Bullet time is the special and visual effect that made The Matrix and Max Payne so great. Thanks to modern technology, the replays in football games might soon be viewed in the same way.
Well, there’s a great chance that the actors and the story contributed as well to the success of The Matrix. Still, the time slice technique, while not entirely new before that flick, played a major role even in the development of characters. NBC plans to use the same effect on Sunday night football, so that there wouldn’t be not even a shadow of a doubt that the referee’s decision was correct. Matrix-like 360 replays would help the referees see any incident from all the possible angles. Such a technology would certainly improve the opinion people have about referees, not to mention that it wouldn’t leave room for disputes between supporters after the game.
Seen above are Neo (aka Thomas A. Anderson) and Agent Smith fighting over an oval ball. While you won’t get to see these too on any football field anytime soon, there will be plenty of celebrities who can be admired in all of their frozen time beauty. To be frank with you, more than these two, I’d love to see Trinity throwing a ball while saying “Dodge this!”
Wonder how NBC is going to achieve all this? For starters, 24 cameras will be placed in each end zone. Whatever action these cameras will capture will be put together so that the referees get to watch the incident in free viewpoint television.
What people call soccer on the other side of the pound we call football here (in Europe). I’m not a fan of either of them, but I’m pretty sure these replays would be even more spectacular if they were used for soccer games. In time, there were players who wrote history by the goals that they marked and the tricks that they did on the field.
The first game to feature this new tech will be Cowboys-Giants on September 8. Good thing players won’t have to choose between the blue and the red pill, cause otherwise they’d be seeing encrypted characters flowing perpetually. These being said, get ready to watch American football matches that last for hours, especially if there are a lot of such replays. I only hope that NBC will use these effects in other sports, too!
If you liked this post, please check the Matrix-like automated learning implants and the Matrix running on Microsoft Windows.
