Xbox Kinect the latest tech? Nah Amiga did it 20 years age

[fishy_fiz]

I actually find Kinect quite interesting/impressive technology. Not that Im in a rush to go out and buy it, but it will make it's way into my living room sooner or later.
Sorry guys, I just cant buy into your bleak view of things just because it's made by Microsoft and/or isnt something that is going to be practical all the time. It's a far cry from the product in the topic, eye motion, or even the Wii's somewhat limited motion sensors and I look forward to seeing what's done with it.

Ah, that aside though, still very cool to see an eye toy style thing for the amiga so long ago

[Amiga_Nut]

I recall that thing for Amiga. Used a camera with, IIRC, you in front of a bluescreen then put the graphics around you. You moved your arm and your image of course, showed that movement and the game registered when you hit a graphic. Pretty neat for its time but more a gimick. I have no idea how well it sold.

Was a custom system for Nickelodeon. They also used a realtime digitiser for the collision detection as well as the chroma-key unit to overlay the little brats on the Amiga graphics

[Amiga_Nut]

Eh, the Wii didn't take off because it had gimmicky controls, it took off because it was cheaper than the (increasingly expensive) competition, was designed to work with ordinary TVs by default instead of providing it as a smushed-down version of the high-def output, and positioned itself as the machine for ordinary people and oldschool retro-gamers (both groups that had been feeling left out with Sony and Microsoft's graphics-driven polygonal arms-race.) All of which are things I'm totally on board with, and all of which Sony and Microsoft completely missed in their transparent efforts to copy-cat the Wii's success.

Well, that's true enough, it just seems to me that I'd rather point out the worthwhile things the Amiga pioneered

Nobody wanted a 180 bucks PS2-o-clock graphics system, Wii only sold due to the controllers and to people who wanted that kind of different system. The 360 was cheaper than the Wii for years before Wii sales tailed off at all, and even on SD TV 360 and PS3 look light years ahead in their 3D game engines, Wii is barely an improvement on Gamecube graphics. Nintendo targeted a whole new type of gamer, just like Sony did with PS1 which hammered Sega/Nintendo sales into the ground. The Saturn and N64 sold well enough based on past market size predictions, PSX just threw the rule book out of the window and expanded the console buyers market by 400% by targeting a completely new group of gamer.

It's no different to Eye-toy either really, just the fact it has been possible for two decades using Amiga 1000s is cool enough in my opinion. Obviosly the whole post was tongue-in-cheek and it's not something you could have done at home on a budget etc.

YMMV

[jj]

I think if the tech as good as its reported to be will be very good.  I will probably get one for the wife for dancing games etc.
 
She doesn't like games really, but lips and dancing games she does like. Dance matts are rubbish and are not really dancing, but  the fact that the kinnect can track four people including faces 1:1 ( supposedly) look good.
 
Obvioulsy traditional games will still use joypad.  Cant see FPS working with this or racing games etc.
 
This is more about opening up new types of gaming rather than trying to replace the controller.  I can see this working a lot better than Move on PS3 or the crappy 2D space of the Wii remote

[Templario]

In USA which strange things you saw

[jutrem]

In USA which strange things you saw

Actually the Amiga motion interface tech was done by a Canadian company.
Vivid was based in Toronto, Canada. Went for a job interview there once.

 Their Mandala system was also used by the NHL & Hockey hall of fame. The player was the goal tender (goal keep) defending the hockey net.

[rebraist]

so i wasn't totally mad... i remembered something similar... and all of you surely remember the excitement that there was in those years about new technologies...
i realize two things:
1) why we all want to pay enormous lot of money for our loved machine
2) why when we see something new we think: i've already seen it.
don't you realise how much adrenaline has given us amiga in those years?...
and one more thing i realise:
- why i hate so much steve jobs. they had nothing more than a poor brother of our platform and, now, every useless thing they have, it seem to all it's something genial...

[runequester]

Nobody wanted a 180 bucks PS2-o-clock graphics system, Wii only sold due to the controllers and to people who wanted that kind of different system. The 360 was cheaper than the Wii for years before Wii sales tailed off at all, and even on SD TV 360 and PS3 look light years ahead in their 3D game engines, Wii is barely an improvement on Gamecube graphics. Nintendo targeted a whole new type of gamer, just like Sony did with PS1 which hammered Sega/Nintendo sales into the ground. The Saturn and N64 sold well enough based on past market size predictions, PSX just threw the rule book out of the window and expanded the console buyers market by 400% by targeting a completely new group of gamer.

It's no different to Eye-toy either really, just the fact it has been possible for two decades using Amiga 1000s is cool enough in my opinion. Obviosly the whole post was tongue-in-cheek and it's not something you could have done at home on a budget etc.

YMMV

Im not a nintendo guy at all, but I think the thing people underestimate it that "normal people" don't care about graphics. Heck, nintendo DS games look like amiga games and they sell by the bucketloads.

Nintendo is perfectly fine with the fact that they can't do a Killzone 2 because they can toss out a zelda or mario title with half decent graphics and people will buy it, AND they can sell to people who don't care for the FPS / FPSRPG stuff that makes up 80% of video games today.

[DonnyEMU]

You guys really aren't getting that this technology is completely different than Vivid and Mandala (I was there back then and we used to sell them) and it's not eye toy.. Kinect is a camera, and motion sensor and a microphone with all very intelligent software driving it.. It has much the same type of technology that the TSA uses in airports. Kinect was shown a few years ago as not a microsoft product, microsoft bought it and transformed it (it was a bunch of boxes positioned at different points). The coolest part of it is Kinect ID.. It does facial recognition to log into the xbox live network, and I can walk in front of my friend's xbox and it recognizes me and we can play together (up to four of us) on the same system and it knows me.. (On my system or my friends).. The scanning function is pretty cool too..

[jj]

Have you got one dude.   I'm very temted but £130 for the unit, huh huh uhh, he said unit, alone I am waiting to see real users reaction to it.
 
Is it as fluid and error free as they make out.  I.e can track 4 people and limbs in 3d space even when the move in fornt of each other and objects in real time ?

[runequester]

Have you got one dude.   I'm very temted but £130 for the unit, huh huh uhh, he said unit, alone I am waiting to see real users reaction to it.
 
Is it as fluid and error free as they make out.  I.e can track 4 people and limbs in 3d space even when the move in fornt of each other and objects in real time ?

The guys from Penny Arcade gave it pretty harsh comments compared to the Move. Tycho did appreciate the voice features though.

http://www.penny-arcade.com/2010/11/8/
http://www.penny-arcade.com/2010/11/5/

[Argo]

Don't believe me? Look here

http://www.micontv.com/html/amiga_video_magazine_segment.htm

Attached 2 pages about it from The Games Machine UK magazine too for you all.

Yup, the same or similar Amiga magic was used in a Nickelodeon kids game show. It was pretty cool. You were, well your image, was converted to a sprite in an Amiga game.
Every thing old is new again. Only now, instead of only 2D more cameras are added to get your 3D movement.

[jj]

The guys from Penny Arcade gave it pretty harsh comments compared to the Move. Tycho did appreciate the voice features though.
 
http://www.penny-arcade.com/2010/11/8/
http://www.penny-arcade.com/2010/11/5/

 
Taken what they say on borad, but to be honest I find the stuff on that site over the top negative about most things.

[runequester]

Taken what they say on borad, but to be honest I find the stuff on that site over the top negative about most things.

yeah, definately check out user reviews as well.

[Amiga_Nut]

If a game I really must have comes out for it then I'm there, ditto with PS3 Move and and Wii+ remotes.

So far that hasn't happened, who knows. Maybe a 21st Century version of Dungeon Master or something creepy.

[Hammer]

You guys really aren't getting that this technology is completely different than Vivid and Mandala (I was there back then and we used to sell them) and it's not eye toy.. Kinect is a camera, and motion sensor and a microphone with all very intelligent software driving it.. It has much the same type of technology that the TSA uses in airports. Kinect was shown a few years ago as not a microsoft product, microsoft bought it and transformed it (it was a bunch of boxes positioned at different points). The coolest part of it is Kinect ID.. It does facial recognition to log into the xbox live network, and I can walk in front of my friend's xbox and it recognizes me and we can play together (up to four of us) on the same system and it knows me.. (On my system or my friends).. The scanning function is pretty cool too..

My laptops** already includes facial recognition feature during Windows logon...

**2007 build ASUS G1S, 2010 build Dell Studio XPS 1645.