Kotaku: Uncanny Valley

The Uncanny Valley Explained (In Terms of Porn And Star Wars)

Mark Wilson — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 12:20:00 MDT

The uncanny valley is that strange place in digital graphics where a human looks so almost real that the figure is actually more upsetting to the viewer than if they were playing, say, Rainbow Six Vegas 2 with two white sticks and a ball. For anyone who may have missed 30 Rock last week, here's the uncanny valley better articulated with the kind of references we can all understand (porn and Star Wars).

As for those who would like to continue the episode's debate as to whether or not porn and videogames could one day fuse into a quite literal nerdgasm, hit the comments and wear gloves.

"The Uncanny Valley": Why Porn Video Games Suck [NSFW Fleshbot NSFW]

Namco's Ultra Creepy All-Star Baseball Team

Michael McWhertor — Mon, 05 Mar 2007 15:40:30 MST

Namco's upcoming Netsu Chu! Baseball 2007 for the PlayStation 2 treads into some of the deepest levels of the "uncanny valley", featuring a fictional, hidden baseball team called the Namco Stars. It's the stuff of nightmares, clumsy semi-humans with masks that make them look only slightly like Pac-Man, Dig Dug, the Prince of Cosmos, or the road from Pole Position and very much like fresh undead. These screenshots are not for the faint of heart. Proceed at your own risk. Michael McWhertor

Netsu Chu! Baseball 2007 [Impress Game Watch]

So Long Uncanny Valley

Brian Crecente — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 14:20:41 MST

Consider the Uncanny Valley crossed... at least on some level.

That's right, that picture up there is a computer-generated version of Korean actress Song Hye Kyo (shown below). It was created by Indonesian CG artist Max Edwin Wahyudi using a combination of digital sculpting, design application Pixelogic Zbrush and animation modeling software Autodesk 3DS Max.

Now if he could only get it to move without looking like something out of Madame Tussauds. Hit the jump for some of the pre-final renders and the link to have the whole process spelled out.Brian Crecente

How to make a Song [CG Arena, via Gizmodo]

Uncanny Valley Crossed in 2009?

Michael McWhertor — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 20:20:44 MST

The BBC tackles the photorealistic challenge facing video game developers dubbed "the uncanny valley", that uncomfortable feeling one gets from looking at a digital recreation of a human being that looks... almost human.

While the team behind the tech demo for Heavy Rain, pictured above, may nail it sooner, Obsidian Entertainment producer David Kunkler says traversing the gap may take more time.

They look strange - they're too close to real, but not quite real. Give us another year or two, and we'll be able to completely get across that uncanny valley.

Update your calendars, new-gen gamers! No more creepy robot faces are scheduled for 2009. Watch for it. Michael McWhertor

Real game characters 'next year' [BBC]

Harry Potter Creeping Us Out Next-Gen Style In '07

Michael McWhertor — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 23:40:23 MST

This might surprise you about as much as the sun rising from the east tomorrow, but EA is bringing another licensed sequel to every single platform on earth, summer of 2007. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix will mark Harry and pal's first next-gen outing.

Anyone with a PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, PlayStation 2, PSP, Nintendo DS, Gameboy Advance or PC will be able to enjoy another rousing video game adaptation of the film adaptation of the book with varying degrees of quality. Exclusive to the PS3 and Xbox 360 version are perfect examples of the "uncanny valley". Watch for it! Michael McWhertor

Tiger Woods Mistakes Digital Self For Analog Self

Michael McWhertor — Thu, 09 Nov 2006 17:40:20 MST

Apparently, the graphics boys at EA are so unfreakingbelievably talented, that Tiger Woods, who probably knows Tiger Woods when he sees him, was fooled by the photorealistic digital version of himself.

Speaking at the Montreal Games Summit, Glenn Entis, EA's chief visual and technical officer, said of Tiger's first take on e-Tiger:

"We really got no response. He just said, 'Yeah?', and it's like, 'Well, did you like it?'. His response was telling; he said, 'Well, when are you going to show me the computer graphics?'. We figured if you can fool a guy who sees that face in the mirror every day, it's got to be working."

Yeah, I don't really buy that line either. But Entis does admit that photorealism doesn't mean squat if you haven't got the non-robotic animation to back it up, which I do believe. The Tiger demo we got at E3 looked great in stills, but when he started speaking, total horror show! Michael McWhertor

Tiger Woods couldn't tell himself from game version [Eurogamer]

Uncanny GBA Scultpture

Brian Crecente — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 15:00:33 MST

I don't know which is creepier, this sculptured example of the uncanny valley or the list of ingredients used to make it: silicone, polyurethane, clothing, human hair variable. I was already twitching at human hair, but just what the hell is human hair variable? Never mind, I don't think I want to know. Brian Crecente

Boy Playing Game Boy Advance [Roslynoxley9, thanks Zhien]

KUDOS: the Poor, Desperate Man's Sims 2

egauger — Mon, 17 Jul 2006 18:20:45 MDT

We got a tip from some joker calling himself Skylab about this here indie game, KUDOS, which touts itself as a "turn-based life simulator".

Gaming is all about simulating life, really. But it's all about simulating a life you want to lead, if only for the short time that you're in the game. When I'm headshotting filthy Russian mobsters as Gabe Logan, international man of mystery, that's a life I can get into! Complicated algorithms about when I need to feed the cat, or what TV channel I should be watching, or how that date went with the whitecollar guy who lives in the next suburb... these things are infuriating.

Cliff's notes: Saving the world? Fuck yeah. Feeding the cat? Fuck you.

Even in the Sims, the level of fantasy was fairly high. High enough that once every few years I can stand to play it for a week or so, make some skins for some truly disfunctional homunculi, try and summon that horrible Social Bunny and get some hilarious screenshots.

But Kudos just seems to make you work, and work, and work, with no reward but your hideous and poorly-dressed denizen of the Uncanny Valley staring straight back at you from behind your myriad mundane menus, boring into your soul. And I do mean boring.

There's a free demo on the site, so go ahead and give it a try and report back. I'm on my Mac today so I wasn't able to run it. Eliza Gauger

From here [BunchofNerds]

Escape from the Uncanny Valley

Brian Crecente — Wed, 22 Mar 2006 04:38:54 MST

I met up with a Softimage guy last night at a press event. Softimage recently unveiled a new application called Face Robot which creates facial animation for movies and games in a fraction of the time.

The new system essentially uses software to predict facial muscle and skin movement so you don t need to use as many points in motion capture.

Anyway, we started talking about the whole Uncanny Valley concept and why it is video game characters don t look real.

He believes, and I agree, that it s all in the eyes.
The eyes aren t just the window to the soul, he thinks, they are the window to believable character animation.

One of major school of thought is that you won t have really believable character animation unless you have a brain behind the eyes. In other words, you need to have some sort of digital puppeteer in control of the character, a person who can animate the character in real time and react to the situation.

The idea is to program artificial intelligence to fulfill that roll, so you have a computer controlled intelligence directing a computer crafted face.

It s all very bizarre, but this rep says that many of the next gen companies realize the importance of succeeding in getting past the Uncanny Valley. Next-gen consoles, he said, can t survive without doing that.