Tablets weren't the only products moving in on the consumer consciousness at the Consumer Electronics Show last week—new motion-sensing controllers made an appearance as well, looking to follow the success of the Xbox 360's Kinect and the PlayStation Move. Two that we looked at, the WAVI Xtion Pro from PrimeSense and an Optrima DepthSense camera running Softkinetic's gesture-recognition software middleware iisu, are shaping up to be promising tools for media management.
The Xtion Pro was the more polished of the two, and reminiscent of the iconic motion control scene in the movie Minority Report, minus the glove. The camera took directions easily and never seemed to miss a gesture—mostly waving and then jabbing a hand toward the camera to select—and the UI moved from screen to screen smoothly. The primary goal of the platform seemed to be media management, as the PrimeSense reps were predisposed to guiding users on how to scrub through movies and flip through photo albums, though there is some gaming support.
A CES attendee is guided through a demo of of the Xtion Pro motion controller camera.The Softkinetic platform initially debuted at last year's CES, but it still seemed a bit shaky this time around and it often took the demonstrator a few tries to register the two main gestures (waving a hand in a circle to bring up the menu, and back and forth for controls). However, moving the cursor on the screen was fairly fluid, and selecting an object only required holding one's hand steadily over it for a second or two.
Softkinetic seems a bit more interested in collecting games to go along with its UI. It has partnered with TransGaming to bring proprietary games to the platform, including one similar to the Japanese gameshow segment known to Americans as Human Tetris.
A demo of the Human Tetris-style game on Softkinetic's camera.PrimeSense announced its partnership with Asus a few days ago, and told Ars that the Xtion Pro will be available worldwide for "sub-$200" at the end of this month. The Softkinetic controller is priced at $149, the same as the Xbox 360's Kinect, and is currently scheduled to launch in the first quarter. Both devices must be connected to a TV through some device with processor power, like a set-top box or HTPC, though Softkinetic intends to release a second controller with a built-in processor during the second quarter of this year.
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2011/01/motion-sensing-controllers-put-mo...
