3D Interaction for the future?

This post starts about the current "gaming console" wars but don't give up yet - this may have relevance for you!

For those that don't know, Sony (PS3), Microsoft (360) and Nintendo (Revolution) are all gearing up over the next 6 months to release their next generation consoles. Now, Sony/Microsoft have taken the traditional upgrade route - we've got x-trillion terraflopsicles of power, graphics that look so real you'll cry, etc. Nintendo, however, have taken a different approach. The processing power is upp'ed a bit, but the revolution is in the hardware used to interact with the console/your TV. Go and take a quick look here...

So, it looks like a remote. So what? Well, firstly, this is about trying to extend the platform to non-gamers, the grail of console manufacturers. A remote is familiar. But that's not what excites me. Did you play the video from that link? If not, or if you can't, let me explain. The controller works within 3D space, similar to the gyroscope technology that you see in some computer mice. By tilting, rotating, flicking, moving forward/back, you interact with your TV. And its only really when you see it in action, you get it. Remember that bit with Tom Cruise in "Minority Report" when he's shifting information projected in front of him - this is like that, but you're interacting with the image on your TV within the full space that surrounds your body. The demo has people fishing (hand behind head, arcing forward to cast, twitching to get a bite, and pulling it back to reel that fish in), conducting music, using the remote as a virtual torch, zapping bugs, as a base ball bat (full swing!) or golf club (likewise!).

Suddenly, the actions you make in the real world are directly translated to the actions you're taking on the screen. Not only does this destroy the barrier to entry (if you - or parent, or grandparent - can perform the action physically, its going to allow you to perform it "in game") but it suddenly offers a fundamentally new model to all interactions with moving media. With the coming of digital TV and the revolutionary broadband services this promises, how we interact with this has possibly been challenged. With a flick of the wrist, you change channel, or turn the page in teletext, or go from browser to DVD player. Draw a circle in the air to circle your choice on the screen, stab forward to select. As I start considering the potential for this, I do wonder if we are seeing the first steps of moving away from buttons, and mice, and remotes, to a place where we interact with our TV or PC merely by waving a hand, or flicking a finger. And the change in interaction will open up many new and unimagined services/products that it will be possible to deliver in this coming digital age.

Maybe its just me. I read about this and thought "so?". I watched the video of people using this and thought "oooo". I think Nintendo may not just be starting a revolution in gaming. I think they may be starting a revolution across the entire user interaction experience with all media forms. Guess time will tell, but I'm more than willing to wait...