Sony patents more motion tech

[Galactus5]

I don't know. Reading this just makes me feel like this "motion tech"-mania has gone a little too far. Can't developers just concentrate on making good games?

[mookistar]

Proof eternal that Micheal Jackson lives!

btw, isn't this what natal does already?

mook

[RumbleThunder]

[ewko117]

hard to say yet if it is what natal does,I suspect it's different. the only real thing we've seen there is natal will scan a skateboard to include in pattern/style in game.. not really conformation that I can use my grannies Vibrator to play baseball ha-ha

this does look pretty cool though I have to be honest.

[Dentrassi]

Don't they have something like this already with that adorable EyePet thingy? You hold up a drawing and it scans the picture and makes it in game? Ok not exactly the same but similar.

[Wozzakl]

Sounds good, for those into motion control.

[bennyboi1979]

This motion controller is becoming more and more advanced with every month. Should be pretty cool especially with 4 running at one time with ya mates over. Gotta love new tech!!!

[Eclipse Dj]

Seems like Sony are covering all bases, with a mix of 'Wii like' motion controllers, and Natal like camera scanning and tracking.

The combination of the two is probably the best way to move things forward and I'm sure it's only a matter of time before Microsoft unveil a motion controller that can be used in conjunction with Natal.

The question is whether these new control interfaces will get the support, initially from the developers and secondly from the gaming public - many of whom seem to hate any motion control, however precise and immersive it will be.

With the Wii constantly hated on, called a toy, a gimmick, a fad - because it chose this path first. Gamers hate how successful it has been for Nintendo, going on a about shovelware etc. yet I remember the PS2 had it�s fair share of shovelware too but there was never this mass hatred from so-called hardcore gamers!

[Nitramuse]

Wirelss PSeye? Yeh, sure. In the Picture the PS3 is also completely wireless...so...

[altitude2k]

I hear Sony plan on demonstrating this by playing Burnout with your hands in fresh air

[Dajmin]

this is actually a pretty good idea. It means that unlike the Wii and it's endless stream of shoddy plastic peripherals, you could just bring your own in and use that.

Real tennis racquets or cricket bats for sports titles, real swords and guns for action titles. Hmmm, maybe not such a great idea after all...

I just wonder how well-used this idea is likely to be. I can't think of how free motion tech could work without any controller for most games now. Sure, you can point around the place for dancing games and on-rails shooters, but how do you move your character around the screen in sports games or FPS?
You can't just do it in terms of moving your entire body around a set area, because people would get frustrated that they couldn't just start shooting when they saw an enemy; they'd need to move back to the centre to stand still first, or they'd continue to scroll past them.
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[Rocksterboy1992]

[Rocksterboy1992]

[quote]not really conformation that I can use my grannies Vibrator to play baseball ha-ha

Some lovley minded people on here eh?

I think this motion things stupid. Nintendo originally started it and Sony and Microsoft have seen Nintendo's success with it and decide to copy it. Can't they think of their own ideas apart from putting objects into games? That's just stupid IMO

[Rocksterboy1992]

Sorry im not retarded im just new to posting on this site.

[MPH]

There are already ways and means of scanning objects into 3D editing software to save you modelling them from scratch:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3D_scanner

If I held the patent for that and were American I would consider suing if this was commercialized . Effectively it's doing the same thing, just adding on the ability to use said object in place of a controller or whatever. It's still scanning the object in 3D and therefore using a no doubt patented process, even if those objects wont actually appear in the game.

[lordirongut]

HOW MANY TIMES MUST I REPEAT MYSELF.
THE GAMES INDUSTRY DOES NOT NEED INNOVATION.
IT NEEDS THE SAME TRIED AND TESTED FORMULAS THAT WE KNOW AND LOVE.
WE NEED TURN-BASED RPGS.
WE NEED ONLINE SHOOTERS.
WE NEED FIGHTERS 3D AND 2D.
WE NEED MMORPGS THAT NEED LOTS AND LOTS OF GRINDING.
WE DONT NEED TO FLAIL OUR ARMS ABOUT LIKE IDIOTS.
WE DONT NEED MOTION CONTROL.
NATAL WILL BURN.
PS MOTION CONTROL WILL BURN.
WIIMOTES WILL BE SACRIFICED TO THE GODS OF TURN BASED ROLE-PLAYING.
LISTEN TO ME, GAMERS, THE TRUE AND PURE AMONG YOU KNOW THAT I SPEAK THE TRUTH!
JOIN IN MY HOLY CRUSADE TO PURGE GAMING OF INNOVATION!
JOIN ME IN ENDING MOTION CONTROL!

Lol I feel like i've had a bit much to drink...

(but you know it's true

[BlindFish]

MPH: This has got nothing to do with 3D scanners (edit: at least not in the way you mean)... It's more like what people are referring to as 'augmented reality'. So far that has mostly involved waving a card with a pattern printed on it at a camera and seeing a 3d object overlaid on to it on screen. That system tracks the pattern on the card. This proposed system would presumably use the preliminary scan of the object to track it in 3d space...

Anyway, I guess in principle the idea that you can use any real world object instead of a dedicated peripheral might seem like a good idea, but I see lots of problems with tracking it with a single camera in front of the player. What happens when the object is swung back and obscured by the player's body? The system has to guess the position of the object and I don't see how they can make it properly follow the player's movements.

These motion sensitive approaches are also likely to be prone to problems when additional movement occurs behind the player, and I'm curious to see how they will handle such situations. If you're in a room with several people all moving around behind you that could add a lot of 'noise' to the video image and make accurate tracking pretty difficult. It's good that this research is being done, but I have to say the Wii approach still looks like the most reliable, especially if motion plus proves to be as accurate as they claim.

[Richyrich316]

Seems very close to if not more a less a direct copy of natal.

I think sony saw the buzz that natal created especially with main stream media & would like a bit of that publicity themselves.

cannot see it being as sophisticated as natal though especially if its still using the current pseye camera natal is a true 3d camera & is capable of scanning objects into a game just look at the milo demo when she scans the piece of paper Ms have said that you could use objects to simulate sterring wheels etc

Smells like another sony attempt to steal someone elses ideas.
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[RandyChimp]

[Richyrich316]

[dannybuoy]

People, it's a friggin patent. It might not amount to real world application. If anything this is a shrewd move to prevent MS from using the same principle.

[Richyrich316]