Intel are trying to change the way we see computers and the game players

Intel has big plans for the future of computers, and gaming plays a central role in them. The company believes that computer games have the capacity to be one of the most intuitive forms of entertainment, and to that end, want to make use of highly accurate 3D cameras to track user input for the games of tomorrow.

At CES 2014, Intel's main presentation discussed the future of computing and spanned everything from productivity to education. Gaming was only one facet of the new face of computing, Intel's representatives explained, but it was an important one.

Intel demonstrated three games and showed how precise and intuitive controlling each one could be, even for non-gamers. The first game, "Hoplites," challenged an Intel representative to use her hands to guide a legion of Greek soldiers across a treacherous lava pit.

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By gesturing in midair, she could grasp the hoplites in her fingertips, bounce them off of her palm or simply let them fall to their deaths. A later level had her shielding the hoplites from a hydra's flames by making a protective closed fist around them.

The second game, a 3D pinball simulator, was not quite as exciting. An Intel representative controlled apinball machine from behind-the-paddles rather than top-down perspective. The controls looked responsive as the representative gesticulated in and out, weaving his hands in multiple directions. The simulation itself was somewhat dull and repetitive, though.

The final game was more of an action title, as a third representative took control of a flying superherocharged with destroying an invading alien spaceship. Waving his hand from side to side was sufficient to move the character, while thrusting his hand toward the ship unleashed a powerful attack.

Although other motion control peripherals such as the Microsoft Kinect can accomplish similar goals, Intel claims that its technology will set itself apart both in its depth perception and the precision of its camera.

Kinect titles tend to use a lot of side-to-side motion rather than back-and-forth, and can only track a user's skeletal movements. Intel asserts that its cameras will track entire appendages and limbs, like the representative's fine finger motions while playing "Hoplites."

Other companies, Nintendo and Microsoft chief among them, have claimed to open up gaming to the masses with intuitive motion controls. These companies have had varying degrees of success, so Intel's case is hardly hopeless. Given hardcore gamers' distaste for motion controls, however, it's hardly a sure thing, either.