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Hardware Entertainment Games

TrackIR3 Pro Head-Tracking System For Gamers 153

Posted by timothy from the not-for-use-while-driving dept.
simfan writes "Ars has a review of the TrackIR3 Pro up that's worth a look. Using the TrackIR cursor control system originally designed to help the disabled, the company made a device that tracks your head movements in games. It turns out that this works really well in flight sims and other games where you can replace mouse control. There's some video of the performance as well."
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TrackIR3 Pro Head-Tracking System For Gamers More

TrackIR3 Pro Head-Tracking System For Gamers

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  • I could see myself using one of these. (Score:4, Funny)

    by OverlordQ ( 264228 ) * on Wednesday August 25, 2004 @04:20PM (#10072509) Journal
    Just have to get over the $140 price hurdle first.
    • bah! a simple drop in the bucket when THIS crowning achievement will complete your Ultimate Gaming System(TM). Your uber up-to-the-second technology, your fancy-schmancy gaming chairs [battlechair.com], etc.

      All you would need now with a headset like this would be a intraveneous Mountain Dew drip and a catheter. You will never have to leave your computer again!
    • Just have to get over the $140 price hurdle first.

      If you're serious, then do it yourself. Notice how the TrackIR advertisements say "More Hertz than a Webcam"? That's because normal webcams, plus a little software, are competitive to their product.

      For $20 you can buy a USB webcam, and then $10 for Cam2Pan [mousevision.com], or $0 for Freelook [freelook.org]. Now all you need is a sticker on your forehead...
      • Well, to be fair, there is a very noticeable difference between both approaches. Both the higher resolution and refresh rate make using it more comfortable. I'm also not sure if any of the webcam alternatives offer the enhanced mode (which is definatly the way to go for the games that support it) that TrackIR has.

        Additionally, I'm not really sure if I'd come to the same conclusion regarding wether to get TrackIR 3 or TrackIR 3 Pro. I have the non-pro version, am absolutely happy. So you may just save $30 t

  • Logs (Score:5, Funny)

    by Mateito ( 746185 ) on Wednesday August 25, 2004 @04:21PM (#10072513) Homepage
    This just means that now she'll have logs to present to the court:

    "Yes, your honor, and these prove that he was looking at my breasts while talking to me".
    • It's head tracking, not eyeball tracking. Er, wait a sec...
      • I think you'd find most married guys don't require "head tracking".

        The rare occasions are easily remembered.

    • Re:Logs (Score:5, Funny)

      by AKAImBatman ( 238306 ) <akaimbatman@@@gmail...com> on Wednesday August 25, 2004 @04:24PM (#10072550) Homepage Journal
      I could just see wives everywhere using this as a way to make husbands put down their video game.

      "Oh honey, look at the new cloths I got from Victoria Secret!"

      *head whips around*

      "I'm sorry! Did your plane crash?"
      • You need to meet more flight sim addicts.

        (Acutally, that may be somewhat difficult as they are permanently glued to their screens, but I digress)

        I know a few guys who would rather land their Jumbo before looking at their wives in lingeree (sp?).

        But then, you have to ask what sort of hot babe is going to end up with a guy who pays attention to their computer that too the half-naked woman in the house.

        Maybe they're better off with the jumbos...

        • Re:Logs (Score:3, Funny)

          by flewp ( 458359 )
          Maybe they're better off with the jumbos...

          Maybe their wives lack jumbos....

        • Re:Logs (Score:3, Funny)

          by grantdh ( 72401 )
          I know a few guys who would rather land their Jumbo before looking at their wives in lingeree (sp?).

          I know of a few whoose partners would dress up like a stewardess to serve them dinner while flying. If things were going really well in the relationship, the guy might also be lucky and get a "pilot job" :)

          Activating the ol' automatic pilot - best scene ever!

        • lol, not being able to spell "lingerie" suggests you don't see much of it live in *your* bedroom.
          • Tell me about it... and we're not even married yet.

            I've always sworn to monogomy, but shit... I'm starting to get the impression guys start looking elsewhere simply because there is no action at home.

            (yeah. Feeling bitter this morning. She wriggled out of it _again_ last night.)
    • What in the hell are you smoking? Are you suggesting that women will begin customarily wearing infrared cameras and strap-on computers, while coincidentally (and much to their demise) the oogling men happen to be wearing reflective components taped to their heads? (Did you read the article?)

      -b
    • Actually, let me apologise slightly for the tone of my initial reply [slashdot.org].

      "What the hell are you smoking" should really have been directed at the moderators (+4 insightful?!), as I now realise (hope) your post was intended to be funny.

      -b
  • Of course when you're playing and get hit in the back you'll have to be careful to when you whip around so you don't get whiplash... ;-) Of course at least some gamers will be getting SOME exercise while playing games. :-P
    • Remember all the people who used to get repetitive strain injuries, blisters, etc, from playing arcade games continuously? I'll bet the doctors and chiropractors would love the first good twitch game that comes out for this system.
    • Of course when you're playing and get hit in the back you'll have to be careful to when you whip around so you don't get whiplash...

      In reality, that's completely backwards. Users of this system will actually move their heads LESS than an average video-gamer- because then it would accidently shift their view.

      This behavior may cause harm, however. People shift their weight for good reasons... forcing head stillness could rob couch-potatoes of their last slim remnant of physical exertion!
    • Of course at least some gamers will be getting SOME exercise while playing games. :-P

      Whaddayamean!? I get my exercise although I spend my time with my console. I bet my thumbs are like your thighs! ;-D

  • Profit? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Crzysdrs ( 801722 )
    I wonder if they simply cannot make enough money selling to the disabled that the only viable market for such equipment is selling it to the gamers with disposable income?

    • Re:Profit? (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Mateito ( 746185 ) on Wednesday August 25, 2004 @04:28PM (#10072583) Homepage
      Being serious for a moment, maybe they could use that as a marketting point.

      "For every 3 gamers who buy one of these, we give one to a disabled person who desparately needs it". Do it right, they may be able to set themselves up as a charity and get tax breaks

      World Vision spends rediculous percentage of its donations on marketting, but they've worked out (I hope) that the net amount of money passing to the causes they promote is maximised in this way.

      So how about a charity or company who works to provide benefits to the disabled? And to top it all off, we never need feel guilty about computer games again.

      "Get off the computer"

      "I can't, Mum. I'm helping a disabled guy".
      • "For every 3 gamers who buy one of these, we give one to a disabled person who desparately needs it".

        How do they tell the two apart?

      • Re:Profit? (Score:2, Interesting)

        by ArchAngelQ ( 35053 )
        Actually, my girlfriend and I where looking into setting up some sort of ad-hock version of this, but this looks better. She's got a motor imparement, and so mousing for her is generally a bit of a pain in the ass, doable, but slow. With this, she'd be able to mouse easier, and play City of Heroes with much greater ease =)

        Now to convince her to wear a silly hat. That's going to be harder.

        Oh, and quick plug on my own opinions about people with disabilities and computer use: There are a lot of smart people
    • No, I don't think that's it. The disabled have to pay what they ask or go without, so they pay (or someone pays for them). However, a broader market is always worth more money, and there's no such thing as "enough" in the business world. Note also that the demand actually came from the gamers.

      But here's the thing. Access devices cost, well, an arm and a leg, the small market means little economy of scale in manufacturing.

      But if these devices become commodity items available at Best Buy. . .

      There ya go. J
    • No, they are not selling to gamers. See, this is a "Pro" model. Obviously they are selling to all the professionals who need this for work.

  • keep your eyes on the screen.. (Score:3, Informative)

    by m05 ( 690031 ) on Wednesday August 25, 2004 @04:22PM (#10072522)
    the problem is that when your head moves your eyes still have to point to the screen. that does not work. i tried the ur gear headset before. it did not work at all. it would work better on a wall.

    • A combination with these monitor simulating goggles [com.com] would be the perfect solution to solve this problem.



      Get a free iPod [freeipods.com]. Here is how it works [wired.com].
    • I have one of these, and the head movement required are quite minimal, especially if wearing a hat with the reflective dot on the brim.
      You can easily keep your eyes on the moniter at all times, its more that you move your head to look at the corner/top/bottom/sides of your moniter.
      The biggest issues I've had so far is the fact that:
      1) the current software is not XP compatible so it occaisionally crashes on me.
      2) its USB only and I'm running out of USB ports, even with my hub (it wants a powered hub, o
    • parent a troll? common folks. The problem he mentioned is the very first thing that came to my mind.

      When I turn my head to look at something, my eyes are going to look in the same direction. It's just natural. It's unnatural to turn your head to look at something, and keep your eyes fixed dead ahead.

      I would love this product integrated with a head mounted display. Can you imagine looking around in stereo AND your head controls tracking.

      ~t

      • I would love this product integrated with a head mounted display. Can you imagine looking around in stereo AND your head controls tracking.

        Would that not simply be a virtual reality helmet, such as this one [digit-life.com]? Some other stuff may be found here [dmoz.org] and here [vrealities.com].

        Looking around I can't really find any integrated tracker/display headsets, though it is may be because I am not looking in the right places. Expect anywhere from $500 to $3000 and up for these solutions.

  • Is it a coincidence that... (Score:3, Funny)

    by tao_of_biology ( 666898 ) <tao.of.biology@gmai l . com> on Wednesday August 25, 2004 @04:22PM (#10072524)
    they originally designed it for the disabled and it only runs on "Software requirements: Windows XP / 2000 / Millennium Edition / 98 "? I guess they know what their target demographic is using...

  • Slight problem (Score:2, Funny)

    by r_glen ( 679664 )
    Sure, your plane may turn but now you're stuck staring at a wall.

    ...okay maybe I should RTFA

    • Re:Slight problem (Score:2, Informative)

      by Rotkiv ( 807314 )
      but if you look at the little gif/flash animation on the product page, it's not steering the jet, it's looking around the cockpit.

  • old mario (Score:5, Funny)

    by weenis ( 656512 ) on Wednesday August 25, 2004 @04:22PM (#10072528)
    so, my little sis who used to nod her head up every time she made mario jump would be pro at this!
    • so, my little sis who used to nod her head up every time she made mario jump would be pro at this!

      Anybody else reminded of that one clip off of America's Funniest Home Videos where a kid is playing Super Mario Bros. and sticks his tongue out every time Mario jumps?

  • Technology has multiple uses (Score:4, Informative)

    by freedom_india ( 780002 ) on Wednesday August 25, 2004 @04:22PM (#10072533) Homepage Journal
    According to the article In March 2001, NaturalPoint launched the TrackIR system as a control device for people with disabilities, but many in the flight simulation community saw a potential use in flight sim view control. How does it work? In simple terms, TrackIR is a webcam that transmits and detects infrared signals....

    So, technology is always used where it's least expected. A technology for disabled people is used for flight simulation games. Typewriter was meant to help blind write letters. Now it has morphed into keyboard to write worms and viruses (virii if you want pure English).

    So how many such different uses of technology have you come up with?

  • Sneeze? (Score:5, Funny)

    by BigDogCH ( 760290 ) on Wednesday August 25, 2004 @04:22PM (#10072538) Journal
    So, what happens in my flight sim when I Sneeze?

    I can see it now, just before landing you start to feel a tickle in your nose.

  • no display? (Score:1, Redundant)

    by proj_2501 ( 78149 )
    these goggles don't seem to actually show anything, so you must continue looking at your monitor while using them, right?

    that sounds uncomfortable and fruitless.

  • I don't know... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Nos. ( 179609 ) <andrew.thekerrs@ca> on Wednesday August 25, 2004 @04:24PM (#10072548) Homepage
    I'm just not sure if I want something that looks like a Might Morphin Power Ranger looking at me from the top of my monitor. Not to mention what stretching your neck might do to you while in game!
    • How about a case-mod that gives it an Geiger Alien look? If you can keep playing while looking an Alien's double-mouth .. in the mouths, then you know that you're good.

  • Perfect for DDR Max Extreme Action 4 (Score:4, Funny)

    by blueZhift ( 652272 ) on Wednesday August 25, 2004 @04:25PM (#10072555) Homepage Journal
    I can see the next version of Dance Dance Revolution on Playstation 3 using something like this. Combined with the Eye Toy, you could end up in some major traction!

  • Review/Eye Strain (Score:3, Insightful)

    by RalphBinaca ( 703952 ) on Wednesday August 25, 2004 @04:25PM (#10072559) Journal
    Nice review.

    I must wonder exactly how useful it is. I can only imagine the eye strain one would get by continually turning their head far to the right and left and having to keep your eyes focused on the screen. Getting a headache just thinking about it.
    • It isn't as difficult as you may think...

      The human brain has reflexes, that conects the labyrithe inside your inner ear (built-in head-gyration sensor), and your occulars muscles.
      This reflex stabilise the eyes, and makes you able de look straight ahead, even if you're walking and your head is shaking a litte.
      In case of using a head motion tracking device, this reflexes help you stabilising your eyes and looking straigth to the monitor.

      There are also other relfexes specifically designed to track moving obj

  • How long.... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Conspiracy_Of_Doves ( 236787 ) on Wednesday August 25, 2004 @04:25PM (#10072562)
    Till they make a version with force feedback?

  • Saccades (Score:5, Interesting)

    by leeum ( 156395 ) on Wednesday August 25, 2004 @04:26PM (#10072570) Homepage Journal
    When I was a physiology student, we examined saccades - high speed movements of the eye. We do not smoothly transition our field of vision to something interesting, we tend to "snap" our focus instantly to catch a better glance.

    Where this was interesting, I thought, would be if we could leverage this mechanism as an input device especially for FPS games. Instant targeting and pretty damned accurate aim.

    However, there probably won't be too much of a market outside that though, since smooth and steady movements of the eyes are pretty difficult to achieve, if not impossible.
    • Are you not familier with biofeedback training? People can learn to control thier heartbeat and galvanic skin response [wilddivine.com]. A few days of using this thing and the steady eye movements will start coming.
      • Or rather it will when one comes out that actually tracks your eyes instead of your entire head.
      • No, biofeedback training is something I've only heard of in passing so I can't say I know of much good information about it.

        If it's something that has to be learnt over the course of a few days though, would it be a very marketable concept in your opinion? My guess is that people will want to pick up a device which they can use straight away, not something they have to train for just to play a game or two.

        But if you know a lot more about biofeedback training, you might be able to enlighten me. :)

        • Re:Saccades (Score:2, Insightful)

          by TheSteve ( 149820 )
          If bicycles had just come out and you couldn't simply go out, buy one and immediately compete in races and perform stunts, people would still be willing to practice and put in the time needed to learn the skills that make it second-nature.

          How long after getting your first bike were you completely comfortable and proficient at riding it? It took more than a day and involved some bumps and scrapes, I'm sure. It took some training to get good at.

          You only had to learn it once, though. Years later, it's j
    • Back in my experimenting days, one of the most interesting effects of having smoked marijuana was smooth eye movements. Instead of an instant jerk, my field of vision would slowly track across the room or whatever I was looking at.

  • great news for the next level in games (Score:3, Interesting)

    by muel ( 132794 ) on Wednesday August 25, 2004 @04:29PM (#10072600)
    The article makes a small mention of VR, but really, this has to be pretty damn important for the behind-the-scenes push for VR game consoles in the next decade. Every game company in the world with a brain should already be planning for an eventual shift to a VR system, even if it's 10 years away, and both the dropping price and increasing functionality of this TrackIR product makes the feasability of a low-priced, easy-to-use VR console that much more likely in the coming years.
    • This isn't really news... I had a similar device hooked up to my MacPlus in 1984! It worked with ultrasound, but the concept was the same. I was able to play some great Missle Command games! (Remember, the game where incoming ICBMs tried to fry your 3 cities at the bottom of the screen?) You could just LOOK at where you wanted to shoot and click...

      I had the headset on loan from a company whose main market was also the disabled.

      No sig, but Macs still rule!

    • Re:great news for the next level in games (Score:4, Insightful)

      by grantdh ( 72401 ) on Wednesday August 25, 2004 @05:08PM (#10072896) Homepage Journal
      this has to be pretty damn important for the behind-the-scenes push for VR game consoles

      Been there, done that. Remember all those VR games and consoles that came out years ago? Where are they now? Gone. Know why? Made ya sick!

      Ever played a VR game for a long time? When your eyes and ears are saying that you're running down a corridor, changing direction, looking around and moving about, but the motion-detection system that is your inner-ear says "Nope, this butthead's just standing in one place" then your brain gets confused and PUKE!!!

      Total immersion VR = totally immersed in your own vomit

      See, here's the deal. Your brain is programmed at some *really* base level to equate an imbalance between what your eyes and ears are saying vs what your inner ear is saying with "Shit, I've eaten something nasty, get it out of my system! PUKE!!!!" Now, fastwind through to today where you're sitting in a car that's going around corners, accelerating, etc - keep your head down and try to read. Eyes say you're (sorta) sitting still but your inner ear says "Hell no, I'm staggering all over the place" - how long until you feel queasy? Most people get it pretty damned quickly.

      I was using a friend's VFX-1 headset to fly a flight sim. It was great. Best loop I've ever done on a computer 'cos I could just move my head about to see wing, horizon, etc. But, after an hour or so of zapping around the place, I *had* to stop or I would have been sick.

      So no amount of new tech and toys will bring back VR consoles. Either we find some way to trick the inner ear into thinking we're moving at the same rate the vision/sound system is showing OR we breed a bunch of people who have disconnected their inner ears :)
      • By your logic, your brain COULD be tricked by something like a computer rig playing Doom III with a surround sound system. Sight and sound is there, movement is not. And even though I'm assuming that you, a /.er, aren't affected by that, there are plenty of people who ARE sickened by first-person games. Also, old VR systems at arcades, a few of which I certainly played, were very blurry, which made those extremely sickening to use before movement even STARTED.

        But otherwise, the physical issue you note is c
      • I wonder if this is correllated in any way to the percentage of people that get seasick.. luckily, I don't, and I spent a summer many moons ago working in a VR lab - no ill effects from much HMD time. I know people who couldn't use the gear at all because it'd be instant spew time though.

        One thing is, after long enough, your body adapts to the feeling. It is just unpleasant until that point.
      • Actually we have the technology to trick the inner ear, although we cannot put it in a VR-set yet. I saw a TV-show yesterday about a company building flight-simulators for pilot training. Inthem you sit in a "box" with screens that act as windows.

        The box is mounted on hydraulics that moves it around, and powerfull computers sync the movement and the output on the screens. In early versions pilots got sick, because there were too much "lag" between the screens and the hydraulics. As soon as they got the del
      • My problem was always that the systems were too slow. Particularly when combined with motion tracking you got a very percievable lag between moving your head and having the world move around you. /That/ made me sick extremely fast (a few minutes).

        That can be compared with that I loved the Descent games and never became sick in them. The only time I've felt strained by FPSs (or sims) have been when the FPS was too low or the lag was too bad. (Between input and action, not really over the net.)

        It would be g

  • Biggest problem with these (Score:5, Interesting)

    by bugnuts ( 94678 ) on Wednesday August 25, 2004 @04:30PM (#10072602) Journal
    They track head movement, but your monitor is stationary. It's natural to move your head left to see things to the left, but with this you have to turn left and simultaneously look right.

    I've looked into the hardware for making a real HUD/tracker, which has a display and does headtracking, and how to integrate them. For gameplay, it's mostly limited by the resolutions of current goggle setups. It's easy to find 640x480 goggles, but higher resolutions for gameplaying are much tougher.

    If $140 makes you balk on one of the crappy units in the article, you shouldn't even consider the $2000+ it'd cost for a decent Head-mounted display.
    • Nah, what you need is one of those spherical displays they have to simulate real fighter cockpits.

      Pure uninterupted 360 degree view. (Well I believe it's blocked right behind you.) They use multiple projectors at different resolutions though. No idea if it's possible to set this up at home though. Projectors are getting cheaper though.

      I want three big projectors in a slighlty spherical projections. I mean, I don't ask for much here... Since these would be bigger than you could easily look at I can also se
    • Um. 640x480 goggles at high framerate with perfect head tracking might be sufficient for gameplay. You'd use your head movements to interpret the limited information you get from 640x480, and you could quickly learn to extrapolate a higher resolution.

      If that makes sense.
    • Yeah, but for a few thousand bucks you can attach it to the chain gun mounted on the front of your chopper...

      I can see it now, the US comes up with great tech for gamers, and then can't sell it overseas because it wipes the floor with any international weapons tech. Kind of like the crypto restrictions, but tangible.

      Then again, the average nation is so far behind it doesn't really matter.

  • This isn't ready to fly yet (Score:4, Interesting)

    by MinusBlindfold ( 775913 ) on Wednesday August 25, 2004 @04:35PM (#10072642) Journal
    They need to build the display into the headset if its going to work. I see other postings talking about having to strain your eyes to look at the screen when turning your head, etc. This is no good. I remember in 1994/1995 I was at this arcade that had virtual reality games... there were a few different ones... you stood up in this ring with a headset on... the headset had a display built in, when you looked to the left you still saw the screen... you could also see the other players walking around (Networked)... it was more of a virtual reality deathmatch. They need to get this sort of technology back. It seemed like there was so much hype back in the mid 90s, and then it sort of dissolved. Companies kept promising cool new VR products for the masses but nothing surfaced... people let go of the dream.
    • Companies kept promising cool new VR products for the masses but nothing surfaced... people let go of the dream.

      Like I said in an earlier post - VR games died because it made people sick thanks to an imbalance between their motion-detecting inner-ear and what their eyes and ears were telling them.

      NASA started using VR systems as a very inexpensive way of training astronauts in dealing with motion sickness. Back in the early days of the Space Shuttle program, the scientist astronauts were often puking and
    • I see other postings talking about having to strain your eyes to look at the screen when turning your head, etc.

      Yeah, but apparently none of them have used it. You don't really move your head that much as it's very sensible. This takes getting used to but it really doesn't affect eye strain. And the sensibility can be finely tuned, too.

  • Exorcist (Score:2, Funny)

    by RalphBinaca ( 703952 )
    From the article: You just can't pull a Linda Blair to pivot 180 degrees.
    I bet if you tried you'd start vomiting green and screaming explitives.
    • From the article: You just can't pull a Linda Blair to pivot 180 degrees.
      I bet if you tried you'd start vomiting green and screaming explitives.

      Dont forget the cross....I cant....

  • Better Use: Drinking Sims (FPD) (Score:4, Funny)

    by grunt107 ( 739510 ) on Wednesday August 25, 2004 @04:37PM (#10072654)
    Game Play : Drink Whatever is shown (Head Fwd-Get Drink; Head tilt back makes game drinker down it).

    Continue until severe forward head tilt - change to toilet scene. Game ends when dry heaves cause head shivers.

  • this is great (Score:3, Funny)

    by geekoid ( 135745 ) <dadinportland@ y a h o o . c om> on Wednesday August 25, 2004 @04:42PM (#10072685) Homepage Journal
    when I look to the left, so will my character.
    wait a minute...

  • I've had the TrackIR for several months now. (Score:3, Informative)

    by kwelch007 ( 197081 ) on Wednesday August 25, 2004 @04:46PM (#10072717) Homepage
    I've had the earlier version of this for several months. I use it to play flight sims. It takes a little getting used to, but it really does work great!

  • oh no! (Score:3, Funny)

    by Dr. Mojura ( 584120 ) on Wednesday August 25, 2004 @04:54PM (#10072774)
    How does it work? [...]Four emitters send infrared radiation from the front of the unit, the built-in camera detects infrared signals bouncing back
    from reflective material placed on the head ...

    Ha! And they all laughed at your tin-foil hat! You'll show them!
  • You can get the whole kit-n-kabootle here [vrealities.com] (for a pretty penny) - head mount display, head tracker, controller, force feedback vest and full retail copy of Doom3.

    Wouldn't that be cool or what?

    • The problem is the field of view(fov) is so narrow. The i-glasses have a 29 deg fov. At work, I use a Virtual Research V8 HMD which has a 60 deg fov, and it seems *really* narrow. You don't really get the peripheral vision that you'd expect...

  • Not just flight sims (Score:3, Informative)

    by KrackHouse ( 628313 ) on Wednesday August 25, 2004 @04:56PM (#10072802) Homepage
    The guys from TrackIR pro contacted us during the development of Motorsport to offer support in making their product compatible. Bravo to TrackIR for supporting the open source community.
  • I can already see it now...

    FEBRUARY 3--A Tennessee man has sued NaturalPoint, a manufacturer of control systems for computers, on the basis that their product caused him physical injury and mental distress during its use. In his suit, the 26-year-old college student alledges that while playing computer games such as Far Cry, Half-Life 2, and Singles: Threesomes, his neck was injured while attempting to use NaturalPoint's head-based controller.

    "I was clearing a corner on the new Dust map for HL2 and I hear
  • ...to play Hypersports.

  • Similar, but more primitive (Score:3, Informative)

    by YrWrstNtmr ( 564987 ) on Wednesday August 25, 2004 @05:11PM (#10072915)
    Nouse [iit.nrc.ca]

    Nose as Mouse
    All you need is a webcam and your face. Tracks your nose for mouse movement.

  • IL 2 Sturmovik (Score:3, Interesting)

    by centipetalforce ( 793178 ) on Wednesday August 25, 2004 @05:21PM (#10073010)
    In case some of you are wondering why this is so vital to the flight simmer, well, it isnt.
    But what it does it supposedly does very well. Being a former member of the IL2 Sturmovik community, home to some of the most insane, fanatical, and hardcore legion of gamers in the world, Track IR is a godsend to those whose day is ruined when they lose a dogfight.
    Instead of having one hand on a mouse and the other on a joystick, they can now concentrate on the joystick.
    Since IL2 is life to many a gamer, track ir really sadly enhances many peoples lives and contributes tp their purpose in living.

  • I thought about... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by SharpFang ( 651121 ) on Wednesday August 25, 2004 @05:27PM (#10073052) Homepage Journal
    ...a system that would cheat at cards.
    Some game, 3 cards, poker, blackjack, whatever. A cam that tracks head AND EYEBALL movement of the player, and when the player is not looking the game attempts cheats. Not replacing card values it dealt to "its own hand" in RAM, just displaying all the tricks, like sneaking an ace out of the screen etc, so all the tricks would be visible to everyone watching the game, but the player :) Very entertaining if it could be done right, so really you don't notice but others do :)
    • Make it work, i'll buy it. It would be one of those games that sounds insanely entertaining, and has a slightly legitimate use, since it would develop one's attention. While your at it, make it more of a 3d rpg format, where one walks from table to table and ladies bring drinks. I'd love a card game that felt like a casino instead of a menu of games.

  • my mate uses one (Score:3, Interesting)

    by GuyFawkes ( 729054 ) on Wednesday August 25, 2004 @05:51PM (#10073242) Homepage Journal
    he was a motorcyclist who suffered a brachial plexus injury and subsequently had his arm amputated at the shoulder.

    he plays IL2 sturmovik forgotten battles (which has a LOT of real commercial and military pilots playing head to head with the "civvies" like him) and his rankings are REAL good.

    he swears by it.

    I believe he uses it for cockpit (view from) viewing angles rather than actual rudder / aelieron control.

  • Freelook (alternative) (Score:5, Informative)

    by FrenZon ( 65408 ) * on Wednesday August 25, 2004 @05:56PM (#10073295) Homepage

    Although it doesn't claim quite the specs and ease-of-use of the TrackIR, and only works with games supporting mouselook (LOMAC and IL2 being the important ones), I wrote Freelook [freelook.org] for people with a standard webcam who feel like trying this form of headtracking out.

    PS It's free.

  • So frequently I have five or six shells open on different hosts and start typing, assuming that the window I am looking at has focus... doh! I want one of these so that the window I look at always WILL have focus!!
  • I can use this to play fps games easier with this. Finally, some hardware disabled gamers can use.

  • Works Decent Enough (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Etnie ( 11105 )
    I have a TrackIr 3Pro. First few days were pretty tough and made my neck sore after a few minutes. After about a week it becomes much more natural.

    However, it does train you to look at the monitor while turning your head. While flying for real (CJ-6A), I have noticed that my eyes tend to 'lag' now when looking around.

    I also tend to focus on the instruments more than outside but that comes from more flightsim time than real time.

    -e.
  • This is not an entirely new concept.

    There was a Atari 2600 product that claimed to use your brain waves (well, actually it worked by eye movement or something) to control the game. Sorry I don't have a link. Atarihq.com might have something.

    It didn't really work, though. Hope this is better!

  • This is a fantastic technology -almost. (Score:4, Insightful)

    by GrpA ( 691294 ) on Wednesday August 25, 2004 @07:57PM (#10074373)

    I know a lot of people have come up with a variety of different ideas for tracking head movement, but I've always wondered if it would be possible to know exactly where someone is looking as well, with an economical device hooked into the next generation of really high resolution displays.

    Then you could tie this into a video rendering algorythm and adjust the level of detail to maximise it in the area you are looking at.

    Just think.... A 40" display, with 10240x7680 resolution, with 80% of the rendered detail in the few inches of display you are actually looking at.

    Now that would make a killer first-person shooter application or vehicle sim...

    I know we've come a long way since opponents at distance were just a few fuzzy pixels, but I have a feeling that with technologies like OLED's that the resolution of display technology will quickly outstrip the processing power of video cards.

    And most of that processing effort for parts of the screen we're not really looking at.

    GrpA
  • I came up with the same idea for head-tracking in a drunken ramble a while ago. Nice to see someone has done it.

    Expanding on this idea how about a wearing an opaque pair of white glasses and sitting in front of a video projector. The projector projects light onto the glasses and you see the image. Kinda like a back-projection TV but the screen part sits in front of your eyes.

    This way you have a lightweight, passive, cheap head mounted display. You'd need lenses in the glasses so you could focus on the

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