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The Future Of EyeToy - Spells, GUIs, Grooves?
Thanks to the New York Times for their article investigating future possibilities for Sony's EyeToy PlayStation 2 camera. The writer has a chance to see Sony R+D's experimental prototypes using the just-released USB camera add-on, which include manipulating Harry Potter-style onscreen spells with a wand "...made from parts of a hotel clothes hanger [that] has a brightly colored ball on one end", and an onscreen interface replicating "...the futuristic computer operated by Tom Cruise's detective character in the movie 'Minority Report'." Production has been ramping up quickly on the camera for the US, and Sony hope to replicate the success of the peripheral in the UK, where EyeToy: Groove, a rhythm-based game, is the first piece of expansion software released.
Last year I completed a similar project using a standard webcam and some cheap LEDs. It was no great suprise to find that using the computer by waving your arms around in the air was a pain in the rear.
I picked one of these up yesterday with next month's office Christmas party in mind. Last year people enjoyed DDR and I think this might be just as much fun (we're NASA contractors, go figure).
My limited experience with it is that it works really well. The motion detection is accurate and its fairly easy to get good results with the gadget. Lighting and any motion in the background can be an issue. I had to play a bit to give it enough contrast to be happy. It also seemed facinated with a ceiling fan that was in the background. Once I reaimed it a little it paid more attention to the player.
A friend of mine bought an Intel webcam a few years back that came with several motion games. (hit the bouncing ball with your hand, scrub the screen clean etc) They were pretty shallow, but from what I hear, Sony's is too. Why is this such a big deal? Do they expect us to run out and buy this thing just because Sony tells us we should?
Bought one about a month ago...
Every time people are round at our house it is always on. The point is that there are a lot of people out there that are uncomfortable with learning how to use a console controller and because with this there is virtually no learning it is a big hit.
Not your typical geek game though because it does actually raise your level of fitness...the first few times I played the kung-foo game or the boxing game the next day I ached so badly...
Can't wait to see what they can do with this - it's the future I'm sure!
tom-george.comBecause geeks rate higher t
Maybe not a desktop UI per se, but it definitely has a future in providing deeper user interactions. One problem with current generations of computers is that they're stupid in the sense that they haven't a clue what's going on in the real world. For a start I think it would be nice for computers to know when people are around their computers, or whether the user is paying attention, or even (by sight)who is currently using the computer. This is all basic stuff that a 4-year old does better than a computer.
Then again I'm sure this is the wrong place to discuss this. After all, who needs anything more than a command-line?