Chalk this one up into the "Is this for real?" category. TagCandy is a device built by Yasuaki Kakehi of Keio University. The device consists of a handheld base with a speaker and a senor built into the top of it. Then you place a ordinary lollipop into the top of the device and whalla your living in the future baby. Once you place the delectible candy in your mouth and begin to er... you know, suck the candy. The sensor will pick up your movements and the device with play one of many different sounds, such as firework or biting an apple for instance. The speaker vibrates and through that you can either feel the sound on your tongue and through bone-conduction technology, you will hear the sound by touching the candy to your teeth. There are plans in the future to add more functionality to its repertoire such as biting recognition and the ability to share sensations over the internet. We all know what happens when we get the internet involved into such things don't we ;- ). There is a nice video clip here that highlights this wonderful technology.
Take a good hard look fellow gamers. Could this vision of augmented reality be the next leap in video games? Nintendo needs to step up its game in order to take us to the next level and I don't think the Vitality Sensor is going to do it. I can see it now, Wii2 comes packed with Nintendo themed lollipops. Can you imagine the combination of Wiimote technology and mouth sensations! Satoru Iwata I'm talking to you. I've always wondered what if felt like to stomp on goombas in my mouth. God, that sounds oh so wrong.
What do you think of this new augmented reality technology? The future or another WTF device?
