Fatal Frame for the DSi (and other camera-related game ideas)

Dracil

No, there isn't a Fatal Frame for the DSi. But some thread on gamefaqs about Pokemon Snap (where I think you're supposed to take pictures of Pokemon stuff in the real world for points) got me thinking. Fatal Frame on the DSi would be awesome.

Instead of moving a controller to move the camera around, you just move your DSi's camera around in real time. So through the DSi's camera, you see the real world, but the DSi would add ghosts to the world basically. The R trigger is also perfectly positioned to be the camera shutter button.

The trickiest technical hurdle would be for the DSi to determine where you're facing, as it would essentially need to do this by capturing the relative positions of the image from one moment to another, much in the same way optical mice work.

Unfortunately, based on how badly it seems to work with the Warioware game, this may not be feasible yet with the DSi. Perhaps with the next generation. iPhone is also a possibility, except for its obvious lack of buttons.

Given the gimmicky nature of the picture alteration options on the DSi's camera function (kaleidoscopes, distortion, etc.) it would probably be neat and in the vein of these gimmicks for the game to randomly insert ghosts behind people in pics while the game's in the DSi's slot.

If optical recognition technology actually reaches the point where recognizing objects in the real world isn't hard, it would probably also be able to add the ghosts in proper context, like coming out of hidden areas, instead of just basically going through every physical thing (because it ignores the real world).

This leads to the thought of this anime where some kids get these glasses that lets them interact with some digital world that is overlayed on the real world (like a virtual pet dog). Essentially, it's a kind of VR, but without those big helmet stuff popular years ago. I think the portable nature would make it feel a lot more immersive. Like a secret world that only you and others in the game can see. It just seems like an area of gaming that hasn't really been explored with yet and Nintendo seems like the right company to do this exploration.

Edit: Double-posted from network issues.

maximumzero

What you're refering to is something called Augmented Reality, where 3D objects are overlaid in real-world video feeds. (See Eye of Judgment on the PS3)

It requires alot of horsepower that the DS has little of.

Ain't happening.

RoyceSraphim

If this came true, I would hate you and its progenitors for causing me to have to ride the bus with people shitting their pants in a special kind of terror only the Japanese can bring.

edit: and why did I have to post in the bollocks thread?

Dracil

maximumzero wrote: »

What you're refering to is something called Augmented Reality, where 3D objects are overlaid in real-world video feeds. (See Eye of Judgment on the PS3)

It requires alot of horsepower that the DS has little of.

Ain't happening.

While I agree that a fully augmented reality is hard to do, what i'm proposing is sort of simpler, at least for a first iteration. It would be better if the DSi included some sort of way to detect its position in the world so it didn't have to rely on the images, like a gyroscope (which I believe is how the Wii Motion Plus will work?) so it can completely ignore the camera feed. The only work then would be to overlay the images, but it doesn't matter if they overlap with objects (they are ghosts after all). It's not like Eye of Judgment where it needs to actually figure out where the surface is to place the monsters on cards. i.e. the camera could be broken and it would still show ghosts on a black screen.

So it's kinda like simply making two images half-transparent and then putting them on top of each other, independent of each other, which I *think* should be relatively simple, though I may be wrong. When you move the DSi, the ghosts would move, based on the gyroscope, and where the game says they should be moving, while the real world image moves based on what the camera sees.

This makes the most feasible way for it to appear on the DSi would be 1 cartridge that basically contains whatever technology's used on the Wii Motion Plus which needs to be inserted in the game slot. The actual game data itself could perhaps be installed via a 2nd cartridge or downloaded beforehand in memory and loaded in similar to DSiware.

Avenrosh

For the love of Christ... Just reading the thread title just made me so excited. You should really put a disclaimer there.

At any rate, Fatal Frame DSi would be fantastic... And I never heard of Pokemon Snap for the system, I'll have to look into that. More games that use the real world for in-game feedback would be a blast, like Boktai for the GBA.

UncleSporky

Oh hey I get to post this video again:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lfp8id6bpDU

Cancelled game for the ill-fated Gizmondo which the DSi could totally do.

WritersAreLiars

Hey, my first post!

Not much to say here, just wanted to report that at least one game developer is thinking like you, Dracil:
http://kotaku.com/5268905/augmented-reality-camera-game-coming-to-dsi

Whether it can be pulled off is another story.

UncleSporky

Oh cool!

Although all it looks like is that it generates ghosts nearby, wherever you are, and overlays them on a camera shot. There's no GPS or anything, obviously, to allow players to really walk around looking for things. The game doesn't know if you're closed in a small room or next to the ocean.

The real trick is noticing left/right/up/down movement via the camera, which it looks like they would focus on for this game.