This article is from WeChat public account: brain diodes (ID: unity007) , author: I am imposing a panda, drawing from the title: Oriental IC

Nintendo does not allow players to continue to do fat house, who else do not know?

The recently released somatosensory game “Fitness Ring Battle” on the Switch platform has attracted a large number of players with the “hard core fitness” label. One can add a handle Pilates ring, combined with the handle strap on the thigh. With two handles combined with recording sensor data, it is possible to detect in-situ running, high leg raising, deep squatting and other fitness exercises. Combine these actions with the game mechanics such as Shaoguan, Chongbang, Boss, etc., so that players can hardly move.

The fresh play of the Pilates ring, coupled with the powerful sense of subtle sense of motion, has been enough to impress gamers, hardcore fitness, and attracted non-Nintendo fans. a sports fan. In the first week of the sale, it was ranked first in the physical game sales list in Japan, the United Kingdom and other countries. For somatosensory games, it is undoubtedly a phenomenal level.

The special feature of Switch as a host product is the combination of mobility. The overall host size and detachable handle allow players to play anytime, anywhere. According to this logic, can the somatosensory game enter the field of mobile games?

AI doesn’t work: Why can’t we use the camera for somatosensory games


The current popular mobile games are mostly concentrated in FPS, MOBA, cards, etc., but the mobile market is not without body.Sense game. Many mobile phone manufacturers have launched simple somatosensory games such as throwing frisbee and skiing.

But the way these vendors use it is to connect the phone to the TV through a dock with a Type-C interface, project the game screen on the big screen, and then capture the player’s movements through the camera’s rear camera or depth sensor. Body recognition and other algorithms to calculate player scores.


But this game mode has not been widely used. According to the feedback from the players, the long-term real-time body shape calculation makes it easy for the mobile phone to increase power consumption and heat. In particular, some mobile phones have limited computing power, which causes the game to not accurately recognize the player’s movements, or the phenomenon of carton in the game process. In particular, different products have different application environment requirements, and players are often required to take 2-3 meters from the mobile phone to capture the action. In short, the player’s experience is not good enough.

Although the manufacturers tried to be creative, the test launches of the manufacturers have limited response, and there are not many models that can support this somatosensory game mode. So few game manufacturers participate in this category. . So the somatosensory game has not opened its own day in the mobile game.

Entertainment for the future of the big screen


In fact, from the experience of the host such as Switch, Wii, Xbox, etc., most of the somatosensory games use the sensors in the handle to record the player’s movement track. If the camera + algorithm is a better solution, the host product will already add related peripherals. In theory, the mobile phone also has a wealth of sensors, including the combination of the screw and the acceleration sensor.Powerful terminal computing power can also achieve the effect of tracking player movements in somatosensory games.

The problem is. If you think of the phone body as the Kinect for recording action, the player can’t see the screen display content, so many games can only add some somatosensory elements symbolically. Just like the mobile game PokemonGO, which is also from Nintendo, and the AR mobile game “War Machine”, which was once on the Apple conference, they added some somatosensory elements that enhance the sense of substitution. But these somatosensory elements are not necessary, and closing the somatosensory function will not affect the normal game flow.

But the display and somatosensory functions are incomparable, and there has been a mitigating trend.

This year, the TV industry has once again undergone technological advancement. In particular, the promoter of this technological advancement is the mobile phone manufacturer. Huawei, glory, Xiaomi, etc. have all introduced the concept of “smart screen”, and each manufacturer has proposed the interaction between the mobile phone itself and the smart screen. At the same time, in the IoT layout of mobile phone manufacturers, there are also products such as smart bracelets, watches, etc. These products also have the sensing functions necessary for somatosensory games. So since the problem of somatosensory operation and game content can not be solved, it has been solved.

In addition to hardware issues, somatosensory games are more in line with the current dividends in the gaming industry.

Since the PC era, the game that should have been the ninth art has been criticized at the same time, and game makers have tried to introduce anti-addiction mechanism and limit the age of players, but it is still difficult to elute the original sin. At this time, functional games that can bear the positive effects of cultural science, education, medical care, etc., have a broader development space. According to the “China Function Game Talent Report” jointly released by Gamma Data and Perfect World Education Research Institute, the annual average compound growth rate of the global function game market from 2017 to 2023 is about 19.2%, which also represents the scale of the game function market in 2023. Expected to reach 91.700 million US dollars.

The somatosensory game of the main sports like “Fitness Ring Adventure” is obviously able to borrow this kind of east wind.

Smart wear, big screen and mobile phone itself, will you combine the mobile future of somatosensory games?


Back to the beginning, the mobile phone wants to develop towards the somatosensory game, and highlighting the mobile portable Switch host is a good learning object. In addition to the “Fitness Ring Battle”, there are also many excellent somatosensory games on the Switch platform, such as the dance “Just Dance”, the boxing “ARMS”, and the analog golf, simulated tennis and so on.

From the technical point of view, there is nothing special about the handle of the Switch. Mainly composed of three-axis gyroscope, acceleration sensor, HD vibration motor and IR(infrared depth) photography module. Among them, gyroscopes and accelerometers are used to sense the player’s movements. HD vibrations are used to simulate the gravitational touch in the game. The IR camera module is used in relatively few games. In Nintendo’s own game, it used to simulate eating. Actions. As for the three-axis gyroscope, it is a technology that is not new. It was widely used in mid- to high-end models as early as the iPhone 6 era. Only HD vibrations have been patented by Nintendo, and it is difficult for other manufacturers to make breakthroughs in a short time. In addition to the simple technical principle, the Pocket shape of the Switch handle is also very suitable for holding, so that players can not be tired or hinder the movement in the action game with larger movements. And two separate handles can collect data independently, which is convenient for the design of the game mechanism.

Sometimes, mobile somatosensory games may evolve from the following two trends.

First, the phone body and peripherals are combined to interact with the smart screen. Under the premise that the mobile phone can interact with the smart screen, the mobile phone itself can be used as a somatosensory handle. Simple somatosensory games such as ball games, dance games, etc. can be transplanted to the mobile game platform, and can be combined with peripherals such as rackets to facilitate players to play. At the same time, most of the smart screens have a camera, capture the player’s movements through the camera, and combine the multi-modal algorithm with the somatosensory data to make up for the lack of somatosensory data.

Second, the smart bracelet/watch interacts with the phone itself. In addition to the phone itself, many smart wearable products now have powerful sensor configurations. Using these smaller products to interact with mobile phones can also fulfill the needs of somatosensory games. At the same time, the smart wearable product is small in size and portable, which can highlight the mobility of the game. Nintendo’s PokemonGo has also introduced the Elf Ball and Bracelet as a peripheral.

In short, under the general trend of IoT, the linkage between various smart devices will only become more and more frequent. In particular, various mobile phone manufacturers have successively launched large-screen products, which means family scenes. The game, which happens to be an important entry point for home entertainment scenes.

Conclusion


Physicality enters the mobile game market, and the relationship is not only the game market under the game of functional games, but also more about the mobile phone market itself.

The topic of the ceiling of the mobile phone market has been discussed for several years. Compared with the hot development of smart phones, the mobile phone market is indeed relatively stable. The maturity of the product form has also enabled mobile phone manufacturers to rack their brains to expand the range of functions of the mobile phone itself. Recent Two years of mobile camera photography has soared, which is typical of it.

The somatosensory game doesn’t just mean that mobile phones can open up new game categories, but more can be sold with smart wear, big screen products and other peripherals like external handles. This is in line with the recent expansion of the product line and the expansion of the IoT SKU business philosophy. In the PC version of “eat chicken” popular, the game configuration for the high requirements of the hardware even set off a wave of change. Perhaps a good mobile phone game can also drive the sale of many IoT products.

Of course all this beforeIn addition, it depends on whether mobile phone manufacturers can cooperate with game manufacturers to develop this unknown domain.

This article is from WeChat public account: brain diodes (ID: unity007) , author: I am imposing a panda