From the moment Kinect landed in the homes of people, it was inevitable that this would happen. The only thing in question was when. The answer is now. There is now a video on the internet of someone using Kinect to recreate a lightsaber.
The creator basically did what every kid has done before and used a wooden stick to pretend he was Luke Skywalker. Except he also used the OpenKinect drivers and OpenCV to overlay light effects in real-time, so I guess his imagination just isn't as good as mine.
This is really starting to bug me. We had better see some revolutionary stuff coming out of the developers making games for Kinect. The last thing I want to see is the general public putting the industry to shame with their creativity and that's already seeming a likely proposition.
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searchmyday, and anyone else who brings up how laggy it is, keep in mind these are community written drivers. These are done with drivers made by people in there spare time, not Microsoft. The laggyness will go eventually, but I think right now they're focusing on compatibility and actually making it work, then focusing on the speed.
Mmmmm, I take the point about the drivers not being professionally produced but the lag there is very noticable and he's moving very, very slowly. If Qui Gon moved like that, Darth Maul would've killed him!
... but I thought "you are the controller" ... what's he using a stick for... he's supposed to just position his hands and pretend he holding a stick.
Basically he's making the Kinect into a Wii or PSMove game... with peripherals...
Wait.....doesn't holding something in your hands defeat the purpose of the Kinect? Aren't YOU the controller?!?!
If you ask me, this demo wasn't that great. No motion blur if he moved the stick fas--wait, he didn't move it fast. Also, no common lightsaber sound. Perhaps v2.0 will come around. Or a nerdier nerd will make a better one.
I don't care if it makes me sound like a fanboy, but I still say anything sword or lightsaber-related will ALWAYS have more potential with the Move of the Wii Remote if we're going to actually use it for gaming.
if you recall, the wiimote went through the same sort of testing phase. i doubt that any of this homebrew stuff will hit mainstream (again, look at the wiimote for proof), but it is very interesting...
also, when are you going to "gently shoot" sonyichiban in the face? he's worn out his welcome in the matter of what, two weeks?
Thing is the general public .... ok well the geek public will almost always upstage the industry if given half a chance and the motivation. Its just that magical balance of technically skilled and motivated that you need to get just right. If they are lucky they get bought out .... if their not they get C&D orders.
If they had drivers for Move, he could have actually turned the saber on and off with a cool animation, probably with much less lag (Tho I can't be sure of the exact source of lag in this instance, it could be kinect / drivers / his FX programme.)
Oh, btw, the light saber wouldn't have any shadow either, even better than the movies! (Yeah, light sabers in star wars movies, including the latest ones, have shadows.)
Um, hate to break it to ya Conrad, but the small-time, independent, home-brewed tech geniuses are ALREADY outpacing the industry. Kinect is an amazing piece of tech, but the industry is never going to do anything with it. Why? Because it was marketted as this kiddy toy, and that's exactly what it is.
The Kinect hardware is amazing. The Kinect product is not.
I can't say I've been impressed with the actual hardware of Kinect as of yet. It feels like the Wii Remote when it first came out; promised a lot, but there's some noticeable limitations of the movement and a lot of fumbling about when it comes to use it. I bet Microsoft are already working on a new piece of hardware that fulfils some of the device's earlier promises (scanning items, recognising finger movements) because there's some definite room for improvement.
That said, I reckon the inevitable Kinect lightsaber game wont be as cool as this. Again, it takes me back to the Wii Remote, when that Johnny Lee guy broke it open and came up with all sorts of technical wizardry that we've never seen a developer bother with. (I believe the guy was a designer of the Kinect hardware too!)
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Contest:
7:00 AM on 11.22.2010 | 
Oh.
Japanese Perverts are already on the progress of making something like that.
Your wooden stick is the lightsaber.
You're house is trashed from smashing stuff with the stick.
Your Mrs is dead from taking too many accidental broomsticks to the head.
Also, That broomstick looks like a Dildo with light superimposed onto it!!!! Lawl Dildo wagglestick...
Hopefully one day we will get it.
Hope hope hope hope hope hope hope hope hope hope hope hope hope hope
Basically he's making the Kinect into a Wii or PSMove game... with peripherals...
If you ask me, this demo wasn't that great. No motion blur if he moved the stick fas--wait, he didn't move it fast. Also, no common lightsaber sound. Perhaps v2.0 will come around. Or a nerdier nerd will make a better one.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thThYiyqPG0
Still, impressive video.
also, when are you going to "gently shoot" sonyichiban in the face? he's worn out his welcome in the matter of what, two weeks?
The Kinect hardware is amazing. The Kinect product is not.
That said, I reckon the inevitable Kinect lightsaber game wont be as cool as this. Again, it takes me back to the Wii Remote, when that Johnny Lee guy broke it open and came up with all sorts of technical wizardry that we've never seen a developer bother with. (I believe the guy was a designer of the Kinect hardware too!)
How come no one has hacked or connected their MOVE to a roomba or made a puppet demo???