Hasta La Gadget!

Heads up, PlayStation fans. Sony filed an interesting patent last year and it has just been made public today. The patent is for a hybrid DualShock/Move gaming controller, meaning that you could use it as a normal controller just like any of Sony’s other DualShock devices, or you could split it apart to make two Move controllers.

The controller is officially called the “Hybrid Separable Motion Controller”, and while it’s a bold idea, the execution is mostly what you’d expect. It’s simply just two Move orbs attached on top of a DualShock controller. Then, the controller is detachable in the middle, with each half stuffed with an accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetometer, vibration capability, and even a speaker.

Obviously, the hybrid controller can be operated either separately or locked together into one unit, and it’s designed in a way that games will be able to detect which configuration is in use. If you’re worried about the thing flying out of your hands, some of the drawings even show a wrist strap attach to each of the two sides.

We’re not sure if Sony intends to use this concept in the PlayStation 3 or maybe even future devices. It’s also possible that this could just be an idea that they may never end up using, so keep your fingers crossed and we’ll see what Sony comes up with in the future. It’s possible that we could see something new from them at E3 2013, but we’ll keep an open mind until then.

[via GameSpot]

Sony files patent for hybrid DualShock/Move controller is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

The group of folks bent on crafting a real-life version of Star Trek’s “Holodeck” — a virtual playground, essentially — are getting official support from gaming hardware company Razer. That support means not only access to Razer’s hardware but also the company’s staff of trained professionals. The Project Holodeck team have already implemented Razer’s “Hydra” — a PC-based motion controller that originally shipped with Portal 2 — into their work on Holodeck showcase game, “Wild Skies.”

But that’s not the only big news for Project Holodeck, as the team recently swapped Microsoft’s Kinect motion tech for Sony’s PlayStation Move motion tech. Project lead James Iliff told RoadtoVR.com, “The Kinect hardware is extremely lacking in fidelity. Every point the Kinect tracks is filled with unmanageable jitter, rendering the data useless for anything other than the most simple of interactions. We tried very hard to get around this with several software algorithms we wrote, to get multiple Kinects to communicate with each other, however this did not really make anything more accurate unfortunately.” In place of Kinect, the team strapped a PlayStation Move setup to a Pro-Tec skateboard helmet, and combined that tracking with the Hydra’s motion control and Oculus Rift’s head-mounted display. The result is … well, it’s a person standing in a room with a whole bunch of electronics attached to their person. But also, it allows players to interact in a 3D environment — from perception to engagement. The team’s still got plenty of work ahead of them, as evidenced by their latest video (below), but it sounds like things are coming together more cohesively than before.

Continue reading Project Holodeck gets help from Razer, swaps Kinect for Move tracking

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Project Holodeck gets help from Razer, swaps Kinect for Move tracking originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 18 Sep 2012 13:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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