Sony Announces Playstation Move
Today at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, Sony announced that their highly anticipated motion controller is called the Playstation Move. They also showed off a few games, and a "Sub-Controller."
First the good news: the Playstation Move appears to use the Playstation Eye very well, providing perfectly translated 3D movement from your Move hand into the game. And the device shouldn't remove too much cash from your wallet. This Fall, Sony will release Playstation Move Starter Packs that include one Move, a Playstation Eye, and a game - probably Move Party. Sony intends for all of this to cost less than $100.
Here's the weird news: Sony also announced a new Sub-Controller that looks and functions just like the Wii Nunchuk - it's a small controller with triggers and an analog stick, for use in games where you have to (wait for it) move. Sony's new motion controller, then, looks and acts a lot like the Wii's old one.
Back in 2009, when the Move was originally revealed at E3, the demonstrator used two Moves to play a gladiator game. It is now clear that such an approach will be problematic - you won't be able to fight and move at the same time. And if you want to play the gladiator game, you'll need to buy an extra Move, which will probably run you $30 on top of the $100 starter kit.
It's a conundrum for Sony, because the Dual move idea doesn't work - you're requiring people to buy too much crap just to play a game. And if they ditch that idea, their product becomes indistinguishable from the Wii.
The games on display don't help. "Sports Champion" and "Move Party" are clearly inspired by "Wii Sports" and "Wii Play." Sony is going after the Wii market with the same products…three years later. Also, Motion Fighters looks as generic as its title. After seeing this game in action, it occurs to us that having super accurate controllers in a fighting game might not be such a good thing. People generally suck at fighting. So, the game has to reconcile your wimp moves with the things a real fighter would do, and the result looks terrible.
The only thing that looks great is Eyepet. This game uses the Playstation Eye to put you and the room you're in in the background, and a little cut monkey in the foreground. In the demo, children give the silly monkey a bath and dry his fur. The kid who is holding the Move appears - in the game - to be holding a hair drier, which he uses to dry off the kooky ape. This might be the sort of thing families will have fun with on Christmas day, but the rest of the package is far less compelling.
So far, the Playstation Move looks like a more accurate, less accessible version of the Nintendo Wii.
-calimer