Ben-DutkaWe all remember laughing at that part of the KB PlayStation Move commercial, remember? Ah, but technology knows no bounds; it presses forward.
Microsoft's Kinect boasts controller-free movement, while the Move still requires that you hold some electronic device in your hand. But maybe Sony is trying to do the controller-free thing, too…whether you like it or not.
PlayStation LifeStyle has been checking on various patents filed by Sony Computer Entertainment for a 3D depth sensing camera that would be similar to Kinect. Click the link to see the latest uncovered image; it shows you how to use your fingers as a gun. And here's part of the description:
"For example, the user may be able to shoot by different hand gestures, may be able to reload the gun with different gestures, and the different positions or orientations of the user’s hand may cause different graphical renderings of the user or gun on the display screen when the user is interacting with a particular game program."
Kinect doesn't really do exact finger tracking so this piece of intriguing technology would – theoretically – be a step up. But to be perfectly honest, I can't quite get my head wrapped around either Move or Kinect. Just gimme my old-fashioned controller.
Cool.
But just you watch…..the 1st mass shooting after this comes out a specific FPS/TPS game, the gun control zealots will not only cry foul about our games even more, they'll also want to start regulating gamer's finger movements too.
Last edited by BikerSaint on 12/26/2012 11:04:11 PM
I think this technology is being used wrong so far. Why not make it so I use my controller like a self respecting human but then I use my fingers and hands to do things in the world like pull down levers, hit buttons, or navigate menus Minority Report style?
I agree, why guns?
I think you are spot on here World. They really have not yet found the correct context for this kind of technology, they need to experiment further and find new concepts, new usage, instead of trying to replace one with the other.
But this is typical when new technology is introduced. There was a time when websites were made to mimic physical magazines as much as possible too. Before they figured out how to use the media.
In fact, this is how I think about too linear games too; they try to make it into a movie instead of using the unique properties of this technology.
"what is this the third grade?"
does it go pew pew?
i love the idea of motion cameras.
id be great to be able to throw away those expensive pieces of plastic and just use your body.
not to mention have to worry about buying a extra controller for when you have people over, and you never ever have enough.
id be allot more fun and engrossing too.
my problem with them though is there requirements.
you MUST have a MASSIVE room, you MUST have nothing on the floor not even a rug!
you MUST wear these types of clothes, you MUST have less than this amount of people, you MUST be this distance from the camera, you MUST be this angle from the camera.
all this fussing spoils it.
IF, or should i say when, they can get rid of all these annoyances, and increase the accuracy to 100%, than ill be all for it!
thats another problem, you can imagine how many people are going to get pissed off with movement recognition, especially in MP.
Oh no now video games are going to influence the children to run around going "bang bang" with their fingers! God help us!!
Lol @Sir Dan. I am more of a controller kinda guy myself. I don't mind the motion controller. I have enjoyed the Wii mote and the Move, but to be totally controllerless (there's a new word), not so much because basically that's what it is – standing in the middle of the room flapping your arms and legs around aimlessly. I need a controller of some type, in order to act as a weapon or device that I use to play the game.
The move with the sharpshooter is so damn hard to use…
I love traditional controllers, but I like my Move stuff too.
I agree with World, but I also think that some controllerless motion games are good too, like dance games, and I think that there is potential for others to be fun without the use of controllers as well.
Hopefully with this camera patent, Sony is in the process of making other genres fun and intuitive to play without controllers, and hopefully it draws more casual gamers away from Xbox and Kinect to PlayStation and Move.
Some, but not all gamers need a reason to get off their asses and move a little instead of only exercising their thumbs.
I dread to see the next couple generations of children if they never have a reason to exercise while still enjoying video games. There are tons of people out there nowadays that could care less if their kids exercise, as long as they stay out of their hair. I swear, half of the children I see in public look like walking beach balls. I feel so sad for them, and their inevitable health complications.