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Sony Demos Natal-Like Control System

Posted by Soulskill on from the wink-to-fire-the-cannon dept.

An anonymous reader writes "It's not just Microsoft investigating full body, markerless motion capture. Sony has enlisted the help of Swiss firm Atracsys to develop similar technology. Sony has openly discussed the technology with New Scientist, and has realistic expectations for the new system — it can capture broad body gestures but not individual fingers. That's just one trade-off needed in order to develop a real-time system that anyone can use, according to a markerless motion-capture expert." It's still in the early stages of development, but the accompanying video shows the use of face-recognition software as well. The demo game has players moving their heads left or right to position their character, and then smiling to "catch" an object.

8 of 63 comments (clear)

  1. Sony demoed this at the same time as Natal by SuperKendall · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Sony demoed this system at the same show Natal was announced at. Both Microsoft and Sony were trying to come up with answers to the Wii.

    Microsoft's system is, if you think about it, pretty clunky. It can't recognize fingers either (or it didn't at the demo).

    Sony's is a little better, in that at least you have a controller with real buttons to denote actions.

    But I think both, are in the end not as good as the Wii system, where you can sit on the couch and play if you want instead of requiring a rather large clear area right in front of the TV set, just where most people have coffee tables laden with remote controls and magazines...

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    1. Re:Sony demoed this at the same time as Natal by nine-times · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Yeah, maybe I'm wrong here, but I feel like this idea is about as overhyped as the idea of replacing your keyboard and mouse with a touchscreen.

      First, people have to realize that it won't be like sci-fi level virtual reality. You'll still be looking at a TV, so it won't be completely immersive. Just measuring body movement without a controller means no haptics or force feedback. Plus, game designers still aren't good a providing real freedom in games to "do what you want". Hell, even sandbox games usually only allow you a couple of pre-prepared actions in a walled-off world. Grand Theft Auto is nice enough not to have you running into invisible walls around their world, but they instead put you on an island in the middle of an infinite ocean.

      So the things people imagine don't quite work out. People imagine a sword fighting game, but forget that you won't feel the other fighter's block. People imagine a game where you can have realistic interactions, where refined and specific movements can make a meaningful difference in what happens in the game, but instead you're limited to a vocabulary of a couple gestures.

      Maybe these things are a stepping stone to something more, but I doubt I'll be ditching my controller anytime soon. There are probably also other techniques that are both easier to pull off and more effective at creating immersion. For example, imagine playing a FPS with a high-quality Wii-remote-like device and 3D head tracking.

  2. Re:Sony. We Innovate! by Nerdfest · · Score: 5, Insightful

    MS copied Nintendo Mii's with their avatars. Sony Copied MS with achievements. Sony Copied Nintendo with motion control (poorly). I'm hoping Nintendo copies MS's online play and friend system. As long as they can give us all a better gaming experience without getting their asses sued, I'm in favour of it.

  3. Re:Sony. We Innovate! by somersault · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Umm.. what's poor about Sony's motion control system? It's a lot more useful than the original Wii control system..? I'm looking forward to it anyway (and yes I have a Wii, but I got bored of it and started using my PS3 exclusively long before motion plus came along).

    --
    which is totally what she said
  4. Re:Sony. We Innovate! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Sony has had camera control since the PS2. Sony actually DID innovate this time. Microsoft ripped them off.

  5. Spending how much again? by SuperKendall · · Score: 3, Insightful

    When you are spending 2-3 times as much for your console

    Compared to what? I play to own the PS3 for about ten years, playing online games as part of that. You buy the PS3 once and in the end the games are costing a lot more than the console, plus there are no recurring fees and you get a Blu-Ray player too.

    If you are comparing to a 360, you are a damn dirty hypocrite since you'll be paying more than me after just a year or two, and if you wanted to watch Blu-Ray discs ever are really running up a tab.

    If you own a Wii, carry on (except for the Blu-Ray point of course).

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  6. The Good Old Days... by Cabriel · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Maybe I'm looking through rose-tinted glasses, but I seem to remember this funny little thing that games used to be defined by. I can't remember the word for it... oh yeah. They were Fun. I can live without these new-fangled gimmicks. I don't see games being any more fun with the Natal system than with the Wiimote, nor do I see them being any more fun with Sony's system. The concepts are neat, but they just don't seem efficient. The focus is turning away from good games and more toward gimmicky games.

    I'll admit, the Wiimote is gimmicky, but Nintendo hasn't forgotten what Fun is.

    1. Re:The Good Old Days... by bogjobber · · Score: 2, Insightful

      You are being too nostalgic. Gimmicky games can be made for any control setup. There were crappy novelty games for the 8-bit generation and before as well.

      Advances in technology open up new ways to interact, which can create the opportunity for new types of games and advance current genres. I can't speak for the quality of this particular system, but new ways to interact with video games is a good thing. Your complaint isn't really relevant.