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| AimTrak: First Impressions |
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| RandyT:
--- Quote from: Neverending Project on October 10, 2009, 03:27:01 am ---I have used real guns, and it is not counterintuitive in the least. We're talking about popping ghosts, shooting zombies and hitting animated people here. Or in some cases I suppose video game animals as well. These are video games, and we are standing 3 feet from the screen. I am sure this device is far more accurate than you are wanting to believe. --- End quote --- Actually, I want it to be good. I don't have a product in the game, so it's just silly to think that it has anything to do with my comments. I have commented about scores of items offered to this community, and where they come from really makes no difference. Either something does what it's supposed to, or it does not. One common thing I have been seeing is people commenting about accuracy and calibration issues related to user position. These are major parts of a gun solution, so they must be "on target." I have yet to see people talk about this solution without adding caveats, similar to the ones you added. Caveats that were / are my biggest concern about the Wii-esque approach. --- Quote ---I can compare it to video games I played in arcades, and in almost all cases I would say this is a superior experience. Especially when you factor in the miscalibration you usually see in video games in arcades. --- End quote --- Well, this is where the rubber meets the road. So either you play particularly poorly while being watched by others, the arcades you frequent are shoddy, or the device performs much better than the stated caveats lead one to believe. --- Quote ---But in the end it sounds like you're trying to downplay a competitor's product that you haven't seen for yourself in action. Buy one, Randy, and then post your honest HO. ;) --- End quote --- I think I will, but it's plain that what I say won't really be taken seriously by anyone wishing to color my comments in a way that implies prejudice. Too bad you think selling encoders negates my experience not only with real weaponry, but with myriad technologies which simulate their use. Tip: If it "works better than the arcade", you should have come right out and said that so as to not short-change the product. That is the bar most all of here are using, and watching to see if someone states that it meets it. ;) Is that your conclusion? RandyT |
| syph007:
I think people are making too big a deal out of the minor downpoints here. The bottom line is it works, and its a hell of alot of fun. Absolutely 100% worth the money. Buy one and try it and you'll see. If you pass on this just because of a few perceived imperfections, you're truly missing out. Valued addition to any home arcade machine. |
| smalltownguy:
I got my AimTrak up and running today. Very simple to calibrate. Of course the first game I tried was a positional gun game, Terminator 2. Can anyone share the proper configuration I need to do in order to remap my controls to get my AimTrak to control the crosshairs in this game? |
| AndyWarne:
Some interesting comments here. Lets start with the design philosopy of the device. It was intended to reproduce or exceed the performance of all original arcade guns. The first step in this was to design a system which can be used as close to the screen as original arcade gun games. This is definitely achieved, no question about that. The second was to make sure it is accurate. If you calibrate and then test by looking at the mouse cursor you will see that it is indeed very accurate. If you then move the gun up or down, it will be slightly out but probably no less inaccurate than any original arcade guns. Moving up or down you would normally lose line-of-sight anyway, so slight inaccuracy is not really an issue. If you move a large distance back from the screen without recalibrating, it will also become less accurate, but this is not a very realistic situation since arcade guns are tethered by a hose, so the shooting distance is very limited. What about moving sideways (I mean the shooting position not just pointing off center)? This depends on the firmware, in the next version, sideways movement compensation will be enhanced but in the current version you are still going to be well within the accuracy of all arcade guns. I take the point about the firmware upgrade being cumbersome. This is going to be a very difficult one to address. One of the downsides in having upgradeable firmware is that users with a install problem may try this as a first action, when its not supposed to be. So I will probably need to explain on the website page that the gun should be working fully before thinking about firmware. There will also be a way to check current version and avoid unnecessary upgrading. From the comments above it would seem there are other issues with the config utility as well, and I would welcome any other feedback. I will also add a section on light issues. Maybe copy from the Wii manual hehe. On my test rig I can see what the camera sees, and it does see bright point light sources such as halogen and these will interfere but only if in field of view, or a reflection is in field of view. CCFLs and fluorescents are completely invisible to the camera. |
| wp34:
--- Quote from: Ginsu Victim on October 09, 2009, 04:31:05 pm --- --- Quote from: Neverending Project on October 09, 2009, 04:09:06 pm ---The only issue I see is playing at night. I mean arcades were dark and all, but who wants to stand in a dark room lit only by arcade marquees just to play a game? I guess I'll get a dimmer. --- End quote --- I turn on my neon clock behind my cab at night. --- End quote --- Nice looking cab. Do you have build information posted? |
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