Holy visual sound effects, Batman!
There are many factors that conspired to make the 1960s Batman TV series as fondly-remembered as it is: There was the memorable theme song (nananananananana Bat-Man!), for one. The show (and its accompanying 1966 movie) had a ridiculous and campy sense of humor that made it impossible to take seriously but easy to love, and that extended to the fight scenes.
Whenever someone on the show threw a punch or a kick, the screen would light up in a colorful sound effect like one might find in a comic book: “Pow!” “Biff!” “Slam!” “Ouch!” Sadly, that sort of thing just can’t happen in real life.
Or can it?
Students at Carnegie Mellon University have used Microsoft’s Kinect peripheral for the Xbox 360 to turn normal fistfights into colorful Batmanesque brawls. Make contact with someone, and the screen displays the appropriate sound effect as necessary. Sure, it’s hardly perfect, but every great idea needs a prototype.
This Kinect hack might not save your life, but it will make you a bit more like Adam West. And don’t we all want that?
(Via Kotaku)
