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Then and now: Sony's motion-sensing, 'magic wand' controller tech
Sony's motion-controller technology for PS3 isn't new; in fact, it dates back to the dawn of the PS2's EyeToy. Well before PS3 was ever announced, Dr. Richard Marks, EyeToy / PlayStation Eye creator, was demoing gesture-based, motion-tracking gameplay on PS2 -- using a colored ball and a camera. Sound familiar?In the video after the break, you can watch Marks using a "wand" topped with a brightly-hued sphere to draw symbols in the air, which are translated into in-game spells -- the effects of which match the movement of the ball. It's very simple -- there's no tracking of depth and it's definitely not 1:1 by any stretch of the imagination -- but it's still interesting to see how far the idea has come since last-gen. Who knows what improvements can (or will) be made before the PlayStation Motion Controller is supposed to launch in 2010? We've placed this year's press conference demo video after the break for comparison's sake.[Thanks, dgonchild!]
