Matrix bullet time: coming to a deathmatch near you.

Written by Jason Cundall

July 22, 2005 | 10:20

Tags: #hollywood #max-payne

Companies: #finland

You've seen it in the movies, in countless TV adverts and used various flavours of bullet time in single player games such as Max Payne. But now, thanks to research in Finland, you could be dodging aerodynamic slugs of lead Neo style in multi-player frag fests:

In a strange example of the cyber-world imitating Hollywood imitating the cyber-world, Finnish researchers have developed a way to achieve the “bullet-time” effect of the movie The Matrix in real-time multi-player games.

The effect combines slow motion with dynamic virtual-camera movement to seemingly allow a character to slow down their environment, giving them more time to respond to game events.

The challenge had been to achieve this with real-time online multi-player games, says Jouni Smed at the University of Turku. So far the closest anyone has come to it is by speeding up the player, instead of slowing down the environment, he says. “It’s not the effect one wants because the player has even less time to react.”


More from NewScientist here.

How long it takes for the method to filter into mainstream games is anyones guess at the moment. The Oracle may know, but she's keeping schtum for the time being. But if you ask me, the idea's too cool to ignore - so expect it sooner than later.

Let us know what you think of this interesting development in multi-player gaming in our news forum.
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