Saturday, March 23, 2013

Revolution of movement (powered by video analytics)


Nintendo Wii’s launch in November 2006 changed console gaming for good: The controller, “Wii Remote”, could detect user’s movement. For the first time, gamers could interact with the machine via a materially more natural interface: their own movement. The user interface of Wii, however, still included a controller. Something the gamer had to hold in his/her hand. And the motion detected was only that of the “Wii remote”. Even though the leap from a traditional controller, mainly operated using gamer’s thumbs, was gigantic, the interface still remained one step away of purely free movement and fully natural control.

Video analytics changed this. 4 years later, in November 2010, Microsoft’s Xbox 360 Kinect was launched. Instead of requiring the user to hold a controller, the interface was purely based on spoken commands and gestures – not only those of a single hand, but of every part of the user’s body. Utilizing video analytics, Kinetict’s sensor device was able to accurately detect gamer’s movement and to turn that into a completely new gaming experience.

Wikipedia’s list of already launched and upcoming Kinect games includes titles with themes ranging from golf to Angry Birds and from football to Harry Potter. The number of possible applications is almost infinite and the future of gaming looks more interesting than ever as more and more game developers start exploring the new possibilities. In future posts, we’ll be digging deeper into what to expect from the revolution of movement in gaming and will have a look at how video analytics and gaming consoles can be used for medical purposes. Stay tuned!

No comments:

Post a Comment