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In video games and entertainment systems, a motion controller is a type of game controller that uses accelerometers or other sensors to track motion and provide input.


History

Motion controllers using accelerometers are used as controllers for video games, which was made more popular since 2006 by the Wii Remote controller for Nintendo's
Wii The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America and in December 2006 for most other Regional lockout, regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major ho ...
console, which uses accelerometers to detect its approximate orientation and acceleration, and serves an image sensor, so it can be used as a pointing device. It was followed by other similar devices, including the
ASUS Eee Stick Asus Eee is a family of products by AsusTek Computer Inc. The product family began with the release of the Eee PC subnotebook in 2007; since then, the product family has diversified into a number of PC form factors. According to the company, the ...
, Sony PlayStation Move (which also uses
magnetometer A magnetometer is a device that measures magnetic field or magnetic dipole moment. Different types of magnetometers measure the direction, strength, or relative change of a magnetic field at a particular location. A compass is one such device, o ...
s to track the Earth's magnetic field and
computer vision Computer vision is an interdisciplinary scientific field that deals with how computers can gain high-level understanding from digital images or videos. From the perspective of engineering, it seeks to understand and automate tasks that the hum ...
via the PlayStation Eye to aid in position tracking), Joy-Con, and HP Swing. The PlayStation 3's first controller, the Sixaxis, included motion sensing at the notable loss of haptic feedback (vibration) due to interference concerns; these features were both included on the later DualShock 3. Other systems use different mechanisms for input, such as Microsoft's
Kinect Kinect is a line of motion sensing input devices produced by Microsoft and first released in 2010. The devices generally contain RGB cameras, and infrared projectors and detectors that map depth through either structured light or time of flig ...
, which combines infrared
structured light A structured light pattern designed for surface inspection An Automatix Seamtracker arc welding robot equipped with a camera and structured laser light source, enabling the robot to follow a welding seam automatically Structured light is the p ...
and computer vision, and the Razer Hydra, which uses a magnetic field to determine position and orientation. The Sega AM2
arcade game An arcade game or coin-op game is a coin-operated entertainment machine typically installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are presented as primarily games of skill and include arcade v ...
'' Hang-On'', designed by Yu Suzuki, was controlled using a video game arcade cabinet resembling a motorbike, which the player moved with their body. This began the "Taikan" trend, the use of motion-controlled hydraulic arcade cabinets in many arcade games of the late 1980s, two decades before motion controls became popular on video game consoles. The Sega Activator, based on the Light Harp invented by Assaf Gurner, an Israeli musician and Kung Fu martial artist who researched inter disciplinarian concepts to create the experience of playing an instrument using the whole body's motion, was released for the Mega Drive (Genesis) in 1993. It could read the player's physical movements and was the first controller to allow full-body motion sensing, The original invention related to a 3 octaves musical instrument that could interpret the user's gestures into musical notes via MIDI protocol. The invention was registered as patent initially in Israel on May 11, 1989, after 5 years of R&D. In 1992 the first complete Light Harp was created by Assaf Gurner and Oded Zur and was presented to Sega of America, However, it was a commercial failure due to its "unwieldiness and inaccuracy". Another early motion-sensing device was the Sega VR headset, first announced in 1991. It featured built-in sensors that tracked the player's movement and head position, but was never officially released. Another early example is the 2000 light gun shooter
arcade game An arcade game or coin-op game is a coin-operated entertainment machine typically installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are presented as primarily games of skill and include arcade v ...
'' Police 911'', which used motion sensing technology to detect the player's movements, which are reflected by the
player character A player character (also known as a playable character or PC) is a fictional character in a video game or tabletop role-playing game whose actions are controlled by a player rather than the rules of the game. The characters that are not control ...
within the game. The Atari Mindlink was an early proposed motion controller for the Atari 2600, which measured the movement of the user's eyebrows with a fitted headband.


Notable controllers

* Wii Remote (
Wii The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America and in December 2006 for most other Regional lockout, regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major ho ...
and Wii U) * Sixaxis ( PlayStation 3) * DualShock 3, 4 and DualSense (PlayStation 3,
PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013 in ...
and
PlayStation 5 The PlayStation 5 (PS5) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 4 in April 2019, it was launched on November 12, 2020, in Australia, Japan, New Zealand, North Ame ...
) * PlayStation Move (PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5) * Wii U GamePad (Wii U) *
Kinect Kinect is a line of motion sensing input devices produced by Microsoft and first released in 2010. The devices generally contain RGB cameras, and infrared projectors and detectors that map depth through either structured light or time of flig ...
( Xbox 360 and Xbox One) * Razer Hydra * Xavix * Joy-Con and Nintendo Switch Pro Controller (
Nintendo Switch The is a hybrid video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. The console itself is a Tablet computer#Gaming tablet, tablet that can either be docking station, docked for use as a home video ...
) * Steam Controller * Steam Deck


See also

* 3D motion controller * Flick Stick *
Gesture recognition Gesture recognition is a topic in computer science and language technology with the goal of interpreting human gestures via mathematical algorithms. It is a subdiscipline of computer vision. Gestures can originate from any bodily motion or sta ...
*
Motion capture Motion capture (sometimes referred as mo-cap or mocap, for short) is the process of recording the movement of objects or people. It is used in military, entertainment, sports, medical applications, and for validation of computer vision and robo ...
* Virtual reality headset


References

{{Reflist Game controllers American inventions