I know it was mentioned earlier, but we have slightly more details.
Anyway, the controller apparently is able to perform facial recognition. Not only that, but it can do a variety of other things as well. IGN reports:
it was revealed that the technology can detect the position and direction of player’s heads, as well as their gender, age and certain facial gestures
Sony’s stated that the technology is already there. Not only that, but they also claim that their technology is more accurate than XBox 360’s as well. So now my question is, if this technology is so grand and spectacular, how come we never see anything beyond novelty games? In all truthfulness, I honestly believe it’s how this Eye was revealed to the public and the lack of advertising.
The PlayStation Eye never really had a ridiculous trailer showing the camera in “action” and magically scanning a skateboard deck, including the areas behind the fingers (watch the Natal trailer). Most of what Sony had were just a bunch of tech demos and only pushing Eye of Judgment really. Most of the software released seems like they’re only tech demos as well. Not only that, but has anyone seen any commercials, or ads, for the PlayStation Eye?
If Sony really wants to push this technology, they need to come up with some brilliant ideas to convince consumers (and developers) to buy and invest in these kinds of games. Hopefully, that’s what we’ll start seeing soon, because, since Microsoft revealed ‘Project Natal’, Sony finally seems to be pushing the technology. But is it too late? Sony attended the Develop conference in Brighton, England yesterday. Maybe they convinced developers to start developing these types of games? I hope so. Hopefully, third party developers who have started working on games for Project Natal will also develop the games for the Eye as well, so all of those won’t wind up being 360 exclusives.
In the end, though, I still feel this entire type of fad gaming is a bit overrated and will not last for very long. There will most likely be loads of shovelware (junk games, usually for a quick buck). The Wii, for instance, has lots of titles to play, but about 96% of them are shovelware! I still don’t know why it’s so popular! But here’s hoping Sony can pull this off and compete with both the Wii and 360 on a more successful level, but considering their lack of advertising and bad marketing as of thus far into the PS3’s cycle, it’s going to be a very steep climb. The nice thing is, 360 and PS3 have about even footing in sales, so I feel if Sony pushes the marketing and advertising of their products, sales would boom (especially if they released the Slimline models soon and introduced them with a price cut). They better do it soon, because the Holiday season will be here faster than you think!
Written by: Jay
#1 by Darrin on July 18th, 2009 [ 10330 points ]
Motion control, including Natal, Sony’s stuff, and /Wii MotionPlus, has been nothing but tech demos, mini-games, and big talk.
Maybe someone will turn it around and deliver something more substantial, but I think the general public and media has way too much blind faith in this.
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#2 by Paranoimia on July 18th, 2009
Whoever makes it, the technology may have potential, but it’s in its infancy and as far as I can see, is currently practically useless for gaming.
Playing games requires quick movements, but above all, more often than not it requires accuracy. Whether it be the PS Eye or Natal, can you really ever see it being useful for controlling a game like FIFA, for example?
Think of the moves, tricks and endless movement possibilities in that game. Now how would you control all that with nothing but a camera? Okay, you can swing your foot to kick the ball – but how does it judge things like precise direction, or the strength of a kick? Would you need to jog on the spot to run? If you’re taking a free kick, how does it interpret whether you’re blasting straight for goal, or spinning the ball to bend the shot and beat the keeper? And last but by no means least, how would you pass the ball backwards – turn away from the screen?
The article asks the question – if Sony have this tech, why haven’t we seen it used in games? I think the answer is quite simple: because Sony have realised that it’s not really practical.
We’ve saw the equivalent of the E3 Natal painting demo years ago, with the EyeToy on PS2, and a few games that had you waving your arms around making the same big, obvious gestures – and now we have the PS Eye on PS3. Yet neither Sony nor any third-party developers have managed to come up with a way of incorporating it into anything other than small ‘novelty’ games.
With the multitude of controls used in most games, and the speed and accuracy that is usually required, control without buttons or a physical controller is simply not practical in most cases.
Let’s not forget that the Natal video shown at E3 was 100% mock-up. The only real, live demo was of a simple paint application which – again – relied on large, obvious gestures, and was really nothing that couldn’t be done with the EyeToy or PS Eye.
PSEye/Natal may work well with a skateboarding game where large movements are easily recognised. It may even work to steer in a racing game by moving your hands in the air – but how accurate would it really be with minor foot movements for accelerator and brake?
It would be useless for something like Tekken, unless you actually were the reincarnation of Bruce Lee. How would you aim accurately enough in Modern Warfare 2? And just how useless would it be for a game like Super Stardust HD, where speed and accuracy are essential?
Everyone is drooling over the technology, but I don’t think most people have really stopped and thought about how practical it actually is for more games.
Having the technology is one thing. Finding a genuinely practical way to incorporate it into gameplay is far more difficult.
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#3 by Paranoimia on July 18th, 2009
“We’ve saw the equivalent…” ???
Should be “We saw the equivalent…”
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#4 by Jay on July 18th, 2009 [ 33153 points ]
the games would have to create new genres really because you’re right, the practical gaming genres would be nearly impossible to replicate in a game requiring moves on camera. There’s always that glimmer of hope that someone would come up with something interesting. And with that, so far, only Sony has anything different in the way of Eye of Judgment (and maybe EyePet, but that seems more novelty than game). As far as what genre would fit it best still needs to be determined. If anything, Sony still needs to create the PlayStation EyeHD for higher resolution and even better motion tracking. I’d like to see games popping up on PSN, because that’s really the only place where these games would fit in. Full releases wouldn’t be worth it, at least, where we are now. A dev could easily make a PSN game that uses camera, maybe like a collection of mini-games for $5-$10, or a kind of shooter game like Super Stardust, where you use your hands as weapons, special ability being able to use a sweeping motion, other than that, basically just thrust towards a target. That’s basically novelty as well, though. It’s going to be a hell of a while before we get anything worth it, that’s for sure.
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#5 by Jay on July 18th, 2009 [ 33153 points ]
the tech demo for the new controller by Sony had some interesting ideas. Remember when they did the FPS tech demo? That’d be perfect for gallery and rail shooters, arcade staples (last time I went to an arcade, I played a Time Crisis game, and that was a blast!). Maybe something like that, given a good story and whatnot, is something that would be worth it. The Wii had that Resident Evil Umbrella chronicles, which I thought was really fun. Basically a rail shooter going through the events in the series from RE: Zero to, at least, RE3 (hadn’t gotten to play the whole thing)! Imagine that type of game running on PS3 hardware, using the camera and the wand. That way, melee attacks would register better than the Wii as well as reloading (those two were often hit or miss). THAT would be something worth looking into
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#6 by No Kill Tayler on July 18th, 2009 [ 2300 points ]
Alright, maybe i should’ve put in my own opinion. W/e.
Your both right, Sony only saw the camera as a novelty item until now. Now that MS has its own tech and is pushing it. We’ll see a marketing push and competition.
Here I’m left wondering if Sony did make some games for the camera and showed off its tech, would we be here arguing if natal is better or not.
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#7 by Jay on July 18th, 2009 [ 33153 points ]
probably lol. The nice thing is, if Sony does decide to push the technology more, they’ve had more time working with it (as mentoned, we did have the EyeToy back on the PS2), so the results would probably wind up being better, that is, unless Microsoft buys out the competition like it seems to enjoy doing. I still think an HD version of the Eye would be something worth looking into if the tech does catch on
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#8 by No Kill Tayler on July 18th, 2009 [ 2300 points ]
This literally too much for the human, get straight to the point or don’t get there at all. ;]
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#9 by No Kill Tayler on July 18th, 2009 [ 2300 points ]
This literally is too much for the human eye, get straight to the point or don’t get there at all. ;D
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#10 by Paranoimia on July 18th, 2009
The ‘wand’ that Sony showed has potential, certainly. Just to be clear, my previous comments refer to the Natal ‘idea’ of controlling a game using only the camera and a person’s movements, with no physical controller.
For me, that simply will not work with games as we know them – other than the novelty titles mentioned. In my personal opinion, you need some kind of physical controller used in conjunction with the camera, in order to know exactly what the player wants to do. This is something that Sony stated shortly after the E3 demo, and I believe it to be true.
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#11 by Darrin on July 18th, 2009 [ 10330 points ]
What kind of games can you play with Sony’s wand (PlayStation Motion)?
Shooters? You can within a narrow arc with the wand, but It seems that you still need an analog stick to do larger turns and to move forward/back/strafe.
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#12 by Jay on July 18th, 2009 [ 33153 points ]
well, thats what the Wii does with the nunchuck controller. Beyond rail shooters and whatnot, IDK how else you would work shooters at least, maybe make an attachment like the Wii has that has an analog stick, that’d be the only thing that works really
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#13 by Glitch on July 19th, 2009
Darrin said:
“What kind of games can you play with Sony’s wand (PlayStation Motion)?
Shooters? You can within a narrow arc with the wand, but It seems that you still need an analog stick to do larger turns and to move forward/back/strafe“.
Come on, Darrin.
We have already discussed that. The Wands do have the analog stick. And it also has buttons. So your argument just isn’t valid even though you repeat it.
^