14 DAY TRIAL // Randy Pitchford, the leader of the development team at Gearbox Software, has revealed that he is very much interested in the current evolution of motion tracking technology and believes that it will lead to actual holodeck devices.
Speaking to Joystiq, the man responsible for much of the success of the Borderlands series states, “Motion control technology that we’re seeing today and we’ll see as it iterates is a step towards the Holodeck vision. It’s still rudimentary. It’s not great yet, but it’s going to get better. But where it needs to be to do the Holodeck, we’re a long ways from that.”
Pitchford admits that traditional setups, based either on mouse and keyboard on the PC or on controllers on home consoles, are well suited for the genres that developers are currently creating.
But he also sees a future where new types of games will force software developers and hardware makers to innovate.
The developer adds, “Characters need to depend on feedback that’s more nuanced than something that would be better accomplished with a button press.”
Moreover, the game maker believes that, as the industry progresses, the various developers need to work together in order to push technology forward and make sure that new ideas are accepted by the mainstream.
Gearbox Software has recently launched Borderlands 2, a first-person shooter that once again takes the player to the planet of Pandora and updates all mechanics of the original experience.
Gearbox is a busy developer, currently working on Aliens: Colonial Marines, a game that will be launched in early 2013 and is set to update the experience of fighting, as a lowly human Marine, against hordes of alien invaders.
The company is also working on a new installment in the Brothers in Arms series, although limited details are available on it.