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Controlled Quantum Levitation Used To Build Wipeout Track 162

Posted by timothy from the why-youtube-exists dept.
First time accepted submitter gentryx writes "Researchers at the Japan Institute of Science and Technology have build a miniature Wipeout track (YouTube video) using high temperature superconductors and quantum levitation. Right now this is fundamental research, but in the future large scale transportation systems could be built with technology akin to this. I have a different vision: let Nintendo sell this as an accessory for the Wii U. I'd buy several of these tracks, let the gliders race through the whole house and track them on our TV!" Update: 01/05 22:08 GMT by S : As many readers have pointed out, this is CGI.
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Controlled Quantum Levitation Used To Build Wipeout Track More

Controlled Quantum Levitation Used To Build Wipeout Track

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  • Um? (Score:5, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 05, 2012 @04:10PM (#38602734)

    Um... it's a confirmed fake?

    • Re:Um? (Score:5, Informative)

      by McDrewbs ( 2434030 ) on Thursday January 05, 2012 @04:49PM (#38603364)
      Even if the video itself was believable, which it wasn't. The youtube video has this snippet in the description. "(C) Copyright! All rights reserved belong to Sony Entertainment and SCE Studio Liverpool." Little bit of a give-away and all it took was a little reading.

      • The technology exists though and from what I've seen isn't incredibly difficult (although I may be misinformed) to replicate, so I have to wonder why they didn't do so.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Anonymous Coward

        What tipped me off was that it was available in 720p and clear to view. Most science demonstration videos are at best 320p, with alot of grainy artefacts.

      • ... but it did tip me into making my first PS3 store purchase, Wipeout 2097 from the PSX classics section.

        Market-leading bastards. Now if you'll excuse me I have some reflexes to get back...

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Khyber ( 864651 )

        If only you could read Japanese....

        "This is a short recording Taju Mohn our research and experiments on quantum levitation. Bibliography of young researchers in the lab said the game "Wipe'Out" was inspired by our research led to the launch.

        They are the result of research by our near future, life-sized "Wipe'Out" would have been expected to be a race."

        Also, the technology (and understood quantum effects) exists and is well documented.

        • In english it says that
          "This is a short recording of our work in q-levitation in a project inspired by the game wipe'out"
          It says that the demonstration is inspired by wipeout, not the quantum levitation research.

          Also to GP who thinks this is a fake because it has a copyright disclaimer, the copyright
          disclaimer apparently references to all wipe'out IP, that is music, theming, the name wipe'out etc.

          Anyway, I'm not saying that this isn't a fake. But if it is a fake I cannot see the telltales.

      • Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • Sorry to break this, but... (Score:5, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 05, 2012 @04:10PM (#38602736)

    ...the video is a fake. I'm amazed that OP didn't catch this, and I'm amazed it fell through the cracks and ended up on the front page. Seriously, just look at the CGI effects.

  • No pun intended. But it really is freaking awesome. The child in me who built hot wheels race tracks that ran the whole house just ran in circles of joy.

  • Nintendo isn't known for making high-cost accessories.

    • I'm thinking of the company who made me pay for the following game console items for the first time: 1) Analog joysticks 2) Rumble packs, with batteries 3) Stereoscopic display (Virtual Boy) 4) Cables to connect handheld consoles to tv-based consoles for use as controllers 5) Adapters to play legacy game cartridges on new hardware 6) Extra analog sticks for motion controllers 7) Controllers for playing emulated games 8) Shoulder-mounted light-gun bazookas 9) Dance pad style floor controllers. What company

  • THIS IS FAKE (Score:5, Informative)

    by cultiv8 ( 1660093 ) on Thursday January 05, 2012 @04:11PM (#38602760) Homepage
    It's a trailer for a movie [thecreatorsproject.com]. Jesus people do your homework.

    • Look carefully and the vapour trails go through the walls.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by mark-t ( 151149 )
      Not that I doubt it's fake, but what movie was this part of a trailer for? The article at your link did not say.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by dzfoo ( 772245 )

        I thought it was obvious: for a new game from Sony Entertsinment: Wipeout Quamtum.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by mugnyte ( 203225 )

      If you read your own link, it posits that the vid MAY be a viral ad, much like a SIMILAR one previously turned out to be shelling for a movie.

      However, this vid has not been in any way associated with an ad campaign. It's just a CGI mockup with what seems like a real track and fake cars. This implies the publishers went through considerable effort to create it physically, but failed to achieve their goal.

      Overall, this is deceptive and only does them a disservice.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by dzfoo ( 772245 )

        Not quite failed. Geeks in /. now are aware of the (upcoming) Wipeout Quantum game, presumably for the PS3.

  • Slashdot trolled (Score:5, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 05, 2012 @04:11PM (#38602766)

    Yep, you lose slashdot. This is a troll. If it was controlled levitation the rotation of the vehicles would be fixed to their original position, and would not rotate to match the track.

    • When I saw this a few days ago, it was so obviously clear that it was a fake that I didn't bother to watch until the end.

      And now it shows in Slashdot. Jesus.
    • Not so fast. The orientation of the vehicle depends on the orientation of the magnetic field and the orientation of the magnetic field is easy to set within the track. Can't say this is a fake or not but I think the physics is sound.

    • Re:Slashdot trolled (Score:4, Informative)

      by skids ( 119237 ) on Thursday January 05, 2012 @08:45PM (#38605724) Homepage

      Depends whether the hypothetical field was a trench. If the field bent with the track, then the flux-pinning would make it turn to the field closest to that which it had pinned to. The video is pretty believable in that sense, since the magnets appear to run the length of the track segments.

      Of course at that point, you wouldn't be able to change lanes.

      I think they did a pretty good job of making this look a lot like a real setup would have looked.

  • Wipeout, on nVidia Riva 128

    So many memories that I don't care if the film is fake or not.

    Nostalgia.

  • How can you NOT spot that this is fake? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by carlhaagen ( 1021273 ) on Thursday January 05, 2012 @04:13PM (#38602806)
    The computer generated imagery and FX are so obvious. Also, there's no such thing as the Japanese Institute of Science and Technology (JIST). However, there is a Japanese ADVANCED Institute of Science and Technology - JAIST. How did this slip through and reach the front page? :)

    • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

      by donotlizard ( 1260586 )
      There used to be the Toronto Institute of Technology and Science (TITS). I'm not sure what it's named now.

      • Re:How can you NOT spot that this is fake? (Score:4, Funny)

        by g0bshiTe ( 596213 ) on Thursday January 05, 2012 @04:42PM (#38603260)
        Building Of Old Bad Science (BOOBS).

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by mjwx ( 966435 )
          Curtain University of Technology was originally Curtain University of New Technology until someone pointed out the acronym.

      • There used to be the Toronto Institute of Technology and Science (TITS). I'm not sure what it's named now.

        Nice one. They should collaborate with the Curtin University of New Technology (CUNT). Who knows what might eventuate?

        • They could have an public conference to release any discoveries. New York is a good place, how about the Poughkeepsie Exposition of New and Interesting Science?

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by norpy ( 1277318 )

          Curtin never had "New" in it's name, that's just a joke.

          • I might be showing my age a little here, but I do recall that there was a bright shining moment back around 87/88 before the acronym was noticed where that was indeed their name. They quickly renamed to Curtin University of Technology. They have now renamed themselves to be merely Curtin University.
    • If there were a Japanese Institute of Science and Technology, would their logo be in English?

      • If there were a Japanese Institute of Science and Technology, would their logo be in English?

        Yeah. It might be.

        Seth

    • How did this slip through and reach the front page?

      You must be new here...

  • FAKE FAKE FAKE!!! (Score:5, Informative)

    by EmperorOfCanada ( 1332175 ) on Thursday January 05, 2012 @04:14PM (#38602812)
    The mist trails are all wrong. The car changes from when it is in the hand to when it is on the track. The lighting is wrong. The movement is wrong. I am not even sure the track is real.

  • This seems pretty clearly to be fake. Look at, for example, at 1:13-1:16 and, in particular, the "exhaust" from the yellow car thing as it is rendered on top of the track instead of being obscured by it.

  • Come all already (Score:5, Funny)

    by wideBlueSkies ( 618979 ) * on Thursday January 05, 2012 @04:18PM (#38602872) Journal

    The only thing more embarrassing for /. for posting this obvious fake...well, it'll be when it gets reposted in 2 days...

  • So... how about that new design that just popped up? (Go on, hit F5.)

  • Fake, but Quantum Levitation is real. (Score:3)

    by LikwidCirkel ( 1542097 ) on Thursday January 05, 2012 @04:26PM (#38603002)
    Even though this video is fake, the videos of guys with circular tracks that look like they're shot at trade shows are real. I actually kind of suspect that they tried to do this for real but it didn't work, so they created a fake video to spoof investors or other people whom were promised results.

  • Sorry! (Score:5, Funny)

    by gentryx ( 759438 ) * on Thursday January 05, 2012 @04:38PM (#38603182) Homepage Journal

    ...didn't know this was a fake. Kind of spoils the fun of having a ./ story posted for the first time. :-/

    ps: I'm not affiliated with the creators of the video.

  • Without Flukes "Atom Bomb" playing its not Wipeout.

  • And this is why we can't allow first-time accepted submitters.

  • What quantum levitation.? (Score:3)

    by frovingslosh ( 582462 ) on Thursday January 05, 2012 @04:43PM (#38603284)
    That's pretty lame, the original post provides a link for "quantum levitation." that goes to a Wikipedia page that wants the user to choose between three different things. No reasonable poster would provide that link, if the poster wanted to link to Wikipedia he should have made the proper choice on the "Disambiguation page" and posted the link to the actual article. If I need to follow the link then one should assume that I don't have enough information to make the choice for myself.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by dido ( 9125 )

      Presumably they're talking about the Meissner Effect, since they're also talking about superconductors. Flux pinning is another phenomenon also related to the Meissner Effect. The Casimir Effect doesn't seem to have any relationship to the levitation mentioned (and the phenomenon doesn't seem to have had much in the way of applications outside of nanotechnology).

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Hentes ( 2461350 )

      "Quantum levitation" is just a new fancy buzzword for superconductivity [wikipedia.org] to make sound like something new what's essentially a hundred year old discovery.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by dzfoo ( 772245 )

        I must admit it worked. It does sound cool.

        P.S. Did something change in here?? I need to hit " Reply" twice now. The first time I click it, the Twitbook and Myface icons pop up, and the second time it takes me to the Reply page. WTF???

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by geekoid ( 135745 )

        err... not exactly. Its for a specific effect regarding Quantum levitation.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Hentes ( 2461350 )

          Why is it so special, it's a consequence of zero resistance. Any superconductor will levitate not just specific ones.

  • Why the Wii? (Score:3)

    by bananaquackmoo ( 1204116 ) on Thursday January 05, 2012 @04:53PM (#38603388)
    Nintendo is the wrong choice for a Wipeout track. You're looking for an FZero track. If you want a Wipeout track you have to use Sony, sorry.

  • They didn't actually do it? (Score:4, Informative)

    by Animats ( 122034 ) on Thursday January 05, 2012 @04:55PM (#38603434) Homepage

    It's quite possible to do this. See this video [youtube.com] of quantum-locked magnetic levitation. And this one, with an actual levitating skateboard. [popsci.com]

    It looks like the people behind this video cheaped out and didn't actually build the thing, which is lame.

  • English, do you speak it? (Score:5, Funny)

    by NoNonAlphaCharsHere ( 2201864 ) on Thursday January 05, 2012 @04:59PM (#38603494)

    "Researchers at the Japan Institute of Science and Technology have build a miniature Wipeout track..."

    Please. It's "have builded".

  • Not to take away from the discussion of the fakeness that is... but does anyone know what musical tracks were used in this videos?

    I tend to be a drum & bass junkie long before a nerd (though, in some parts, it seems that bassheads are always the nerds).
  • On the small amount of info given this would seem to be an Augmented Reality Wipeout game for the PSVita. Um, thanks for the viral ad?
  • It's just a "mysterious" clip tailored to create hype around some upcoming Wipeout release, maybe for PS Vita?
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • Pretty sure Maglev wouldn't have kept them floating over the vertical part of the track.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by tragedy ( 27079 )

        It depends on the type of superconductor. With the right setup, the fields become locked to each other so that you can levitate over, under, off to the side, etc. That falls under the category of things you can call "maglev". Of course, this video is faked, but the things it depicts are perfectly real, if imperfectly presented in this fake.

  • Two kinds of people, Those who immediately see this as fake and those who post it to boingboing and slashdot as interesting.

  • I mean, fake obviously but still more interesting than the 45th "I'm too cool for 3d, which isn't even really 3d" pile-on thread.

    Oh, and here's a video of someone who actually implemented a Meissner effect racetrack, complete with elevation changes: here [videosift.com]

  • This shows the smoke on the wrong side of the track...
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K610EpvszLk

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