Gesture Gaming’s Future

Originally this was going to be a related and informative article of the PlayStation 4 Eye vs Xbox one Kinect, but seeing that Microsoft has decided to kill the connection and with it the hopes and dreams of all its loyal controller free gamers, we will focus on how Sony will come to the rescue. Microsoft is boasting a replacement sensor, the Azure Kinect DK, but this sensor is geared towards the developer and not the end game consumer. Over and above cancelling the manufacturing of the connect, Microsoft will also no longer produce the connecter that made it possible to utilize the Kinect with the Xbox One S and X. So, with that, let’s put a smile back on the gesture gamers faces.

The PlayStation 4 Eye

This fascinating device comes with a pair of cameras (1280 x 800) four microphones and an 85⁰ angle of view.

The Cameras

These two lenses have been conceptualized to be used in multiple ways. They triangulate the three-dimensional area, recognize gestures, track your body movements as the late Kinect did. With PlayStations older camera, there was only one camera to do all the work, but now with two, one will focus on picture quality while the other is devoted to tracking motion.

The Microphones

The four microphones in the PlayStation 4 Eye are reported to be capable of accurately detecting sound and its origin; this means players are now capable of using their voices to enjoy more intuitive gaming.

The Wide Angle View

The two cameras mentioned above have an 85⁰ diagonal angle view which aids the machine in recognizing depth correctly. This allows the PlayStation 4 Eye to “cut-out” the player from the background and to understand the player’s position about other players, allowing for a wider variety of ways to play and enjoy the games.

Other Features

This Eye is jam-packed with features, and due to the upgrades and remodelling, users can now log into their profiles using face recognition. The PlayStation 4 Eye also senses the colour of DualShock 4’s light bar to calculate positions of multiple players or to use a player’s positioning for a character to directly address the player making games more “realistic”, integrated and captivating.
PlayStation 4 Eye supports PlayStation Move motion controller as well, detecting the motion of PS Move more accurately, making in-game actions more precise than ever before.

Technical Specs

The external dimensions of the PS4 Eye are roughly 18.6cm x 2.7cm x 2.7cm and weigh a mere 183g, a lot lighter than the almost 1kg Kinect. Video pixels set at a maximum are 1280 x 800 with adjustable frame rates of 60, 120 and 240 frames per second depending on the selected pixel ratios. The video format is RAW and YUV when uncompressed. The dual lenses have a capturing range of 30cm to infinity with its before-mentioned acute angle field of view. It connects to the PlayStation 4 via a dedicated auxiliary connector with a cable length of approximately 2 meters.