PC gesture control hardware development unveiled

PC News | Motion contolled zombie killing on the PC? Yes, please.

It looks like the humble PC will also be jumping on the motion controller bandwagon with the recent announcement of a partnership between gaming hardware giant Razer, Sixense Entertainment and Valve Software set to deliver a "...revolutionary true-to-life, next-generation motion sensing and gesture recognition controller for PC gaming."

Razer, Sixense and Valve (along with a selection of other PC manufacturing partners) are hoping to put together technology that will blow the console motion sensing controllers out of the water, with the aim to produce "...ultra-precise one-to-one motion sensing controllers that use electromagnetic fields to track precise movements along all six axes" for current and future generation PC titles. Each controller is reported to track its orientation within a single degree, and detect positioning within one millimetre.

This new technology is currently on display at the Consumer Electronics Show, with demonstrations of the technology currently running Valve's latest title Left 4 Dead 2 and a prototype controller. Valve's Chet Faliszek has thrown the gauntlet at the feet of the efforts of the Nintendo Wii and Project Natal efforts, stating his belief that "...this release represents motion-enabled gaming that's more integrated and visceral than any platform has so far achieved."

Sixense Chairman and Co-Founder, Avi Arad also put in his own spin on the device, commenting that the currently unnamed gesture control device, "...will not only enhance the entire gaming experience, but will truly revolutionize how games are played on the PC."

Not much more is known about the technology at the moment, but rest assured that the motion controller wars are definitely heating up in 2010.

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8 Comments

matrix-cat

2 years ago

I accepted 'Sixaxis' from Sony because it was a brand name and palyndromes are better than regular words, but used in regular speech it's just wrong. Unless these people are researching and developing in some newly discovered alternate dimension, there are only three axes: X, Y and Z. You don't get to count them twice just because they go both ways.

I suppose you could count Time if you wanted to be pedantic, but that's still only four. Where are the other two?

ace_mclean

2 years ago

^
Hey, if this controller is able to control not only my zombie games but also time travel, dimensions and whatnot, count me in!

But in all seriousness, does anyone know if there is a video demonstration of this up on the net? I'm rather interested

DEJA VU

2 years ago

i've seen one at CNET really short thu

Lord Haart

2 years ago

matrix-cat wrote

there are only three axes: X, Y and Z

Yes, although there are 6 dimensional transformations possible in said axes (three rotational directions and 3 translational directions). So they may be counting the axes as spin axes and translational axes separately.

Still, it's clearly just a brand name.

Mr Waffle

2 years ago

I remember playing motion control games (think eyetoy) on the webcam we used in class like a decade ago...

Skiller

2 years ago

LOL, if motion controllers are less effective than traditional controllers how the hell do they expect motion controllers to compete with the KB and mouse on PCs!?

Might be fun for single player games but I predict epic fail in multi-player games.