In a recent interview with Eurogamer, Sony software engineer and Move guy Anton Mikhailov talks about why the company turned down controller-free gaming.
According to Mikhailov, Sony looked into 3D camera technology over at their London Studio back in 2002, but ultimately decided against it due to its inherent limitations of gameplay experiences. It’s quite long, and well worth the read as a realistic exposition of Kinect’s own limitations, but I’ve included some relevant excerpts below.
“When we were working with the 3D cameras we felt the cost of the camera outweighed the advantages of what it offered,” he says. “The London Studio guys were familiar with EyeToy. With EyeToy, one of the toughest things is body-tracking. It’s hard to segment the player from the background. You have lighting condition variations. That’s why a lot of EyeToy games use motion-tracking instead of parts-tracking.”
He goes on to explain how using a 3D camera system solves some of those problems but that ultimately “you still don’t get a different experience. And it’s very hard to apply to other sorts of genres.”
I won’t make the obvious joke about Sony swapping a catalogue of cheap Wii game clones for an expensive Wii Remote clone instead. Although, Mikhailov later makes a rather insightful comment about controllers and physical feedback.
“That’s always a trade off,” he says. “Ideally you can find an interface that is both intuitive and powerful, but it’s very rare you find something that’s catch-all. Even if Kinect was highly accurate and it could detect the tiniest motions, still for a sword game you’d want something in your hand because it feels weird to swing around just your hand. Your tactile feedback isn’t correct. It doesn’t trigger these wrist feelings. People are very physical in that sense.”
It’s an interesting observation, and for anyone who’s played around with Kinect, an astute one. While it’s obviously the whole point, the lack of immediate physical connectedness with Kinect is undeniably disconcerting, even disorienting. Whether Microsoft or anybody else intends to address this with additional peripherals remains to be seen, but in the meantime, the dinghy accessory is probably the most stupid thing ever invented.
Have your say on controller free gaming in the forums.
Loading ...
