Researchers, game makers go past joystick

[the hunter]

DALLAS — There's not much use for a keyboard or joystick in the video game The Journey to Wild Divine: The Passage. All the action is controlled, literally, through your fingertips.

You can dump the game pad when you use Sony Corp.'s EyeToy, too. You'll succeed in its specially designed games only by prancing around in front of a video camera.

Increasingly, game makers and researchers are offering alternatives to the joystick with products that listen to your voice, watch your movement and even monitor your pulse.

The hope is these devices, which tout everything from better health to inner peace, will lure people who wouldn't ordinarily consider video games.

"What we're seeing is graphics have gotten better and better in games, but the input hasn't really improved," EyeToy inventor Richard Marks said.
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