The article below is taken directly from newscientist.com, not written by me.
Invention: Magic wand for gamers
PlayStation gamers are always looking for exciting new ways to control the onscreen action, but using a camera to track a player’s body movement has not worked reliably, admits Sony. The camera gets confused by other things in the room.
Sony’s new idea is to plug a webcam into the console, and give the gamer a handheld wand similar to a pocket flashlight. The wand has a battery, a few mouse-like buttons and several different coloured LEDs that can be switched on and off in various combinations.
By pressing the buttons and waving the wand towards the webcam, the gamer can click to shoot aliens, drag-and-drop images on screen and navigate menus.
The webcam is tuned to see only pure bright colours and map their motion in space, so it can ignore ordinary room lights. And if two people have wands with different coloured LEDs, they can play against each other.
I still haven't calmed down from reading about Baitohel 2000 on PSP, but this article really ticks me off. But it wasn't until after reading a PDF document attached to the article when my blood REALLY began to boil. The picture below is taken (print screened) directly from the PDF document.
Here is a link to the document, you need Adobe Acrobat to view it:
http://tinyurl.com/dyekq
Link to the article:
http://www.newscientist.com/channel/info-tech/dn7890
Btw, this info had been taken from a thread posted at Digital Share forums :).
18 comments:
Serious? I didn't know bout this....
D pad, control stick, rumble paks, eye-toy and now gyros too??
Yeah, it can't tell the distance from controller to sensor/screen. I guess Sony didn't want to get sued, but this new "magic wand" couldn't have been a coincidence, it is way too similar to the controller. And a month before the TGS too?
o_O
(thanks for replying btw)
Don't worry guys! Sony's inventions have never been as good as Nintendo's. And Nintendo definitely nails everyone when it comes to innovation.
Nintendo is definitely right that non-gamers will be enticed by the new controller and that the hardcore gamers will buy the revolution. Why? Because hardcore gamers care about the games and Nintendo is the best place for games.
Oh by the way Darkenedjib, I have joined Digital Share as "bluelight" (I'm scrapping my old name "vavorb")
Welcome!
I joined as Satoru Iwata btw :D.
...bleh.
Remember that nothing beats the original anyway. 8-)
Wow.....uh.....you....
There is not much distance to use this.
Nintendo owns this.
By "this" is mean they own the idea. It's better than the other controllers/wands.
Nintendo fanboys (and me), don't worry. Listen to the person who posted 4th.
This guy is RIGHT.
Thanks for all the replies guys!!
(btw, the above post was deleted for being an ad :D)
Also, thanks Falafelkid for linking to my blog in your latest post, about ten times as many usual visitors came since yesterday :P.
Sony's wand sucks - period.
Sony wand?? neva heard of that and it also looks like a wireless light gun in the instruction pic
The patent was filed on December 17, 2004. Way before Nintendo even made an announcement.
What was that comment about being original?
You can ALWAYS destroy a fanboy by using facts. ALWAYS.
Well then, here are some other facts.
Fact: Sony copied the shoulder buttons, D pad, control stick, rumble pak and eye toy idea off Nintendo's innovations.
Fact: The first Sony gaming console, PSX, was developed by Sony and Nintendo to compete with the Sega Saturn. After the agreement was dumped, Sony shoved in a CD drive into the "new SNES" and thus the Playstation was formed.
Fact: Work on the Revolution began shortly after the released of the Gamecube, as early as the start of 2002. The agreement made by Gyration and Nintendo to purchase gyroscopic stock was made in Sep 2001. That means Ninty had been planning to use gyro controllers even before the "magic wand" from Sony, or the MS equivilent.
U can just say that Sony actually joined the console wars by just copying the ideas of both nintendo and sega...
Hmm, I'm not sure what they took from Sega's consoles, but that is more-or-less correct.
Koffdrop, if you disagree with my views, feel free to reply or email me at immortaltoad@gmail.com :).
Yeah, my 15 years of industry experience will generally disagree with Nintendo fanboy rants.
Vibrating controls came around in the arcade - mainly by Sega . Taking another idea and claiming it as new by screaming it really loudly and patenting it doesn't mean you innovated it.
Nintendogs is based on a 20 year old idea from 8-bit home computers. Assuming you don't know about that, you'll assume Nintendo are being innovative. Your ignorance doesn't equate to Nintendo being innovative, it just equates to you being ignorant.
Nintendo have very VERY rarely innovated but they frequently claim the prize for themselves by way of patents and licensing. Because you want to believe it, you won't question it.
My experience in games makes me a cynic of pretty much anyone - but particularly Nintendo.
This is a Ninetndo focused site, so it's naturally going to be pro-Nintendo. But that doesn't mean it's true.
If you're able to tolerate an objective view you can read more at www.koffdrop.com or msn me via koffdrop@koffdrop.com.
Be warned though, you won't like what you read.
Well koffdrop, you seem to be a fairly intelligent guy who knows what he's talking about.
You have my attention, I've just read your "koffdrop on Revolution article" on your site, I will be making a detailed reply in my next blog post.
Darkenedjib
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