Conversation: Wired Blog-- GameLife (Re-Write)

Conversation: Wired Blog-- GameLife (Re-Write)

Original Post:

Bill Gates: One Day, Video Games Will Let You Swing a Tennis Racket

By Chris Kohler June 04, 2007 | 3:56:30 PMCategories: Console Games

From Bill Gates' and Steve Jobs' joint presentation at the D5 conference, some ruminations from the Microsoft big cheese about the future of motion-sensing video games:

Gates: Software is doing vision and so, you know, imagine a game machine where you’re just going to pick up the bat and swing it or the tennis racket and swing it.

[the moderators say he's describing the Wii]

Gates: No, that’s not it. You can’t pick up your tennis racket. And swing it.

He went on to explain that he's talking about video recognition -- a camera that watches you swing an actual tennis racket, then translates that imagery into game data. Then again, what's the difference, really, besides the fact that one of those technologies already works and the other one doesn't?

(The opening post initiated the conversation by reporting on an incident and then including personal opinion. Bill Gates, and Microsoft in general, are known for either buying-out the competition or copying it, and when Bill Gates said that he would like to have a technology that could simulate the swing of a bat, Chris Kohler (the author) points out that there is already such a technology, the Wii, and it happens to be made by Nintendo, a competitor of Microsoft. I personally think that the Wii has met with success because it dared to depart from the traditional archetype of consoles and has reached out to a wider audience. It is currently beating the Xbox 360 and the PS3 because it is cheaper and appealing to people outside of the traditional gamer demographic.)


Comments: (6)

I like how Microsoft have gone from slyly copying other's ideas, such as Firefox's tabbed browsing, and passing them off as their own without much fanfare, to actively trying to steal another's ideas with just the simplest of embellishments in a public forum and then openlly deny it. It you chopped the handle off a racket and replaced with with the Wiimote you have exactly the experience Gates is talking about.

Posted by: JC | Jun 4, 2007 2:45:14 PM

(This comment agrees with the original post and adds additional reasoning. I agree with this, and believe that Gates is trying to steal the thunder of Nintendo.)

Obviously, Bill's really talking about the EyeToy from Sony, rather than the Wii.

Posted by: Ducky | Jun 4, 2007 2:56:45 PM

(This comment suggests that Microsoft is not, in fact, trying to copy Nintendo, but that it is attempting to copy Sony, their other major competitor. It is true that the idea Gates was talking about was closer to the EyeToy, but I think the motivation behind his words was spawned by the Wii.)

ummm... not really, because if microsoft's video recognition really does work, it will be able to simulate somewhat exact movements. when the wiimote only detects movements, and can't translate the movements into the game.

Posted by: RCR | Jun 4, 2007 3:18:51 PM

(This post is defending Microsoft in response to the attacks that were made on it in previous posts. By suggesting that Microsoft's "video recognition" would be more accurate and responsive than the Wii currently is, the author is validating Bill Gates' comments. I suppose it would be possible, in a couple decades, to have amazingly accurate video recognition, but currently, and for the forseeable future, the Wii is the best movement recognition out there.)

Please hurry up with this new tennis software. I can't run anymore because of arthritis. I love the game and wish I could play again. I can't wait!

Posted by: Ms. Jean | Jun 4, 2007 3:53:32 PM

(This post seems to be somewhat naive, as the author does not appear to be aware of the current tennis games available for the Wii, that simulate swinging the racket.)

RCR: If anything, I'd say that the Wiimote is far more precise than camera technology is likely to be. The Wiimote has every little bit of data -- the force applied to the controller via the X, Y, and Z axes over time, and can also read absolute position. Of course it can translate these movements into the game, it's just a matter of a game designer doing it.

I eagerly await the day when a camera can do the exact same thing just by eyeballing someone's off-the-shelf tennis racket...

Ms. Jean: Buy a Wii!

Posted by: Chris Kohler | Jun 4, 2007 4:01:07 PM

(The author of the original post responds to several of the other comments here, defending his stance that the Wii is potentially much more accurate than any camera technology. He also mentions that he hopes the day will come when camera technology is powerful enough to match the Wii. Further, he responds to a previous post, suggesting that she purchase a Wii to simulate playing tennis)

I hope tennis rackets and baseball bats are equipped with *very* strong wrist straps in the future.

Posted by: chesh | Jun 4, 2007 4:37:21 PM

(This post is made partly in jest, in reference to the snapping of wrist straps on wiimotes that reportedly broke several TV's and windows when the remote went flying through the air. I personally think that the damage wiimotes created was due to the user. Having played the Wii for several months with the original cord, I have never thrown it. Perhaps alcohol was involved in many cases.)

Posted by Sordan at 7:29 PM 6 comments