Support NeoGAF

[Wollan]

Dr Richard Marks, father of Eyetoy and now the 'Sony remote'.

An analog stick on the remote itself. Satellite buttons surrounding it. Triggers underneath.
A pair of these should support all past and future games.
Images by gofreak.

Facts:
- No inertia/lag/drift in movement
- Detects precision on a sub-millimeter accuracy
- Uses the current PS Eye
- Force Feedback Rumble
- Four remotes can be used at once
- 3D Volume space, True 1:1 3D
- Works today, extensive set of tech demonstrations showcased
- Spring 2010 launch targeted
(current remote model is an engineering sample)

Tech Demonstration @ Youtube (Demos in order of: basic 1:1 waggling, true 3D pointing, Virtual FPS movement, Level creation, Signature, Graffiti, RTS, Swordplay, Bow & Arrow)

Sales age speculators, bring it to a different thread.
This is a discussion about the technology and gameplay implementation.

One of the many patents says it uses a combination of ultrasonic sound (PS Eye has four mics), camera visual reading and accelerometer.
Ultrasonic sound seems to have been replaced with other means for Z measurement (visual + sensor data calculations most likely) according to Kaz Hirai.
The Sixaxis controller already has both a gyro and an acceleration sensor, same components (maybe more of them) are most likely in the Sony Remote.

Does the camera see the sphere as a 'textured' pattern due to multiple led lights?

Now, though, it appears Sony's motion-sensing efforts may be farther along than many thought. Speaking with GameSpot, Sony Computer Entertainment America senior vice president of marketing Peter Dille divulged that the technology--first revealed in a US Patent filing last fall--is already in developers' hands.

"We're a little bit past the research phase," he told GameSpot. "We're having conversations with the third-party community. The dev kits have started to go out to the third parties as well. They're working on the tech. They couldn't be more excited about it."

"It's not going to be this calendar year," says Koller of Sony's plans. He suggests the company is currently working on having a strong lineup of software to support the peripheral at launch.

"Developers are looking at it now," he says. "The halfway answer is that there are a number of first-party and third-party games that will launch, and the idea is to have both franchise-type games [that are] very familiar, and to have new IP."

http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=23924

The company will roll the device out next year. While Sony only focused on tech demos at its press conference, Tretton says gamers may be surprised when they see how many games will support the technology.

“Personally, it’s very difficult for me to perceive ‘God of War 3’ being played with the Wii controller,” he says. “It’s a different experience that doesn’t lend itself to certain types of games. [But] I think our [motion] controller can be used with every game that’s on the system now — and every game we’re working on.”

http://www.cnbc.com/id/31204970

New intel has gone out to developers as reported by kotaku:

Sony Computer Entertainment reached out to its development partners today, getting them up to speed on the new PlayStation Eye-powered motion controller tech it showcased at E3 2009. It also expanded upon the details provided at the show.

The PlayStation 3's second motion control push is slated to launch in Spring 2010, Sony Computer Entertainment reiterated to developers today, arriving with a "range of first-party and third-party content." SCE pitched the new controller as capable of functioning "with any games across all genres from casual to core."

On the technical side, SCE says that the PlayStation Eye accessory will come equipped with force feedback rumble. Sony boasts that the "face-tracking and head-tracking capability already in the PS3 SDK" will offer developers "powerful tools for new types of user interaction."

Sony says its new controller will also work in tandem with the Eye's built-in microphone array for voice input and voice recognition. Up to four of the new motion controllers can be tracked at once by the PlayStation Eye.

Adding the wand controller to games comes at a horsepower cost, Sony notes, writing that the "motion-tracking library has some SPU overhead and has an impact on memory as well, although these will be minimized."

The developer targeted communication also indicates that Sony is "currently looking into the possibility" of combining motion control wand and stock PS3 controller functions, offering the example of "the motion controller as a sword and use DualShock 3 as a shield."

Sony did not express a price, firm launch date or plans to bundle the PlayStation Eye motion control accessory.

A interesting video that came to my attention. Filmed in January 2004, Dr Richard Marks presenting the development of Eyetoy.

http://stanford-online.stanford.edu/courses/ee380/040121-ee380-100.asx

Lasts about 1 hour 20min (You might have to right click > save target as).

24:20 mins in: Wands. Tracks in 3D volume (including Z depth) with old PS2 eyetoy (no internal sensors in wands).

35:00 mins in: 2player network Magic fighting game

38:00 mins in: Colored balls, combination of vehicle and on-screen character.

52:20 mins in: Head tracking (with PS2 eyetoy).

59:00 mins in: 3DV camera. He shows of some internal demos (one in particular where he's bouncing balls down a corridor.. , matrix bullet dodging, butterflies, sculpting and more).

On a technical insight point, there's some commentary recorded from an interview with Kaz Hirai here by a guy at the FT, where he seems to suggest that ultrasonic stuff was ultimately left on the table for measuring depth. He says "we looked at ultrasonic, we looked at electromagnetic and other technologies as well" but ultimately came back to pseye+sphere. So I think they're relying on the relative size of the sphere in the camera's screenspace to measure its distance from the camera.

He also on a different note emphasises that there's no time lag with it, and that it's very focussed on accomodating gameplay.

The sixaxis has pretty much the same tech as the nunchuk. It does not contain a gyroscope.

The sixaxis is waaaay too accurate to be compared to the Wii in rotational control.
Its ridiculously accurate as evidenced in many steering games.

Here's a japanese teardown
http://www.kako.com/neta/2006-018/2006-018.html

Here is a "random teardown explanation" which I believe is probably correct.
http://www.psu.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-62921.html

EDIT:
As I expected the SIXAXIS contains THIS:
ENC-03R - Piezoelectric Vibrating Gyroscopes - Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd.
HAAM-325B - acceleration sensor

Not sure if old, a dev tool announcement.

http://www.developmag.com/news/32075/Sony-adds-LiveMove-2-to-PS3-SDK

Sony adds LiveMove 2 to PS3 SDK

Sony revealed its motion-sensing 'wand' controller at its press conference yesterday - and already it's revealed its plans to help developers get the most of the peripheral.

AiLive – company which co-developed the Wii MotionPlus together with Nintendo – will make its LiveMove 2 motion recognition software available for free to all licensed PS3 developers thanks to a new deal with Sony Computer Entertainment.

Developers can 'train' the software to understand key gestures, which can then be accurately recognised when performed by players, taking the burden of motion interpretation away from game teams.

"The phenomenal precision of SCE's new controller combined with the effortless expressive power of AiLive's LiveMove 2 will dramatically expand the frontier for natural motion control in games," said Dr.Wei Yen, chairman of AiLive

"Our market-proven LiveMove 2 software gives developers the power to inject freeform player motion directly into their game. We're thrilled to help deliver this unparalleled level of control to PLAYSTATION® 3 players."

Masayuki Chatani, executive vice president and chief technology officer at Sony Computer Entertainment, added: "The LiveMove 2 development tool is the premier solution for recognizing human gestures in games. I am very happy to be able to make this revolutionary tool available to all PLAYSTATION® 3 developers. We eagerly look forward to the new and engaging game experiences developers will create for the PLAYSTATION® 3 with the help of LiveMove."

• Old Sony Concepts #1
• Old Sony Concepts #2

 

[dfyb]

far and away the most impressive motion controller device/demonstration shown to date. no need to pre-record videos or have someone behind the curtain -- that shit was live and worked fantastically.

....and BAM! there it is

 

[Guybrush Threepwood]

 

[XiaNaphryz]

I'm hugely impressed by the tech displayed. TRUE 1:1 3D. We're actually there. It's real.

Yeah, let's completely ignore that MotionPlus thing coming out to retail in a few weeks!

 

[TheGreatDave]

TRUE DAT

 

[gofreak]

They showed fine-grain control which I was happy about. The paint demo was what I wanted to see out of MS's one, but with fingers.

They showed controller+camera stuff with body ducking and so on.

Tech wise this basically looks like that exact patent we digged up a while back. So if one's wondering about the technology it basically pairs sensors in the remote with the visual input of the camera and ultrasonic radar of sorts for even more accurate positioning.

 

[camineet]

The sword & shield demo is what I liked most, and actually something along the lines of what I expected Nintendo to show with a Wii MotionPlus Zelda.

 

[GalacticAE]

Looked awesome to me. We can only hope this gets a lot of support from devs. Maybe a light saber game too.

 

[Tieno]

Oh Wollan, I can feel your virtual cum on my face, contain yourself.

 

[DownLikeBCPowder]

The sword & shield demo is what I liked most, and actually something along the lines of what I expected Nintendo to show with a Wii MotionPlus Zelda.

This.

Pretty much.

 

[darkwings]

just took them 3 years to show their copy

 

[Shiggie]

The sword & shield demo is what I liked most, and actually something along the lines of what I expected Nintendo to show with a Wii MotionPlus Zelda.

one thing I didnt like about was the inability to move, meaning no analogue stick.

 

[camineet]

This.

Pretty much.

yep, and this needs to be said in every Sony E3 / motion control thread.

 

[XiaNaphryz]

Looked awesome to me. We can only hope this gets a lot of support from devs. Maybe a light saber game too.

And there's the problem - games that rely on peripherals historically don't do well if the peripheral wasn't packaged with the base system from the start. MS will face the same issue with their stuff, and we'll have to see how M+ sales go with Nintendo and if that translates to developer support.

 

[Dre]

That dildo prototype impressed me, the tech is already working and amazing, it has a lot of potential.
But if Microsoft can pull off a Minority Report with their camera I think it may get surpassed.
Only time will tell.

 

[TheGreatDave]

I look forward to the next 2 years of Wollan telling us it's going to be awesome before the thing even comes out.

 

[proposition]

Oh Wollan, never change.

 

[Lambtron]

Yeah, let's completely ignore that MotionPlus thing coming out to retail in a few weeks!

It's Wollan, what do you expect?

 

[Plinko]

This.

Let's throw out the "True 1:1 + greater precision" argument right now. You know it's garbage as you can't get more precise than 1:1.

 

[Buckethead]

Was as glitchy as Microsoft's stuff, but yes the promise is there.

The 2 "wand" thing was pretty cool with the Archery stuff... something Nintendo should be doing if they didn't have their thumbs up their asses.

However these are only tech demos and there's a long way to go.

Little sensationalist title there Wollanski.

 

[BravoSuperStar]

Meh. Another bandwagon waggle device that looks like a sex-toy. Hard to understand what the big deal is about this...

 

[XiaNaphryz]

It's Wollan, what do you expect?

A tag change, hopefully.

 

[kittel]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpNdkm9s8AY

 

[Forsete]

Sub millimeter precision was pretty epic. Much improved over what Nintendo and Microsoft is offering.. but waggle? No thx.

 

[flabberghastly]

Meh. Not interested. Never was.

 

[Wollan]

No sales talk please.

They said it would become a huge part of the PlayStation future but that doesn't matter.

The technology here was amazing. Really amazing.

 

[Kinan]

Nice tech, will buy if Sony will release any good games for it. I'm still bummed at complete absence of PSEye games. :/ Guess they all waiting for this tech, or something.

 

[Model 500]

Finally a pointer to a HD system, now I can finally enjoy the FPS and 3rd person games the way I like. They just need to pack in a "nunchuk" of some kind but I hope they have the sense to make it wireless. Good stuff, even though it's far too early to say anything definitive. Interesting

 

[adelante]

Ah since we're bringing the discussion here...

EXACTLY.

Its Nintendo's solution + Microsoft's solution.
And it seems to be the most accurate. The accuracy and responsiveness was amazing..

Nope...the Playstation Eye is still a 2D GRI (gesture recognition interface) device...Microsoft's camera does depth keying, so it doesn't only rely on color data like the Playstation Eye (which makes it awesome for absolutely low lighting condition)

Me on the diff between Motion+ and Wand:
Precise down the to the milimetre accuracy? Probably. But fuck me if this isn't the same type of tech WiiMotionPlus is using....the latter's already adding depth detection which is this Wand features as well, so what's the big difference...Anyone care to enlighten me on this?

 

[Duderz]

I look forward to the next 2 years of Wollan telling us it's going to be awesome before the thing even comes out.

:lol That's the truth.

 

[hadareud]

 

[jett]

BAM! THERE IT IS

Yeah the best motion controller yet shown. All nintendo fanboys are excited for this, I bet. Unless they're all huge hypocrites. Aw snap.

 

[Kingsgoon]

Didn't expect much at all, but the demos where pretty impressive.

 

[DownLikeBCPowder]

And there's the problem - games that rely on peripherals historically don't do well if the peripheral wasn't packaged with the base system from the start. MS will face the same issue with their stuff, and we'll have to see how M+ sales go with Nintendo and if that translates to developer support.

It's okay, it'll be Ps4 XBOX 720 stuff in the end.

 

[xbhaskarx]

I'm hugely impressed by the tech displayed. TRUE 1:1 3D. We're actually there. It's real.

:lol

They said it was a prototype, so how long will it be until "we're actually there" at TRUE 1:1?
Answer: whenever the new Wii controller comes out.

 

[Crye]

Laughed a lot when they took them out, but ended up pretty impressed. Better then I thought.
Medieval Total War 2 first person + this please

 

[Flek]

Sony Motion Remote >>>>> 360 Motion Remote >> Nintendo Wii > Eye Toy

 

[Wizman23]

Between this and HOME MS and Nintendo might as well just quit.

 

[RiskyChris]

This is pretty much what I wanted (without the camera part) the Wiimote to do. It's going to be a very interesting next year!

 

[TheOddOne]

No sales talk please.

They said it would become a huge part of the PlayStation future but that doesn't matter.

The technology here was amazing. Really amazing.

 

[PistolGrip]

The tech is definitely amazing.

I think is the first true FPS controller demonstrated... I just hope SONY really puts effort into this. They tend to show some amazing stuff but go nowhere with it... If they can package the camera and wand together at the cost of a controller and package it in with the PS3 you have a deal...

Killzone 3 bundled with the controller would be nice too..

 

[Penguin]

The sword & shield demo is what I liked most, and actually something along the lines of what I expected Nintendo to show with a Wii MotionPlus Zelda.

I thought that whole demostration seemed like it was put together to combat a possible Wiimotion Plus Zelda, Nintendo was going to announce today.

Maybe I wasn't paying too much attention, but my biggest concern was how do you move if using two of the wands? Like he was stationary during the entire demo.

 

[BrainZEROX]

Nice demo from Sony, I'm just a little bit concerned that some of the most interesting uses required two waggles... Might be a little bit too expensive then.

 

[kittel]

Nope...the Playstation Eye is still a 2D GRI (gesture recognition interface) device...Microsoft's camera does depth keying, so it doesn't only rely on color data like the Playstation Eye (which makes it awesome for absolutely low lighting condition)

Me on the diff between Motion+ and Wand:
Precise down the to the milimetre accuracy? Probably. But fuck me if this isn't the same type of tech WiiMotionPlus is using....the latter's already adding depth detection which is this Wand features as well, so what's the big difference...Anyone care to enlighten me on this?

low lighting condition - the tip of the wand glows
depth detection - ultrasound (from patents)

.... and BAM! Enlightened!

 

[spwolf]

I look forward to the next 2 years of Wollan telling us it's going to be awesome before the thing even comes out.

too bad its launching within 12 months eh?

 

[Marvie_3]

Tech is pretty sweet, but add-on peripherals don't usually get a lot of support from developers.

 

[jmdajr]

Considering I already have playsyation eye, I just need the happy wand.
Hope it's not too expensive.

 

[kittel]

Tech is pretty sweet, but add-on peripherals don't usually get a lot of support from developers.

unless... bundled with ps3 slim?!?

 

[xbhaskarx]

I look forward to the next 2 years of Wollan telling us it's going to be awesome before the thing even comes out.

:lol

 

[pseudocaesar]

Sony Motion Remote >>>>> 360 Motion Remote >> Nintendo Wii > Eye Toy

+1