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Author Topic: Mars lightgun  (Read 8579 times)

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lodoss118

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Mars lightgun
« on: January 13, 2019, 06:23:48 pm »
Anyone interested in this https://www.pdp.com/blog/?p=622

I wish the light gun looked better, this is similar to this Chinese () person was doing it, with the ps camera.

SammyWI

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Re: Mars lightgun
« Reply #1 on: January 13, 2019, 07:47:59 pm »
Interesting.  I was under the impression that laser based systems would not work well on flat screens dues to their anti reflective coatings (to reduce glare).   I wonder if it will have a mouse emulation mode.
« Last Edit: January 13, 2019, 07:50:52 pm by SammyWI »

Howard_Casto

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Re: Mars lightgun
« Reply #2 on: January 13, 2019, 09:32:16 pm »
From my testing it very much depends upon the screen surface.  Older monitors and tvs work and newer ones with really good anti-glare don't. 


I'll be interested if I actually see it working and see the price point.  Even if it works it'd have to be hacked extensively to get things up to snuff.  Looking at their prototype there it doesn't have enough buttons or recoil.  Those things could be easily fixed, but I guess the price point would really determine if it's worth it. 

thet0ast3r

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Re: Mars lightgun
« Reply #3 on: March 10, 2019, 05:02:37 pm »
Actually, this system should be pretty easily be diy`able; all it should take is a raspberry pi, the noIR cam, an ir filter ( like from a wiimote) and some pretty dang basic computer vision, like they show in the video. And, obviously, a mouse driver.
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ryoken

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Re: Mars lightgun
« Reply #4 on: March 11, 2019, 02:35:59 pm »
Hope they release these gun soon. Looking good for the light gun  games in the future
« Last Edit: March 11, 2019, 02:58:31 pm by ryoken »

lightgungamer

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Re: Mars lightgun
« Reply #5 on: March 12, 2019, 09:06:16 am »
I'm really excited about this - I hope the finished product is compatible with PC like in the video above - The only seem to talk about the console version in their material.

One thing I noticed that was a bit worrying was that they seemed to have a constant laser pointer on the screen when demoing the zombie cruse game. That would ruin most light gun games, but in other demos it seems to be absent.

I have put everything that I can find info wise about this in one post on my site: https://lightgungamer.com/pdp-mars-lightgun/
https://LightGunGamer.com - every Lightgun game and how to play them
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Zebra

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Re: Mars lightgun
« Reply #6 on: March 25, 2019, 06:45:41 pm »
It looks like he is using a PS3 camera in the video. I can't really tell much else from it.

Finding accurate light guns for the PS2 was never an issue. They have the best home light gun ever made. As far as PC functionality goes, I can't really see much except that he is moving the cursor with the gun.

Is there any new tech in this?

Disco74

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Re: Mars lightgun
« Reply #7 on: May 17, 2019, 05:31:49 am »
I think the Sinden gun will be better for emulation

ryoken

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Re: Mars lightgun
« Reply #8 on: October 25, 2019, 10:52:54 am »
The Mars light gun is almost release. Sadly only for USA  and Canada. I live in Europe and Amazon.com is the only place that ship to this place. But the price rise up to 130 euros with the shipping  for the starter  pack and Amazon don't send you 2 light guns if i pre order.

Zebra

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Re: Mars lightgun
« Reply #9 on: October 25, 2019, 02:17:18 pm »
I don't get it. Why would anyone get excited about a "gun" that looks like this?:

https://www.pdp.com/en/shop/mars/mars-lightcon-universal-lightgun

It is without a doubt the worst looking home light gun ever. And that is saying something as there have been some truly appalling designs over the years (Nintendo Super scope anyone). It looks like someone glued a pair of PVC pipes together and then painted the end orange. Sure, it's cheap, but so what. It looks like my grannies gash. I'd rather play nothing than use that.

It was clearly made without any input from real fans of the genre. The contrast with the Sinden project is huge. The Sinden guy has been taking input from his potential user base throughout the development cycle. Many of us have been saying for years that we wanted a better and more arcade-like home light gun. I haven't tried his product yet but I am 100% certain that he is at least trying to deliver against that brief.

Has anyone here got a PDP Mars yet? If so,  are accurate enough to make you overlook their appearance ?
« Last Edit: October 25, 2019, 02:41:33 pm by Zebra »

ryoken

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Re: Mars lightgun
« Reply #10 on: October 25, 2019, 02:39:44 pm »
Well i respect your opinion. But clearly I'm interested  and exited  about this light gun. Because it promises to work on any screen.  I mean after trying the  emulate mouse using  a ps3 camera and a laser. I can say the accuracy and response  time are extremely good, much much better than any wiimote  or aimtrak or the psmove.  The only downside if find with the ps3 camera it only works 100% perfect with a projector  but no so good with an lcd screen.  And just to say i find  also pretty nice the sinden gun but still the border on the screen is a bit too big i think it can be distracting perhaps if the sinden gun uses a 4 ir led on the borders  of the tv will be more appealing for me. 

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Re: Mars lightgun
« Reply #11 on: October 25, 2019, 03:01:20 pm »
Well I have no input on the Mars but in regards to the Sinden:

The design in influenced by real hand guns, That was one of the reasons Andy approached me as I used to do lots of pistol shooting so could offer some “real” input on the gun but keeping in mind it is a toy lol.
So I made some suggestions regarding the grip and sights so you could point it like a real pistol.
Someone else had suggested the weaver rail but he was unaware what that was for previously (assumed it was a looks thing) but once I explained what it was and what it could be used for he looked into actually using it which I thought was pretty cool heh.
No idea if it will be to the real spec but it would be cool as hell to mount a red dot on it or something lol

As for the border it really is not distracting, once you start playing a game you dont even acknowledge it is there.
It also depends on the environment how wide it needs to be.
It does not need to be a 1” thick border as some have suggested, When I was playing it was probably closer to 10mm and possibly could of made it smaller but did not bother.




Zebra

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Re: Mars lightgun
« Reply #12 on: October 25, 2019, 03:09:59 pm »
Well i respect your opinion. But clearly I'm interested  and exited  about this light gun. Because it promises to work on any screen.  I mean after trying the  emulate mouse using  a ps3 camera and a laser. I can say the accuracy and response  time are extremely good, much much better than any wiimote  or aimtrak or the psmove.  The only downside if find with the ps3 camera it only works 100% perfect with a projector  but no so good with an lcd screen.  And just to say i find  also pretty nice the sinden gun but still the border on the screen is a bit too big i think it can be distracting perhaps if the sinden gun uses a 4 ir led on the borders  of the tv will be more appealing for me.

I think the same on the Sinden tech. I thought I was the only one as everyone else I spoke to seemed to think the white border didn't matter. I dislike anything that changes the appearance of the original game, or the way that it's meant to be played.

I know it needs the white border to determine position but I am trying to find out if it has to be on-screen to work, or if you could paint the bezel white, or add a white led strip around the periphery. Obviously that's not practical for a living room screen but it would be if you were building a custom shooting cab.

The main thing for me is the accuracy and ability to stand at arcade-like distance from the screen instead of in another state like with current IR bar tech. But, that is just one part of it. The shell and recoil effect is almost as important. I'm an adult and I don't want to play with something that looks like a cheap toy. My nostalgia includes memories of being wowed by the recoil and realistic uzi on Operation Wolf as a kid. I wanted something like that ever since but, so far, every home like gun has missed the mark. The Mars is a large step in the wrong direction.

The home light guns kids had in the 1970's look significantly better than anything released since:

http://www.m-e-g-a.org/fake-wood/


Zebra

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Re: Mars lightgun
« Reply #13 on: November 06, 2019, 01:01:56 pm »
After all that, it looks like the Mars gun doesn't even work with a PC. It only states support for the Xbox One and PS4 - the two systems with the worst catalog of light gun games in the modern era. Those 3 games it is released with won't cut it and not just because they are all terrible.

What could they gain by not making it compatible with PC's and previous console gens...

Friko

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Re: Mars lightgun
« Reply #14 on: December 02, 2019, 08:18:00 pm »
Totally agree with you. The reviews are out and it seems the Mars games lineup is below average. The gun's response itself is laggy apparently.
Now all we need is someone to hack this gun ($29.99 btw) so we can run it on Windows or Raspberry Pi and improve its response time.
I'm still waiting for the Sinden. I have a 100" projector all set up ready for some shooting action

Zebra

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Re: Mars lightgun
« Reply #15 on: December 03, 2019, 01:36:37 pm »
Totally agree with you. The reviews are out and it seems the Mars games lineup is below average. The gun's response itself is laggy apparently.
Now all we need is someone to hack this gun ($29.99 btw) so we can run it on Windows or Raspberry Pi and improve its response time.
I'm still waiting for the Sinden. I have a 100" projector all set up ready for some shooting action

You don't need to wait for someone to hack a PDP Mars. Someone on this site posted an easy project to create the same with a laser pointer and a PS3 Eye camera. The solution for lag on a PC is to play light gun games without the crosshairs onscreen (the way they were meant to be played anyway).

I've ordered a 980nm IR laser pointer to have a go myself. I don't like playing with a visible red dot on screen but an invisible IR laser solves this.