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Braben: Kinect 'better for accuracy' than mouse or analogue
Posted: 25.07.2011 11:59 by Simon Priest Comments: 2
Elite creator David Braben, boss of Frontier Development, has praised Kinect for providing the 'best accuracy' to date for an input device, unlike the analogue stick.

Analogue "not precise enough" to match the mouse, which is "pretty precise" but even that's not ideal. It's a "perception of accuracy," he says. Kinect is different.


"If you think of the analogue stick for example, if you just show the position of the analogue stick on the screen as a blob, it jitters around all over the place," said Braben. RollerCoaster Tycoon developer Frontier created Kinectimals for Xbox 360.

"When we first got analogue controls we thought, oh yes, you can use it like a mouse. But actually, you can't. It's not precise enough. The mouse is pretty precise, but that's only because that's also a relative device."

"So the way we tend to use analogue sticks is you're doing it as the direction of movement you're controlling. You're not controlling position. Similarly with the mouse, the wheel underneath has got the phase counter on that tracks the relative position. It's just incremental," continued the videogame design veteran.

"So it feels accurate. But actually it's not that accurate. Same with the analogue stick. So, there's a perception of accuracy." Kinect's motion sensor however directly monitor's your position and relays it to the console, with its accuracy "unbelievable" to Braben.

"It's one of the first things where you can actually use the position directly as a position, not just as a relative movement. That is a change. We haven't come to terms with how best to use that. We're getting better with each stage," he added.

We're approaching the 'second wave' of Kinect titles which most believe will prove to be far superior in utilising what the motion camera has to offer. Have you be enjoying Microsoft's Kinect for Xbox 360? What's your ideal game using the fancy Kinect tech?

Source: Eurogamer

Comments

By FoolWolf (SI Elite) on Jul 25, 2011
FoolWolf
Calling the Kinect accurate is indeed a way to set a value to these ramblings.... None, the Kinect is fun and cool but not accurate. The input is slower then any direct control device, it is very sensitive and a bad game in ways of reading your position and motions will show directly. Even games like Brunswick bowling, you easily get stuck because the camera can't figure out what you're doing. Part from that, the idea could be something if developed.
By neilmike (SI Core) on Jul 26, 2011
neilmike
is he stupid or what?? , hasn't he heard you can use kinect for windows as well...