Sony Gets on the 3D Controller Bandwagon

Sony today demoed their upcoming Playstation 3D controller, which integrates with their existing video interface, EyeToy. Fast forward past the uncomfortable engineers introduction, and you'll find an impressively accurate and subtle prototype game controller demo. I particularly like the merging of real-life video and computer generated tools/weapons.

Technically speaking, I'm guessing Sony's new controller uses refined version of existing technologies including image-tracking of the round wand-top, Wii-like accelerometers and potentially 3D radio telemetry. At at guess, the slightly-dorky sphere helps Eyetoy differentiate between wands, and the wands from the background by a imperceptible synchronized flicker. What I do like about this type of system is it's low-latency and high precision, which according to the video is "sub millimeter". What I don't like about the system is that it still needs to makes guesses about how you're holding the device, and so your avatar/character may not be displayed to match.

Doubtless, the Wii is fast-tracking all games companies' 3D research and designs — but in different directions. Wouldn't it be great if the above technologies were combined with 3Dcamera technology as displayed by Microsoft? Low resolution, but comprehensive 3D imaging will be provided by the camera, with high resolution and low-latency data being provided by the controller. On the other hand, given Moore's Law, we may soon see 3D cameras approaching current 2D camera resolution. High resolution 3D data, in conjunction with sub-millisecond parallel processing Xbox/PlayStation/OpenCL computational power might match the data quality these current controllers provide. Richer input (squeeze) and haptic feedback (sharp knocks as swords collide) might be physical controller's saving graces.

Comments

[Nick Forge]

That's the lowest latency 3D tracking I've ever seen, period. Very impressive.

I doubted that we'd see this kind of performance for another 3-4 years, but it looks like they've done it already. I wonder if it uses the onboard PS3 processing power, or if it has its own processor?

If it is only tracking the "controller wand", then it may well take them a few years to get the system tracking the rest of the body (a la MS Natal), since that's a very different problem.

Perhaps a hybrid system, using some kind of active wand (such as the one seen here) to detect the precise location of one or both hands, and passive body detection (such as seen with Natal) would be the ultimate solution for the time being. Hopefully we will see the technology developed that allows ultra-low latency, and ultra-accurate tracking of the body without resorting to special lights or markers.