Microsoft is buying 3DV Systems

Check out this article. It basically describes what "3dv systems" is and what it can do fot the 360.

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
it reacts to the Nintendo Wii, which revolutionized the game console industry
with its motion detection technology.

As I’ve mentioned, buying 3DV
would be the opening gambit in a next-generation user interface battle. It has
bearing on the future video game console war, but also likely involve the future
of gesture controls for the PC and TV.

The purchase price was very
small, thanks to the weak economy and the long gestation that this technology is
going through. 3DV has raised $38.5 million. 3DV’s investors include Elron, a
member of Nochi Dankner’s IDB group, Pitango, Kleiner Perkins Caufield &
Byers, and RDC Rafael Development Corp.

3DV has been working on its
ZCams for some time. These cameras function much like Sony’s EyeToy, but they’re
much more accurate at detecting motion. That’s because they’re 3-D depth
cameras, which sense how far away an object is from the camera. In the camera’s
black-and-white imaging, the closer objects are lighter and the more distant
objects are darker. The camera captures the locations of objects many times per
second, so it can detect an object and its trajectory, making it perfect for
game control purposes.

When I did a demo of the technology, I was able
to control a game just by waving my arms around. I could fly a plane by
pretending to hold a joystick and also box against a virtual fighter by throwing
punches toward the camera. The motion detection was accurate, much more so than
with the Wii, which uses relatively cheap but primitive accelerometers and
infrared technology for motion detection.

But 3DV’s cameras could also
be used to control a computer or serve as a remote control for a TV. 3DV is just
one of a bunch of companies in this area. Other 3-D depth camera makers include
Canesta and PrimeSense. Softkinetic is making software to make the technology
more usable, and GestureTek has a bunch of non-gaming gesture-based technologies
on the market. Sixense is making another kind of gesture-control interface using
magnetic fields.

Microsoft could either use 3DV Systems’ technology in a
new game that comes with a gesture-control accessory, or it could put the 3DV
technology into a brand new video game console. If it did the former, it could
very quickly introduce something better than the Wii for use with the current
Xbox 360 or the PC. The gesture-control accessory could work with just one game,
much like Activision Blizzard packages a guitar accessory with its Guitar Hero
games.

The risk of that strategy is that game developers aren’t likely
to develop games that take advantage of that accessory unless that game is a
massive hit. More ideally, Microsoft could wait until it can introduce the new
gesture-control technology with a new game console in a few years. That way,
developers can create games for it knowing that every single console sold will
have the gesture control. The risk of waiting is that the Wii is likely to clean
up in the meantime.

The Wii is the No. 1 game console, even though its
graphics aren’t as good as the Xbox 360’s or the Sony PlayStation 3’s.

[via venturebeat.com]