Why is this guy not designing Games?

[Popeh]

Now that is awesome!

[Cheerios]

someone should make a digg for this. I thought it was very awesome. Games are getting more and more interactive

The thread came from digg in the first place.

[Max™]

Yeah, it isn't new, and many of us have seen head tracking done.

Head tracking done for under $300 though? That's another matter entirely, and the simple brilliance of sticking the Wiimote tracker bar on your head rocks.

[Ramor]

Simply amazing, think there'd be any chance of doing split screen/quad screen FPS games? I mean it'd require about 8 wiimotes right...but would it be possible o_O it'd be amazing

it really does look like it's jumping out of the screen when you first see it o.o

[Elcura]

While this is amazingly cool it has nothing to do with (the guy himself) designing games. He's designed (or played around with) the hardware and technology. Making a game using this technology is something else completely, as it could easily go wrong at SO many points during development.

[Max™]

The reason I think he should be working with game development is simple, sideways thinking.

Sideways thinking tends to produce the coolest shit you ever see in video games.

[Elcura]

The reason I think he should be working with game development is simple, sideways thinking.

Sideways thinking tends to produce the coolest shit you ever see in video games.

Works both ways I'm afraid. Only reason I can see why he should be working with a development team is to help with technical difficulties.

Designing games is an art while making them is a science (so to speak).

[Maxxthepenguin]

So I set this up and gave it a shot and have good and bad news

The good news is that it works as advertised and is a very very cool experience. It's fun to mess around with.

The bad news is, with the wiimote + sensor bar, the practicality of this setup for things like gaming is low. Due to the nature of the peripherals, how the sensor bar puts out a large field for the wiimote but the wiimote only senses pretty much what's in front of it, you have a limited range of motion before the wiimote can't see you. This isn't a problem for Wii games because you are actively pointing the wiimote at the TV (and thus the sensor bar) but pointing your head is far less intuitive, especially when going for immersion. With the idea behind the tech going on here something could be made that could work, or if you could strap the wiimote to your head (lol) and make it work this would be versatile but, for now, it's just a cool tech demo.

[Elcura]

I think the main point here is showing how something like this could be tailored into a machine which can remove the limits the Wii imposes. I think for the Wii it is unrealistic to expect people to design games around this since the Wii wasn't developed with this in mind (or so I assume, you never know these days).

But something like this could bring immersion and graphics to a whole new level. Imagine walking around in an Adventure game/FPS/RPG town and being able to actively look around at all the things around you, it would be amazing.

[Maxxthepenguin]

Well, the next problem is the fact that you still have limited movement because you have to be looking at the screen, so we would need some sort of head mounted display like goggles... which of course shows why this tech is limited. There is no way for it to really efficiently account for a full range of viewing. We need something like a Wii Virtual Boy to achieve what this tech attempts.

[Elcura]

Well, the next problem is the fact that you still have limited movement because you have to be looking at the screen, so we would need some sort of head mounted display like goggles... which of course shows why this tech is limited. There is no way for it to really efficiently account for a full range of viewing. We need something like a Wii Virtual Boy to achieve what this tech attempts.

Yeah, I was thinking that the only effective way would be googles (intentional). Of course, what he showed with the Wii wouldn't really help in a game play term for any type of game I can think off (and right now I'm not thinking really hard lol)

[Ishido]

Kinda sucks that the number of ways this could be implemented well is low, but it is still very cool.

[Nyima]

Wouldn't making a game that could do something like that would take a lot of processing power something the Wii doesn't have much of. I haven't programmed anything in years and I never got very deep into the field but I would imagine the only thing that could pull off a decent looking game with that technology would be an extreemly powerful PC. I could be wrong though I'm just guessing.

[Maguspk]

Well, the next problem is the fact that you still have limited movement because you have to be looking at the screen, so we would need some sort of head mounted display like goggles... which of course shows why this tech is limited. There is no way for it to really efficiently account for a full range of viewing. We need something like a Wii Virtual Boy to achieve what this tech attempts.

He's not aiming to create a FPS usable VR technology or a "VR Room", he's simply aiming to simulate a 3D environment. In that, he succeeds and with flying colors. To develop a game which uses this wouldn't be difficult really, games already have these kinds of interactions, it's called moving the right thumb stick. Only that movement would be partially controlled by the movement made by your body/head. The point isn't to create an environment where you can turn around and magically see what's now behind you, it's the create a simulated 3D window by alternating sizes/angles to give the illusion of a 3D image.

I think what he managed to do with some software and a wiimote is amazing. Really inspiring to think this kind of stuff might be available in the near future in a more reasonable form that can be implemented into various applications. I really liked his Whiteboard video from his website.

[pirahna1]

It would make for a killer Nights or Panzer Dragoon game. Any game on rails would make awesome use of it.

[Maguspk]

It would make for a killer Nights or Panzer Dragoon game. Any game on rails would make awesome use of it.

Immediately after watching the OP video I thought about that game on the PSOne my friend used to play alot where you pressed a button to duck out of view and reload; I think this is a rail game, right? I agree, that'd be an awesome application for the 3D window effect.

[Ramor]

not to shit on the wii or anything, but it wasn't exactly specced for performance..though I still could see it possibly working, albeit the graphics would suffer..though I don't get why people play a game just based on graphics nowadays, makes less sense if a game is just visually stunning and the rest sucks, i'll take my 8bit incredible games over the new plotholefilled "unique" games they seem to be spewing lately.

but it would probably be best for something like tennis or an FPS or some sort of sports game

[Maguspk]

not to shit on the wii or anything, but it wasn't exactly specced for performance..though I still could see it possibly working, albeit the graphics would suffer..though I don't get why people play a game just based on graphics nowadays, makes less sense if a game is just visually stunning and the rest sucks, i'll take my 8bit incredible games over the new plotholefilled "unique" games they seem to be spewing lately.

but it would probably be best for something like tennis or an FPS or some sort of sports game

It's not a jump in performance it's just a change of the pivot for what you use the right thumb stick for in most games. The effect is so amazing you might believe the technology needed to produce the effect is somehow more complicated but it really isn't, it's just a different way of viewing the same scene.

Whoever mentioned sideways thinking hit the nail on the head.

[Ramor]

well, just thinking of possible ideas for games that could be relatively low in the graphics department to compensate for what would (apparently, i have no idea myself) be a rather taxing engine for a game

i realize it'd just be a joystick enhancement more or less, but tbh there aren't many games where it'd really be a huge addition aside from an FPS

[Charismatic]

It would make for a killer Nights or Panzer Dragoon game. Any game on rails would make awesome use of it.

Immediately after watching the OP video I thought about that game on the PSOne my friend used to play alot where you pressed a button to duck out of view and reload; I think this is a rail game, right? I agree, that'd be an awesome application for the 3D window effect.

Time Crisis, and I was in the shower a while ago thinking of posting about that very game.