Thursday, April 21st 2011
Razer Introduces Hydra Motion-Sensing Game Controller
Razer, the world's leading high-end precision gaming brand announces the Razer Hydra, the world's first gaming-grade motion sensing controllers powered by Sixense, built to draw you deeper into your PC games. Razer worked closely with Valve and Sixense to create exclusive Portal 2 content to showcase the power of the Razer Hydra in enhancing game immersion. Portal 2 is the highly anticipated sequel to 2007's game of the year. The full version of the game plus the exclusive Portal 2 content will be available in a special edition bundle with the Razer Hydra.
"The Razer Hydra is a significant step forward for the PC gaming industry because it not only affords an almost-physical experience for gamers, but also presents developers an opportunity to innovate and significantly push the boundaries on new forms of gameplay and entertainment," said Gabe Newell, co-founder and president of Valve.
The Razer Hydra lets you extend your natural body motion directly into your PC games. With Portal 2, this means a breathtaking new way to play when you can intuitively reach out, interact with physics puzzles, shoot portals and leap across wide chasms in complete three dimensions. With Razer's trademark ultra-low latency and highly precise one-to-one tracking to the exact millimeter and degree, experience maximum portal testing immersion.
"We are excited to finally bring full motion control to the PC," said Min-Liang Tan, CEO and Creative Director, Razer. "Gamers will be blown away by the pinpoint tracking precision that mirrors every move in-game. They'll also enjoy the exclusive new Portal 2 content created specifically for the Razer Hydra, giving them more bang for their buck."
On top of Portal 2, the Razer Hydra is optimized with over 125 popular PC games out of the box, including titles like Left 4 Dead 2 and World of Goo. Gamers no longer have to wait for scarce motion-compatible games. With the future possibility for more downloadable game configurations and the ability to self-configure motion mapping to your specifications, the Razer Hydra plays virtually every game.
"By working with Razer and Valve, we have established the PC as the best platform for motion gaming," says Amir Rubin, CEO, Sixense. "We developed and optimized 6 Sixense TrueMotion levels for Portal 2 to allow gamers to fully experience the possibilities of motion gaming. Definitely an exciting time to be a PC gamer."
About the Razer Hydra Motion Sensing Controllers
The Razer Hydra is the first gaming-grade motion sensing controllers to bring a whole new dimension of gameplay and immersion to the PC. With compatibility for over 125 games out of the box, and future support for gamers to self-configure controls for any PC game, the entertainment possibilities are virtually endless. Built to deliver location-orientation tracking exact to the millimeter and degree, along with Razer's trademark ultra-low latency, the precision and speed of the Razer Hydra is unrivalled among its kind.
About the Razer Hydra and Portal 2 Bundle
The Razer Hydra is the first gaming-grade motion sensing controllers to bring a whole new dimension of gameplay and immersion to Portal 2. Shoot portals, throw the Weighted Companion Cube, and avoid death traps as easily and intuitively as eating cake. The Razer Hydra is bundled exclusively with the game and comes with six additional levels specifically designed for more portal testing fun with motion control.
Price: Razer Hydra and Portal 2 bundle: US$139.99 / EU€139.99
"The Razer Hydra is a significant step forward for the PC gaming industry because it not only affords an almost-physical experience for gamers, but also presents developers an opportunity to innovate and significantly push the boundaries on new forms of gameplay and entertainment," said Gabe Newell, co-founder and president of Valve.
"We are excited to finally bring full motion control to the PC," said Min-Liang Tan, CEO and Creative Director, Razer. "Gamers will be blown away by the pinpoint tracking precision that mirrors every move in-game. They'll also enjoy the exclusive new Portal 2 content created specifically for the Razer Hydra, giving them more bang for their buck."
On top of Portal 2, the Razer Hydra is optimized with over 125 popular PC games out of the box, including titles like Left 4 Dead 2 and World of Goo. Gamers no longer have to wait for scarce motion-compatible games. With the future possibility for more downloadable game configurations and the ability to self-configure motion mapping to your specifications, the Razer Hydra plays virtually every game.
"By working with Razer and Valve, we have established the PC as the best platform for motion gaming," says Amir Rubin, CEO, Sixense. "We developed and optimized 6 Sixense TrueMotion levels for Portal 2 to allow gamers to fully experience the possibilities of motion gaming. Definitely an exciting time to be a PC gamer."
About the Razer Hydra Motion Sensing Controllers
The Razer Hydra is the first gaming-grade motion sensing controllers to bring a whole new dimension of gameplay and immersion to the PC. With compatibility for over 125 games out of the box, and future support for gamers to self-configure controls for any PC game, the entertainment possibilities are virtually endless. Built to deliver location-orientation tracking exact to the millimeter and degree, along with Razer's trademark ultra-low latency, the precision and speed of the Razer Hydra is unrivalled among its kind.
About the Razer Hydra and Portal 2 Bundle
The Razer Hydra is the first gaming-grade motion sensing controllers to bring a whole new dimension of gameplay and immersion to Portal 2. Shoot portals, throw the Weighted Companion Cube, and avoid death traps as easily and intuitively as eating cake. The Razer Hydra is bundled exclusively with the game and comes with six additional levels specifically designed for more portal testing fun with motion control.
Price: Razer Hydra and Portal 2 bundle: US$139.99 / EU€139.99
32 Comments on Razer Introduces Hydra Motion-Sensing Game Controller
don't likehate GTA games and 3rd person games in general*. As for Oblivion and the likes, yeah I could use it for that, again to play from my couch, hence wireless is a must for me, and now that I think of it kb+m is just plainly better in RPGs too. i.e what do you do in menus? I don't see this device working extremely well when navigating the many menus in Oblivion.I just don't see any benefit on these devices, maybe some day... but until they can trully replace the mouse and preferably both kb and mouse I don't think they are very useful. I believe in dedicated peripherals that fullfill their purpse, rather than generic ones that try to do everything and master none, so that's why I think that these motion-sensing controlers must be wireless at the very least. Also it would be nice if they had a built-in writing feature so you could write on the screen and it would recognize it and write it down. I'm not talking about software, because I know that already exists, I'm talking about a hardware/driver implementation so that you can use it in-game.
*I did like Mafia though and in that game I just used a wheel, which was 100 times better than the kb or a controler of any kind will ever be. Yeah it was not the most comfortable way to play afoot scenes, with a wheel in front of me but it worked and the overall feeling was much much better.
At least they are working on it www.motioninjoy.com/
And if Portal 2 Supports this on the PC why doesn't Portal 2 Support the Move on the PS3?
Maybe it's the small TV that the kids use but the thing drives me crazy as the pointer jumps around a fair bit and is not all that fine tuned either.
To me it's dam cheap shame you have to have that game with it and other some what comparable PC tracking hardware it is cheap.
for example Trackir 4\5 or even, SmartNav and OptiTrack which are even more expensive. Although there support is way the best with there hardware and for sure much better than than Razer ever puts out.
How ever i would like to know why hasn't natural point put out such a device maybe it be the cost i don't know but you could count on them to do it right.
www.naturalpoint.com/
This seems more like a gateway device to be later 'hacked' and used as a convenient remote for some eletronics in your home.