Next-Gen Motion Control on the Horizon

If you have ever asked for more from your gaming experience, you will be pleased to know there is a next-generation controller on the horizon. Game developers Valve and Sixense Entertainment have partnered with gaming hardware developer Razer in a multi year deal. The goal is to develop a next generation controller that will be more adapted at immersing the player in the gaming experience. Producing a “revolutionary true-to-life, next-generation motion sensing and gesture recognition controller for PC gaming.” I know what you’re saying, sure this new next-generation controller will be able to recognize gestures as well as sense motion, but will it be accurate? The controller, to quote the developers, will be ‘ultra-precise one-to-one motion sensing controllers that use electromagnetic fields to track precise movements along all six axes.’ The control from Razer will be able to track its orientation within a single degree, if that isn’t enough it will also be able to track its position down to the millimeter. Pretty cool, considering the current systems leave a lot to be desired. The controller was demoed recently at CES. The game that was played was Left 4 Dead 2 and allowed you to get an early look at the prototype. There the project leader Chet Faliszek made the bold statement that “this release represents motion-enabled gaming that’s more integrated and visceral than any platform has so far achieved.” But with companies like Valve and Sixense teaming up, you can be sure there is some major backing behind the project. The companies co-founder and chairman, Avi Arid, has already made a huge stir in the movie industry by producing a long list of successful Marvel comic inspired films. He also has the movie rights to Mass Effect and is set to produce the Lost Planet and Uncharted movies. He has come a long way from toy maker in the eighties and early nineties. This next-gen controller looks like a winner, and it is surely something I will be keeping an eye open for. And I won’t have to wait long, the controller is scheduled to be released later this year.