Sony’s new motion-control peripheral for the Playstation 3—called the Playstation Move—launches in two weeks. We reported on the device when it was first announced back at E3. Now, as gamers have been treated to more technical details and demos, Sony is unsure about market response.
Given the Move’s similarity to the Wii, gamers are skeptical
The Move involves a motion-sensitive controller with the standard buttons mapped onto it in a very ergonomic fashion that players hold in one hand. For many Move-compatible games, one ‘wand’ is enough. Like with the Nintendo Wii, however, some games require an extra ‘navigation’ controller that includes an analog thumbstick similar to the Wii’s ‘nunchuck’ peripheral.
What the Move adds, however, is an inertial sensor that senses motion in six axes versus the Wii’s four. Furthermore, by integrating the Move with the Playstation Eye camera, the lighted balls on the end of the Move wand allow the system to track the motions of the controller in all three spatial dimensions. This allows for much more accurate motion sensing and interactions that would be simply impossible with the Wii’s type of motion-sensing—even with their optional MotionPlus enhancement.
An added bonus is the ability to play motion-based games in HD versus the Wii’s 420p resolution. The extra accuracy of Sony’s controller aside, its similarity with the Wii has earned it the pejorative titles “Wii too” and “Wii HD”. This negative image—despite generally positive press reviews—appears to have made Sony cautious about the Move’s early success.
Sony Computer Entertainment senior vice president Ray Maguire said in a recent interview with Eurogamer that “it's a product that needs to be sampled. You need to get your hands on it. You need to understand it. You need to try it. Am I expecting a massive day one? Not particularly. We didn't with EyeToy, either. It went on to be massively successful.”
In other words, its initial similarity with the Wii brand of play will hurt the Move. Gamers who enjoy the Wii will wonder why they should switch systems and people who aren’t particularly interested in motion control after experiencing the Wii will think that this hasn’t changed their perspective. He believes that the extra technology built into the Move will make it a winner over time: "As people saw the value when they tried it they told their friends. Their friends bought it. They told their friends. Word of mouth grew the marketplace. That's what I expect from Move as well."
When the Move goes on sale September 17th, it will be available in several flavors. PS3 owners who already have the Playstation Eye camera can pick up the Move controller for $50. PS3 owners can pick up the Move bundle (controller, Eye camera, and Sports Champions game) for $100. Non-PS3 owners can pick up an entire system with a 320GB HDD and the Move bundle in the box for $400. Anyone interested in playing a game that requires the optional navigation controller will have to purchase it separately for $30.
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