If Intel has its way, things are going to change drastically for those who love watching sports. The company, along with its partner OradNet, recently announced the release of a program called TOPlay which actually allows PC users to control how they see a game.
While the game can be streamed over a 56kbps connection, TOPlay creates an interactive experience where fans can choose a variety of views. There's the 'ball's-eye view', for one, which lets you see the game from the ball's perspective. You can zoom in and out, try the 'player's eye' camera, 'broadcast camera,' 'field camera,' 'fixed camera' and even the 'walk through,' which lets you take a stroll through the stadium field and interact with a player.
While enthusiasts are already busy trying out the demo, the software is said to be commercially available at the end of the month. Football fans, in turn, will be able to use the technology some time next year.
That's not what's getting me all excited though, and not simply because I don't like any game involving a ball. It's the potential this new technology holds for more than the future of sports broadcasting. Think about it. You can have a bunch of these Cams placed at strategic locations to get all kinds of 'views':
One: The Bangaru-Cam that lets you look around from a hundred-rupee note point of view, as it moves under all kinds of tables.
Two: A Bookie-Cam conveniently placed on the cellular phone of a popular Mumbai-based bookie, to see and hear all those deals happen, live.
Three: Laloo-Cam placed strategically on the forehead of Laloo Prasad Yadav, letting you play the popular game of 'Spot the cows and ministers, then try and differentiate between the two.'
Four: French-Fry view for the vicarious thrill of being immersed in hot oil.
Five: A Lele-Cam placed on the tongue of Mr. Lele, to see exactly what a foot going into one's mouth looks like.
Six: Hrithik-Cam located just under the actor's chin. Lets you see all kinds of women, of all shapes and sizes, start screaming and running in a frenzied state.
Seven: A fly-on-the-wall view for the kinky experience of being whacked really hard.
Eight: BMC-Cam placed atop one of the PCs belonging to our corporators. To show you just how slowly some people can work when a computer is involved. Not to be confused with the cam's slow-motion feature, though the similarities are striking.
Nine: Bollywood movie-trailor view to catch more action off-screen than on. So maybe we can find out whether Abhishek really bashed those journos?
Thing is, with technology breaking all boundaries, there's a lot more you and I won't understand as time goes by. At the end of it all though, will India be rid of corruption?
Nah. Technology can't do everything.
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