Cell phone games could get Wii-like controls

By Tim Conneally | Published February 14, 2008, 4:57 PM

Gesturetek, the company whose technology was licensed to make the mildly successful PlayStation EyeToy, as well as the Xbox 360 Live Camera, is expanding its controller vision (no pun intended) beyond console-based games.

The company's FunCam doesn't venture too far from territory it's covered before. Gesturetek couples a camera with a projector, resulting in a portable dedicated game which can be re-purposed to behave as an interactive advertising solution.

Since it uses a "touchless" control scheme, the result is, according to the company, more sanitary and therefore more inviting to the passer-by.

Inspired by the attitude-sensitive controls of the Nintendo Wii, GestureTek has built a motion-based control API for cell phones. Its software-only solution uses a mobile phone's camera to track motion and thereby convert that data into instructions. Shaking, swinging, and rolling motions of the Eyemobile engine can be applied many applications. This technology could come in especially useful for the profusion of mobile devices that do not feature keypads conducive to gaming.