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Have a hand in live sporting action with Fan Attack. This new concept allows fans in the stadium to directly influence control over the ball, puck, rock, or racing mobile. It’s all done through the magic of the 3DS, PSP, and the Fan Attack system. Imagine a baseball veering wildly, in mid flight, a split second after the batter swings. Or how about an impossible-to-control hockey puck zig-zagging across the ice? And then there’s the basketball that refuses to bounce. Sports will never be the same again with Fan Attack, as the athletes have to respond to unpredictable and physics-defying situations. And it’s all your doing. The creative team behind Fan Attack is testing their system with professional athletes and major sports franchises. Fans will be able to exert control over the principal object in their favorite sport. Baseballs, basketballs, footballs, hockey pucks, curling rocks, and NASCARs will be directly affected by fan participation through commands received from their handheld devices. “It’s as easy as playing a sports video game,” says co-creator Orville Schwam. “Move the stick in the direction you want the object to go, whether it’s to bring it closer to your team or move it away from the opposing team. A series of self-propelled gyroscopes have been developed to fit into inside the various balls, pucks, rocks, and cars. Each gyroscope system includes a sophisticated processor that can accept up to 100,000 commands a second. The direction a sports object travels will be determined by the amount of commands received, and the precise timing of these commands.” Sports fans bring their handheld to their favorite sporting event and work it like a professional athlete. The results will be interesting to say the least. Fans will eventually learn to get in synch with each other. This will bring a whole new dimension to professional sports. “Fan Attack is going to literally reinvent sports,” Schwam claims. “Fans are no longer passive; they are an integral part of the game. They’re going to have to learn to get their stuff together, and the athletes are going to have to learn to adapt when things go haywire. Not only is this going to be fun for the players and the gamers, but also for the passive viewer. Only the best athletes will be able to cope with such unpredictable situations.” Technically, Fan Attack will be configured to take into account the number of participating gamers for each team, automatically adjusting the amount of influence of commands to fairly balance the larger number of home fans from the visitors. The creators claim the industry is very receptive to the Fan Attack concept. A launch date is expected early next year. By Cole Smith |