Super Mario meets super computing in virtual environment
By Greg Kline
Sunday March 23, 2008
John Dixon
James Crowell, a cognitive psychologist and visualization programmer, uses a Nintendo Wii controller to navigate through a virtual environment in the CAVE at the University of Illinois' Beckman Institute in Urbana.
Until we all have Star Trek-like holodecks at home, there's not much economy of scale in manufacturing equipment for room-sized virtual environments like the CAVE and CUBE at the University of Illinois' Beckman Institute.
Which is why the specialized wireless handheld controller people used to reach into and navigate the virtual worlds projected in the rooms – on three sides in the case of the CAVE and completely surrounding them in the CUBE – cost $60,000.
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