Free Your Hands with EyeAsteroids from Tobii
posted Sunday Nov 13, 2011 by Jon Wurm
Tobii is a company that offers eye tracking software and hardware solutions that can be applied to a wide variety of industries like surgery, assessment and diagnostics, consumer computer, law enforcement, automotive and, most importantly, gaming. While all of those other industries are relevant I just can't get past the fact that their eye control technology combines two things I greatly enjoy, playing videogames and not moving. Don't get me wrong, Kinect and PlayStation Move are just fine and offer enhanced gaming experiences but sometimes my hands need to stay out of the equation to keep me comfortable. Thankfully, this is also a philosophy that Tobii has taken to heart.
When playing the eye-controlled Tobii EyeAsteroids, your hands literally become superfluous. It is guaranteed to provide an entirely new experience that differs radically from traditional controls, dance pads and gesture-controlled games, where you need to actively do something to make things happen.
I can't think of a better way to introduce this new gaming control technology into the world than creating your own Eye Asteroids arcade console based on the classic Asteroids arcade game and that's exactly what they did. I could describe it but you should just check out the video after the break.
I would also point out that they spare no expense in testing their products under adverse conditions like inebriation and wearing Darth Vader masks. At the end of the video they make the statement, "This is going to be huge." I have no doubt that any product which allows you to idly sit or stand and drink beer while playing videogames will be anything but that. Sounds like my kind of company and a product we need to have at our offices.
So do you think eye controls have anything to offer the overall gaming experience? Let us know in the comments.