Project Natal update: looking good! March 6, 2010
Posted by Cesar in gaming me.Tags: camera, computer vision, lag, lionhead, molyneux, project natal
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Peter Molyneux, the famous Lionhead designer behind the Fable series, recently talked about improvement in Natal technology. In a previous post, I mentioned Project Natal was dropping the internal chip and the camera had disturbing lags that were preventing optimal gameplay.
It seems Microsoft is taking care of that and the new version of the device is a lot better. I also noticed it is not mentioned anywhere that the hardware reached it’s final state. That means Microsoft is still working to make it even better, which is great.
So one of the concerns, the lag, is apparently going to be resolved by the end of the year, when Project Natal hits the market.
I would love to see the internal chip go back into the product, but that’s not going to happen. However, while it is true that the lack of the internal processor will limit updates to already existing games, the absence of camera lag ensures Project Natal will be as revolutionary as it can be for the new games. I can’t wait to play with it.
See you space cowboys…
Project Natal: changes and concerns January 10, 2010
Posted by Cesar in thinking me.Tags: camera, chip, computer vision, games, microsoft, project natal, range sensors
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Gamesindustry.biz recently announced Microsoft is dropping the internal chip from Project Natal. Even though there’s some talk about the move being related to making updates easier, it is clearly a move to drop costs. It is understandable, as the device must ship at a reasonable price to succeed.
However, from my previous experiences with computer vision solutions, this might represent a big drawback. Natal is not supposed to be a simple toy, targeting unique, exquisite experiences. It is supposed to act as a reliable replacement for controllers in many ways. Computer vision algorithms, like the ones necessary to process both texture and range data the sensors provide, require significant processing, specially if reliability and response time are big issues (as it is clearly the case).
That means not only old games will not get updates (because there won’t be a processor budget to spare for the vision algorithms), but also that new games using the technology will have to reduce processing somewhere else in order to make the system as responsive and reliable as it has to be.
Not all is lost though and I still have hope. I don’t think Microsoft would make this decision without some confidence most of the appeal will still be there. What I can say is that the presence of the range sensors (as opposed to a simple camera) means a lot of the algorithms can be much simpler than in texture only solutions. Tasks like background subtraction, for example, are almost free when range data is available. And pose detection, be that of the head, hands or the whole body, is also simplified, since the range information makes things less ambiguous.
But there’s also no question a dedicated chip would make the impact bigger and increase the usability of the device. Developers will now have to decide between keeping Natal functionality or improving AI and other gameplay areas.
In a related note, the article also mentions Microsoft is struggling with a 100 ms delay in the system. That’s a very common issue with imaging devices: just turn on your webcam and notice the lag. In a way that’s an even more serious problem than the drop of the chip, since a hardware delay cannot be fixed by software optimization alone, meaning no matter how simple the game is, the delay will still be there. But, again, there’s hope. The fact that it is a well known problem that MS is working to solve means it will probably not be there when Natal is released by the end of the year. Or at least that’s what I hope.
See you space cowboys…
I had to come to Canada January 10, 2010
Posted by Cesar in gaming me.Tags: burglar, camera, notebook, robber, small time crooks, woody allen
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Funny how life plays tricks on you sometimes, eh? I lived for years in Brazil. My parents place was robbed once when I had just gotten my NES for Christmas (luckily they didn’t take it!). And that was it. Even living in São Paulo, I never had problems.
I had to come to Canada to be robbed again. On Friday some small time crook (by the way there’s a great Woody Alen by that name) broke into our appartment and took our notebook and digital camera. My wife’s theory is that they found out we were from Brazil and wanted us to feel at home. Sounds like a pretty solid explanation to me.
Because of my nerdiness everything in the HD was password protected, so the bastards can’t get much information from it without some effort. So I lost some piece of software I was developing but it wasn’t much and we lost a lot of pictures, which is a shame. Thankfully, we are very good at turning lemons into lemonade. Yesterday I got a new and improved notebook, which I spent up till now configuring, and a new camera (again much better than the one I had before). So now it is all good.
I hope it doesn’t happen again though. There’s only so much lemonade I can take.
See you space cowboys…
gaming me 