Carl Zeiss Cinemizer OLED Headtracker review part 1:Gaming: FPS TPS and of course a Flight sim too..

The Zeiss Cinemizer OLED is a wonderful enigma for me , launching with OLED displays , the finest ergonomics , the coolest battery (temp wise) , true portability and compatibility across consoles and PCs ,weighing less than rivals and with a crystal clear display AND optics .Somehow managing to pull off an equivalent and at times  superior performance to the monster head crab that is the Sony HMZ series with a smaller res...  Everything Sony and others could not do in 2 generations of hmds .. Zeiss did .. as well as promising a headtracking unit that would finally free you of all those light bouncing LEDs and scan rates, resolutions , lag ,drivers ,power and spatial considerations.. And here it is : This is a prototype but looks amazingly close to finished product : 

all the packaging looks final to me:

All hmd fans cry out for headtracking to begin the begin when it comes to Virtual Reality ... no hmd at present or in the future does VR ( and no there is no Oculus Rift any time soon on any horizon ..virtual or real ) .  However Zeiss are set to release their headtracker . the first one built and designed for a consumer hmd ,by the designers of that same hmd. Unlike other head tracking setups that were designed before hmds , the Zeiss solution is tailored specifically for your hmd.

Lets look at the innovations that Zeiss has brought to the headtracker.This is from my first (long) weekend of testing. 

First impressions :

It is what you wanted .. precise , simple to use and emulating the most awesome controller of all time , your mouse which makes it compatible with 1000s of PC games , console games , tablet games and as well as having all the rotational axes a die hard flight sim fan or developer could wish for:

Setup : The Cinemizer OLED Headtracker has the simplest setup of any head tracking device .  

Wii mote sensor bars , Kinect distances and angles with power leads and connectors , PlayStation Move controllers both of which have to be charged and calibrated every time you use them. Over on PC we have expensive IR devices with patented software or Freetrack with instruction on how to attach LEDs to your head (infra red ones I hear) and complicated spacial setups moving furniture around and praying nothing crosses your field of motion control sensing .. 

You know how you set your Zeiss Cinemizer Headtracker up? .. You plug it into a USB port .. on your PC , Mac or console or tablet .. then put it on your hmd or your head without a hmd ...that is it .. it calibrates itself .. it is as easy as plugging in a mouse .. only simpler as there are NO drivers... and I can recall a few mice I have had to chase drivers for in my time..

Never once did I need to go through one of those insane calibration routines that accompany other head trackers , Wii Motion sensors , PlayStation Move or the grand Poobah of motion control ...the Kinect.. 

You really just plug it into the USB port and go .. the instructions say leave it still to calibrate but I never had to ..on any game or desktop test..

Power : You can play using the head tracker as long as your electricity or laptop holds out .. like the Cinemizer OLED hmd itself there is NO power supply . no batteries to recharge.. it just runs like a mouse connected to a USB port ..whether on a PC or console like the PS3 ..  

Gaming Position ...according to ancient vedic teachings of the Gamer Sutra  the core gamer is used to various exotic positions whilst gaming. Unlike other great vedic teachings this process is mostly done solo and mostly clothed as well.. The most popular gaming pose  is the couching tiger position where one sits glued to the couch  with joypad or keyboard and mouse in hand (thanks Big Picture)  ..core gamers ..have been known to maintain this position over 24 hours trying to attain gaming Nirvana... or rescue Princess Peach ..again... some notable examples in internet cafes have even left this realm in the process .. 

The Cinemizer OLED headtracker lets you game in your favourite gaming position. You need not jump around, move 20 feet back from some sensor or glue LEDs to your room or head ... of course you can do that too if you feel nostalgia for the old ways...

Playing with the headtracker on, you are going to move, sitting in your usual catatonic desktop pose  is neither necessary nor required any more, nor is the symbiotic relationship you share with your couch .. Because you are using a motion tracking device you will do best if you sit up and give your self a little more room and if you are sitting down it helps no end to be on a swivel chair. 

It is perfectly possible to game lying back ,slouching etc .. you know who you are .. but for health reasons I would sit up .

You are adjusting adjusting habits here, the headtracker in no way requires you to create more space or move furniture, you can use it in the smallest of spaces or public spaces say a plane or train ..just let everyone know Stevie Wonder is your uncle ... or Ray Charles...  The absolute comfort of the Cinemizer OLED hmd is what allows long term use of the headtracker..it adds little perceivable weight to the hmd (grams) and movement is not hindered by the cable either as you can see below 

Precision : The Cinemizer Head Tracker is the most precise tracking device yet

Most motion control options are usually what is technically referred to as wobbly .. have you ever tried to hold a cursor steady with a Wii mote or Kinect? With the Cinemiser head tracker I can hold an in game sniper rifle dead still move it pixel by pixel , just like you would your precision mouse but no knuckle dragging involved . In Planetside 2 for instance I just looked towards where the sounds of an enemy air vehicle were coming from and there it was within my tank turrets cross hairs .. in Planetside and other FPS games you gain an advantage as turning your head towards the sounds of enemy or sight of them is far more natural and immerses you more in a game world than moving that mouse ..After a few minutes I was getting very proficient at targeting enemy scythes from my tank turret , or sniping using the steadiest aim you could possibly want any more and this would be cheating. As my enemies have to reach down to mice , after scanning with their eyes , all I have to do is look at them and fire that mouse dragging is gone for ever. And the essential prerequisite for this to work is precision.  

When wearing the head tracker you can stop to within a pixel , then hold that pixel with out the cursor shaking.It is like moving a mouse to a position and just leaving it there dead still. I never expected this amount of precision. 

Further more the faster you turn your head the faster the cursor moves , so flicking your head towards an enemy in a game behind you is super fast and effective far more so than that mouse drag... raise and drag ...manoeuvre gamers are used to .. As you use visual cues you are less likely to overshoot with moving your cursor. Take the enemy scythes flying through the Amerish skies in Planetside 2 .. I just moved my head to look up at them. 

Oh and if you are thinking will you move your head when you just could move your eyes ..the answer is you will ..you just do it naturally ..



0 Latency .. This is one head tracker that needs to be slowed down not sped up 

The cabled mouse emulating solution that Zeiss have uses eliminates the bane of hmds that is latency.  You cannot perceive it , in fact the cursor can move so fast you will have to slow the mouse sensitivity down on many a game. Moving your head in a game world , or the the game world  around your character say in Mass Effect 3 is as near 1 to 1 , as fast as your mouse can move. 

Cross platform 

Most , in fact nearly all motion control solutions are platform specific  , yes we can mess with Wii motes and Kinect on PC ..but can you move a cursor to within a pixel and hold it there by moving your head ? With the mouse emulation and USB link cable of the Cinemizer Headtracker there are possibilites of controlling console games that allow mouse and keyboard input... I have just been playing Dust 514 with head tracking on the PS3 .. you can also navigate the PS3 menus with head movements .. I will seek more PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii U examples where head tracking works

Cross hmd 

There is nothing to stop you strapping this tiny device to your head whilst wearing other hmds and thus taking benefit of head tracking. There are no drivers to install ! Of course no hmd is as light and ergonomic as the Zeiss ... you would not want to be moving your head around whilst wearing a HMZT1 or 2 for instance . 

Does not even need an hmd 

I think the Zeiss Head Tracker is the missing link in game and PC control. As such you can use it without a hmd altogether and control your PC games and desktop with your head on your standard PC monitor.. Its just that simple ..plug and play .. 


All the above innovations make this a headtracker that we can actually game with so on with the PC and console  game tests .

The videos below are recorded with FRAPS , they show actual play sessions using the the Cinemizer OLED hmd with head tracker attached  for several genres of games..  When the screen moves in these games it is me moving it with the headtracker , when it holds still it is me holding it still with 0 effort using the headtracker. You should be able to get a fair idea of how your gaming will change with the addition of headtracking from the info below:

Planetside 2 played with the Zeiss headtracker 

If any genre tests the precision of a motion control device it is the FPS genre . So why not start off with the finest MMO FPS to date .. Planetside 2 . In my game time I was able to  move the camera around ,snipe with precision and hold my aim steady with little effort ( and little skill I might add as I am constantly finding new ways to play rather than play !) . Planetside 2's vehicles are great to check out the headtrackers abilities , whether on ground or in the air at all times the tracking remains precise. In the following video you will see some of this ,all the screen cursor movement is done using head tracking alone . You literally just look and shoot . No more dragging mice to rotate turrets or turn around . It is so impressive to finally have a motion controller that does not require the hassle of setting up your own motion capture studio or power or drivers or strange config files you have to tweak.  This video shows me testing the precision of the headtracker by tracking moving targets from a moving vehicle. You can of course do all the usual FPS nonsense too . 

Far Cry 3 played with the Zeiss Headtracker 
Playing FPS games with a decent hmd like the Cinemizer OLED is already very impressive , throw in precise head tracking and you are playing with the future of gaming right now ..and there are few games finer to lose yourself in this year than Far Cry 3 : this is how it plays with head tracking, in the following video all screen rotation , aiming , in game camera movements are from me using the headtracker and not from mouse or joypad..

Mass Effect 3 played with the Zeiss Headtracker

Third person games , where the camera is rotated by mouse really come alive using the head tracker , attached to the Cinemizer OLED you are nearer looking over Shepards shoulder ,looking round his or her world through their eyes, sniping leaning , selecting abilities or messing with menus with ease. This kind of ease of use makes previous motion control solutions look amateur , you know that horrid feeling when you move your wii mote out of the range of the sensor , or someone walks in front of your Kinect or it spends an hour telling you why it does not want to work in your living space.. or even that annoying flashing bulb on the end of the PS Move .. with the Zeiss you get none of that .. You may have played ME3 with voice on the 360 and thought to yourselves wouldnt it be cool if the game had headtracking too? Well it does on PC with the Carl Zeiss Cinemizer OLED with headtracker attached and here it is in action:

Hawken  .. the makers of Hawken famously promised to support hmds like the Oculus Rift .. but that is unlikely to happen for some time . With the Zeiss headtracker and it's low latency mouse emulation you have a perfect way to get into that Hawken mech turret right now and here is a video showing the results . 

Zeiss Headtracker vs the Onlive Cloud  : one of the concerns re cloud gaming for first timers is controller latency.In practice there isn`t any ,not that you can persuade many die hard recently core PC gamers who were also recently core console gamers... So what better way to test the latency of the Zeiss Headtracker than to set it to controlling some onlve games.When launching games playing with the head tracker , you may get a warning about unsupported controls.. ignore this as the head tracker works just fine .. 

Batman Arkham City played with the Zeiss Headtracker amazing screen rotation , look at a building hit F and leap ..far faster and more impressive than using a mouse or a joypad .. far more immersion as you are literally looking and walking round Arkham City .. Rocksteadys game has great combat but when the screen is filled with bad guys suffers from a little of the old classic Double Dragon syndrome where you end up fighting bady guys and girls off screen ..until you rotate the screen with the mouse or joypad ..wearing the head tracker I just turn my head to bring the bad guys into view ..end of camera rotation problems and improved combat outcomes ..

Aliens Vs Predator (onlive).. testing the precision, target tracking and acquisition capability of the Cinemizer OLED headtracker

Who could resist being a Predator wearing a hmd and head tracker ..or a Marine being left behind to take on all those Aliens ..? You could?  This game is greatly enhanced by head tracking whether you are a solo marine walking dark dank colony corridors with a torch and some flares and a nest of Gigers finest or perhaps just shadows, or a Predator scanning a forest for human trophies.. the precision and mouse emulation of the head tracker makes it perfect for this game.  You actually feel like you are wearing the Predators visor or in those corridors as you no longer use a mouse or joypad to look but actually do look all around you ...don't those pipes look funny? 

Dishonored: this game requires great mouse control and speed of rotation , both of which the Zeiss replaces and enhances .. take a look ...

Deus Ex Human Invasion ( onlive) This game uses both third and first person perspectives , wearing the headtracker actions like leaning around corners and crates (there are always crates) are greatly enhanced ,as is the first person down the barrel view . What impresses is how rock steady the headtracker is , that first person view can have people shaking around their mice , yet I was able to walk around ,hold still and target and move and target with great ease and precision.  If you are a fan of PC FPS games or the leaning round corners genre you will have fun with the Zeiss.

Mechwarrior Online 

Want to move the turret of your mech with your head ...with the Headtracker you finally can beats HAT or POV switches any day...and may earn you more C-Bills in the long run..

Wings of Prey (onlive)

Flight games are the reason people buy hmds and expensive head tracking gear , how does the Zeiss measure up? Well I would say even if you do not have a hmd , if you are even the slightest bit interested in flight sims you should get hold of Zeiss head tracker. In Wings of Prey the mouse moves the pilots head and thus so does the Zeiss , so you can do all the look ing up ,down and around for real and of course check out the cockpit too. Turning your head to view the sky , scenery and enemy planes is so much more natural than using a mouse or second thumbstick on a joypad and flight sim fans will free you of HATs for ever! 

Tom Clancys Hawx 2 (onlive) 
In the complicated world of complicated flight sim controls , I pick this simple action flight sim because this is an example of a game that uses the mouse as a flight control joystick. So when you play moving your head flies the plane (after you invert the controls) so looking up raises the plane looking to the sides in this case roles it .This is where the low latency of the Zeiss starts to shine , set the sensitivity to high and you can move the plane with slight head movements. If you ask me I prefer the old classic mouse controls your point of view scheme but you should be able to see there are several control scheme options.

Iron Sky Invasion (Steam)  : Yes I will get round to Freespace and XWing and Wingcommander ..but for today I tried out Iron Sky Invasion which also has a mouse controls your flight control scheme , thus playing with the head tracker does so as well ,only better as using the head tracker I am able to simply look at where an enemy has shot off screen or a target  like a Zeppelins cannons or engines and my ship flies towards it , missiles lock on quicker and I can hear Twiki saying ...bidibidibidi that's nice shootin Buck....

Realms of The Haunting : as the Zeiss Headtracker emulates mouse movement head tracking works in old DOS games too..in this one raising and lowering your head slightly moves you forwards and backwards , whilst turning left or right does the same for your fov.. 

There are 1000s of games to try all of them that can be enhanced by use 

PlayStation 3 : the cool thing about Sony's console , is the way you can simply plug in any keyboard and mouse... which means we can plug in the Zeiss headtracker

Dust 514 Beta  It has been a while since I got to play this game and wonder of wonders it has keyboard and mouse control . within seconds (ok around 20 minutes of cut scenes and menus later) I found myself playing Dust 514 with head tracking ..no special setup or drivers required . This bodes well for other PS3 games that allow mouse control! And perhaps even some 360 and Wii U ones too..  


From my preliminary tests the most potent thing about the Carl Zeiss Cinemizer OLED hmd is the Headtracker . This sets the device apart from all other hmds and is a beautifully simple and elegant a solution for PC and console gaming as well as serious VR use . And that`s the thing it is so much better than existing head tracking solutions in terms of price ,ease of use and precision without even one app being developed for it. When those start rolling in ... you will get even more use out of owning this hmd. 

If you want to have head tracking in your game , just like other hmd vendors have promised or avoided altogether you can with the Cinemizer OLED hmd + Zeiss headtracker. 

There is absolutely no need to wait on promised future hmds .. sorry Palmer ..  I do not see the Oculus Rift  surpassing the ease of use of this device.In fact you could use this with the Oculus Rift right now...  And by the time future devices emerge Zeiss will have moved on to it's third gen of hmd. 

I love that the Cinemizer OLED headtracker can be detached , used with other devices , with or without a hmd .. we may even see a few CEOS giving their keynote presentations using it .. who knows? This also means you do not have to replace your entire hmd if your head tracker fails or if Zeiss want to release an updated version.. 

The addition of this tiny device just moves us one step closer to the VR gaming dream so many as yet disappointed hmd fans have waited patiently for.  It works with thousands of existing PC applications , with or without the hmd, you just need to use your head!

More to follow including 3D gaming tests  with the Carl Zeiss Cinemizer OLED  headtracker... and some serious uses when I can stop playing games... 

Remember head tracking is not just for flight sim fans ! 



Read my full Cinemizer OLED HMD and head tracker coverage here 

this content is © and originated from thegameveda http://the-games-veda.blogspot.com/  if you are reading it from any other site that has not provided a link back it has been leached