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A Closer Look At The AimTrak (with video goodness)
Loafmeister:
I don't have a problem with people being a bit picky and wanting a gun to work as they see fit. Let's face it, we all have our preferences for joysticks, trackball, spinners, etc., and all our reasons for prefering our babies are valid, because the decision is based on what's important to us. So why should this be different because its a light gun?
However, I do take objection with using real world examples to validate whether this is a good product. I have a friend who was a pretty good shot for hunting. Amazingly, he was also AWESOME playing those old target games, you know the ones that used some robotics for animals, targets that moved/lighted up to indicate to shoot it (not a video game, I can't remember what these were called). Anyway, he was great at them. One day, he tries either time crisis or Virtua Cop (can't remember) and sucked totally. Something about it being presented on a 2d plain just messed him up. Maybe because it's a totally different skillset that's required? I don't know.
Anyway my point is, I think it's cool to see a comment that states "hey compared to my guncon on my PS2, this gun isn't very accurate" or "I've got a problem when I rotate". Those are good points and need to be brought up so that either tweaks can be done at his/her end to fix the issues, or to allow Andy to improve the product via a patch. No one is asking for detractors to do any "glad handing" towards Andy. However, since we're not the friggin' engineers of this product, what is the point of bring this into the debate? It's cool to comment on what others have said but the words used hint at a position of knowledge as far as THIS SOLUTION is concerned and this isn't the case. If one hasn't even tried it yet, that shouldn't be the stand taken, IMHO anyway.
Randy, I don't doubt the quality of your products, but hammering at engineering points, considering you haven't even tried it yet may reflect poorly on yourself. Again, not saying to shut up but withholding the judgmental tone until you'd tried it yourself might be a good idea.
It's all down to expectations of course. All I want is to have the gun be as accurate as possible but I understand it may not be perfect. When I used to use my Amiga Lightgun (still have it :) ), it was weak on corners a bit but I adjusted. When I had a super scope for my SNES, it wasn't always bang on, but I adjusted.
Relevant to this thread, with my LCD Topgun's, I had to learn that for the guns to be accurate, I had to calibrate them differently from the top of the screen compared to the bottom (top left corner, aim at the corner, top right corner, aim about half an inch to the right. Bottom right corner, aim about half an inch lower and 1/4 of an inch to the right and finally for the bottom left corner, 1 inch lower and half an inch to the right. Once this was done, I found the guns to be very accurate with my setup, with the laser pointer being "close enough" on just about everything. No it wasn't 100% accurate, but it seemed pretty similar to the accuracy I got by playing Time Crisis in the arcades and that's just fine for me.
I should be getting my own aimtrak modded guns later this week. Because it uses a similar technology, I'm fully expecting to have to tweak the calibration similar as I did with the LCD Topguns' and that's a freakin ok for me. I'll post my informed comments on the quality of the gun then.
Loafmeister:
--- Quote from: RandyT on October 13, 2009, 04:48:27 pm ---
--- Quote from: vartech on October 13, 2009, 04:27:33 pm ---how accurate are the setups you have? Are they consistent with shots? I am not trying to be rude I want someones honest opinion on the setups they have and if they are dead on all the time? Also when you compare them to the AimTrak please do so to other arcade/video products past and presents. No real guns they kind of kill the fun after the first shot.
--- End quote ---
The GunCon2's (and 1's) are the "gold standard" for me. They are consistently the most accurate, which is why I chose to build a dedicated shooting setup around them. Like all raster based guns, they have a little jitter at the extreme edges (right where the tube meets the bezel), but overall are very consistent and accurate. If the Aimtrak can be tweaked to be as good as these, even if it means "trick" calibration, you can bet I will be sounding the "buy" bell.
RandyT
--- End quote ---
That's good to hear and fair.
Ginsu Victim:
Loafmeister:
If the Aimtrak calibration works out for you with the adjustments you mentioned, be sure to let us know exactly where you're aiming. I'd love to try it out.
Loafmeister:
Ginsu: Will do. All I can say is it was trial and error for the LCD Top Guns but it definitely helped to find the sweet spot (distance was also part of the sweet spot - unfortunately for the LCD Topgun's, I just find I have to be a little too far). If I get it to work, I'll post a vid!
Neverending Project:
I was just thinking about the typical use that these guns will get on my machine, and it will most likely require recalibration - not necessarily between every game, but in between game sessions. If I am playing, I will stand in the middle of the screen. If I am playing two-player, I will definitely be off to one side by a couple of feet. I also imagine if my kids play, they will not be standing on a ladder.
So this brings me to my point. If calibration is mostly dependent on the current position of the gun relative to the sensor, maybe we can request that the AimTrak is able to store several calibration setups. Maybe they can be called with a special button press. Then once we hit the sweet spot for calibration, it is saved in spot 1. We hit the sweet spot for the left side and it can be stored in sport 2, etc. Then when you switch positions you just call up the saved calibration, rather than recalibrate.
I'm not sure it is really saving that much work, but just thinking out loud.