Inside LG’s mega demo booth at CES 2011 I saw people playing games built on LG’s Smart TV platform. Although these early games are not yet the most graphically advanced, seeing users play with LG’s own motion remote was impressive. Could this be the first open game console platform for TV? While Xbox, PS3 and Wii dominate the home game console market, everyday developers can’t easily build games to run on those platforms. However, with LG’s Smart TV platform, there is potential for developers, the same ones building apps by the hundreds of thousands for mobile devices, to do the same for TV.

You have to give credit to LG for getting their innovative motion remote to market. It’s comparison to the Wii remote by bloggers and LG employees alike, could hint at a greater intention for the technology. Putting this sleek remote out isn’t just making overall TV content interaction more innovative, it’s also setting the stage for game interaction (see video) that is miles ahead of the d-pad control most other TV app platforms will be limited to.

The LG platform SDK is not open yet, but when it launches to developers, expect to see a rush for game app creation. The Smart TV will launch with around 150 apps and the games, especially those designed to take advantage of the cool remote, and potentially in 3D, could set this TV platform apart.

It was as if they were reading my mind; Two gents on the shuttle ride home after an exhausting but fun Day 1 of CES in Las Vegas. I handed them my “TheZSpace” card and explained our focus on advanced interaction. They insisted I stop by their booth at Mattel, and that’s exactly what I did. On day 2, I got to play — and, I might add, dominate — a game concept called “Mind Flex” where your mind is the controller.

With a head band accessory, I was able to play this reverse tug-of-war game and move the ball with my mind towards my opponent’s end for the victory. I played 6 times, winning each time, including 2 games against the dude demonstrating the game.

The initial version of the game was launched last year, but this version, called Mind Flex Duel is 2 player. Looking ahead, I can see this easily adapted to TV game play, where instead of focusing on the board game form factor, the head band sends instruction to objects/characters in a video game. And why stop with gaming? You could control channel selection and other TV content with your mind.

The Duel game is available for pre-order on Amazon and is expected out by the summer.

The Consumer Electronics Show is kicking off and TheZSpace’s Chuck Freedman is already knee-deep in the next-gen digital home technology headed for your living room in 2011. Since Chuck is gathering news and snapping photos first-hand, I’ll let him provide in-depth coverage. What I’d like to do is cover some of the announcements leading up to CES, including some that may define the future of digital home entertainment.

Designer displays
Companies like Samsung are posing the question ‘Why does a TV need to be shaped the same way it has been for decades?”

The question is, which trend will last longer: designer displays, or 3D? (via Gizmodo)

Microsoft TV?
Building on the success of XBox and Windows Media Center, Microsoft is planning on challenging Apple with their own $200 set top box. (via Apple Insider)

The Netflix Button
In a brilliant branding move, Netflix is leveraging it’s heft by convincing major manufacturers to include one-button-press access to it’s wildly popular streaming service. The ‘Netflix button’ is planned for Internet-connected TVs, Blu-ray players, and other set top box remotes.

(via PR Newswire)

Snapstick wants to stream from everywhere
Unfortunate-logo aside, upcoming startup Snapstick has signed a deal with hardware vendor D-Link to provide a software-based solution to stream content from any device to the TV. Check out the demo below:

(via Read Write Web)

OnLive may have found an extra life
OnLive may have just found it’s extra life. Oft disregarded streaming game platform OnLive is a service that aims to move gaming to the cloud, coaxing publishers with the lofty concept of one platform to develop for, and no hardware overhead for discs. The service appeals to hardcore gamers in that it can be played on Mac, PC, or their seemingly purpose-defeating set-top box. OnLive provides full HD games, rentals, demos, and an embedded social network that allows users to capture and share videos (known as “brag clips” with other gamers. The difference is, that full HD games are rendered on dedicated OnLive servers, and then streams the resulting images in near-real time to the player. I beta-tested the service back when it required a hard-wired connection, and before OnLive offered their hardware console, and playing Assassin’s Creed II on my MacBook Pro was an extremely impressive experience.

Today, there is big news for OnLive. In addition to an iPad app [direct iTunes link] and other smartphone apps, OnLive has inked a deal with Vizio, the top-selling TV brand in the United States, to include it’s services baked in. That’s not all, according to sources, the service is planning to be bundled with Blu-Ray players and tablet devices. Keep an eye on this company during CES this week. I have a feeling that you’ll be hearing the name OnLive quite a bit in the future. (via MarketWire)

The contextual living room
Now onto what I consider to be the most excited advancement I’ve seen on TVs, probably ever. Fast Company Design has posted a list of 12 of 2010′s Best Ideas in Interface Design. Somehow all the way down at number 6, is MetaMirror. While it’s only a concept at the moment, Ireland-based Notion is showing us what the TV experience of tomorrow could look like.

The idea is that the companion app iPad (arguably) enhances TV consumption, using contextual-advertising and content metadata to give viewers instant access to products and detailed information about the current program. The quote from Fast Company:

[MetaMirror] would turn television into a full-blown interactive experience. Run on an iPad or another secondary device, it would supplement standard programming with online content, like grocery shopping lists, if you’re watching a cooking show; real-time statistics and merch, if you’re watching a football game; and links to Ticketmaster and iTunes, if you’re watching a music video. Basically, it would make TV better at doing what it’s designed to do: sell stuff. How has this not gotten snapped up by some voracious TV exec?

I personally cannot wait to see how this progresses. Expect a more in-depth post, right here on TheZSpace. For now, I’ll sign off and await the exciting news and announcements from CES via Chuck. Tune in next time and be sure to follow @TheZSpace on Twitter for all of the latest updates!

At CES 2010, Samsung announced it would feature Yahoo! Connect TV widgets on it’s new TV models. Then, in August they announced their own SDK for app development on their native Internet@TV platform. In October, in conjunction with Adobe MAX, Samsung was announced as the first brand to support Adobe AIR for TV apps built using Adobe’s Flash platform running on the Adobe Integrated Runtime.

With 3 different ways for developers to deploy apps and widgets on the same display, I’m curious how users will consume this content. The best and most seamless experience would pool all apps together and let the user select which ones to install and view. However, with each respective platform using such distinct technology, it’s probably not possible.

Upon the recent announcement that Samsung hit 1 million TV app downloads, we may have found our answer – at least in respect to how it offers native apps along with Yahoo widgets. Screenshots were released of the Samsung TV featuring a full array of apps. One of these apps is called Yahoo! TV Widgets, which clearly indicates the users will find widgets from within an app among other native Samsung apps. So now we know how these will be handled, I’m not sure it will bode that well for Yahoo! widgets, as they will be accessed one level deeper than other native apps, making their discover-ability a bit harder for the user. If, as a developer, you decide to deploy an app or content via a Yahoo! widget, you’ll have to swallow the fact that your widget won’t be nearly as visible as one built with native technology provide by Samsung.

As for how AIR apps will be handled, it’s not clear yet. Other AIR for x installations have AIR apps available independently through Intel’s AppUp store as well as being presented as native apps among the Android Marketplace. So, if Samsung TVs get a version of AIR on them, then developers could deploy apps and they would appear among the other ‘native’ apps on the screen. If not, then AIR apps, like Yahoo! Connected TV widgets, could fall victim to a more hidden categorization within their own silo on Samsung’s app list.

Just caught this Xbox Kinect commercial for the new Kinectimals game, where we see kids easily controlling mirrored animals on screen via the Kinect. The commercial and message is all about YOU being the controller. It’s brilliant and speaks directly to the simplistic evolution of TV content control in The Z Space.

Google has posted some fairly comprehensive docs on preparing web content for TV — specifically GoogleTV. Deep within their Implementation Tips in a section called “keyboards and keycodes“, it is suggested that simple Javascript could be used to handle remote control events within a web page. Code is provided that shows mapping of common key events with a TV remote control’s d-pad. A valid point is made that users will likely prefer the selecting precision of their remote to that of a pointer (perhaps via the Sony Google TV querty remote).

I think understanding the lack of precision provided by traditional 1-foot experience controllers — the mouse or trackpad on on a laptop or keyboard — will be key in offering the right kind of usability and control on the TV. Another advantage for preparing content for basic remote d-pad control is the presence of the universal remote. Even if the user owns an advanced remote like the aforementioned Sony Google TV remote, they may still revert to their universal remote for most use.

For more advanced implementation, Google recommends a particular jQuery plug-in which helps the user select buttons and content even when it doesn’t follow a logical layout or order.

This is the space between you and the TV. We are calling it the “Z” space. It is the depth of user engagement between a user and their big screen display.

Inspiration for this name came from, among a few other factors, a May 22, 2009 post by ReadWriteWeb. In “Minority Report Interfaces: Coming to a Screen Near You“, a presentation by Dale Herigstad, Chief Creative Officer of Schematic, is reviewed. Herigstad talks of his work with Director Steven Spielberg on the film Minority Report which covers his vision of how interfaces with screens could work in the future. In the review, the author lists some topics of what was interesting in the presentation. The one that caught my eye was…

     > Utilize z-space – dive in, pull back out. Flash is being used a lot now on set-top boxes.

The rather indirect reference got me thinking about what can now be done in the space between the user and the TV. More specifically, I thought about the wide array of remotes, devices and interfaces that are being introduced to users and app developers in this space to control content on the TV. Perhaps we are, finally, opening up new experiences

As TV platforms launch, via set top boxes and native TV displays, the Z space will evolve. Usability of TV content will increase from simple up/down control of channels & volume to browsing internet video, initiating video chat, playing games, manipulating objects in a 3D space and more.

As the Z space grows, so will we. Follow @thezspace for blog post updates and other news!