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Promising New Gun Tech... ?
patrickl:
Even the PS2 and the Eye Toy could do that (apart from maybe the trigger finger):
Actually every new webcam comes with similar games.
The new PS3 eye toy also does the same:
but it goes further and is able to put hairdo's and makup in 3D on your face:
Turnarcades:
Yeah but this is a dedicated PC app, so has potential for very cheap wiimote/eyetoy hybrid recognition. Would pentially be great if could be incorporated in MAME - hold your hand like a gun, coloured plaster on your finger tracks the 'gun' motion, different one on your other finger for the 'trigger'....... 8)
RandyT:
Cool stuff, but I have my doubts about the usability of such technology as a gun controller. This is essentially the reverse form of the LCD Top Gun, only with this, the system is attempting to track a much smaller object.
It would also be necessary to be able to discern very minute changes in the angle of a device in the "Z" axis, which is tougher than tracking a steering control (X and Y). It may be possible with a special, and not very realistic looking "gun". At minimum, it would probably need "wings", both horizontally and vertically, and track the distances between the mapped objects on the ends. And a low-res web cam is going to provide for lousy accuracy.
RandyT
vertygo:
Well it is just a start for this company.. maybe it will lead to a really high-res camera, better algo, better tracking, who knows ?
In terms of starting to get a simple solution to mame users and light gun games, I think it's on the right track.
Speaking of "wings" on the gun nozzle.. makes me think of some sort of very retro sci-fi laser gun.. like something RocketMan would have haha.
NickG:
This looks really awesome, especially the UT2K4 and sol.exe demos. I think the accuracy may be good enough for some older games, but a higher resolution camera would push it more toward the capabilities of the multi-camera solution ala Microsoft's "surface" rig. I happen to have a camera-based video game gun, The RGT:G1 which puts the camera monitor side - instead of guns side like the LCD topgun. It is of essentially the same accuracy as this new cam-trax sans X-Y axis. It is wonderful tech, but you can tell (by the shaky cursor in shooting games) that a higher resolution camera is the only thing lacking to make it a superior option. Basically, with such a setup, you can only game perfectly at the same resolution as your camera's maximum resolution instead of your monitor's maximum resolution.
Edit: this software looks better than buying an RGT:G1 at this point because I think they are using a full VGA cam instead of a QVGA which I think the RGT:G1 might be using, not sure...
Edit2: (almost forgot) Thanks for the info Xiaou2!