Students at the University of Massachusetts Lowell Robotics Lab have adapted an "on-screen joystick" for use on Microsoft's Surface table with Portal and Flight Simulator. The DREAM (Dynamically Resizing Ergonomic and Multi-touch) controller is activated by putting five fingers on the table. The joystick will then resize itself to the user.
The controls don't look nearly as efficient as a keyboard and mouse, or as comfortable as a gamepad, but it gives a good idea of the interface we may eventually use on the "iPad XL." Check out the video after the break for the full effect (and be prepared to mute the audio).
@Ezio Auditore da Firenze I second this. Tactile feedback beats having to look at the controls the entire time. Ever play SuperMario64DS with the touch screen? Ugh!
Cool as a tech demo, don't really see this working with the current controls though.
The idea itself is pretty great though. I have to start up my computer several times a day just to look something up and turn it off. If I could do that on an instantly responding table... yay!
Kinda looks like it would be harder to play, and not as enjoyable. Now at pax east I saw the surface used to play d&d and the system they had going was amazing, wish I had the surface for that alone.
Looks cool. I prefer a controller as well. I dont like the whole hands up in the way stuff either. Looks like it was kinda hard for the dude playing portal. They even sped up the video for that one.
Neat tech, but as many have said above me, definitely not better than an actual controller or a mouse and keyboard. In the video the controls look DECENT, until you consider that it's sped up 2x. Think about how long the guy was taking to awkwardly line up those portals...
Portal, a puzzle-oriented add-on game for Half-Life 2: The Orange Box and Half-Life 2: The Black Box takes players' perceptions of spatial reality and literally throws it for a loop. Using a portal gun, gamers place portal ends on any surface and then run through them. The laws of physics will be bent to the breaking point, because gravitational pull can turn into upward or horizontal force to travel across distances. As puzzles become more challenging, some with dangers like gun turrets, players will be forced to think quickly, but must be careful not to fall into an infinite loop and get stuck.
