http://cache.io9.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/io9.com.png http://io9.com/tag/holodeck http://io9.com/tag/holodeck

When we interviewed Bear McCreary about his upcoming soundtrack to Zipper Interactive's SOCOM 4, we also had the opportunity to speak with Ed Byrne, creative director at Zipper. The following lively discussion precipitated from a single question: "Are videogames art?" More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5559622&view=rss&microfeed=true

Sure, the characters in the Enterprise's holodeck would occasionally try to kill you, but when they worked, the tactile holograms looked like incredible fun. Now researchers are getting closer, creating holograms that can be felt and respond to human touch. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5332438&view=rss&microfeed=true

For almost as long as there has been science fiction, there's been virtual reality, teaching us about worlds inside machines before we even knew what the internet was. Here are five of the earliest, and best, VR stories we grew up with. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5276088&view=rss&microfeed=true

Battlestar Galactica producer Ron Moore is going back to his Star Trek roots for his next project, a "backdoor pilot" for Fox called Virtuality. Moore got his start writing for Star Trek: The Next Generation, which became notorious for its frequent episodes featuring the crew trapped inside a holographic simulation that got out of control. It was a cheap way to do a cowboy episode or a 1920s gangster episode. And now Moore's new show will revolve entirely around the crazed-holodeck storylines. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=379217&view=rss&microfeed=true

When you're cruising across the galaxy at faster-than-light speeds and battling super-intelligent crystaline beings, the slightest mistake can spell disaster. So it's vital to have good feng shui on your starship's bridge. Just look at this flight deck from the movie Red Planet: cramped, ugly and angular, with no way for energy to "flow" around the space. We asked experts how to improve your starship's feng shui. Click through for tips, plus a gallery of command centers with good and bad feng shui. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=363903&view=rss&microfeed=true

Steve Jobs is the first non-science fiction character to possess a reality distortion field (RDF). Apple's MacWorld 2008 conference kicks off tomorrow with a keynote from Jobs, which leaves gadget lovers and iPod fiends white-knuckled on Tuesday morning as news of the next "insanely great" thing trickles out of Moscone Center in San Francisco. Why does this speech cause such furor (and fury) every year? RDF, of course. We've got the scoop on how Jobs came to posses the RDF, and we've got four other famous RDFs from science fiction for you to contemplate as you await the mind-control ray that will emanate from MacWorld tomorrow. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=343624&view=rss&microfeed=true