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Microsoft to buy Israeli Virtual Reality outfit |
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Written by Nick Farrell
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Wednesday, 18 February 2009 13:21 |
Next thing on the
Xbox
The delightfully understated Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has opened
his cheque book and started to haggle for an Israeli Virtual reality outfit
called 3DV Systems.
3DV Systems make some kit called the Zcam which allows
users to control games with their hands rather than needing a handset. Steve
has started negotiations at $35 million.
ZCam puts out short infrared pulses
and then measure the reflections off objects. Algorithms think about the
reflections and it means that it can judge the distance of different
objects.
Focusing on the player's hands means that it can run a variety of
applications depending on what the person is doing with their head, torso,
hands, or fingers. If Vole can get it working on the Xbox it means that it
would be able to do all the things that the Nintendo Wii can do only with much
better graphics and fewer wires.
The downside is if you do anything else with
your hands while you are playing you could end up doing something dumb.
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