Razer Hydra impressions: Super-precise motion controllers make it to PC, Portal 2 support in tow
Sixense was back at CES this year, showing off its TrueMotion-powered gaming wands. While a partnership with computer gaming peripheral maker Razer was announced at last year's CES, the fruit of that partnership was on display this year, with a brand name (meet the Razer Hydra), some industrial design, and some new Valve-created content for the hardware in the form of custom Portal 2 tech.
During our hands-off tour of the still-prototype hardware, we were consistently impressed with the controller's accuracy. Imagine dual-wielding two PlayStation Move controllers except - in place of the relatively cumbersome process of requiring a PlayStation Eye to track a glowing sphere to position the controllers in 3D space - the Hydra uses a small base station that creates an electromagnetic field with a radius of about six feet. That's it. That base station serves double duty as a stand to rest the presently wired controllers on. Worry not, wire-haters, a wireless model is in the works but, much like Razer's other hardware, it's going to perfect the technology with a wired release first before chasing the wireless solution.
During our hands-off tour of the still-prototype hardware, we were consistently impressed with the controller's accuracy. Imagine dual-wielding two PlayStation Move controllers except - in place of the relatively cumbersome process of requiring a PlayStation Eye to track a glowing sphere to position the controllers in 3D space - the Hydra uses a small base station that creates an electromagnetic field with a radius of about six feet. That's it. That base station serves double duty as a stand to rest the presently wired controllers on. Worry not, wire-haters, a wireless model is in the works but, much like Razer's other hardware, it's going to perfect the technology with a wired release first before chasing the wireless solution.
