On Saturday 22nd of April, I had the opportunity to sit down with Razer’s gaming hardware guru Lalor McMahon and ask him a few questions about the Stargazer, Razer’s first ever console.
On Friday, I was talking with a few other members of the Razer community over at PAX Aus when I asked them what they thought my job description was, and they all gave me the same answer. “You’re the guy who sits on the sidelines, puts on the headphones, and gives the thumbs up when the games are fun and easy to play.” – Lalor McMahon
PAX Aus isn’t only about video games, independent developers, and eSports superstars. Vendors blast music and scream to be heard and display their goods to eager players, much like at your local fish market.
We arrived at the Razer booth just as they were handing out shirts, keychains, mousepads, and even a full-on mechanical keyboard or two.
Our first encounter was with Lalor McMahon, who gave us an overview of what Razer would have on show at PAX this year, as well as some of the interesting projects they’ve been working on.
The focus of our (and Razer’s) attention was on their new OSVR and Stargazer Camera advancements. We mostly discussed the Stargazer camera with Lalor, as well as Razer’s perspective on the current state of eSports.
At PAX Australia 2016, Lalor McMahon was interviewed.
To view the video, go to the link below.
Stay tuned for our second interview, which will cover the Open Source Virtual Reality (OSVR) software Razer is developing.
The Razer Stargazer Webcam is a webcam that allows you to see what’s going on
This webcam is targeted squarely towards the gaming community, particularly YouTubers and Twitch Streamers, but Unity devs are also mentioned.
The Stargazer camera (and related software) can do some impressive feats. The most important of them is Background Erasure in Real Time.
Dynamic Background Removal
This was on exhibit during PAX Australia, and it’s incredible to see the crowds behind you disperse in real time.
It wasn’t ideal with a shifting backdrop that changed depth. This monster might easily gain its feet with a static backdrop like a bedroom or workplace.
“Skip the expensive and space-consuming actual green screen setups when the Razer Stargazer is all you need to create a professional-grade broadcast. You may completely change or delete your backdrop using cutting-edge depth-sensing technology. This offers your spectators a more interesting experience by giving the game greater viewing space.”
Scanning in three dimensions
This may be a useful tool for engineers, according to Taylor. You may use it to scan your face or an item and import it into Unity. My imagination is already racing with thoughts for scanning my face and incorporating it into my gaming character (after some touch ups of course).
When it comes to placing your face on your own custom player, NBA2k16 seems to already have this feature.
Recognition of Facial Expressions and Gestures
Facial recognition software isn’t a brand-new concept. We’ve seen movies with face scanners, and even as far back as Windows 7, certain computers allowed you to log in using your camera.
The Razer Stargazer uses Microsoft’s Windows Hello software to enable you to unlock your computer by scanning your face.
While we’re not quite at Minority Report-level motion gestures yet, Stargazer does enable you to use particular movements to open applications and play motion detection games.
However, I’d want to integrate these characteristics for Facial Gesture Recognition next. If Windows displays a system tray notice and the computer detects my frown, I want the message to vanish and the computer to think twice before bothering me again.
Perhaps I’ll have to wait for Cortana 2.0 and the Razer Stargazer Elite to get that feature.
I swear to God… I just recently realized after saying it out loud that Razer Stargazer sounds like the beginning of a strange rhyming chant.
On the Razer website, you may learn more about the Razer Stargazer boombazer.
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