Okay Geek Farm
Razer Hydra - Motion controls done right
Ricardo Trejo
Motion controls may be a fad of the modern controller, and in since we’re so used to seeing them with casual titles it’s hard to imagine that there might be one used for the hardcore PC gamer. Well, it appears that Razer and Sixense have joined forces to make the impossible possible, and perhaps make the greatest motion controller ever — one that even gamers themselves might prefer over a traditional mouse and keyboard.
Whereas the design may not be anything new — taken straight out of a page from the Wii’s Nunchuk and Sony’s Move controllers — it seems to be motion controls done right. Rather than using an infrared sensor or an eye-toy peripheral to track the movement of the wands, the Hydra comes equipped with a base station that creates an electro-magnetic field with a radius of 6 feet — while the wands are used within this perimeter, the controllers can create 1:1 movement.
A demonstration was shown using the control scheme with Portal 2, made especially by Valve to run natively with the Hydra. Also seen was another video of the controllers being used in Call of Duty: Black Ops.
Pricewise, nothing is solid at the moment considering the hardware is still a prototype, but word has it that Razer is eyeing somewhere below the 3-digit mark. Imagine having this sort of precise controls (2 wands and the base) for less than the price of the entire Playstation Move set! Not to mention that when the product launches (early next year - 2012), it will be packaged with that aforementioned, special version of Portal 2.
