A Group Of Japanese Researchers Created The World’s Smallest Shooting Game

A group of researchers from Nagoya University’s Graduate School of Engineering in Japan, who happen to be fans of vintage video games, have developed the world’s smallest shooting game, which uses nanoscale technology. 

According to their study published in the Japanese Journal of Applied Physics, which is explained in an article published on phys.org, the game allows players to control nanoparticles in real-time, “resulting in a game that is played with particles approximately 1 billionth of a meter in size.” It takes advantage of what the researchers called “nano-mixed reality (MR),” which combines digital technology with the physical nanoworld using high-speed electron beams. 

“The system projects the game ship onto real nanophysical space as an optical image and force field, creating an MR where nanoparticles and digital elements interact,” Professor Takayuki Hoshino, lead of the project, explained. Here is a video demonstrating how the game, which is inspired by classic arcade games like Atari’s Asteroids, is played.

“The game is a shooting game in which the player manipulates a ship and shoots bullets at real nanoparticles to repel them,” Hoshino said. As shown in the video, the triangular spaceship, which is the scanning pattern of the electron beam, is the fighter. It is controlled by the player using a joystick to fight against the enemies, i.e., “nano-sized polystyrene balls.”    

Of course, the final goal of the research wasn’t to simply create the smallest shooter. Besides gaming, this technique can also be used to “manipulate and assemble biomolecular samples at the smallest levels, with potential applications in nanotechnology and biomedical engineering.”