Johnny Lee, eat your heart out.
Some day gamers will be playing a PlayStation 3 first-person shooter and will simply lean your head to see around the corners. When that happens, you will likely be using the new head-tracking technology that was being demonstrated for the PlayStation 3’s PlayStation Eye camera at GDC last week. I tried it out in the video above.
Unlike recent head-tracking video sensations, this clip shows a set-up that doesn’t require strapping any Wii hardware to your head. Nor does it require fancy glasses, like this one made by a programmer from Sony.
No. This version requires just the official PS3 camera. And a person with a face and some mobility in their neck.
A Sony rep said the technology is not yet announced for any PS3 games, but if they were showing it at GDC, I assume it’s ready to go. Okay, makers of “Killzone 2” and “Resistance 2,” get cracking.
Video not available in Canada, The U.K., And Japan. Sorry! IPs are blocked.
February 27th, 2008 at 3:16 pm
DOPE, thats nuts, but i thought the glasses were a better tracker,
and would make me feel like the future…
nice job tho.
professor layton still rules.
February 27th, 2008 at 5:28 pm
C—. blocking uk ips
February 27th, 2008 at 5:53 pm
c—, stop blocking uk IPS you idiots
February 27th, 2008 at 6:46 pm
Too bad the guy with the video camera didn’t get at all he’d have to put the camera on the guy’s shoulder so it’d follow his movements; to let people see how eerie the tracking effect really is. I so want to see this in coming games.
February 27th, 2008 at 6:52 pm
Johnny Lee’s glasses are for simulated VR not head tracking. More specifically, they allow a camera to estimate where a person is looking, and their distance from the camera (screen). This allows for many immersing effects in a computer generated 3D environment, like a video game’s. Head tracking software could mimic this, but is very, very far away from this goal. The above article clearly shows a complete lack of understanding for the material it actually links to!
I like the “Johnny Lee, eat your hear [sic] out.” line though. GrammarChecker ftw.
February 27th, 2008 at 7:03 pm
Kalabalana,
I understand what Johnny Lee’s video demonstrates. You raise a good point about how depth perception functions in his set-up, and it’s one I’ll try to get clarification on from Sony. I don’t recall the PSEye one detecting depth well, if at all. A potential disadvantage? Sure. But the need for less equipment is in the PS3’s favor.
Thanks for drawing out some of the distinctions.
-Stephen
February 27th, 2008 at 8:10 pm
This tech makes practical head-tracking alot closer to reality than Johnny Lee’s technique. But I’m not sure how much calculation is needed for facial recognition and tracking, so I wonder if software based technique will drop actual game’s quality.
Or maybe people will figure out an efficient way to do that with Cell processor?
February 27th, 2008 at 10:55 pm
I’m not convinced. It don’t think it’s more practical than Wii version. It’s definitely not as responsive just by the look of it.
February 27th, 2008 at 11:08 pm
Well, the PS3 doesn’t really have a lesser need for buying additional hardware, Stephen… The eye surely won’t be cheap, and it doesn’t come with the system. The implementation is pretty damn clever, though, and much cooler than the recent PS3 head tracking demonstration that not only required a special lens to go with the camera, but IR LED glasses as well.
I suppose the only difference here is that SONY is smart enough to actually promote the tech a little bit. I’d really like to see Nintendo or some third party (perhaps EA with the release of Boom Blox, which supports the Johnny Lee implementation) manufacture some IR headgear. I’m thinking something like those headphones that hook around the back of your head, with little LEDs mounted out in front of the ears. That could be manufactured pretty damn cheap, but I doubt any peripheral manufacturer would want to sell it for less than $15.
February 27th, 2008 at 11:28 pm
@Bunderant The PS3 cam sells for around $30-35US hardly a big investment. As for the software, this is meant for devs to add to their game, so the software cost is the cost of buying a game that uses this.
@Kalabalana While I can’t be sure what algorithms Sony is using for this purpose, I can say that relative distance from the camera can be effectively estimated provided the facial resolution is sufficiently high. Whether the PS3 Eye meets that requirement or not, I really couldn’t say.
February 27th, 2008 at 11:32 pm
so….i genuinely tried to help tell you and other readers about how the object track works, and yes, it recognizes object distance, but alas, this website has the worst interface i have ever had to work with. the flash player wont ACTUALLY pause but instead stop, rebuffer, and play again while i start writing. then the sites ?~@? bot stopping letter box has a background shape that looks just like the letter O and caused me to lose alot of goodhearted explanation on the topic by not keeping in the cache what i have previously written in the text boxes.
so yeah, instead of getting a good answer, youve received just another banned anon comment that doesnt help you or your readers at all. alot of time wasted, and alot of people about to tell me to stop bitching, when i am probably the most knowledgable person on the subject on the page and the third most respectable person (just after yourself and Kalabalana). so yes, no hate toward you, just the website that this is posted on and the web scripters that wrote it.
February 27th, 2008 at 11:34 pm
It appears to me to estimate depth perception, that is the pink square finding the eyes in relation to the nose and mouth so that it can estimate the distance from the camera by measuring the distance between the eyes.
@Kalabalana: dont be a tool just because you want to piss in someones coffee.
February 28th, 2008 at 3:09 am
Video not available in Canada? Stupid idiots.
February 28th, 2008 at 6:13 am
-> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jd3-eiid-Uw
February 28th, 2008 at 6:25 am
Found a version you can try at home on your pc. It seems still a little shaky buts its nice to finally be able to experience this myself.
Link to the project’s blog:
http://www.kuubee.com
February 28th, 2008 at 8:37 am
will it work if you pause and come back?
February 28th, 2008 at 9:48 am
I see an accessibility issue here. What about support for the faceless?
OK seriously though, each time we upgrade game controls we have to remember there are folks out there with color blindness, etc. and allow them to customize controls appropriately.
That said, this is a cool trick and I’d love to see shooters using this. I remember playing Goldeneye 64 in a room of friends with the lights off - my wife would come in the room and said it was eerie to see our faces lean left and right (and curse horribly) as we tried to shoot each other. Maybe that was the face…. of the future? Dum dum duh….
February 28th, 2008 at 10:54 am
@Fidridder
My original response was a little negative, sorry I take it back. I commend Sony for it’s work, and Stephen for reporting on it.
I am unable to see the video because I live in Canada, I have no clue on it’s effectiveness (I assume it could not be as accurate as Johnny’s, or other people’s ir tracking systems), I just wasn’t too impressed with the reference to Johnny Lee.
February 28th, 2008 at 11:27 am
Nice! I wonder if this will ever be used for real though. Give us the real VR-glasses directly instead!
And fui, the video is not blocked in Japan…
February 28th, 2008 at 1:18 pm
this was on the PS2, not as good but there. Remember the Eyetoy game where you rode a hoverbord? that used face tracking
February 28th, 2008 at 4:00 pm
seriously, can not be viewed from canada. what a load of horse ~$$*
February 28th, 2008 at 5:00 pm
Can’t be viewed outside US… how ridiculous! Can’t someone upload this to youtube or something so that people can see it?
February 29th, 2008 at 12:15 pm
It was cool when I saw it the first time on Youtube. Check out Johnny Lee.. he’s got tons of projects. ironically, they were all based upon wii’s wiimote… way to go sony!
March 2nd, 2008 at 12:00 pm
Johnny Lee’s methods were much more accurate, and had other examples and ideas. Sorry Sony, but Johnny won this round by a long shot.
March 3rd, 2008 at 1:34 pm
Hello im here just leaving this message: Playstation 3 Rules!. Every new adition for the console has been very important for creating new interactive games, at now!
March 7th, 2008 at 5:19 pm
Funny how this technology is unveiled for the PS3 AFTER the Wii demo by Johnny Lee. Can’t Sony come up with anything original on their own? I agree with Joel though that the Wii head tracking seems to work better, even if it requires special glasses. What’s even nicer is that you don’t have to buy a new camera peripheral. Wii owners have all the required technology already, though they might want to buy a pair of Infrared LED glasses or simply make some, but that can’t be that expensive.
Also, does anyone know if the PS3 camera reads movement toward and away from the screen? It might, but I couldn’t tell for sure from the video. If it doesn’t, I’d say that gives Wii head tracking a SERIOUS advantage.
March 10th, 2008 at 8:41 pm
Umm - this is kinda lame because its only tracking 2D head movements - the coolest thing with Johnny Lee’s demo was that if you moved forward or backward, it would track you.
Sony should use a 3D head tracker, like www.faceapi.com
Just my 2c!