Sony Rumored To Be Debuting Wiimote-Like Controller At E3 129
Anenome writes "Previously, we saw a Microsoft patent on a Wiimote-like device, and now rumors say that Sony too has a similar device in the works. This isn't surprising, given how dominant Nintendo's Wii has proved to be in this hardware generation. However, many gaming-geeks continue to lament the move away from plain old button-pressing. What is exciting is the prospect that all three companies may incorporate Johnny Lee-style head-tracking into the next console generation, which achieves a convincing 3D illusion on a regular vid-screen, leaving us just a few steps away from true positional 3D. Both the Microsoft and Sony patents incorporate a camera looking at the user, a required setup for achieving positional head-tracking."
just the next logical step in evolution of control (Score:5, Interesting)
we went from very simple digital joysticks, to analog joysticks, to analog pressure buttons, and now to multi-axis 3D input. i love it. it's what i've been wishing for since i was a kid.
analog steering wheels probably represent the need perfectly. [well, at least in the racing games that lean to the simulation side as opposed to the arcade side....]
i hope all the next-gen continue to get more nuanced inputs!
Just as long as it's truly Bluetooth compatible (Score:5, Interesting)
I use the Wiimote all the time with Smoothboard [smoothboard.net], which incidentally is a much MUCH better application than Johny Lee's.
But really, the Wiimote's BT implementation sucks pond water from the bottom: you need to use the BlueSoleil [bluesoleil.com] stack, which is $$$ and can be quirky, unless you're really lucky and your Broadcomm or Toshiba stack works as-is, and the Wiimote doesn't autoconnect.
Quite frankly, all the Wiimote needs is a small firmware fix to be perfect. No need for Microsoft to reinvent things, just make it compatible.
Re:"Required"? (Score:3, Interesting)
Sure it's one setup, but it's hardly "required" otherwise it wouldn't have been possible to do the same trick with the wii-mote.
The wiimote acts as an infra-red camera (the "sensor bar" is a misnomer, it only has some leds), and IIRC the head-tracking trick involves a wiimote pointing at the user and some leds in the user's head.
Patentable? (Score:4, Interesting)
Isn't it weird that you can describe a device as "Wiimote-like", but you can still patent it?
Re:This Is Sure To Be A Success If It's From Sony! (Score:3, Interesting)
blu-ray
jury is still out on that one. it's done better than laser disc.
but its still hasn't done better than betamax (sure it killed hddvd..but I remember when video stores were almost 50/50 beta/vhs and beta still lost.
And in my opinion blu-ray's real competition is DVD. Sure bluray has the quality advantage... but then so did betamax... dvd's are cheap, well established, and look equally good on most people's tv's at the viewing distances most people watch tv at.
bluray penetration and marketshare is expanding... but it hasn't reached critical mass yet, and it might well die out, replaced by the next big thing, before it does.
blurays biggest issues, in my mind, is that they aren't backwards compatible, and they aren't better than DVD to anywhere near the same degree that DVD was better than VHS.
I know so many people who find bluray more annoying than anything.. great when it works... but because they only have one bluray player they can only watch it in their living room... it doesn't work in their laptop, their portable dvd player, their dvd player at the cabin, the tv in the bedroom, and they can't bring it over and watch it at a friends house (assuming they don't have bluray), etc.
Re:This Is Sure To Be A Success If It's From Sony! (Score:5, Interesting)
So how much money is lost per console versus how much is gained per license and per sale?
If there's any indication that the Playstation 3 is still a money sinkhole for Sony it's their continued refusal to lower the console price, despite being outsold by its last generation counterpart. It means that the PS3 still costs a lot to manufacture, Sony is still taking a loss on the console, and lowering the price would put their charts into all kinds of unpredictable hell.
The declared goal of the Playstation 3 was to shim Blu-Ray into the average consumers home. At 22m units sold worldwide, it has helped Blu-Ray ... but it accounts for almost 90% of all the BD-enabled devices in the home around the world. With DVD being the near-ubiquitous media of choice around the world -- it has market penetration of almost 99% -- BD has a long damn way to go.
Also, the Wii and Xbox 360 continue to outperform the PS3 in the market, with 50m and 30m sold, compared to PS3's 22m.
So, yes, I'd say the Playstation 3 has been a marketing and performance failure. It was supposed to ride the success of the Playstation 2 and usher in the Blu-Ray era. It has not.
Re:"Required"? (Score:2, Interesting)
So you use motion estimation. Works really nicely. But turn round and it no longer looks like a face. Move your hand in front of your face and it's possible that it will get confused.
So obviously there's a hybrid approach. Use the pure detection method and add motion estimation as a factor. It's better but getting the weightings right isn't so easy. There are probably better techniques - I will say at this point my knowledge of this sort of thing is a few years out of date - but it's not a trivial problem to solve.