Mastiff - sure, BoB can use TIR, but will 1C do the right thing and allow other trackers to communicate head pose?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Wolf_Rider
I can't say I blame NaturalPoint really... the Freetrack looks to be a direct rip off.
NaturalPoint put a lot of hard work into a device which greatly benefits those of us who haven't got the ability to use their arms/ hands (if they have them at all) like those amongst can and have...
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It might look like a rip-off to you, because it does the same thing, but that is like saying that car brand A is a rip-off of car brand B because it has wheels and moves things, the same as A.
The maths behind head tracking has been around for some time, and freetrack's algorithms were developed independently.
The legality issues arose because freetrack communicates to games using NP's protocol, which was done because many games don't accept the usual inputs for head movement, like they do for joysticks and mouses. This is a MINOR part of the software, and doesn't really require anyone particularly smart to do it. In fact, we'd all be better off if they had have just used the same input methods that joysticks use, which would have required no special API at all.
This situation is just like logitech, for example, trying to get games to restrict the inputs of non-logitech joysticks, which is clearly not in the interest of the consumer. There is no arguing this fact, read the linked post from the ED forum - in which ED staff mentioned deals being made with NP, to restrict non NP trackers to 3DoF.