Sony PlayStation Move
Wii too?
Review “I like to Move it, Move it."
Reel 2 Reel paraphrased in 1994 exactly how I feel about the PS3's new motion controlled system.
The motion controller is the main Move add-on
Are we still embarrassed by so-called 'active gaming'? I know I keep the curtains closed during my nightly Wii Fit session. That said, I think it's a more acceptable social activity than we thought it would be a few years ago, and therefore it’s the right time for Sony and Microsoft to jump on the bandwagon.
Or, in Sony’s case, steal the whole bandwagon and pimp their ride before Microsoft is even out of the starter blocks with Kinect. One-on-one motion gaming anyone? Move is the closest I’ve seen.
The hardware Move uses is a 3D webcam: the PlayStation Eye connected to the console by USB tracks and maps your movements. The Eye is chunkier than the Wii sensor bar, and I stuck it under the screen instead of on top. The motion-sensing controller - which unfortunately looks in my mind at least slightly like alien sex toys - communicates with the PS3 using Bluetooth.
The navigation controller provides extra controls for complex games
For first-person shooters, where you need greater control, there's the Move navigation Controller, which you hold in your other hand like a Wii nunchuck. This wasn’t included with the review kit, but I expect it has the standard analogue control stick.
COMMENTS
Our other office has a Kinnect dev kit...
And it's the laughing stock of the office (our office at least). The latest hardware rev turned up about 6 weeks back, and it's still a utter joke, it's really laggy even basic API testing, let alone trying to use it in a game, and it has serious (and unfixable) registration issues due to the resolution drop Microsoft had to give it to make it affordable (and for the Xbox to be able to perform the image processing near realtime). It promises way too much, there is no way on earth it can deliver anything more than a small update on what PS2 EyeToy was offering 8 years back.
Move all the way. We have 3x move titles in development, and it's all going very well indeed. The Sony APIs are stable and well documented and integrate seamlessly into their existing API classes and system services, it's quite trivial to add move support, as long as your game is the type that can benefit from it.
It sorta explains why MAG is getting a Move update within the month, as is Heavy Rain (which I am a big fan of), I think both titles will demonstrate very nicely how versatile Sony's new controller is.
If it's accurate then it's the one for me
I've been waiting for a review of this on a site I trust. Having played the Wii many times I have also been frustrated by its lack of accuracy, even with the "Motion Plus"(tm) controller the console lets itself down, not to mention the dated graphics and some very tired-looking game franchises.
Recently I also had the opportunity to have a go on the Microsoft Kinect system as it was being demo'd at my place of work. Although I should point out for fairness that it is not yet the finished retail product and subject to bug-fixing.
If Kinect can be described as anything then that thing would be very clever. It can recognise people so that it knows who is playing (I can't speak for how accurate it would be if you gained/lost a few pounds) and can recognise the position of your limbs without any controller. However, while it was quite good fun in games which encompassed general movement, anything that needed more than a slight degree of accuracy was somewhat disappointing. Certainly on the system we played on, it showed even when just using your hand to select a button on the screen that it jiggled and moved slightly rather than being steady like my hand (I don't believe I had the alcoholic shakes that day....). We also saw that in some cases, perhaps based on clothing (one guy was wearing all black) it didn't properly recognise limb positions.
Of course, some of this may be fixed or improved by launch, but I still don't see how it can compete on an accuracy basis without the benefit of a motion sensitive controller to back up the image-based tracking.
For me, this means that I will gravitate towards the Move as I think the lack of accuracy may limit the applications of Kinect. However, if I am proved wrong upon the full Kinect release then things could always change.
"i'm a hardcore gamer and I have yet to buy a PS3"
Then your not a hardcore gamer. Anyone that truely considers themselves a gamer will already have a PS3. How else do you get to play generation defining titles like Uncharted 1&2 and Killzone and the like? You don't you miss out...
Congratulations, your fanboyism means you are the one losing out....
Yes that's right
I tell you what, why don't you nip down to Kmart and buy yourself a blue light bulb and a cheap camera. You've probably already got bluetooth in your phone or something so you have that already. Just put them all together and there you go, Playstation Move on the cheap! No need to buy the real stuff at all!
Why does it look like you're holding a magenta cock on page 2?
Bizarre...
