Japan Turns the World Cup Sci-Fi

Man, you continually have to give Japan credit – now it’s got its sights on the World Cup, and those sights are in 3D. When I say ‘World Cup’ I mean ‘2022’, and when I say ‘3D’, I mean ‘holograms’. Yes, as in help-me-Obi-Wan-Kenobi-you’re-my-only-hope holograms, should the technology allow.

Japan has promised that should it have a successful bid to host the 2022 World Cup, fans will get to experience the games in glorious 3D all over the world via 200 HD cameras encircling the stadium and, if we’re there by 2022, that 3D will be projected onto pitches of over 400 stadiums worldwide, allowing for a practically genuine reproduction of the game. Sound would be captured via microphones hidden under the pitch.

“You may say the required technology is like a dream and smacks of a sci-fi movie,” said Jun Murai, director of technology of the committee behind the bid, “But it is important to see how technology will evolve within 12 years. I think it will be realised or become usable by around 2016,”

Based on Japan’s technological track record, I’m just gonna take Murai’s word for it.

Of interesting note is that all this intense tech will be partially powered by the cheers of the rabid soccer fans. But if what I’ve seen of previous World Cups is any indication, they’ll be able to power a hell of a lot more than a soccer game with cheers like that.

[Via AFP]