Richard Marks, designer of Sony’s PlayStation Move controller stated earlier this year that “buttons are irreplaceable as an input device,” but PrimeSense, the Israeli company which makes the motion-sensing control chip for Microsoft’s Kinect hands-free controller, is hoping that the rest of the world doesn’t feel that way.
Primesense CEO Inon Beracha announced last week that the company plans to license the Immersive Natural Interaction technology control chip to be used in devices other than Kinect, and will release their code under an open license.
The first product to use the technology will be the WAVI Xtion, which is a "next-generation user interface device" developed by Asus and designed to add PC functionality to televisions. The Xtion will allow multimedia content, Internet and social network access, and other PC interactions to be controlled on the TV using only gestures from the viewers.
Also planned are Xtion PRO tools, including an API, which will allow developers to incorporate the gesture-based interactive technology into third-party software products.
Beracha says that his company’s technology is "a new paradigm" that shows how future consumer devices "will eventually be naturally controlled and operated" through the use of body movements.
Consumers seem to be much more receptive to the Kinect than Marks had predicted, as it sold over 2.5 million units in the first month it was available. PrimeSense and Asus will learn if the public will be as receptive to their product sometime after the second half of this year when the WAVI Xtion is rolled out in PC-enabled TVs around the world. There is no word yet on pricing.
I can see why motion-based gaming control has become popular, but I don’t quite see the appeal of motion-sensing input for web surfing and television control. Can you imagine what it would be like to channel surf without a remote control in-hand? Perhaps I’ll change my mind once I see these types of products in action.
