PS3 investing in tangible user interfaces

by Jennie Lees { May 9th 2006 at 12:58AM }

During the Sony press conference earlier today, there was a sneak preview of a technological concept that takes the PS2's current motion detection (EyeToy) one step further. Using a camera and barcoded physical cards, a card game can become digitally visualised.

Augmented reality and tangible user interfaces are two research areas that various academics have been pursuing for some time, but are only just making it into the mainstream. While these ideas seem cool in theory, in reality we have to ask ourselves what value is added to a game by providing this interface. Perhaps we'll see this technology being used to strike out in innovative, unusual directions -- or perhaps, like many research ideas that are nice in theory but fall flat in practice, it will become a selling point that isn't taken any further.

Tags: academia, augmented reality, AugmentedReality, e3, e32006, hci, PS3, research, user interfaces, UserInterfaces

Related From Joystiq

LGJ: Gaming's professional plaintiffs and class actions
18 days ago
iPhone augmented reality game sets the world on fire
28 days ago
Emotiv mind-control device shipping December 21 for $299
30 days ago

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Nmaster @ May 9th 2006 1:04AM

I just have to say it...

Yu-gi-OOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Shagi @ May 9th 2006 1:09AM

Yeah really guys,

As long as the person can see your hands your decks and your draws at all times you could play MTG with real cards not virtual ones....I would like that, plus the art of cheating would get so refined, sleight of hand dealing from the bottom etc....would be fun in and of itself.

Scott @ May 9th 2006 1:10AM

OMG Yu Gi Oh would totally rock now. I played the card game for a while, but it got old, but this may spark my interest again. It would work well with Magic: The Gathering too.

Geoff @ May 9th 2006 1:15AM

Did Joystiq have a post to a guy speculating about the Wii having this?

http://www.joystiq.com/2006/05/02/nintendo-wii-augmenting-reality/

I just find it funny that the PS3 has it now.

So are the people who thought this would be awesome in the Wii thinking the PS3 is awesome for having it?

Just curious.

Benny @ May 9th 2006 1:17AM

It reminded me of teh old Final Fantasy VIII card game, Triple Triad was it? Yeah, that would be cool. You collect a load of cards and then battle them real time against each other.

alexadroog @ May 9th 2006 1:19AM

sony stole another secret from wii/nintendo ...bastards..you killed kenny

Metacore @ May 9th 2006 1:20AM

Looks cool, but are they gonna make 100 cards for you to buy? Also see those "teeth" kinda things on top of the cards(in black, and what ever the card background color is), how easy is that to fake? i can just make a little sticker, slap it on any old card(preferable an existing EoJ card) and presto, one time made, super limited "duck" in my control!

Also, you do see the financial part of all this, in forcing you to buy the crads, no matter how they sell them, you will pay extra for them, some how.

Lastly, you just put down a card and aim it? kind of lame, don't you think? card games are apealing because of the strategy, and the competitive part of it, seems kind of hard to implement either of those here. I am just hoping they put this to good use, I am not trying to put it down or anything, when I first saw it I thought, real yugi-oh, which is cool( and theoreticly possible) but is not exactly what they showed. Of course we will hear more about the game when people play it on the floor of the Sony booth, huray for the eye toy! Next, "Starring constests" online!

jopojelly @ May 9th 2006 1:22AM

#4 -- did you even read the articles?? they're talking about totally different things....

yeah, Magic or Yugioh or pokemon would be cool on this, but come on, whats the point??

hmm, the camera must be pretty high def to de able to recognize bar-codes from far away...

freecajunlove @ May 9th 2006 1:22AM

Yes, it is still awesome.

jc @ May 9th 2006 1:23AM

PS3 to Feature Motion Sensing Technology?
By James Brightman -- EIC, GD Biz
Published 4:40 PM CDT, November 25, 2003

Sony might let gamers control the PS3 the way Tom Cruise controlled the computer in Minority Report...

SCEE vice president Phil Harrison recently spoke with the Australian Financial Review. He revealed to the publication that Sony is currently investigating the use of motion sensing technology for their next-generation console. Furthermore, the motion sensing digital camera, EyeToy, and its associated games have actually been used as a preliminary test for the technology. Most would probably agree that Sony's early test was a success -- certainly sales of the EyeToy in Europe would seem to indicate that.

"EyeToy was a signpost for things in the future. If you can attach very high-resolution, low-cost video cameras you can deduce some quite interesting things about their users. We'll be able to extrapolate eye movement and gestural recognition, more complicated finger movement, and the logical next step of that is to deduce from a person's facial expression and demeanour what their emotion state is," said Mr. Harrison.

Harrison then went on to discuss even cooler possibilities, such as new menu systems that could be controlled by gamers simply waving a hand in a certain direction. He compared it to the futuristic computer database used by Tom Cruise in the film Minority Report. Of course, just because Sony is working on these features doesn't mean they're a lock for the PS3. Nevertheless, it's great to hear about some of the ideas swirling around at Sony's R&D.

Eric @ May 9th 2006 1:26AM

So....they milked a feature that would work well with...Yu gi Oh...?

Who plays Yu-gi-oh ladies and gentelmen??
Thats right, KIDS.

Now, do kids have $600....$500?? Nope. Will most parents put down $500-600 for their kids on a christmas gift...nope.

Congratulations Sony!!! You're fucking retarded yay!

EJFLEX @ May 9th 2006 1:35AM

Geoff. The SOny "Dual Shock 3" is SHIT. It has an archaic version of tilt sensory... no rumble. Sony - 600 dollar system price... 360 games will be looking better while PS3 games will be on their first generation with the 100's of bugs the system is rumored to have... and then you have the little engine that could Wii priced at 250.. kickin Ass. BOOYAH. Please just get a clue.

epobirs @ May 9th 2006 1:36AM

A nice novelty but I'm wary of products with too many little bits to lose. Look how many used games consist of only a bare cartridge or CD. It may seem advantageous froma publisher's perspective but I hate to think of the millions of discs rendered worthless for lack of accompanying cards or other tokens.

This could lead to a Magic: The Gathering revival but it has little appeal to me. If I wanted to fiddle with real cards I'd just do so and leave the TV off. I never bothered with solitaire games with real decks of cards because I considered it more of a hassle than amusing. It wasn't until computers did all the dealing and arranging that I got into such games.

Pikachelsea @ May 9th 2006 1:36AM

lol @ #11. You sound so gleeful. YAY! WIIIIIII!!!!

selfconshus @ May 9th 2006 1:39AM

I can only imagine what the comments would be like if this were wii technology. "OMG!!!1 It's so innovative!!! Totally rocks my cock!!!"

Pimpdawg @ May 9th 2006 1:43AM

If anyone played the WCCF soccer game in the arcade, or Sangokushi Taisen, this is what they mean.

Nodnetni @ May 9th 2006 1:44AM

This will probably work a heck of a lot better on the less costly Wii. And Nintendo already puts out a bunch of those card games on there own, so what is Fony thinking?

Geoff @ May 9th 2006 1:44AM

Dear #12, EJFLEX,

I agree with your points. I myself plan to purchase a 360 and a Wii, which will probably be cheaper than the full PS3 and give me many more gaming options. I hope this qualifies as having a clue.

Sincerely,
Geoff

Angus @ May 9th 2006 1:47AM

Man, I wants it, I wants it bad! I needs the augmented reality like gollum needs the lil' gold thingy.

..but... $600? I don knos, I just don knos...

Angus @ May 9th 2006 1:51AM

As far as the barcode thing... maybe you gotta enter in some serial code on the back of the card to unlock it in game? Serial codes tied to online accounts maybe?

Just an idea...

Kamalot @ May 9th 2006 1:57AM

PS3 - $600
EyeToy 2 - $100
PS3 Game - $60
Deck of collectible Cards - $50

Playing cards in your living room - Priceless

Dave @ May 9th 2006 2:04AM

I doubt I am the only one on the planet that thought playing chess with this system, maybe over the ps3 live service (The monsters that where displayed reminded me of a certain chess-like game we saw take place between Chewbacca, and C-3PO in A New Hope). Of course you can make a case that the physical cards are unnecessary, but I think they add an interesting sense of control and involvement. A game where you and another person select monsters from a list and then tell them to kill each other is not really next generation, but the cards and the EyeToy system make this seem if not next gen then at least innovative to me.

zinedine @ May 9th 2006 2:08AM

I guess everybody is questioning the technology's point and use. Maybe it is promising, or maybe it won't be exactly a bestseller. But the issue of "usefulness" would be determined not by the product-maker, but by the company's marketing department. So I guess we'll have to wait on what they'll concoct soon as to how tangible user interfaces could excite our senses and interests.

One thing, though. Having played Magic cards for a few years, it would really be interesting to see how Sony and its technology would animate those mythical creatures. It would really be cool, I guess.

epobirs @ May 9th 2006 2:12AM

People keep invoking the Wii but Nintendo has yet to show a camara peripheral while this is something that could be done today on the PS2 and EyeToy. Demos like this have been around for decades. Sony just used it add some more pizzazz to their press event.

The PS3 should work just fine with the existing EyeToy, which now sells for all of $30 unbundled. The new model will up the resolution but won't be very pricey. It will need less guts than a $100 3 megapixel digital camera since the PS3 does all the major processing. Web cams that support far greater than NTSC/PAL resolution are already practically coming out of cereal boxes.

It will be cheap, as the EyeToy was in its day. The trick is making it have lasting interest.

Alex0rz @ May 9th 2006 2:24AM

OF COURSE SONY INVENTED THE ANALOG JOYSTICK JUST LIKE AL GORE INVENTED THE INTERNET.

Jeez. This tilt tech was widely available BUT WTF. GJ sony at a last attempt of a rip from nintendo.

Freaking sony.

NaviePoo @ May 9th 2006 3:13AM

epobirs... not to get off subject. But I don't know of any webcam that has a better than VGA resolution on the chip. Sure, they advertise software interpolated resolutions of 300dpi or whatever, but that's about as good looking as cheap digital cameras that only have "digital zoom".

merv @ May 9th 2006 3:24AM

Think of how much money sony will make out of this

Invent Anime cartoon - sony own the IP sell dvd + music the movie

Have card game that can be play like normal card games

Add in a PS3 and then the ps3 does all the rule keeping scoring and animates the cards so they battle each other can download new card rules character models from the internet depending on new expantions

Never underestmate the power of kids nagging for something. Kids will want a ps3 for chistmas

Sony turns this into its little pokemon cash cow

Clay @ May 9th 2006 9:02AM

I don't want to play card games :(

Keii @ May 9th 2006 12:06PM

The idea is intriguing, and not too far-fetched. In my recent trip to Japan, I saw a Gundam arcade game with a similar setup, except that there was no camera as such. All the player had was a large 2' x 2' flat playing field for their cards. They select which cards they'd like to use, and then use them as units on the game. The game itself plays as a tactical simulation, allowing you to manipulate your player to whatever orientation you like on the map (by turning and moving your card), allowing you to slowly engage the enemy when you're within firing range. And the arcade setup was awesome - even though each arcade machine setup was individual with your own screen, there are 12 setups at once, with a large widescreen in the front detailing everyone's battle in real-time! I saw guys also buying cards like crazy and trading them along the sidelines!

http://aeug.blogspot.com/2005_03_01_aeug_archive.html

Sam @ May 9th 2006 4:16PM

"So are the people who thought this would be awesome in the Wii thinking the PS3 is awesome for having it?"

Funny thing you should mention that. I would bet all the money in the world that all the same people who have been mocking the Revolution will think it's cool in the PS3. I hate how people play favorites and change their opinions based on which company is doing it. It seriously disgusts me.