "Is that it?" "I did some bad things" and "I'm going to blow up." Below the speech bubbles were flat screen monitors labeled as "3D Technologies Research." There was a group of people surrounding the monitors wearing what looked like designer sunglasses. At a glance, the screen images looked like a racing game after one too many drinks. Put the glasses on and the image layers popped. The photorealistic gameplay in 3D looked incredible. This was a first look at games optimized in 3D. The project is still under research so there was no other information available.

There were also computer monitors on the expo floor that displayed 3D images through a company called iZ3D. With these monitors you can watch movies and play games in 3D. The list of supported games, which were tested by iZ3D and are reported to work, include World of Warcraft and Warhammer among many others. WoW was on display at the expo. Upon wearing the 3D glasses the images become fully fleshed out. The images are also adjustable for depth to suit your visual preferences. For more information visit iZ3D.com.

Gaming telekinesis

Passing by the 4DForce booth we couldn't help but notice a man wearing a thin headset wrapped around his head like a headband. The device as he explained is a wireless neurofeedback headset that measures and amplifies body and brain signals. The headset takes these signals and transfers them via wireless remote to a receiver that can be embedded, or attached to any electronic device. These signals are then used to move objects onscreen. In other words, it's like technology-driven telekinesis.

Two men at the booth played a simple game of soccer, which looked more like Pong. They controlled the movements onscreen by simply moving their eyes right, or left to move goalie and keep the other player from scoring.

The Berlin-based company began neurofeedback projects in the medical field by creating devices to assist people with paralysis. Now the company hopes to bring this technology to the gaming market.

Desktop display goes tabletop

The tabletop display uses capacitive touch technology, which is similar to touch pads on laptop computers. Directly under the screen lie antennas that transmit small radio-frequency signals and when triggered couples a small amount of signal from the antennas to a receiver connected to the users chair. Each user has a unique receiver, which allows the device to identify the user on the screen by color. The touch screen is very precise and is also resistant to potential accidents, including spills.

AbleGamers gave the table a try and overall it was very responsive. We played elementary multiplayer games and received a demonstration on how it works as a computer display. What was most impressive was Web surfing. With a tap of a hand, or slide of a fist you could select text, scroll up and down the large screen and single-handedly perform all usual Web browsing functions. For more information visit circletwelve.com.