Video: Softkinetic’s gesture-based video games

Softkinetic, a company that wants to help people play video games using their bodies as controllers, was on stage at our GamesBeat 2009 conference today to give us a preview of its technology, which it’s been working on for six years. We wrote about Softkinetic… Continue Reading

Canesta scores its 37th U.S. patent for gesture-control technology

Canesta scores its 37th U.S. patent for gesture-control technology

Maybe I’m paranoid, but I can smell a legal battle coming in gesture control for TVs, computers, game consoles and other gadgets.

Maybe it’s because Canesta is soon to announce its 37th patent. Normally, that wouldn’t be a big deal, but innovations in user-interfaces are hot… Continue Reading

Sources confirm Microsoft is buying 3DV Systems

Sources confirm Microsoft is buying 3DV Systems

A report surfaced last week that Microsoft was buying 3DV Systems, a company that makes motion-detection technology, for $35 million. My sources confirm that this is true.

Microsoft and 3DV declined to comment to me last week.

Motion-detection will be big for the future direction of Microsoft, as… Continue Reading

CES overview: trends for this year’s technology

CES overview: trends for this year’s technology

I’ve talked about the regrettable 3-D TV trend at last week’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas in a separate post. But I spotted some other trends among the 2,700 exhibitors at the show as well.

Gesture control and multi-touch screens: Part and parcel of good… Continue Reading

Dean’s top 10 picks for the best of CES

Dean’s top 10 picks for the best of CES

It’s never easy to pick the top 10 new products and technologies at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES). This year, there were more than 20,000 products from 2,700 vendors across 1.8 million square feet of space. I saw every one of them. That’s right…. Continue Reading

3DV fleshes out gesture-based gaming plans, hires North American chief

3DV fleshes out gesture-based gaming plans, hires North American chief

Inspired by the Nintendo Wii’s clever wand-like game controller, gesture-recognition start-ups are coming out of the woodwork. Israel’s 3DV Systems is one of the contenders and it is showing more of its cards.

The Yokne’am, Israel company said it plans to launch a low-cost gesture-recognition camera… Continue Reading

Throw away the Wii — 3D sensing technology due within a year, says SoftKinetic

Throw away the Wii — 3D sensing technology due within a year, says SoftKinetic

While we’ve written several times recently about the progress of next-generation, camera-based game control technologies, including the hefty funding received by Prime Sense and an earlier update on several competing companies, there’s one detail we’ve edged around: When you’ll get to use them for yourself…. Continue Reading

Gesture recognition technology for games poised for breakthrough

Gesture recognition technology for games poised for breakthrough

update
In ten years, the gaming instruments we use today will look ridiculously old-fashioned.

The Nintendo Wii is big because it lets you move things on your screen with gestures of your hand, using a motion-sensitive paddle. But that’s nothing compared with what’s coming: controlling the screen… Continue Reading