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History of Motion Detection in Gaming
kukyfrope writes "In the spirit of the Revolution controller, GameDaily takes a look at the history of motion detection in console games, including U-Force and the infamous NES Power Glove, to name a few." From the article: "When the Sega Genesis came around a few years later, Sega decided to try their hand- and legs and feet- in the motion-sensor game with the release of a device called the Activator. This was a grid-like octagon that laid on the ground and allowed the user to stand in the middle of it, and then use a number of motions to convey actions in a series of games that worked with it, including Sega's brawling titles Streets of Rage 2 and Eternal Champions. But, again, it took too much effort to really figure out how to make it work in a comprehensive manner, and many folks just ended up taking a pass on it."
There is going to be more and more speculation on the Big N's new toy as E3. I, for one, can't wait to see what comes of this, whether Nintendo succeeds or not. Something new is needed whether it consists of new hardware or not isn't really important. What we need is for someone to push the boundaries of conventional game development.
The mouse I am currently using has complete freedom of movement in a 2D plane. Thus there are an infinite range of gestures that could be used, but are not by current software/operating systems. For example, I could rapidly move the mouse from side to side to close a window, or I could draw a little circle to switch between applications. The possibilities are endless, but all we have is point and click.
With the revmote we also have an infinite range of gestures, but in a 3D space. The question is will this be exploited to its full potential beyond the obvious gestures like slashing a sword? For example, can I draw a U shape in the air to throw an uppercut in a boxing game. For a fight game, less intuitive gestures (e.g. draw a circle for a roundhouse kick) could be used, but would still be surely easier than trying to remember a random combination of buttons.
The revmote certainly has the potential to change things for the better, but it remains to be seen if this will be delivered.
The problem with the old "Virtual Reality" stuff was that it was, frankly, a bit crap. The resolution of the displays was so limited, a single pixel represented several centimetres in space. Depth rendering was never really accurate, and refresh rates were poor.
Maybe all these problems have been overcome now, but the truth is that the last time anyone checked, Virtual Reality was all hype and no substance. The only thing keeping it going was it being just out of the reach of the common person. If it had ever been within their reach, they would have been mightily disappointed.
Je fume. Tu fumes. Nous fûmes!
Preface: My Senior project for college was reverse engineering the DualShock2 communication protocol and adding major modifications and upgrades, like adjustable rapid-fire, real-time macros, completely reconfigurable buttons, and some rudimentary motion sensitivity.
Let me attest that it is VERY hard to get motion sensitivity right. I was using a 2-axis 2g accelerometer to try measuring gravity, and mapping the orientation of the controller with respect to the gravity vector onto the left analog stick's horizontal axis.
I tried for a good three weeks, attempting to perfect an algorithm for smooth playback. In the end, I couldn't get something that worked universally for all games. It turns out that the DualShock2's analog sticks are pathetic. They jitter around their "center value", and I use that term lightly because "center" could be anywhere from 0x70 to 0x90. Meanwhile, a Mad Catz controller returned 0x7F dead on every time.
So part of the problem is building a reliable interface. I think this is why Nintendo is rumored to use several different sensors. I've heard stuff about IR, ultrasonic, gyros, accelerometers, etc.
Now, if the response of these sensors is very well understood and presented to developers in an intuitive manner, and they're consistent, then this could take off. But those are the biggest issues: getting consistent, reliable information from the sensors, and effectively decoding that information into game inputs.
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