Sony Says Games Will Read Emotions in 10 Years
Sony is talking crazy, indicating that games may be able to tell if you're lying or depressed just ten years down the road. We'll stick with growing crops, thanks.
Seriously, when do games stop being games and cross over into virtual reality? This was the question I asked Nvidia months ago at ECGC 2011, and was told there will always be a market for the high-end PC gamer with the rig nearly the size of a bookcase. But putting visual realism aside, what will happen when games suddenly stop acting like games, and become more like a self-aware super AI that could possibly one day sing you happy birthday or annihilate the human race?
According to Sony Worldwide Studios chief Shuhei Yoshida, platform holders will be able to offer "almost dangerous kinds of interactivity" with the player within the next ten years. Games will know more about the player on a whole, know how they could be feeling by reading more than just player movements. Titles will be so "immersive" that players will serve as actors, as a true participant within the virtual realm.
"As far as I’m concerned, the motion control of today is like the 8-bit phase of video games," Yoshida said last week at a behind-closed-doors Gamescom panel debate. "There are so many limitations. Talking about sensors, the game will eventually know more about the player. Not just movement, but where you are looking and how you could be feeling. It’s really difficult to judge this, but I’d like to think that in ten years game developers will have access to player information in real-time. We can create some really… almost dangerous kinds of interactivity."
Mick Hocking, a senior director at Sony Worldwide Studios, chimed in when asked if Sony was currently testing technologies relying on biometric data. Naturally he dodged answering the question directly by stating that Sony does lots of R&D in these areas.
"Having a camera being able to study a player’s biometrics and movements [is possible],” Hocking said. "So perhaps you can play a detective game that decides whether you’re lying due to what it reads from your face."
"In ten years’ time I’d like to think we’ll be able to form a map of the player, combining other sorts of sensory data together, from facial expressions to heart rate," he continued. "You can see how, over a period of time, you can form a map of the player and their emotional state, whether they’re sad or happy. Maybe people in their social network can comment on it. The more accurate that map can become, the more we can tailor it to the experience."
Hocking seems to hope that AI in ten year's time won't still feel like "acting," but will react more naturally, independent of scripts and pre-determined movements. "In Uncharted you can see games are getting closer to lifelike actor performances, but [despite] the more accurate they are becoming as an acting performance, it’s still acting. Will we have AI that allows us to talk to and truly interact with a character? Will we be able to show the character objects it can recognize?"
Do gamers really need that kind of interaction? Again, when do games stop serving as games, and become more like virtual reality experiences? As long as the AI doesn't start popping off family members in fear of being disconnected from the (home or space station) network, we should be good to go.
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This is creepy but interesting. I don't see this function being used for any actual game-play but it could become a useful tool. One could practice speaking to a virtual crowd to get better at speaking to a audience. Perhaps it could be used to make those of us who tend to be a little socially awkward to not get maced by women anymore. (Not that, that has ever happened to me)
If its programmed to give feedback and give tips to the user it would easily be a replacement to practicing in-front of a mirror.
lol, im betting only the most basic, like happy, sad and mad, unless they hook you up to crap to monitor brain waves and such.
Got my PS6 console, playing final fantasy XIX. Female character came up in the game, stared at me disgusted and said, "Anata wa hentaidesu!"
The future...
CIA...the new game by EA. It reads emotions like no other.
It's no fun to have in-game NPC telling me that I'm faking orgasm to "her".
When it sees that you're frustrated, it will make the game even harder. That would be evil.
This is already being done on the PC http://www.emotiv.com/store/hardwa [...] roheadset/
There are about out a dozen that use webcams to detect your emotion and extend it to online games as well.
10 years? the tech exists now and is being used on the pc and can be ported to consoles.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/232617 [...] lXyfahvAZM
Sony = Skynet ?
Noob [knife] killed x Heavy
Noob [knife] killed x Heavy...
x Heavy [Ragequit]
no no no no and no.
Demo of emotiv mind controller this is back in 2008 it works in games such as world of warcraft ect it detects your emotion and is input into game no need to type LOL or any other expressions.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M89 [...] re=related
so the tech existed before 2008 im sure they are working with it now using move camera.
Great! I can tell that I would fall in love with the console, Sony would remove selling feature, and all i'm left with is a case of herpes!! Well I won't being falling for Sonys tricks this time around.
If a game ever requires me to smile to continue it will be a sad day lol btw: I think Sony is a bit out of touch the past few years.
Lets see... Origin from EA selling private information to 3rd partys, Sony getting hacked... And now they say in 10 years this. Am i the only one who thinks this is freakin dangerous?
Gamer feels really depressed, has a gun or knife on the coffee table. The game systems camera picks up the data and within several minutes there is a knock at the door, the real world feds/cops have decided you are dangerous and need to be arrested, for your own good of course.
Or, sing you happy birthday and annihilate the human race because you woke up PO'ed at the world and your computer only wants to make you happy.
I will be : | and : / all the time
poor autistic kids.
"As far as I’m concerned, the motion control of today is like the 8-bit phase of video games. There are so many limitations."
Well, as far as I'm concerned, both the Wii and 360 seem to be succeeding pretty well with unique motion-based experiences. Just because Sony doesn't know how to innovate anything beyond waiting for the competition to release a product and then carbon copy it and market it as its own doesn't mean the industry is limited... Maybe the reason Sony had such lackluster security was because it didn't have a public example to copy from... But now I'm just beating the dead horse.
On a somewhat related note, I don't see things like this ever taking off mainstream unless they can be conveniently built into handheld controllers. Setting up a motion sensor bar or a Kinect camera is one thing, but having lots of Wii Fit-like biometric devices laying around just to play certain games that are developed to use some and not others just doesn't sound so great. No one is going to invest in a biometric device that supports two titles.
I agree with the sentiments of the last paragraph; "games" like this in most cases aren't really games. Motion sensing still feels like just a gimmick to me, and IMO, Nintendo is really the only one that's integrated it very well into their DS and Wii to give many titles an immersive motion sensing experience. But I guess that can be attributed to the fact that both of those platforms were designed with the motion control in mind, whereas Move and Kinect were adopted much later on.
That being said, the big motion control titles have all but died out and the industry is back to focusing mostly on the traditional format of games. That's because gimmicks alone just don't work. Look at the 3DS.
So the AI will interact with you, huh. I really just want to play the game instead of arguing with the characters.
Still waiting for holodeck porn. I know that this will be the end of the human race, but I'm still looking forward to it.
oh great so in ten years , when teh duck hunt 2020 , dog laughs at us , it will actualy know it is pissing us off severly , in stead of just doing it unkonwingly LOL.
hmm actually i dont think games reading our emotions is of any use , unless they make the game tone down it's tatics when it notices we are getting frusterated. iotherwise it would jsut be a useless gimick
I think gathering biometric data could be very useful in setting difficulty levels.
Instead of the relative settings of "Easy", "Medium" and "Hard", you would have "Relaxing", "Tense", and "Stressful", where those would gather biometric data (pulse, sweat, tension) on the user (preferably, just through the controller) and then adjust the game on-the-fly.
It's an interesting gimmick, and I can applaud Sony for at least thinking of their own for once instead of just taking someone else's. Use your imaginations. How about instead of having to select through a list of optional responses in a JRPG, the game senses your emotion and reacts accordingly, changing the storyline to your personality or mood. A Sony ripoff of Nintendogs/Kinectimals could have the animals actually respond to you. Best of all, the hookers in GTA6 will actually sense your loneliness and come to proposition you.
The entire intention of a video game is to play a role you normally wouldn't be able to in a place you normally wouldn't be able to go to. Immersion is the real future of gaming, because it further immerses you into the fictional world you're playing in. 3D, motion gaming, and now this all push us closer to the holodeck type scenario. It may not be functional or precise now, but eventually they will get it working properly.
Though advancement is good and exciting, this is somewhat unsettling too.
So how long before I can order to have a holodeck installed in my garage?
User: Im really hungry i think i will get up and go eat lunch
Portal 4: "I'm sorry but i cant let you do that ....