PERIPHERAL VISION

New Concepts made a number on interesting prototypes…

Although New Concepts was short‑lived, the company worked on a number of ambitious prototypes. For example, Ski Champ was controlled with two ski overlays that a player moved along the grooves in a keyboard, according to Norman. “They were nearly finished,” he tells us. “These weren’t fictions: these were fully developed concepts.” However, Norman is most proud of his Head Up Control Interface (HUCI), a capacitive sensor that he attached to objects like surfboards or helmets, turning them into motion-sensitive controllers. “The sensors were integrated into this device that could be put in the top of a helmet,” he explains. “The lead then came out the back of the helmet.” The helmet controller was prototyped for a jetpack platformer Damian was developing called Vidy-vody, an homage to the 1983 Spectrum game Jetpac. “If you had this helmet and you put it on your head and you tilt left, you tilt right, it’s the same as a joystick,” he remembers. Players would use a joystick attached to the helmet to shoot.

Although the HUCI was never released, due to its cost and potential health and safety issues, Damian and Norman both compare the technology to an early version of the Nintendo Wii. “We found that when you were [playing] and you had this on your head instead of using the joystick, you could control things so much better. It was beautiful in comparison; the other thing was bloody crude,” Norman says.