A group of 30 Computer Science post-graduate students from the Singapore-MIT Alliance (SMA) successfully unveiled new technological breakthroughs in the gaming arena in just six short weeks.

Traditional digital games require the use of joystick, mouse or keyboard to control the game. With this new discovery that employs sound, movement and gestures, gamers need not be desk-bound or use any controllers. Instead, they can control the game by simply making physical movements, joggling of iPAC pocket PCs, or even speaking into the pocket PCs. This innovation is supported by current technologies of WiFi, HP BackPaq, Beacon, components of iPaq etc.

CS Masters student Neel Kamal briefing the onlooking students on the mechanisms of controlling the game using a pocket PC.

Donny Soh, one of the top SMA Masters students selected to take part in the "Pervasive Human-Centric Computing" programme added, “This game is different. You get to interact very physically with the game, you get to move about to control the characters. That’s bringing the person back to the game itself…”

SMA is the world’s first distance learning programme that has developed advanced interface uses for handheld devices.

The success of this project also reaffirms the aim of distance learning programmes using advanced technology to bring people together. Cham Tat Jen, Fellow and Associate Professor of School of Computer Engineering at NTU, pointed out that with the current internet applications and technologies, it was absolutely possible for gamers using pocket PCs to challenge other gamers from different geographical locations.

Prof Cham said, "Currently, they are just putting these technologies into games...but what gives them sense is how these technologies can be used in other kind of applications, like eldercare, retail and smart homes."

Using verbal instructions to operate the lights or automating the lights such that they light up by themselves once someone enters a room can soon become reality. Such advanced technology can also apply to the area of data collection in the retail sector. For example, supermarkets can make use of this technology to record the time each customer spends inside their premises and even detect the time spent in each department.

A total of nine multi-networked games were developed by Donny and his group members who are from Singapore, India, China and the United States.

Updated on 1 September 2004