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Razer, Valve, and Sixense Working On Motion Control For PC Games
An anonymous reader sends along this excerpt from Shacknews:
"Gaming hardware developer Razer has announced a new multi-year partnership with Sixense Entertainment and Valve Software to deliver a '...revolutionary true-to-life, next-generation motion sensing and gesture recognition controller for PC gaming.' Razer, Valve, and Sixense, along with a selection of PC OEM partners, are aiming to produce '...ultra-precise one-to-one motion sensing controllers that use electromagnetic fields to track precise movements along all six axes.' Each controller will reportedly track its orientation within a single degree, and detect positioning within one millimeter. Thankfully, the device will be compatible with both current and future generation PC games."
I can already see all the replies about how keyboard and mouse is a superior controller.. while somewhat correct, lets face it - casual gaming has took its place in recent years.
And not just a little bit. While everyone always seem to downplay casual games, motion games and especially facebook games, the truth is that it's a huge untouched market. Did you know the largest facebook game developer company generates 1/6 of Electronic Art's revenue? Considering that it's a little bit stupid to see the constant "but facebook games is for stupid people" comments here on slashdot. Frankly, market is what drives development, not the elitism.
Being a long-time gamer and programmer, I did still got interested about Wii and Natal. It was great fun to play just moving naturally. But even more so casual people saw it as more fun. Dancing, shaking, moving, whatever they do. It may not seem much, but it is for them. And it's a huge market.
But how accurately can it track the dreaded tea bag maneuver?
Be you Admins? nay, we are but lusers!
I don't get the bit about the "six axes". I thought we had only three in meatspace.
Are they talking about something else and I am not getting it? Or they are just being silly?
Regards,
I.-
One of the problems with PC gaming is that the experience is never delivered in a consistent manner. Better processors, more memory and getter graphics cards will improve the experience every time. Different controllers will also vary the experience for the user. Console games limit the hardware selection and so the experience is more uniform and consistent. I think this is an important aspect of a good gaming experience.
Attempting to develop a new gaming controller, while mildly interesting, is actually working to compensate for the very weakness in PC gaming that I just identified.
I call BS. First: "just moving naturally". I have yet to see any of these games where movements are anything resembling natural. Or in any way "more fun" because of the aforementioned spastic flailing. (While "fun" is, granted, somewhat subjective, there is still consensus at some point, usually in the form of AAA titles everyone can't stop playing and will be remembered among the classics for decades to come.) This leads us to: "I did still got interested [sic] about Wii and Natal," and "casual people saw it as more fun" (emphasis mine). This is what these things come down to: a marketing tool to make people interested in something. The promise of something new. Unfortunately, that promise has not been delivered.
Don't think of it as a flame---it's more like an argument that does 3d6 fire damage
Well, one type of game where this would probably work out well was Lionhead's Black and White series where you controlled a hand floating in 3D space.
That being said, as a PC desktop and not a living room on-the-couch type controller, this could end up being tiring for the user to use over extended periods of time because you'll be holding your hand up all the time with no support unlike with a mouse/keyboard where your hands are resting on your desk.
I recall reading about why 3D mice failed or why Minority Report interfaces may not be as viable - it's very tiring for users to hold up and wave their hands in the air for extended periods of time.
http://www.object404.com
The breakthrough, if any, probably isnt the detection equipment. External fields isnt an obstacle, its a modeling problem that can be dealt with. The model just needs to include them, so in the end its a signal analysis problem (learning the proper model for the individual installation)
"His name was James Damore."
Only the surrounding fields change a lot over time. They change when you turn on a light, when the compressor of the fridge turns on and whatnot. Also the EM input I tried did lag a lot because so many samples had to be averaged to compensate for errors.
Not only that, but you need the space. My wife (g/f at the time) got a PS2 with the EyeToy and the exercise games. Great idea, and it worked okay in a sufficiently lit room, but not ideal in a student flat. Even if we moved the sofa out of the way as far as we could and stood on the opposite side of the room we were still too close and furniture/walls were still in the way. Some of these controllers don't need quite that much room, but you've still got obstacle issues.
Also, for anyone who has watched Michael McIntyre's latest standup DVD, don't forget about the "youngest son meets daddy playing tennis on the Wii" sketch ;)
I mean logistically - my PC is on my desk in the corner of my room. My consoles are in the living room with my TV and lots of space... which is why the Wii works. I can flail about to my hearts content - but not so in front of the PC......
These will be generic controllers that can work with multiple games though.
Plenty of people (including me) are happy to buy even specific drum and guitar controllers to play rock band games, and they are nowhere near as versatile as generic motion controllers.
Plus, what is there really to "get used to".. do you not move your arms around from day to day? My 80 year old grandmother was playing Wii bowling at Christmas (and getting strikes!), and I doubt she's ever played a computer game in her life.. there's a lot less to get used to with these types of controllers.
which is totally what she said
lol. I am definitely a gamer, but I still prefer playing drums and guitar on rock band with the peripherals than with a joypad. You can use the joypad if you prefer, or at least you could on GH3, it's obviously not as fun or as intuitive.
It's nothing to do with the controllers being "sophisticated" or not, it's to do with using the appropriate tool for the job. Motion controllers are a great idea, but they are no use for certain types of games.. ie the sixaxis controller sucks for motion controlled driving, and IMO so does that godawful MarioKart steering wheel for the Wii.. but those controllers both work well for other types of games (if you take the stupid steering wheel off the Wii controller ;) ).. stuff like fl0w and flower on the PS3 work great with the sixaxis for example. I hate games where developers use the motion controls just because they're there, rather than because they're actually appropriate.
With the Wii sometimes it's necessary to incorporate the motion controls because of the lack of buttons to press, but still there are some games that really don't have many controls, but still require you to shake your arms about for no good reason. It's not even fun, especially when the code for interpreting what movement you are doing is crap.
which is totally what she said