Sony Patent Unveils Kinect-Like Device For Consoles

Sony Computer Entertainment America may have a Kinect rival. Not a controller-free environment, but a new device that tracks the location of players.

The news comes from a patent application filed in the United States by SCEA, which shows this controller. It’s equipped with a gyroscope, accelerometer, magnometer, and most interestingly an ultrasonic transmitter. The controller uses this to communicate with another device to determine the location of the controller and player through echolocation.

[zetsuei1]

at these draws from patent you can't possible understand what the fuck they want to say from that draws (at least for me)

Anyway its good to know whats Sony its been up to when it comes to Move.Seems rather interesting.

[metsgaming]

yea i dont understand what their trying to get at, we need a better explanation.

[evrfighter]

its for the people who can no longer be "fulfilled" with the move wands and need something bigger.

aka...most of n4g.

[Archdemon]

Put in each corner of the room to track you in 3D. Sony is planning on using this discoball looking thing to simulate the samething.

But IMO this is fail. I'm not putting that tesslastation in my living room.

[inveni0]

I'm sure this is just something they came up with while developing Move. They patented it so that no one else could make money off of the technology later. And remember that technology like this has more applications than just gaming.

[DeadIIIRed]

Don't you have dogs to pet and balls that need blocking?

[TreMillz]

im looking like wtf is that a bigger ps move on the floor? some type of disco-WTF is this sh!t?

[Misterhbk]

A little lost,but is this basically saying you could hide behind your couch and it could still locate your controller?

If so this could mean, using your couch as cover in a fire fight? Lol

[CYCLEGAMER]

I am going to tell you guys what this is, this is Sony's INSURANCE POLICY in case Kinect takes off, meaning this will sit in their back pocket and if Kinect is a success they will put this out, if Kinect fails they will scrap the idea.

This is the same thing they did with the whole motion "controller" thing. They waited till the wii was a success then what do you know here is the PS Move.

[Heartnet]

This is just about similar kinect but you still have to use a controller.. which is nothing like kinect since well kinect u are the controller :)

[Ju]

To directly compete with Kinect Sony just needs to improve the PSEye. No matter who MS buys or what their patent says, PS Eye based technology is just an evolution so won't infringe any patent. All that tech Sony already has inhouse (and shown years ago).

This goes beyond that scope, though. Especially with the strong online integration. Players sharing a virtual location? That is new.

[Lord_Doggington]

i don't have a high school gym to play in.. :/

[PS360fanboy]

First the super original move, now this? C'mon Sony...

[wat634]

Can't wait to see the pricing.

[cochise313]

Stop trolling. Don't you have some kinectimals to go play you MS troll?

[morganfell]

"Kinect like device" is a huge misnomer.

[TheBlackSmoke]

didn't you know the Kinect is the first ever camera based motion controller?

[Longrod_Von_Hugendon]

/s

for those that have a faulty sarcasm detector.

[Killed4Less]

The first one that actually works.

I guess I can agree that Sega gets the props for DreamEYE.

Don't worry longrod we can see the troll just fine no need to back up your good'ol boys.

@below: That link talks about Sega Superstars not about the hardware for the Dreamcast called DreamEYE. See the attached video.

[rdgneoz3]

@Killed4Less

It worked on the PS2 :P
http://www.youtube.com/watc...

[TheBlackSmoke]

like a laser beam....

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

what more is there to say, innovation bey0nd all comprehension.

[room414]

"I guess I can agree that Sega gets the props for DreamEYE."

Props for what? The dreameye was just a digital/webcam. It had absolutely nothing to do with motion controlled gaming.

Try harder.

[Da_Evil_Monkey]

pew pew pew pew...

1:06 lol

[jwk94]

You mean the PSeye, or better yet, since it has a controller, the PS Move? This makes no sense.

[shoddy]

Lag is unacceptable to them.

[jwk94]

Wait, what does this have to do with lag?

[shoddy]

kinect=lag got it?

[jwk94]

Oh, yeah i see now.

[Kurisu]

I read all that article and didn't understand a damn thing!

[etownone]

Kinect is going to outsell MOVE ... no doubt.

But I still expect awesome innovations from Sony ... good to see they're getting ready for the next big gimmick in gaming. Maybe for next gen. .

[metsgaming]

maybe in the holidays but it will die out fast while move will sell consistently

[Blacktric]

Hm. So it's not gonna use the visual data from cameras but gonna use ultrasonic waves to determine where the players are like bats? Sounds great though I doubt they're going to release or even announce this thing sooner.

[ct03]

I just don't understand how this is useful. The Move already detects where the player is.

[Abu]

Move detects where the lightbulb is. The player may be anywhere, or not even there at all. Sony are just soooooo advanced ....

[user858621]

ohh great another controller to buy...... (¬_¬)

[wissam]

Why the cry (¬_¬)

[fei-hung]

this looks like something for the next gen.

from what i can gather, unlike the move or kinext etc, this device can keep track of players anywhere in the room, whether u are infront, behind or besides it.

it can also track players behind objects since it doesnt just rely on visual data but also ultra sonic transmitter (kinda like how radio signals work in waves).

sounds pretty funky and i do not see how it has anything to do with the kinect... at tgis rate they will be comparing any camera device to the kinect!

[jneul]

yes i agree it's an evolution of the move, nothing like kinect at all seen as eyetoy, pseye and kinect, this guys has an ultrasonic transmitter, completely different, and sony has had hands on with different technologies including 3d cameras since early as 2000, heck there was an richochet like game for demonstrated back then for the 3d camera, so yet again ms is the only one copying

[thehitman]

interesting. Seems like a device that grabs a radius around you probably for better tracking with Move. Looks like they trying to find a device to replace the functionality of the PSEye.

[labwarrior]

And zero hardcore games from 3rd party developers too in 2011 (unlike the 10 hardcore 3rd party games announced for Kinect)

Now we have to pay extra 100-200$ for something that Kinect does better and FREE out of the box today ?

Sorry, but i can see Move fail like 1000x times worst than Eyetoy did, in fact it costs so much and is so last gen and needs so many things to buy and add ons that i trully dont want to ever read about it ever again

Goodbuy Sony, give me ONE device, not 100

Why even bother, when Kinect does what Move + 100 add ons do, only far better and 10x more and for only 100$ final price ? For ANY number of players too !!!!

@thebudgetgamer

No, i mean the Eyetoy that has not got a single game i want to buy

Move may sell 40.000.000, what good is it to me when the developers have shown ZERO support for it ? Kinect has 10 hardcore games announced by 3rd party developers for 2011, and zero are announced for Move

It is forgotten before it even begun its life, faster than Eyetoy was

[Misterhbk]

@labwarrior

and comments like that sir, are why you only have one bubble.

[thebudgetgamer]

you mean the eye-toy that sold ten million units without half a billion worth of advertising?

edit: of course ther's no games you want, you clearly have a stick up your ass when it comes to sony. did someone at sony offend your honor?

[TheBlackSmoke]

sigh, must I keep posting this?..... yeahhhh

http://i51.tinypic.com/qnvd...

"Kinect" and "Hardcore" in the same sentence is what is known as an oxymoron.

[Killed4Less]

That is such BS! PS3 guys list games all year long with no idea what century they are coming out in.. Yet, you give a total short change to the 360..

AT LEAST you could mention Codename Kingdoms but I understand that wouldn't be as effective of a troll.

labwarrior is right.. and ten million Eye-Toys? LMAO and Sony still couldn't pull a productive platform together out of it.

fei-hung you are just as high. Move starter is $99 and the controllers are $49 dollars(read $50). Too many lies and exaggerations going on in here.

[thebudgetgamer]

maybe they realized how limited the games can be when only using a camera.

it's also funny that the same people that defend microsofts pricing strategies bitch about prices sony has.
for two player on move its only sixty eight cents per day. who cant afford that.

[TheBlackSmoke]

codename kingdoms is nothing more than a live action gladiator video at this time. Nice attempt at deflecting but how do you explain the rest?

Its not an opinion when Im simply showing you the lineup. aside from versus13 and tlg, the rest is confirmed for 2011. No more excuses, teh 360 haz no gamez.

Also lol,two player kinect requires about 10 sq ft of space to not knock each-other out. the technology is primitive, lazy, and rehashed deal with it. Move starter plus an extra move is $150, your point is invalid, a better system and the same price.

[BillOreilly]

At least theyre thinkin but this just looks dumb. I guess paired togeher sound and vision to setect you would work but this...idk...

[fei-hung]

ur comment fails so badly i wouldnt be surprised if you were drunk when writing this.

1) the device has just been patented. you speak as if this device will be out tomorrow when in reality there is nothing to even say this device will even be made.

2) not sure how you $300 for move from considering you can pick the starter kit for about $70 and an extra move for about $40.

3) so i take it MAG, HR, Time Crisis, RE5, Sport Champions are not hardcore although they require far more precision and control than steering left and right on kinect joy ride and offer more playability than tickling an on screen animal? ooooooookay then!

4)i would like to see your kist of the 100 extra things the kinect does compared to the PS MOVE. Put your money where your mouth is son!

5)Kinect does any number of players? wow, so I usually have 5 friends who I game with, does this mean I will be able to play with 6 people on one kinect?

6)so selling 2.5million PS Moves in a month for a device which possibly cost less than half of what Kinect cost is still more likely to cost sony their profits? you do realise that MS have to make back their half a billion 1st before even taking into consideration the R&D cost and the cost for taking on the tech from a 3rd party company!

7)Kinect doesnt do anything for free since you have to pay $150 for the device. your statement would be true if they were handing out the kinect for free.

8) kinect doesnt track behind the device, it only tracks whatever is in its view unlike this device and it is not wireless.

[DigitalRaptor]

ROFL! His comment was pretty full of fail!

No to mention Dead Space 2, No More Heroes: Paradise, Virtua Tennis 4, loads of PSN games and many more.

What a fanboy fail! LOL

[jneul]

if kinect so brilliant why are you not playing it now instead of trolling??

[jjmustoe]

eye toy 2

[RandomDude655]

Sounds similar to the tech below...and the research makes it sound like you can track bodies as well (3.1 and 3.2).

http://luci.ics.uci.edu/web...

[jack_burt0n]

Instead of those spots of light being fired into the room it'll use ultrasonic mapping clever stuff should be alot cheaper too but pointless just like kinect, only use it has is for fitness games or a dance game.

probably kill ur pet 2 lol.

[fei-hung]

dude, you are killing jack burton here. can you please start your comment with, "This is Jack Burton in the Porkchop Express and I'm talkin' to whoever's listening out there."

you is right, but i think the device being wireless is awesome and the fact it dont need to see you to track you is even better. i hate it when you are playing and when you get carried away the device loses you from its view and the game stops.

[Kran]

What do you know. An add-on to the dildo.

[thebudgetgamer]

this kid is hilarious. ugh!

[kanetheking]

.

[blackburn5]

Can't wait to hear all the other stupid theories everyone comes up with for this 'Kinect like device'. 'Sony's insurance policy if Kinect takes off?' Sony already tries hands free gaming before. Kinect is a limited piece of retro tech that can't seem to be able to do anything but mini games and dance games properly. Everything else stinks. Move has barely been out 2 months and like the PS3 everyone has already condemned it to failure before we even see the final results or the second wave of Move games. You would think after the PS3, Bluray and 3D people would learn to stop underestimating Sony. But here we are again with the same ignorance from the last time

[testerg35]

Umm.. Didn't you just condemn Kinect and its been out less than the Move?

[baodeus]

Like i said, hypocrisy does not exist on N4g. It just mind boggling.

So how do you detect a person behind a sofa for example with this device (if using sonic wave like a bat). It isn't the wave can only go out, hit an object and bounce back? How can it detect a person behind something?

[4me2]

More then anything this look like patent to detect exact position of player , maybe for purpose of online multiplayer.

If it comes to controller-less devices, well
1- they already have Eyetoy which is less advance than Kinect but the concept is the same
2- Sony has also technology called ICU -google "Sony ICU"
3- Sony has been working for years with Swiss motion tracking software Company AtracSys. Sony version of the software can detect movement in about 1 cubic inch .

So if Sony will do anything like Kinect will come from the ICU AtracSys combination with EyeToy.

[radphil]

Why do these headlines always have to involve something that will instigate up situations and hits.

What happened to using the term VR? -_-

[Abu]

Why didn't Sony just get it right the first time? The EyeToy is ten year old tech, and adding a lightbulb-on-a-stick hardly brings it into the 21st century. Kinect has beaten them to it, and now they have to come up with an ultrasonic solution?? Sony has so lost their way.

[TheMART]

So after they did a 1:1 Wii-too with the Move+sub which is a Wiimote+Nunchuck

They'll do a Kinect-too and just described what Kinect does in 3D etc.?

Noice. Where is the innovation Sony instead of pure copying?

[4me2]

"So after they did a 1:1 Wii-too with the Move+sub.....
....Where is the innovation Sony instead of pure copying?"

I would like kindly to point out that if Move is improved copy of Wiimote (no dispute there) than wouldn't be eyetoy first, at least console wise, motion tracking device, or at least one before MS got its incredibly original idea for kinect as advance motion tracking device?

And you asking "where is inovation .......?"(insert whatever company name you want.

This generation only Nintendo came out with original idea for the console gaming.

[Theodore87]

Yeah, that's how technology evolves. You create new things on top of what currently available, instead of building everything up from scratch. Besides, Wii and Move use very different technology. Just so you know, Move can track 3D movements and positions while Wii can't (let alone the high level of precision). Of course, the Move has the advantage of coming out later, hence more time for Sony to perfect it.

Now Kinect is a totally different story. MS keeps bragging that the kind of motion gaming they offer with kinect has never been done before and that its the future of gaming, which we all know it's not true.

However, I guess it's no use arguing with you cause you call this concept Sony ripping off kinect, a eyetoy 1.5. It's like stealing someone else' stuff then accuse them of hurting you.

[Fallouts]

Well, atleast Sony lead with blu Ray.

[CrzyFooL]

Fuck?

[Sheikh Yerbouti]

Now if there are ever any good games for Kinect. Sony will get those too.

Really I expected this. Kinect is missing a controller, and the Move would have been a great controller for Kinect.

[jneul]

looks like an evolution of the move guys it mentions accelerometers, gyros and magnetometers which move already has, the ultrasonic transmitter looks new