Comments on: Sony: Hands-free tech isn’t viable

By: Marks: Kinect and PS EyeToy are both limited « PlayStation University

Marks: Kinect and PS EyeToy are both limited « PlayStation University — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 16:34:21 +0000

[...] the camera-technology. Last week, quotes were released sharing that Marks didn’t believe hands-free controls were viable. Regardless of how all of this plays out, it will be interested to see if both Move and Kinect end [...]

By: TRF

TRF — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 23:24:12 +0000

Hands-free gaming makes me feel disconnected from the experience.

By: Paranoimia

Paranoimia — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 21:02:24 +0000

I agree. Without buttons, control using a camera is extremely limited. I’ve yet to see Kinect do anything that wasn’t already done with EyeToy on PS2 in 2006. EyeToy Kinetic was basically the same as the Ubisoft Your Shape demo at E3, and shows the camera was capable of tracking the entire body.

The PS Eye already does menu navigation in EyePet, and the movements required are much smaller than those shown to be used so far with Kinect. I’m sure if Sony wanted to, they could implement such navigation into the XMB, but quite frankly, what would be the point?

It’s a novelty, and once the novelty wears off, we’d be back pressing buttons in no time. Why? Simply because it’s quicker and easier. Once your video or MP3 collection gets past 50 or so, navigation/selection by waving your arms at a camera (or repeatedly saying ‘up/down/left/right/forward/back/select’ is going to be incredibly tiresome.

As the article points out, the ‘live’ tech demos at E3 were laughable. In the Forza demo, the pointer moves before the guy moves his hand, and in the Kinectimals demo, the hands on screen stopped following what the girl was doing abuot halfway through. (For ‘demo’ read ‘pre-recorded video and poorly synchronised movements’.)

The only truly live demo was the Ubi Your Shape demo, and that showed up just how inaccurate Kinect is. Between the 2 demos (the first at the MS conference, the 2nd at the Ubi conference), she shrunk by 2 inches and her arms mysteriously grew by 4 inches. Not really what you want if a game is going to calculate your BMI and suggest an exercise regime for you. Such measurements need to be accurate, and clearly, they’re not.

To be honest, if I were interested in Kinect, I’d be pretty worried that they’re just a few months from launch, and yet they’re still having to fake tech demos of anything other than simple games requiring large, obvious movements.

By: 30NIGHTCRAWLER30

30NIGHTCRAWLER30 — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 16:57:12 +0000

I totally agree with Doominator99

By: Doominator99

Doominator99 — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 16:24:03 +0000

The move has much more potential. Kinect can only do games where you stand still or are on rails but the move can do all casual and hardcore games plus when move comes out we will be getting tonnes of PC games that wouldnt work well on consoles in the past because of the controller.

yea

By: Dreamer_Lion

Dreamer_Lion — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 15:47:29 +0000

No. I think “hand free” gaming isn’t really he way to go for the core gamer. It could be fun sure, but so are some cellphone games and at the end of the day I just want to pick up my controller and start playing some “real” games.

There’s so much you can do in gaming without having a controller in your hands.

On the other hand, hands free navigation sound awesome. Controlling the interface, manipulating photos and videos; that’s the stuff that excites me the most.