Impressive New Tech!!! Next gen controllers???

[BoardBonobo]

8 cubic feet is 2'x2'x2'. On the floor by my sofa, it might just have the range to find my knees.

Yes, but by chaining them together you could encompass the whole thing.

Obviously the cost would be but it would be the ultimate extension to the public perception of gamer x. Reclining on the sofa, windows blacked out, lazily flapping greasy fingers in the general direction of the TV...

 

[Shifty Geezer]

That won't extend the range vertically. You'd need an 18-24" high stand for each sensor to set it high enough to work with the user. For finger-tracking accuracy? Who really needs that in a console? Kinect 2 type tech will cover pointing at the level of the user working at distance from a screen. I could see this tech inside a controller so you could hold the controller in one hand and point with the other, although if the sensor is moving then tracking will lose calibration and be a complete mess.

It's very cool tech. It'll be great embedded in a computer desk so it's a part of the experience. It'll be good in tablets where you won't have to mess up the screen and could maybe control a game with a virtual air-controller. I can't see its application in consoles though.

 

[BoardBonobo]

I'm thinking it will be found in gaming chairs as well. A proper Minority Report desk and chair. That's how I'd fit it into my sofa too!

 

[almighty]

Am I the only one that hates gimmicky crap like this?

 

[Ninjaprime]

Am I the only one that hates gimmicky crap like this?

Mice, analog sticks and D pads were gimmicky crap once.

 

[joker454]

I guess I'm not sure how this is better than Kinect for the real world. Kinect is a single device you lay near your tv once, calibrate it one and forget about it. With this thing do you have to lay a bunch of them out in your play area everytime you want to play? Does that mean you have to calibrate it everytime you want to play as well, given that it's unlikely you'll have laid them all down in the exact location everytime? If you want to use it sitting on a coach and also be able to use it when walking by the tv like with kinect, do you have to move this sensor everytime to be near your hand? I mean I don't get it, compared to kinect this looks to have so many cons for real world tv room use.

 

[Arwin]

Mice, analog sticks and D pads were gimmicky crap once.

Exactly.

I don't think this is necessarily a Kinect Console competitor, but for PC and desktop use, it really seems great. Could also be pretty awesome for 3D modelling, combined with a 3D display.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Am I the only one that hates gimmicky crap like this?

Why do you see this as gimmicky crap? If it works as well as they claim, then it's a valuable progression of interfaces. Sure, signing your name virtually is pretty lame, but Minority Report style interfaces are good for both intuitiveness and flexibility. Like multitouch pads or screens. If the tech could be embedded in a desk and used to track the surface you place things on, it could track an ordinary pen writing/drawing for a digital record, or track ginfers as a multitouch surface, or track a stylus, all in one surface, which would be superb IMO.

I guess I'm not sure how this is better than Kinect for the real world.

For the local tracking they are talking about, this is obviously better than the current Kinect. For a living room, I don't see the relevance, but then it's not being positioned as a living room controller.

 

[zed]

the biggest improvement of kinect/eyetoy seems to be lack of lag (though will ahve to see a proper demo to see if thats the actual case and not an ad) this is the reason why as I predicted kinect will only see party/dance etc games. Too much lag!
But just like kinect I see ppl are not thinking this through, eg claiming this will aid modelling etc.
No it wont, its inferior to what we have now. heres why. grab you mouse move the cursor 3 pixels to the right hold it for 5 secs and then move back 3 pixels to the left, possible yes but hard.
Now hold your finger up in the air and try it, impossible. Since youre not balanced on a nonmovable surface accuracy is greatly reduced.

though games could work well eg a FPS, you will need a one=handed controller though in one hand.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Traditional modelling has never needed that sort of accuracy, and in Z-brush you don't work that way either. The reason this won't really work for modelling proper is because there's no physical feedback. You won't be able to reach in and touch the virtual material you are sculpting. It will allow an object to be virtually picked up and turned around with gestures though, and applicaion of tools will allow for virtual sculpting okay. It'll be a noteworthy improvement, expanding on the iedas developed so far with multi-touch (pinch/zoom).

 

[pc999]

TIt'll be good in tablets where you won't have to mess up the screen and could maybe control a game with a virtual air-controller. I can't see its application in consoles though.

Embedded in the WiiU tablet? Or just in your Dual Shock would be a nice addition too IMO.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Except it needs to be stable to hold calibration (I'm assuming). If you held the sensor in your left hand and point with your right, moving the left hand will change where you are pointing. You'd need to track the Leap sensor's position and orientation to calibrate it relative to the screen to then use it to track the hand!

 

[Deleted member 13524]

At least for long-term productivity, this seems awfuly tiring.

Replacing the milimetric movements we do with the wrist+fingers in a mouse for something that requires me to hold the weight of the entire forearm and then even make wide movements will strain all the tendons from the shoulder in the first few days of usage.


It looks really good on a video but the ergonomics of a "minority report" approach are far from ideal.

 

[hoho]

At least for long-term productivity, this seems awfuly tiring.

Agreed. It's nice for input for something you don't use for longer than half a minute at a time and doesn't need elaborate input. Anything else is better served by touchscreens, keyboards and controllers.

As an input device for a game it's horrible. Unless all you care about are on-rails shooters and point&click adventures and you prefer gimmick solutions over convenient ones.

 

[Blazkowicz]

it seems useful for a mobile device only. or for specifics context such as medical, where you can't touch anything unless you like constantly changing gloves.

it would be a load of fun to do touch-typing above this thing. hope your joints don't ache though. feedback would be provided by a small audio click and the fact you've moved down your finger mimicking the use of a real keybaord.
no for an extended session sure but to quickly look up something or write one reply it would be interesting.

playing music could be fun too. or using a gesture to log in to a computer.
imagine you're pretending to play a flute .
or you can imagine, something morally reprehensible

PS : a desktop touchscreen is equally horrible. they have existed since the 80s (even in the form of a wired stylus that detects the scanning of a CRT) but no one uses them. except for stuff like buying a ticket at the train station, we've had those 8-color CRT touch screens for a while.

 

[Arwin]

You're going to compare those thouch screens with modern capacitive stuff?

Personally I think it will be a perfect addition for PC gaming.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Agreed. It's nice for input for something you don't use for longer than half a minute at a time and doesn't need elaborate input. Anything else is better served by touchscreens, keyboards and controllers.

I think you're overestimating the effort it is to move hands. People can hold and play musical instruments for hours at a time, or hold and swing a sport racquet. They can and do hold a Move or Wii and use it for good long periods. If PC users worry about their arms being unable to hold up in front of them for more than half a minute, I reckon they've spent far too long having desks support their limbs. I'd go as far to say it'd elliminate RSI problems with mice providing better exercise for the whole hand.

Alongside a mouse, this strikes me as a very good additional interface. All the pluses of a touchscreen without the minuses but in 3D too. Couple it with a 3D screen and it'll be superb, being able to reach behind objects and interact with them realistically. I can't see why anyone would be against this tech (assuming it actually works). It'd be nice to know the mechanics to determine how it could be adapted for a console system.

 

[BoardBonobo]

I've pre-ordered one to play with at work so I'll let you know when I get it!

 

[Blazkowicz]

You're going to compare those thouch screens with modern capacitive stuff?

Personally I think it will be a perfect addition for PC gaming.

what's comparable is the effort, even so slight, to keep your arm extended for a long period of time.
as an exercise you can hold a bottle of water with your arm extended, it becomes amazingly stressful, not terrible but harder than one can think, after let's say the duration of half a minute that was proposed on this thread, or more.
for some people or many of them this can be a problem.

of course, you can strenghten whatever muscles are used for that by just doing this exercise, so that you can use "minority report" interfaces more comfortably.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

But that's holding a bottle of water at massive leverage thanks to the placement of the muscles and fulcrum at the elbow. Conductors can conduct for hours at a time without collapsing from exhaustion. If your muscles are in motion, I can't see this being at all stressful for typical UI interaction. Replacing a keyboard with it to type in mid-air, or replacing the mouse with finger pointing, would be stressful, and also extremely stupid.