Gesture gaming built into new Sony Ericsson handset
Wave your hands in the air like you just don't care
As part of Sony Ericsson's sudden interest in getting back on top of the mobile game, the Yari handset has been announced to add 'gesture' gaming to the platform.
Foregoing the D-pad and buttons, the idea behind Yari games is that you wave and make gestures in front of the screen to control the action, with a range of keep fit, boxing and tennis titles ready to kick things off.
"Yari is the industry’s first mobile phone with gesture gaming outside of the Japanese market,” says Catherine Cherry, Market Business Manager at Sony Ericsson. “With Gesture gaming you move your body to play instead of pressing buttons on the phone, giving you a fun experience that even helps you keep fit.
"If you’ve exhausted yourself with the games there are loads of other multimedia features to enjoy. Snap your friends with the five megapixel camera or chill out to your favourite tunes with the state-of-the art music player”.
It's not immediately clear what system the Yari employs to detect movements, though looking at the product photo it would seem to be as simple as a forward facing camera.
We've seen similar controls in the mobile game Ninja Strike, which required you to perform shuriken throwing motions in front of the phone's camera - with limited success.
But if the Yari also packs in some decent motion sensing software to help with the interface, it could work out - so long as Sony Ericsson can get developers interested in supplying games specifically for that handset.
