Here's a story out of leftfield to show how 3D avatars could break out of the web and onto other media platforms. TV Asahi is producing a one-hour pilot TV show called Hoshi-ichi Owarairyoku Test, due to air on 14th June in Japan. It appears to be some kind of cross between a gameshow and a talent show, hosted by local celeb Kendo Kobayashi. Anyway, the interesting thing (from this blog's point of view) is the fact that up to 100,000 viewers will be represented on-screen as 3D avatars.
It’ll use a technology called SMS Galaxy, from Hong Kong based firm Artificial Life. Viewers register before the show and choose an animated 3D avatar, before entering their name. Then, the TV show is able to show a virtual camera swooping through the avatars - effectively they make up a giant virtual audience. It sounds very innovative (as well as being brain-spinningly strange). According to Artificial Life, SMS Galaxy has already been used for a successful TV show in Switzerland.
Here’s the quote from TV Asahi’s Naoto Ueda, who’s the co-director of Intermedia Programming in the company’s Programming Department:
“We are extremely pleased to introduce such an adventurous entertainment project to our Japanese audience tied with Artificial Life, Inc. In this age of demassification and diversification, it is vital for us to redefine ways to enjoy TV programs such as by combining them with other media devices. Now that a mobile phone has literally become an alter ego, particularly for the young generation, I am convinced that they will truly enjoy the excitement of virtually appearing on TV as a 3D animated avatar, thanks to SMS Galaxy.”
We’ll surely see more crossover between Web 3D / avatars and traditional TV broadcasting in the coming years. Not least because in the West many broadcasters have their own virtual worlds, including MTV, Nickelodeon and Disney. Can it be long before they incorporate users’ avatars into live shows in some way?
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