Has Wii's hardware solution been matched/surpassed with a camera based solution?

Shifty Geezer

Shifty Geezer

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You may have seen this Toshiba SPURSengine demo report, which presents the possibility of gesture/object tracking. Bit flaky, huh? Not really gonna replace the dedicated pointer.

But what about this tech?!

Four object recognition and tracking, on a standard webcam. Incredible! Some of it is a bit EyeToy like, but the pointer, grab and hold is mighty impressive. With four-point tracking, clear pointing is possible. Multiplayer, multipointer would probably be tough, but I think this is the best demo yet that camera solutions are being underrated, underused, and we're missing out!
 
Whoa! I like the Flight Simulator and Solitare usage! Oh dude, and the Unreal use!

That's really cool work they've done
 
The problem with this tech is you need flashy colors for a good tracking… not a good product to sell to average customer…kids allright and is all.
 
There is nothing wrong with flashy colored custom controllers. :)
They can also sell special paints, or color papers together with the package.
The concept should work with stickers too. Simply stick small color stickers to real objects.

In fact, the video shows an empty bottle being recognized as an object too. So I don't think only flashy color works. As long as the color is different enough, it should be ok.
 
1177273 said:
There is nothing wrong with flashy colored custom controllers. :)
They can also sell special paints, or color papers together with the package.
The concept should work with stickers too. Simply stick small color stickers to real objects.

In fact, the video shows an empty bottle being recognized as an object too. So I don't think only flashy color works. As long as the color is different enough, it should be ok.
Click to expand...

The problem is here "different color" is a parameter that you, me and people here can understood why… but a average customer who only when to play… no.
So these tech in this state are not customer friendly… and is probably also valable for all the previous camera tracking control solutions… Not ready for the customers market.
Actually you can make a motion tracking with special equipment, but this equipment need to be customer friendly, principally don't give a ridiculous look, and is not easy because ridiculous look differ from culture, social, religious and personal frustration. ;)
 
If they can sell PS Eye, they should be able to sell this (to complement PS Eye). General video and image recognition is harder and less reliable.
 
rekator said:
The problem is here "different color" is a parameter that you, me and people here can understood why… but a average customer who only when to play… no.
Click to expand...
What's wrong with selling them official NERF peripherals? Surely you're not expecting consumers to build their own props!
 
Shifty Geezer said:
What's wrong with selling them official NERF peripherals? Surely you're not expecting consumers to build their own props!
Click to expand...

There nothing "wrong" to sell them… but is more difficult to make them acceptable for a large audience…
Example: Eye toy are not selled to a large audience, but is well acceptable by kids and people who interested by new form of gaming.
On the other hand Wiimote is very well acceptable by the large audience… and a part of this is probably due to is physical form, is like a remote TV, a form that people from kids to grandparents known and use every days. So, people don't have the aversion feeling due to the new and how to handle this.

A camera motion tracking system would probably sell well for a "hardcore" audience ( motion head tracking for fps or car racing are not a problem for customer acceptance, they have generally use a headset for the online so you only have to plug somes captors on this headset :D ), but for the "casual" audience you have to made this "physically" and psychological acceptable.
Looks to touch screen many people were disappointed by the fact you don't have a pressure respond like keyboard.

So is not impossible to sell them, but they need some research to make them acceptable for a large audience and/or a very big marketing buzz plan to make them absolutely a must have. ;)

I hope you understood my POV, I really interested in motion tracking, but personally I thinking we see a head tracking product before.
 
It is a valid point but it may be putting the cart before the horse though. It's the software application that sells the concept. These are simply enabling technology... like how WiiSports sold Wiimote, Dance Dance Revolution sold the mat, Guitar Hero sold the instruments, EyeToy:play sold EyeToy camera, Eye of Judgment sold PS Eye.

As long as they can think of a new and fun concept using the same technology, it will sell. Kids, family and party game are not exactly a small market.

The challenge is to minimize the fail case. I have seen similar demoes in real life. There is also difficulty in reflected light (when the light is too harsh). These problems may be addressed with special papers/stickers.
 
I disagree with the skepticism. You don't need bright lights or vivid colors, they just have to be distinct. If the human eye can make them out, then they're probably distinct enough to find through processing in a console.

My group makes the software processor that produces color images from spy satellites (see Google Earth). Our software can automatically match ground features between two images that have radically different lighting, color tint, and even snow cover. It's about the same difficulty as resolving normal objects in a video stream.

Certainly this is a good technology for the next gen of consoles, if not the current one.
 
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