Yesterday I participated in the graduation jury of the L'École de design school in Nantes, France. Impressive in many respects, also because I happened to judge the student who got the highest grades of all.

Nicolas Cloarec is specialised in event interaction design and is a great experience prototyper. Here is a video of his BOBI graduation project, an interactive kit specifically thought up for festival-goers, helping them find their way around in a packed open-air music festival.

BOBI has two main functions: enabling the user to spot his/her buddies in the crowd, and adding up to the event's interactive outdoor design. The kit is comprised of an inflatable balloon, a luminescent device and a batch of interactive armbands.Also very strong was the graduation project of David Arenou, who by the way did a lot of in-depth research and analysis to come up with his idea. Immersive Rail Schooter is not a new game, but a whole new gaming concept, or as he calls it an "immersive system for shooting video games".

First some videos:

Prompted by augmented reality, video games are now breaking free; no longer confined to screens only they actually draw from the players' bodily experience. How can video-gaming be enhanced thanks to new immersive experiences?

With Immersive Rail Shooter (IRS) users can physically immerse themselves into shooting games. IRS can be used both in "real" tangible environments (living room, bedroom) and virtual worlds (on a screen). The motions and locations of the players in the room directly impact on their avatar's.

The project has already been shown at gaming fairs in France and Japan, and won several awards.

More projects here.