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Microsoft Entertainment Games Technology

Nissan and Microsoft Create Videogame Car 254

Posted by samzenpus from the drive-and-play dept.
pnewhook writes "The Register reports that Microsoft and Nissan have created the first integrated gaming system within a vehicle. Not just in the vehicle, but the vehicle becomes part of the gaming system. From the article: "Conceived by Nissan Design America Inc. (NDA) and equipped with the Xbox 360 next-generation video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, the Nissan URGE concept car allows drivers (while parked) to play 'Project Gotham Racing 3' using the car's own steering wheel, gas pedal and brake pedal while viewing the game on a flip-down seven-inch LCD screen," Nissan and Microsoft said in a statement."
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Nissan and Microsoft Create Videogame Car

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  • Been there, done that, this worries me! (Score:3, Interesting)

    by dada21 ( 163177 ) * <adam.dada@gmail.com> on Wednesday December 28, 2005 @09:11PM (#14355498) Homepage Journal
    I probably shouldn't admit this. In my 1999 Subaru RS (now long sold, unfortunately, it was my favorite car) I had a Pioneer flip-out LCD screen (about 7" widescreen format). I modified a Sega Dreamcast to run off 12V DC (no inverter), and I made a Dreamcast controller port above the steering column.

    I never played while driving, err, never much, that is. It wasn't hard to avoid the "no screen while driving" safety feature. My girlfriend (who later I married) forced me to rip it out, as I had always tempted fate. Hey, I was only 25 years old!

    To get to the topic, I'm not sure how much I trust any safety features they might embed in the car to prevent someone from finding a really wide open piece of tarmac and actually playing while driving. In fact, I don't even trust MYSELF to try it. How much is the car, again?

    By the way, it was really awesome driving an RS while playing as an older WRX on the mini screen. I never caused an accident, but I did get a lot of honked horns. And they say men are safer drivers over once they hit 25?

    • Re:Been there, done that, this worries me! (Score:5, Informative)

      by Geoffreyerffoeg ( 729040 ) on Wednesday December 28, 2005 @09:15PM (#14355518)
      To get to the topic, I'm not sure how much I trust any safety features they might embed in the car to prevent someone from finding a really wide open piece of tarmac and actually playing while driving.

      The safety feature is that this is a drive-by-wire system, there are no controller ports, and the steering wheel and stuff either controls the car (if it's on) or the game (if the car's off). It can't control two things at once. If you're controlling the car, there isn't a controller for the video game - and if you're controlling the video game, the gear's in park, the engine's off, and the parking brake is set.

      The only way you might be able to play while the car was in motion is if someone was pushing the car from behind.
      • How long before someone finds a way around that?

      • Re:Been there, done that, this worries me! (Score:5, Funny)

        by mikiN ( 75494 ) on Wednesday December 28, 2005 @09:32PM (#14355619)
        The safety feature is that this is a drive-by-wire system

        [blink, read again, funny feeling in stomach, then do utmost to quench a severe gag reflex...]

        Drive by wire...steering wheel, gas AND brake...controlled by an Xbox 360??

        Hell knows I want to be outside a 100 mile radius when a beast like that is in motion on a f*ing road. Serious!

        This must be a safety engineer's nightmare come true.
        • ...controlled by an Xbox 360??

          No, it's not controlled by an Xbox - there's an Xbox in the car that can "see" the control signals for the steering and the pedals, nothing more. All the other 'drive by wire' hardware in the car are as off-the-shelf as it gets.

      • Re:Been there, done that, this worries me! (Score:5, Funny)

        by krakelohm ( 830589 ) on Wednesday December 28, 2005 @09:39PM (#14355649)
        "The only way you might be able to play while the car was in motion is if someone was pushing the car from behind."

         Its a Nissan, it is expected to be pushed from behind :).

        • Its a Nissan, it is expected to be pushed from behind :).

          I know that was supposed to be funny, but Nissan has an extremely high reliability rating. Whether or not that will be affected by MS has yet to be seen, of course :)

        • Re:Been there, done that, this worries me! (Score:4, Informative)

          by hugzz ( 712021 ) on Thursday December 29, 2005 @01:48AM (#14356740)
          Its a Nissan, it is expected to be pushed from behind :).

          Looking at a reliability test.. "Number of failures per 100 policies", Nissan is 8th best, with 23.44 per 100. While this may sound high, it's better than mercedes with 24.30, volvo with 31.09, ford with 32.16 and bmw with 33.16 (well it also beats a LOT of other cars but those are just a select few that I chose for their prestige ie bmw and merc, their reputation ie volvo, and how damn common they are ie ford)

          While you were probably joking, ./ is a sciency site after all so we should have some reality and facts hidden deep somewhere

      • Re:Been there, done that, this worries me! (Score:5, Insightful)

        by colinbrash ( 938368 ) on Wednesday December 28, 2005 @10:35PM (#14355919)
        It's electrical, and therefore can be modified. I can't imagine a reasonable scenario in which both cannot be controlled at the same time, given the right (fairly simple, seeing as it is electrical) modifications.

        On the other hand, I'm not too worried about people modifying it to play while driving. You can modify your car not to beep when your selt belt is off (assuming you have this feature), but not a lot of people do this. Why? Because (a) it takes time, and (b) it is dumb. Most people are going to get caught by these two hindrances when it comes to any sort of modification to play and drive at the same time.

        What I am worried about, however, is people playing this game for a couple hours while their kid has soccer practice or whatever, and then driving around on real streets. While we all like to pretend video games don't affect reality, the truth is that our brains take time to switch from one scenario to another. I've experienced it, and I'm sure others have as well. Who left the theater after seeing Gone in 60 Seconds or The Fast and the Furious and didn't drive at least a bit more dangeriously than they normally would have?

        This doesn't mean people are suddenly going to be racing down streets as if in a video game, but that urge to drive just a little faster, take that turn just a little sharper, etc. etc. etc. -- that urge is going to be a lot fresher and more tempting if you go driving directly after playing the game, and more importantly, in the the exact same environment in which you just played the game.
        • I am a firm believer human's ability to understanding the difference between pretend and real, but this would be a little like playing with an unloaded gun.
        • On the other hand, I'm not too worried about people modifying it to play while driving. You can modify your car not to beep when your selt belt is off (assuming you have this feature), but not a lot of people do this. Why? Because (a) it takes time, and (b) it is dumb. Most people are going to get caught by these two hindrances when it comes to any sort of modification to play and drive at the same time.

          This may shock you, but there are many people who disable (or have someone else do it) ABS [wikipedia.org] because i
          • I've never found that ABS feels any different, right up to the point where it actually starts to do some work. One thing I have been caught out by is ABS units that don't require a vacuum servo - all the braking assistance is done by an electric pump on the ABS unit. When you're towing a car with that kind of ABS unit, you get just as good brakes as if the engine was running. Great for snapping towropes.
      • The killer app for this is to create a functional DUI test for the car. You pass, you drive, you get lower insurance rates and a higher barrier to conviction if you get pulled over and your BAC is over the legal limit. This will likely get rolled out for truckers too.
        • This will likely get rolled out for truckers too.

          Probably not. The lifespan of a typical truck is many times that of a normal passenger car. Also, the cost of modifying a proven truck design to integrate a game console would be quite high.

          Most truckers have a sleeper cab with a decent TV installed. More are moving towards larger plasma and LCD displays and attaching ps2 and xbox systems to them.

          Finally, most truckers sit in that front seat 8 hours a day. The last thing they'll want to do is sit in that same
          • Finally, most truckers sit in that front seat 8 hours a day. The last thing they'll want to do is sit in that same seat and pretend to drive. I am thinking most would rather crawl back into the sleeper and lay down for some gaming or get on their laptop.

            8 hours a day? Where???

            When they're on route, they typically drive 18 or so hours per day, and if you include having to eat/etc, you'll see that they really are dead tired afterwards and think about sleep, not about playing silly games.

            Of course, law is aga
        • I can drive drunk so I could pass the test.

          next

      • Re:Been there, done that, this worries me! (Score:5, Funny)

        by cgenman ( 325138 ) on Wednesday December 28, 2005 @11:18PM (#14356123) Homepage
        The safety feature is that this is a drive-by-wire system,

        The safety feature is that this is an Xbox 360: there isn't enough juice to both play the system and power the car.

    • I have been there, done that on a much larger screen. There was a large arcade in Nashua, NH (the name escapes me right now) in the 1990s that had a neat driving game based on a Mazda Miata. You sat in the Miata and controlled Ridge Racer (with the gas, brake, and steering wheel) on a huge 10' screen in front of the car. I think it was one of only a few prototype systems in the world at that point. Not sure if it's still around, or been upgraded to a more modern game...
    • Only 25??? Doesn't the statute of limitations on being an idiot end somewhere around 23?
    • The simulator setup of this is extremely cool but if I drive my car immediately after, say, playing Burnout, I have to suppress the urge to drive like I'm in a video game. I mean, I KNOW I'm not playing a video game anymore, but every car I see looks like a ramming object and I feel like if I just tip the back wheel of that car coming up, I can get a nice burnout bonus going.

      I wonder if removing an important psychological difference between the videogame and the reality might (not saying will) cause instinc

  • Oh, good (Score:5, Funny)

    by Eli Gottlieb ( 917758 ) <eligottlieb.gmail@com> on Wednesday December 28, 2005 @09:12PM (#14355503) Homepage Journal
    Now I can finally make a fool of myself in public by playing a driving game when I should be speaking to the police officer knocking on the window!
  • Don't worry: cops will still be more worried about you talking on your cell phone while driving. Quick game of GTA [rockstargames.com] anyone?

  • popular science (Score:5, Informative)

    by User 956 ( 568564 ) on Wednesday December 28, 2005 @09:14PM (#14355516) Homepage
    Popular science did a cool article where they had pro racers race in Forza motorsport, and then on the actual track [popsci.com].

    The consensus was that it's easier to take corners at speed in the game because there's a lower penalty for crash.
  • the Nissan URGE concept car allows drivers (while parked) to play 'Project Gotham Racing 3'

    Based on my own experiences and stories I read here of people playing games too long, this can be very dangerous for people who just stopped parking...

  • Sounds dangerous to me (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Aussie ( 10167 ) on Wednesday December 28, 2005 @09:17PM (#14355532) Journal
    What happens when a child decides to play the car game by themselves ?
    Seems like lawsuit heaven in the making.
    • That copy of the Monopoly "get out of jail free" card in the car's glove box? That was the EULA.
    • To say nothing of the irate trucker that you are sitting in front of at the light while you are trying to get to that next level. If this becomes wide spread expect to see a story about someone getting shot because they backed up traffic at a stop light playing a game.

  • Racing from game to reality... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Erik_ ( 183203 ) on Wednesday December 28, 2005 @09:18PM (#14355540)
    This is so dangerous. People who play good racing games and leave to take their car, will so quickly think they are back in their game and speed up. This has happenend to a good friend of mine. Never had a speeding ticket... plays one long session of Gotham racing. Heads home... and get's his driving license suspended due to his speed.

    • Re:Racing from game to reality... (Score:4, Interesting)

      by MidnightBrewer ( 97195 ) on Wednesday December 28, 2005 @09:51PM (#14355711)
      I don't think that would apply to everybody, though. There is still a distinct difference between reality and a video game. However, putting a video game in a car is definitely tempting fate, and making your car into a video game is just stupid.
    • I had a similar experience. The first time I ever played Crazy Taxi was at a local arcade. The machine was one where you sat at it, with a wheel, shifter, brake and gas pedals. I must have played for 3 hours and a lot of money. Having spent all my money I left the arcade, hopped in my car and almost got myself and a few friends killed speeding through the parking lot almost attempting a crazy drift.

      Realizing I was more than likely going to cause an accident I took a moment to recompose myself for the real w

      • The goal is to make a split second decision on how to t-bone someone. So I play for many hours, and on the drive home I almost make a decision to drive into this guy backing out of his driveway. Threeeeee-Sixtay!
    • This has happenend to a good friend of mine. Never had a speeding ticket... plays one long session of Gotham racing. Heads home... and get's his driving license suspended due to his speed.

      Then, good sir, your friend is a jackass incapable of distinguishing between real life and a video game.
      • This has happenend to a good friend of mine. Never had a speeding ticket... plays one long session of Gotham racing. Heads home... and get's his driving license suspended due to his speed.

        Then, good sir, your friend is a jackass incapable of distinguishing between real life and a video game.

        Not his friend, kind sir. His friend's reflexes. Your nervous system and muscles get used to responding one way, and they'll keep responding that way. If you've ever skated, you'll notice that you walk slightly different

    • Re:Racing from game to reality... (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Awptimus Prime ( 695459 ) on Wednesday December 28, 2005 @11:37PM (#14356191)
      This is so dangerous. People who play good racing games and leave to take their car, will so quickly think they are back in their game and speed up. This has happenend to a good friend of mine. Never had a speeding ticket... plays one long session of Gotham racing. Heads home... and get's his driving license suspended due to his speed.

      Yeah, I often take my 12 gauge out and shoot a bunch of people right after a good game of counter-strike. Then, I go play some Monopoly and find myself buying out all the local businesses the next morning. :rollseyes:

      Your friend is a moron if he was that easily influenced. I play console racers for hours and hours at a time, then when I drive home, I obey the speed limit. Just because you feel slower in a real car, doesn't mean you have also lost your vision and can no longer read the gauges.
      • Your friend is a moron if he was that easily influenced

        I congratulate you that you are not a moron that is so easily influenced. However is it really that hard to believe that there are a bunch of morons out there that are easily influenced? If they drive unsafely and hit you, would you consider that part of your problem or just their problem?

    • Sheesh, please don't tell Jack Thompson this story or we'll never hear the end of it!
    • Your friend is a fine example of a fuckwad. Honestly. Take some responsibility. It's not the game's fault that he got a speeding ticket. And most of all, it's absolutely ridiculous to imply that playing a video game makes you unresponsible for your actions.

  • Comment removed (Score:3, Funny)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Wednesday December 28, 2005 @09:19PM (#14355544)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • Bus Conversion and GTA (Score:3, Funny)

    by core plexus ( 599119 ) on Wednesday December 28, 2005 @09:20PM (#14355547) Homepage
    I've done this in a bus I am converting to an RV.

    Except for now, it's still in the 'concept stage' (meaning I have to imagine I am playing GTA under Linux). A few more tweaks, and I'll have it.

    What happens to reindeer the day after Christmas [suvalleynews.com]

  • I doubt the Asians will jump on this. (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    I mean come on, Nissan and xBox 360? This will never fly with the 16-30yr old Asian male demographic. //end sarc()
  • ...WHERE'S MY XBOX 360?

    I think we know where at least some of the shipments went...

    Grrrr.. Still waiting for mine...

  • Carbon Monoxide Poisoning (Score:4, Interesting)

    by pHatidic ( 163975 ) on Wednesday December 28, 2005 @09:26PM (#14355585)
    I hope the game won't run if the engine is on. Otherwise people might play it in the garage with the engine running and the car in park, and end up asphyxiating themselves.
    • the engine would probably blow up first (if the engine is on and gears are in neutral. I'm sure I'm not alone here - the first thing I do when playing a driving game is put my foot alllll the way down on the accelerator and leave it there.

      I'm pretty sure it wouldn't work when the engine is on though - it's dangerous enough as it is without the engine going for various other reasons!!

      In fact, I can't see this coming out of concept stage at all - nice idea (i guess?) but too many risks and concerns for
    • That is called Darwinism.
    • Actually, that's pretty hard with newer cars. The exhaust is a lot cleaner. Not that I'd want to suck on the tailpipe, but to fill a garage with enough noxious gases would be tough.

  • i can see the headlines already. (Score:3, Insightful)

    by catwh0re ( 540371 ) on Wednesday December 28, 2005 @09:27PM (#14355595)
    "Driver kills three after revved up on racing game."

    They'd acuse the makers of trying to entice real-world drivers to speed, by supplying them with a "photorealistic" race experience through real world streets, which then entice the driver to perform along the same streets (as in the articles New York example.)

    In Australia (home country warning) it's against advertising regulations to sells cars by showing how fast/aggressive they can drive. (Which is common-sense as you can never legally drive them like that on our bodgey streets.)

    • I wouldn't call a 7 inch screen "photorealistic" - the graphics may be, but the small screen size alone would be enough to make sure you don't really get that feeling of immersion that would make this gadget dangerous.

      Of course, it's probably still dangerous, but that's another story...
      • i'm never much with the opinion that games are photorealistic, the quotes around the text were to indicate that I was quoting the article which marketed the game as having photorealistic graphics. Also the article notes that the screen doubles as your rear vision mirror when not being used as the gaming display. So there isn't any additional hardware dropping down to play the game.
    • In Australia (home country warning) it's against advertising regulations to sells cars by showing how fast/aggressive they can drive. (Which is common-sense as you can never legally drive them like that on our bodgey streets.)

      In the USA, most of us believe that people in Australia drive like Mel Gibson.
  • Don't forget the ultra-rare Hi-Saturn Navi [wikipedia.org]. I would think it pre-dates this by quite a bit.

  • RTFA please before posting... (Score:3, Informative)

    by stubear ( 130454 ) on Wednesday December 28, 2005 @09:29PM (#14355603)
    ...(at least the summary anyway). How fucking stupid are you people? Nissan URGE concept car, it was even in the summary. This means Nissan is pushing the boundaries of what a car is but doing so in a completly experimental environment. This will never see the light of day as is but who knows what sort of interactivity it may produce in the future?
  • Does it have any sort of force feedback? Fullseat rumble would be pretty cool.

  • Hail to the king, baby. (Score:5, Funny)

    by radiotyler ( 819474 ) <tyler@@@dappergeek...com> on Wednesday December 28, 2005 @09:31PM (#14355614) Homepage
    "Nissan conducted an Internet survey of 2,000 echo boomers, a majority of which said technology and gaming are among the most important attributes in their first car," said Bruce Campbell, vice president of design at Nissan Design America.

    Holy crap! Bruce Cambell [imdb.com] is the vice president of design at Nissan TOO!?!?! This is my BOOMSTICK!, indeed!
  • Who is this aimed at? How can pay a few hundred extra dollars to add this to their car? Wouldn't the kind of people this is marketed towards mostly be driving second hand cars (or at least cheap ones?). I mean, no offense, anyone with the cash to shell out for this would likely feel a level of social stigma about having a videogame system in his car.

  • fortunately its just a concept car (Score:4, Insightful)

    by olddotter ( 638430 ) on Wednesday December 28, 2005 @09:36PM (#14355635) Homepage
    If this were for sale for real, I'd say it was asking for a lawsuit.

  • Driving is not interactive enough (Score:5, Funny)

    by gooman ( 709147 ) on Wednesday December 28, 2005 @09:37PM (#14355642) Journal
    Now it might just be me, but when I'm driving I barely have the attention to drink my coffee, talk on the cellphone and shave in the rearview mirror.
    I'm not sure I could devote proper attention to PGR3.
    Of course, you never know until you try.

  • scary (Score:2)

    by POds ( 241854 )
    That sounds scary! You'd hope during driving a glitch doesn't switch from real driving mode the Xbox mode... :}
    • Yes, pedal to the floor turning into a banked turn when suddenly the car decides to use that as actual input and your garage gets screwed..

      I know, engine would have to start and all and thus this scenario is less likely to proceed all the way through without driver notice, but a fun thought.
  • evar

    (btw -- where does /. get its color schemes -- somethingawful?!)

  • Lemme guess... (Score:2, Funny)

    by patonw ( 747304 )
    The engine stalls unless you hang the battery from the hood with string.

  • It could be really cool (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Feanturi ( 99866 ) on Wednesday December 28, 2005 @10:05PM (#14355776)
    This is a cool car to have if you love racing/driving games, because you've got a car that you'd need to have anyway, plus the most awesome driving game controller. I don't know about you, but a wheel clamped to my desk and a block with pedals on it while sitting in a swivel chair doesn't quite do it. Here you totally feel like being in a car because you really are in one. Next thing to do with this would be to have it so the windows could actually go opaque with a 360 display of the game environment. Maybe it could watch your head move too, and adjust the view accordingly, to give the illusion of depth more realism...

    I see a major problem with this scenario though. If the game's physics allow a handicap for lesser driving skill, you could get yourself into trouble with muscle memory. Game on. You're in your car, experiencing speeding down a winding mountain road, pulling sharp curves at high speed and everything's going just fine. You used to crash a lot on this course but you've got it down now, good. Turn off the game, all you've done is switched perceptions of realities. You start driving again, but now real physics are involved. You're still at the same set of controls. You've 'learned' what those controls can do, everything still feels the same way to you in most ways. You feel that you 'know' what this vehicle is capable of. This is potentially a huge problem. A shame, because it would be so cool to have a car like that.

    The game would have to strive to be as realistic as possible, tied into what that car is really capable of, tire wear and all, anticipating every possible stress and vector and appropriate consequences, with no 'beginner' setting of any kind. Otherwise you'd safely be able to learn some pretty dangerous habits.

  • And in other news... (Score:5, Funny)

    by tverbeek ( 457094 ) on Wednesday December 28, 2005 @10:06PM (#14355782) Homepage
    And in other news, Smith & Wesson and Sony have announced the development of a handgun which shoots live ammunition, but can also be used as a controller in first-person-shooter games.

    Nintendo and Acme Sex Toys have scheduled a press conference for tomorrow, but are keeping hush-hush about their joint hardware/gaming venture, except to confirm that it would likely be rated "A" (for adults only).

  • blue screen on the dashboard!
  • Look! It's another example of Microsoft innovating [nyud.net].
  • The Nissan 350Z that I'm working with right now allows me to read the steering wheel position, brake pedal pressure, and gas pedal position in realtime via the diagnostics port. In fact.. you can even purchase the software to do it yourself! *plug* *plug* :) http://www.uprev.com/products/cipher_z_g.html [uprev.com]

    Converting this into controller input as a USB hid device or PS2 controller input would be trivial... in fact I'm tempted to go and try and get Gran Turismo running on it... I'll put a projector out in the
  • as long as they're spending the $$$ to put a game system in the car, why not just add to the realism and make the entire windshield into an LCD panel
  • Every pedestrian you hit gives you 10 points.

    Hmmm, that's weird, the XBox360 is turned off, where are those pedestrians coming from?

  • Wiat until Boeing and MS do Flight Simulator ... (Score:3, Funny)

    by joelsanda ( 619660 ) on Wednesday December 28, 2005 @10:32PM (#14355901) Homepage
    eom
  • Does this mean that the guy from GM [snopes.com] was a prophet?
  • ...was the backseat. Of course the flip down LCD could be used for other entertainment I suppose---Allll Right Giggity giggity

  • If you dont like my driving, stay off the sidewalk (Score:3, Funny)

    by digitaldc ( 879047 ) * on Wednesday December 28, 2005 @11:12PM (#14356093)
    Now you can play Burnout 3 in your car AND on the road simultaneously. A lifelong desire fullfilled.

  • haha, good ole' slashdot (Score:3, Insightful)

    by I'm Don Giovanni ( 598558 ) on Thursday December 29, 2005 @12:09AM (#14356341)
    This is something that most geeks would think quite cool, but because Microsoft is involved, this thread is filled with negative comments. Oh, it's too dangerous!! Good grief...
  • If I'm not mistaken, sitting in a turned off car and using the gas is going to lead to a seriously flooded engine. Nice when mommy comes back from the grocery store to find her kid has stalled out the car by playing the xbox360!

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