5 Technologies That Have Changed the X-Games

The X Games has always been a welcoming platform for innovation, stemming from the athletes to the technologies used in order to further enhance the product.

Over the years, we’ve seen the X Games embrace many of these technological advancements, growing the Games into the premier place to get your fix for action sports.

The assignment you’re about to get into was all about bringing these innovations to the forefront. From athletes strapped with motion sensors to breaking down barriers in sports television, here are five technologies that have changed the X Games.

Before the 2016 Aspen X-Games got underway, tech giant Intel unveiled it would be installing motion-tracking hardware, known as the Intel Curie module, to help bolster the program, per Taylor Soper of GeekWire.

The technology provided athletes with crazy measurements. It detailed height, speed, degrees of rotation and so much more—as Soper’s article highlights—giving athletes and viewers a chance to properly analyze what went down.

Technological advancements like motion-tracking hardware are important for athletes, but also for the integrity of the X Games. It allows viewers to get a better understanding for how amazing these individuals are.

It's sort of like watching Tom Brady throw a football. A sense of familiarity creeps in the more you see it, which tends to take away from one’s perception. 

Motion-tracking hardware made sure that wasn’t the case.

You knew, muddling along these stabs of text, that ultimately you’d reach a slide featuring GoPro technologies.

The X Games and GoPro paired up in 2013, per GoPro's official presser, to radically change the way consumers viewed the show.

For those unfamiliar with how GoPro technology works, TechCrunch's profile did an excellent job of explaining the logistics of this wearable camera: "GoPros are known for being compact, lightweight, rugged and wearable or mountable in unusual places. The cameras capture still photos and/or video in HD, and can be configured to work remotely or automatically."

GoPro’s surreal visual approach gave action sports a facelift and opened the door for creative camera angles. It also put fans in the driver’s seat, allowing them to see exactly what their favorite athletes do on a daily basis.

ESPN’s Sport Science program has been a driving visual force in fusing the tech world with athletes. Naturally, it was an easy transition to take the Sport Science approach and meld it with the X Games to further enhance what we all see as fans.

A fascinating Sport Science piece was done comparing NASCAR to the X Games version of off-road truck racing. Who knew those trucks are able to clear a full-length NBA court after hitting a jump?

Sport Science’s advanced, expansive visual technology is simply another way fans can appreciate the inner-workings of what goes into the X Games. Without stuff like this, we wouldn't be able to fully appreciate—or understand—how challenging these events can be.

Propeller-based drone cameras have changed just about everything we know about the film industry and camera technology in general. The craziest part is that we still have a ways to go.

John Patrick Pullen of Time explained that we've only seen the tip of the iceberg, writing, "But these are just the first advances to propel drones, and there will be plenty more as as technology drifts onward."

Naturally, the X Games adapted the use of these cameras, per Jason Dachman of Sports Video Group, in order to provide new angles and insight.

Dachman’s article details the fact, that unlike a lot of drone use, the X Games became the first authentic provider to use these machines for live sports in 2015.

Leave it to the X Games to keep innovating at every turn.

The start of the X Games’ foray into the world of technology began in 2011. During the 3D television craze, the X Games featured a live, 3D version of various events and content.

Though 3D TV has lost its allure, as Darren Orf of Gizmodo discussed, the willingness to broadcast using a new technology is exactly what the X Games are all about.

A constant approach to bending the rules and testing out new advancements has proven the X Games is more than simply an organized version of action sports. The Games represents a dynamic, fluid event, constructed to provide fans with the best viewing experience humanly possible.