Tobii engages with game developers at GDC

STOCKHOLM, March 25, 2013—Tobii Technology, the global leader in eye tracking and gaze interaction, will share insights on the future of gaming powered by Tobii Gaze and its award-winning eye-tracking technology at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, March 25-29. Popular games and entirely new concepts will be showcased that can be played with a gamer’s eyes in combination with touch controls to create more intuitive, intense and realistic gaming experiences.

“We are pushing the boundaries of gaming to create new immersive game experiences that are more like real life,” said Carl Korobkin, vice president of OEM Solutions for Tobii Technology Inc. “Gaze interaction can virtually and literally take gaming to an entirely new dimension. We look forward to demonstrating these new capabilities at GDC and to engaging further with the game development community.”

At GDC, visitors can experience gaze interaction and eye tracking firsthand at the Tobii booth (#1938). Tobii representatives will also give a presentation titled ‘Gaze Interaction and Eye Tracking: The Next Big Thing in Gaming’. Korobkin and Fredrik Lindh, software researcher and developer, will discuss the possibilities of gaze interaction in gaming to enhance immersion, speed and intensity. The session will take place March 28 at 11:30 a.m. in the West Hall, room 3022.

“Gaze interaction and eye-tracking technology is expected to have a very big impact on consumer electronics, and we are already seeing some basic implementations in the market,” said Korobkin. “With a sophisticated eye-tracking solution in place, gaming will be one of the leading market segments that will rapidly adopt this technology to create new exciting games.”

Responses from gamers at recent shows, such as CES, Mobile World Congress, the Global Game Jam and CeBIT reflect a great interest in this new modality. In the Verge Gabe Newell, CEO of Valve, recently pointed out the importance of controllers based on biometric data, such as gaze tracking.

At Intel Extreme Masters earlier this month, professional StarCraft 2 commentator James ‘Kaelaris’ Carrol said that eye tracking and gaze interaction is an augmentation that can help gamers to advance further by gaining a lot of speed and can add dynamics to the game that could never have been possible before without an actual person’s vision coming into play. 

The awarded winning Tobii REX Developer Edition, introduced at CES earlier this year, is available to developers to create new and exciting gaze-enhanced applications. In the fall, 5,000 units of the Tobii REX Limited Edition will be available for consumer purchase.