Control Video Games with a Camera

sEEKz writes "ToySight is set of cool games and toys to play using your iSight or similar FireWire camera. Using a system of object and motion detection to track your position, Toysight allows you to control buttons, sliders and perform gestures on the screen, putting you right in the action." I played it with my DV camera, and it worked OK, but I couldn't crash the little parachute guy. I want death and maiming in my video games.

Comments

An EyeToy clone, but that's a Good Thing

[oscarmv]

I've tried it and it's just like the PS2 EyeToy camera/game combo (with different games and all but based on the same idea). However it still remains a very funny game and is something to boast to your Windows friends.

Re:An EyeToy clone, but that's a Good Thing

[Dave2 Wickham]

Why would "your Windows friends" be particularly impressed? My Logitech QuickCam Web came with software which seems to be a load like this; I've forgotten its name now, but I got this a couple of years ago.

Hello! 1995 is calling.

[Kickasso]

It wants its stuff back.

Re:Hello! 1995 is calling.

[Oen_Seneg]

Yeah, but the ftp link wasn't working last time I tried. Shame, too, I've got an indy here working as a server.

Re:Hello! 1995 is calling.

[capmilk]

the ftp link wasn't working last time I tried

Here is a new link. Found it on an IRIX games page.

I had this kind of thing years ago on Windows

[EnglishTim]

The intel 'Create and Share' cameras used to come with a few little games that you operated with the camera - like bouncing the basketball into the hoop, that kind of thing.

This was back in 1998 or 1999.

Shame they never went further with the technology - Sony were the first to put some really polished games together with it.

Re:I had this kind of thing years ago on Windows

[MikeXpop]

I can confirm this. I had one of those and still did. The basketball one was by far the most entertaining. The others (there were three) were just pointless things like Pop the Bubbles and Bounce around a Globe. They weren't very fun, and you usually got bored with them after about 2 minutes of play.

The cool thing was that you could have it as a screensaver, then whatever moved in the room (Dad, cat, etc) would trigger it. My cat hated that thing.

How far away is Minority Report Type Interface?

[UV_Haze]

Just thinking about the minority report interface. This game interface isn't too far off from what I saw in minority report, it's a lot more than I has expected in terms of applicaitons I could use with my iSight. The only negative is that my arms tend to get sore very quickly; however, I still managed to land my parachute guy within 47Meters of the target. Overall its a very cool app. Shows a lot of promise with physical gestures and things like that in Interface usage.

Re:How far away is Minority Report Type Interface?

[diverman]

Who knows. One major difference is that many are going with video detection. Minority Report was more complex, with the golves. In stead of simple 2D image detection, it could draw from more, 3D complex gestures.

I played with this game. It was okay. Definitely shows some potential, but I really see user interface limitations. I kept hitting the wrong button when I was reaching for another. It was neat. I guess we'll see if/when games of this nature develop.

-Alex

Re:How far away is Minority Report Type Interface?

[venicebeach]

I think this was one of the few things minority report got right. This kind of gesture-based control is potentially extremely powerful. Human capacity for sequencing and generation of action sequences is extremely advanced, and may be the evolutionary precursor to vocal language. I bet a gesture-based computer-human interface will ultimately be the way we deal with these things rather than the star-trek vocal control way.

Re:How far away is Minority Report Type Interface?

[Klatoo55]

The technology for the glove interface is somewhat present in wearable computers, some of which have a single-hand keyboard replacement that functions off of hand motions and/or button presses on a device. Also, a prize was given recently to a kid that developed a glove to translate sign language into text. It only worked on letters, but it's a start. Also, the motion sensing technology needed is present at a primitive level in certain arcade games that incorporate the movements of the player's body into camera motion in the game. We just need to put it all together...

Three cheers for Pudge!

[hankaholic]

Seriously, I'm impressed.

Posted by pudge on Sunday January 04, @08:35AM
...
I played it with my DV camera [...] I want death and maiming in my video games.

An editor:

1. Read the article
   
2. Tried it out before posting to the homepage
   
3. Expressed an opinion without stating it as fact
   

I think Pudge is the new anti-Michael! Whoo-hoo!

Re: Control Video Games with a Camera

[mjc_w]

iirc, there was a similar product for the Amiga.
I don't recall the name, but you could hook up a video camera to the Amiga and interact with objects on the screen. I believe that one game let you play virtual instruments.

Re: Control Video Games with a Camera

[kps]

Mandala.

I saw something like this...

[spyrral]

at the Game Developers Conference in San Jose last year. A groupd of guys threw an Indie Game Jam and most of the games were of this type. Interesting stuff.

Re:Buzkashi

[TrippTDF]

Games really are no more violent than Rugby or Boxing.

I'm playing Vice City right now. It's a great game. However, I have had to do a reality check while I'm driving a couple of times because I've wanted to speed up and swind between cars and do things that would get me killed... all normal fare in VC.

As games get more and more "real" it makes it harder for the subconscious mind to differentiate between games and real life... I don't know how many people I've talked to that have had dreams that they are in whatever game they have been playing.

It's not that games are not any more violent than boxing or rugby, it's that the human interaction with the games is more intense. You are not kicking back and watching a couple of guys punch each other in the face, you are (virtually, mind you) one of the guys doing the punching.

That's where a lot of the crying about games is coming from. In games, you get to act out whatever fantasy the game is set up to let you act out, and they keep getting better and better at it.

Now, i'm not about to say that games lead to Columbine or any bullshit like that, but saying that games don't have an effect on people is ridiculous. I know they effect me and other people I've talked to. It's something that any gamer should be conscious of.

Re:just EyeToy for the Windows PC

[StarManta]

Umm.... ToySight is for Mac...
And the Xbox doesn't have standard USB-shaped ports, which means they would have to design specialized cameras, or at the very least special connectors, to make it work. Unless you have one of those messy mods.