Want to see the future? There's an app for that

Feb 4 2010 By Christopher Knox, The Journal

A GAMES studio has launched a innovative software application that can show users exactly how their face will look in 10 to 20 years time if they continue to smoke and drink.

The young team behind Teesside educational gaming company Ideonic is hoping the new application will hit a nerve among health-conscious gamers and are now working on a version for the iPhone after launching it on social networking site Facebook last year.

The application, named MirrorMe, shows what your face will look like in the future if you persist with bad habits such as smoking, drinking, eating junk food and taking illegal drugs.

MirrorMe uses the same facial recognition technology that the CIA and police around the world use and, after answering a few questions about your lifestyle, it produces an accurate image of what your face will look like in the future.

The team, which is based at Teesside University and is made up of three graduates, used a range of technologies to create the application, including face detection and recognition software Betaface, and also spoke to a number of specialists in the health sector, including dieticians and dermatologists.

To help users keep to their new year’s resolutions, the team recently added a range of "good habits" to the application, which show what your face could look in later life if you have a healthy lifestyle.

Despite being out on the market for only a few months, MirrorMe has already been recognised by the gaming industry after recently picking up top prize for the Lifestyle category of the Interactive Media Awards.

Jeremiah Alexander, 26, ideas architect at Ideonic, said: "We launched MirrorMe in the final quarter of 2009 and are excited to announce that MirrorMe has already won its first award.

"We worked really hard developing the MirrorMe application and took risks to push both technical and creative boundaries.

"It makes it all the more rewarding that we have received recognition from the digital community."

The firm, which was established in 2007, is now looking at ways of developing the application, such as adding diet tips and exercise regimes to give users the chance to turn their lifestyles around once they have seen their MirrorMe results.

Adam Gatenby, 22, user experience engineer, said: "This application has proven really popular for us as it is fun as well as educational."

"About half of people laugh when they see how their face will look in 10 to 20 years time, while others cry their eyes out.

"It can be a real wake up call for people to see what kind of damage they are doing to themselves and the way they look and, hopefully, this will prompt them to do something about it."