Pro-gamers have a ridiculous amount of mental agility. To make hundreds of accurate clicks per second and all that – it’s pretty impressive. Now, SteelSeries is teaming up with Tobii to bring gaze-tracking technology to the equation, and it’s seriously futuristic. But it’s not just for eSports – you can even use your eyes in Skyrim.
Here is the video from Tobii and SteelSeries that shows off the technology:
For the non-video inclined among you, the video spends a bunch of time showing off people raving about how this is the future and the technology is so great. The most interesting part comes when the developer shows off Skyrim and StarCraft. Using gaze-tracking, you can look at the bartender in Skyrim, and they will nod at you – you can even nod back because there is head tracking, too. In StarCraft, you can use the mouse in conjunction with the gaze tracking to move more quickly and precisely around the map, or interact with your units.
The technology is still new – the video seems to be geared more towards potential developers rather than future consumers. That said, there could be some really cool uses for it. I would like it if games could pick up on when my phone rings and I get distracted from gameplay and paused automatically. That said, I already struggle with First Person games; I tried again over the holidays to no avail – I still get awful motion sickness/nausea no matter what I do. I imagine that gaze tracking could cause some serious motion sickness for people if they use it as camera control. Then again, maybe it will be more intuitive than using the mouse – almost like real life.
The Tobii EyeX will be released in the middle of 2014. I wonder if it will be allowed for eSports, or will be yet another new technology that is seen as giving an unfair advantage. How it would show when spectating – you can already watch pro-MOBA players with mouse clicks on to see exactly where and how often they click their mouse; how would it work if they were able to use their eyes for controls, too? Whether or not it’s banned on the pro-level, it’s certainly a nifty piece of tech.
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Last Updated: January 6, 2014
VampyricSquirrel Monk
January 6, 2014 at 14:14
That’s pretty cool tech… would be interesting to see how it would actually change your gameplay in something like skyrim… never mind the fact of looking at someone and all that.
The additional applications of this tech could be close to unlimited.
Wifulated42
January 6, 2014 at 21:21
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VampyricSquirrel Monk
January 6, 2014 at 14:18
That header image is also a bit creepy.
Devourer of Small Bunnies
January 6, 2014 at 14:22
Thats is flipping cool. High time inputs were paid more attention. Not looking at you PS eye and Kinect.
Rags
January 6, 2014 at 14:32
I was going to say I am looking forward to looking Tali in the eyes… But anyway its going to be hard tracking my eyes through the Oculus Rift! :
Cool tech, it will be great for adding to SP immersion when you actually look at or away from NPC and they respond accordingly. Or chatting to your co pilot friend in Star Citizen.
Now we just need mouth tracking 🙂
Weanerdog
January 6, 2014 at 14:41
Yeah eyes for sure.
Rags
January 6, 2014 at 14:53
😉
Alien Emperor Trevor
January 6, 2014 at 14:44
I played The Darkness 2 the other day, at one point I walked away from an NPC while he was busy talking & he actually gave a snotty comment about me not being interested. That was pretty cool.
Sir Rants A Lot Llew. Jelly!!!
January 6, 2014 at 14:35
This is a cool bit of tech for sure.
Zoe, to report on motion sickness… The prestik did not work for Minecraft.
However, have you tried changing your default FOV for the FPS games? Most of my motion sickness comes from “unnatural” FOV in certain games. When I change them all is golden. Except for Minecraft. Minecraft hates me.
VampyricSquirrel Monk
January 6, 2014 at 15:05
Sad Llew 🙁 Minecraft is one of those games that’s just nuts to get crazy creative with, and it’s fun for killing time etc… especially if you can get some friends to join in and how to avoid the nasty Zombies and Creepers.
Sir Rants A Lot Llew. Jelly!!!
January 6, 2014 at 15:18
I know 🙁
Sir Rants A Lot Llew. Jelly!!!
January 6, 2014 at 14:37
Now this is something that could actually work. Unlike 3D and stuff it’s something that is truly meant to enhance your immersion levels in games.
Now if only it will read your facial expression as well so that the character you look at will realise “Oh s**t. I’ve just pissed him/her off. I better run for it / get my lazy ass follower NPC ass out the way so the player can actually get back out this tiny room / etc”
VampyricSquirrel Monk
January 6, 2014 at 15:04
The amount of NPC’s that have died because I was stuck in a room by them is countless… I’d love to have a way to tell them to GTFO!
Sir Rants A Lot Llew. Jelly!!!
January 6, 2014 at 15:18
same here
Thomas Hagström
January 6, 2014 at 16:18
Applied for a job at Tobii once, when I unfortunately was still too inexperienced; their office in Sweden got arcade games and all kinds of stuff. Really cool company