Old Discussion Thread for all 3 motion controllers

[patsu]

It may help Wii-like software sales, but may not help hardware sales -- if people can get the "original" Wiimote+ and Vitality Sensor experience at a cheaper price.

In general, Sony will have to come up with a new twist to the natural interface formula, unless they want to rely solely on capturing a small portion of HD upgraders for Wii.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

It may help Wii-like software sales, but may not help hardware sales -- if people can get the "original" Wiimote+ and Vitality Sensor experience at a cheaper price.

I think Sony is and always has been going for the package deal. Yes, people who only want Wiiness will buy the cheaper Wii (and I'm assuming perhaps 100 million undecided console buyers can be found by the end of this generation of hardware). However, anyone who wants Wiiness and Unchartedness and BluRayness and cannot overlook the exceptional value of PS3 - as long as Sony communicates that effectively and maintains an aggressive price-reduction policy. In that respect, Arc doesn't have to be the reason to own a PS3, but yet another reason, the decision making factor that tips decisions in PS3's favour. Of course for that, it needs to be well implemented. PSEye was never a buying conisderation for the typical shopper, where Arc has to bring something tangible and valuable to the table. I dare say marketing will be more important for these devices than the hardware!

 

[Iron Tiger]

Argh, that Smallville video is bad. The actor's action doesn't match up with the game at all.

The video showcased an undisclosed feature of Natal. It can see through wood! She's playing Ricochet from behind a coffee table, making kicking motions.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

We know Natal can track through some occlusion at least. However it's pretty obvious to me this is them pretending to play and we're not seeing their true interactions, much like TV characters supposedly playing musical instruments rarely even match the correct broad motions (eg. a piano playing low notes with the hands still mid-keyboard, or a cellist keeping their hands at the neck of the instrument).

 

[patsu]

Yes, the 360 could be playing a trailer, and that's it.

 

[_phil_]

Then , great body acting , he got the gameplay in its essence.

 

[patsu]

Then , great body acting , he got the gameplay in its essence.

The "Wii girlfriend playing hula-loop in panty" video is still the best.

 

[LightHeaven]

Ms' gamefest has already come and gone, and even thought all the presentations are still locked it seems it was a success.

http://www.ozymandias.com/attending-microsoft-gamefest-with-lots-of-natal-love

The guy talks about how it was great to present a few tech demos from natal and leave a once cynical audience wowed.

He also hints about the tech demos presented at gamefest being shown publicly before launch.

 

[makattack]

Ms' gamefest has already come and gone, and even thought all the presentations are still locked it seems it was a success.

http://www.ozymandias.com/attending-microsoft-gamefest-with-lots-of-natal-love

The guy talks about how it was great to present a few tech demos from natal and leave a once cynical audience wowed.

He also hints about the tech demos presented at gamefest being shown publicly before launch.

Possibly at PAXEast 2010:

http://twitter.com/majornelson/status/9236259846

I sure hope you have your #PAXEast tickets....we've got some solid stuff planned for that weekend in Boston.

 

[patsu]

YES ! Looking forward to see and experience all the natural interface demoes personally. Tools like XNA will encourage user generated content for these technologies too. ^_^

And here's the Wii girlfriend video:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/wor...t-YouTube-clip-gets-TWO-MILLION-admirers.html

 

[Silent_Buddha]

Heh, man I haven't been paying attention to this stuff, with trying not to look into things too much until we get closer to release (E3), but noticed a TGS video where people were shown playing Katamari with Natal. Heh, that was interesting...

Regards,
SB

 

[LightHeaven]

New natal hands on with ricochet demo:

http://techland.com/2010/02/19/in-which-we-demo-project-natal/

It seems like the lag issues are gone, or at least way lessened... The demo itself also seems to look a bit better.

 

[Butta]

New natal hands on with ricochet demo:

http://techland.com/2010/02/19/in-which-we-demo-project-natal/

It seems like the lag issues are gone, or at least way lessened... The demo itself also seems to look a bit better.

No wonder no lag... they are only tracking 11 points on the body now!!! We've gone from 48 points, to 31 points to now only 11 points... no wonder no lag. That has to be far less computational!

 

[warb]

No wonder no lag... they are only tracking 11 points on the body now!!! We've gone from 48 points, to 31 points to now only 11 points... no wonder no lag. That has to be far less computational!

Up to 31 different points. 11 seems adequate for this game.

Lag seems less for this, but I doubt they were calculating 31 or more points for it previously. Processing was offloaded to the 360 CPU since then?

 

[ShadowRunner]

Though not directly motion control related think this is as good a place as any to post this without making a new thred. Sony has just filed a patent for a universal game controller where they specificaly mention use on xbox and nintendo consoles. Wonder what motivations they have for this...

 

[patsu]

I was told that universal controller patent was filed by Sony Electronics (think TV universal remote) instead of SCEA. I doubt anything will come out of it.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

I think it's a hedging thing. Basically it's a form of programmable remote/controller. Nothing particularly new or exciting to that.

 

[LightHeaven]

No wonder no lag... they are only tracking 11 points on the body now!!! We've gone from 48 points, to 31 points to now only 11 points... no wonder no lag. That has to be far less computational!

That's probably for the demo, and i dunno if they removed any points from before... Any way, the way the avatar moves looks to be more concise too, at E3 it was pretty jerky specially at some peculiar poses (BAM, there it is!), now it also seems to move smoother, so i guess in the end that's what it matters: We are getting way better response time and more accurate visual representations of our movements.

 

[liolio]

Some news about natal. Basically it's a bit unfair to the tech as lag seems is easier to notice than when using a pad. If the figures in this news are accurate Ms has already made a good (80ms to 120ms). In the end no matter the resources Natal takes CPU wise the most limiting factor for the take could end human perception this may push Natal toward 60fps and a minimal number of frames between input and output.

 

[zed]

Some news about natal.

check the video ~30secs in, another (BAM, there it is!) moment where the avatar is all scrunched up.
This is a software issue but not *that* difficult to solve, so a bit strange its still occuring