Archive for August, 2007

What do Wired, Microsoft Games, Halo 3, and Usability have in common?

August 27th, 2007

They all come together to make a pretty good article.
Here’s the link:
http://www.wired.com/gaming/virtualworlds/magazine/15-09/ff_halo?currentPage=1

(Image from Wired)
Recently, one of our groups at GMU worked to used eye tracking for some of the smae types of problems noted in the article.
Which brings up a great example of eye tracking and usability. In the wired article, […]

Heart Rate and Gaming: What Can Our Body Tell Us About Preference?

August 22nd, 2007

An interesting article about using physiological measures with game preference:
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/products/cnet/2007-08-21-video-game-brain-scans_N.htm

From the article:
“So game maker THQ tried an unusual research method last year to evaluate people’s early emotional response to its in-development shooter game Frontlines. Instead of asking a test group how it liked the game, as with most market research, the company hired […]

Technological Innovation can make you fat

August 6th, 2007

Here’s an interesting article about a Visa survey where our interactions with technology change our behavior - in this case, our fast food consumption.
During my time at Motorola, I remember an early test on RFID-enabled credit cards resulted in significant increases in purchase amount per visit. When our interaction with technology changes, our behavior […]

Kids, Usability, and Technology: Is “like” even the right word?

August 3rd, 2007

I was reading an article about a recent survey on kids and usability which reported an interesting finding: According a survey by Microsoft and Viacom about kids and technology, children in developed countries don’t “like” technology, (though they do use it). Interestingly, children in Brazil, India, and China are much more likely to […]