‘Tubing

By EmilyH on November 22nd, 2009, 12:00 pm 5 Comments

This reality card game, called YouTube Wars, mixes new media technology and the idea of old school card games into a social, interactive setting.

It was created by Jeff Crouse and Aaron Meyers who both work at Eyebeam (an art and technology company).

This is how the game is played:  There are 2 players at one time, who sit at a “poker style” table.  Each of them chose 5 of their favourite YouTube videos to be their hand of “cards.”

These are special cards that use augmented reality.  This means there is a symbol on a physical object (the card) which a computer can recognize.  A digital image (the Youtube video) can be superimposed onto it.

Then, they compete by showing their video on a large screen.  The audience votes on which video they like the most by shooting a target with laser pointers.

This game seems simple enough.  Crouse and Meyers say that it creates a new way to share YouTube videos that involves performance and a social setting, rather than sitting at a computer with your group of friends.

I don’t know how I feel about this “game.” Honestly, the concept seems a little bit ridiculous.  I admit that I can spend hours searching YouTube videos, however I feel as though I would get bored if I were an audience member OR and competitor in YouTube Wars.

Category: blog | Tags: cards eyebeam game Jeff Crouse youtube | Permalink: ‘Tubing

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5 Responses to “‘Tubing”

1. laska says:

   November 22, 2009 at 3:11 pm

   I think that’s pretty cool…the fact the computer recognizes particular symbols and interprets them accordingly amazes me! It’s a whole other language…ya I agree with you emily that sitting there after a while might get boring, but the first few times might be cool
2. aelwynn says:

   November 22, 2009 at 9:20 pm

   This just got me thinking… maybe there should be an awards festival for youtube videos. Like the Oscars, but only for youtube videos. There could be a few different prizes for different genres.
3. EmilyH says:

   November 23, 2009 at 1:30 am

   Aelwynn- that actually reminds me, once I was watching the teen choice awards, I think, and they had a category for best youtube video. But, I don’t know if they do that every year. It was pretty interesting though. To see regular people win for their hilarious videos. They didn’t have to be stars, or even be talented.
4. Justin says:

   November 23, 2009 at 9:58 am

   P.S. Eyebeam isn’t a an art & technology company, they’re a non-profit arts-centre focused the intersections of art and technology … I just wanted to make that clear so that it doesn’t read as though this was developed to be sold to a video game publisher or marketing firm.
5. EmilyH says:

   November 23, 2009 at 11:37 am

   (not to say that there aren’t talented people on youtube)