Following its initial announcement at GDC, Sony is making an effort to wow users with new controllers and new technology. But is it enough to win back gamers?
I wanted to like it, I really did. Despite my passionate love affair with my Xbox 360, I was prepared to leave it all behind and fling myself in the waiting and loving arms of Sony, all thanks to their new Move controllers that were being touted as the most recent “next best thing in gaming”. But after getting a chance to hold them in my hands, play the demos, and even speak with some of the developers, color me unimpressed.
If you haven’t seen them yet, the Move controllers are similar in look and function to the Wii’s nunchucks. They track the movement of the user, and in many games that movement is mimicked in the game. If you are playing a golf game, you would swing the controller like a club, baseball like a bat, etc etc. The novelty of it (and the price) helped propel the Wii to a dominant lead in the console wars (it also propelled a few controllers into TVs, but that is another story) and the originality of the experience won over the hearts of gamers and non-gamers alike. The Move was recently announced in San Francisco, with plans to offer a more in-depth look at this year’s E3 conference. The units are due out this Fall.
Last Thursday we were given the opportunity to attend a Sony event with demos of the new controllers. And I really wanted to like it. As a longtime gamer, I wanted Sony to wow me and show me something that will revolutionize the gaming world. Instead I got a copy of the Wii’s nunchucks. Only shiny.
The games were gimmicky and the equipment was full of lag and glitches, but that isn’t uncommon with new technology, and launch day titles rarely use that tech to its full potential. The one thing I couldn’t excuse was the feeling that Sony simply didn’t get it. Again.
The games lacked imagination and were exactly what you would expect to see from motion sensor controllers; the prerequisite fighting games, sports games, and party games all made an appearance. The addition of the upcoming SOCOM 4 was a nice surprise, but support for the Move was added after the game was developed, and the shooting quickly turned into little more than a gimmick that added little, while taking away the mobility you need to play fast paced shooters. The development tools were interesting to see, and it is very obvious that the people behind the technology of the Move are genuinely excited by the work, but it all felt like things all gamers have seen before.
Untapped Potential
Since the Playstation 3 was released, all we have been hearing is that it does everything – that even became their new sales motto. It is the most powerful of the 3 major gaming consoles, it has a built in Blu-ray player, and it even looks good. So why is it consistently at the bottom of the monthly sales charts? How did Nintendo so thoroughly manage to dominate it, and when did the Xbox 360 manage to become the console of choice for the hardcore gamer? It all comes down to fun. Or lack thereof.
The Move controllers are technological wonders, utilizing the powerful PS3 processor and giving depth and scope to motion capture gaming. It utilizes a camera with the Move controllers, and the combination offers something that the Wii nunchucks can’t- depth. Gyroscopes built into the Move also give them a range of motion that the Wii can’t touch. Add in the camera and you could someday soon find yourself in a virtual fight against your friend, and it would look and move just like the real people. Sounds great right? Not so fast.
First, to fully utilize the games, you will need two Move controllers. Most of the games had the option to use one, but if you are playing a gladiator game with a sword and shield, it would be limiting to only control the sword and not the shield. That means you will need to purchase a bundle. No word on pricing yet, but if the standard controllers are any gage, you can expect a price tag of $40 or more each. Pair a second unit, plus the camera you will need, and you could be out $100 before even considering games. Unless the bundle comes with a complimentary game, gamers could be looking at dropping over $150 dollars before even getting the Move home. Hardcore gamers with cash to burn and Sony loyalists might be willing to invest that much, but for $100 more you could just go and buy a new Wii. New gamers considering both the Move and a PS3 could be looking at a price tag of $450-$500.
Second, the amount of gamers on one console will be limited by the amount of people that the camera can see. Move out of the range of the camera, and the system won’t have anything to track. This limits the effectiveness of the party aspects of the game, something that the Wii thrives on.
Third, like the Wii, the system is subject to the whims of nature. A direct beam of sunlight can interfere with the connection between the camera and the Move and disrupt the game. The Wii has the same problem, but it is more pronounced with the Move, since the orbs on the controller must constantly remain in the camera’s line of sight. Further pre-launch adjustments should help with this but the tech will always face interference problems by design.
The technology does have potential though. Backed by the powerful PS3 processor, you could find yourself playing truly interactive and immersive games. Imagine playing a survival horror game and being able to slam a door on enemies and actually feel the resistance as they try to break through. Gamers could fight with their left hand, and reach around with their right to grab the enemy character from behind. The possibilities are awesome, but at the moment, possibilities is all they are. The tech is neat, but I doubt that it is enough to get people to switch over to the much pricier PS3 for what at the moment is still a gimmick. The fun factor simply isn’t high enough to justify the cost and the limitations. And then there is Microsoft’s Natal.
The Next Console War Will be Fought By Proxy
Last year Microsoft dropped a bomb on E3 with the announcement of Project Natal, a sensor that would go on top of your television and track your movements, allow you to interface the system without any controls, and also scan real world items into games. Gamers took to the blogosphere with screeches of delight for the potential of gaming. The possibilities are massive, and even if the lack of buttons might be the undoing for Natal’s gaming potential (as many at the Sony Move event suggested), the applications for the computer industry in general are far reaching. Shy of the videos and details given to us at last year’s E3, we know almost nothing about the Natal, but we know it looks cool and it is new. And we also know that it is also due out in Fall, just like the Move. And that is what Sony seems to be missing. If they hope to climb their way back into the ring and vie for a bigger piece of the console market share, it will take more than improvements to existing technology. They need to win back the excitement of gamers and tech fans. New controllers are nice, but no matter how impressive they are, it is nothing we have not seen before.
Gamers are not interested in the specs of upcoming technology. They notice them, but aren’t swayed by just numbers. The Wii is the most underpowered unit of the three, and continues to dominate the marketplace. Gamers want to be entertained, and that does not necessarily mean new and expensive technology, just something we haven’t seen before. Natal might be a bust for gamers, but it looks cool and new, so it has our attention.
Although a next generation of consoles is certainly in the works, the current gen are just beginning to hit their stride and utilize their full potential. Despite slowing sales, the Wii continues to move units, while the Xbox 360 managed to outsell the Wii in February for the first time since September 2007’s release of Halo 3. Further sales will be driven by additions and advancements to what is already out there, and Sony is lagging behind in most categories.
If Sony wants to convince people to buy their system (which is already the most expensive of the three), releasing a potentially expensive bundle that is an imitation of a competitor’s technology isn’t enough- they will need to offer a whole lot more. The Move is a cool idea with potential, but it is little more than an add on, not a game changer.
So what about you? Are you excited by the Move?
Showing 15 comments
RSS"Sony's is just based on a graphics card from a couple of generations ago, and all it's no better than the 360's, probably slightly weaker due to the shared memory architecture." - WRONG - First of all ALL of the console's GPUs are based off GPUs from a few generations ago NOW, however not when they were released, and while the GPU in the PS3 may be as powerful than the 360's but the PS3 can utilize functions to offload tasks from the GPU like in uncharted 2. This allows the PS3 to show more polygons. Also please explain what you mean by the PS3 having the "shared memory architecture" The 360 uses the same RAM for system AND the GPU, while the PS3 has dedicated GPU RAM. Lastly consoles don't have "Graphics Cards" - Graphics cards are the PCI cards that go into your computer with a GPU and RAM soldiered onto it, consoles have theirs on their motherboards, hence they are called GPU. You don't call processors "processing cards", you call them CPU's. It is a common mistake!
Lastly: "Reading that I've already come up with a system to negate the lag issue you talk about as far as natal is concerned." - Please explain!! and how will microsoft deal with the hardware resources used to run this, wont it lower the resources available to games even further on the 360 - or are Microsoft putting extra hardware in the Natal camera? The PS3 has already proven that with the PSeye they can do similar things as the Natal.
At least from what I can see you don't need to be dancing in front of your console all of the time like with the Wii board and Natal, and the name will sell better. Mummies and Daddies will buy their little kiddies a "MOVE" before they buy their little kiddies a "NATAL" that sends their kiddies spinning in circles.
I hope that Sony still leaves in support for playing games via the controller methods too, as well as the "MOVE" I am not looking forwards to rocking around on my office chair trying to beat up an enemy merely 1 meter from my console, computer, and LCD.
and hopefully it will work with the current PS3-EYE, can SONY confirm this?
Think of the revenue they will make from this!!
Luke
"Sony's got 3D, and PLENTY of Exclusives, Innovations, and MUCH MORE in the pipeline"....
Everyone has 3D!! OMFG, and Sony's is just based on a graphics card from a couple of generations ago, and all it's no better than the 360's, probably slightly weaker due to the shared memory architecture. Exclusives? Xbox has TWICE as many. And 4 more! And as for innovations - there's been 0 innovation on the ps3. Except that the ps3 already has a motion sensing feature and that it was terrible? And i'm not being a fanboy. All this stuff is true, so flame away.
It doesn't matter... I have both and I know which one I prefer to play on.
While I agree with you on pricing on bundles, disagree on potential.
What Sony does is cater to hardcore AND casual gamers.
The Wii and Natal only cater to the casual.
While the Wii is not accurate, Natal is a joke, with huge lag, loses processing power to handle Natal software and no controller, no thank you.
Wii and Sony will win in the motion gaming war.
It will seriously affect the gaming industry, ESPECIALLY with Online-Multiplayer, it will LAG!
It should ONLY be used for simple games, like that buzzer question game they ALSO showed in the trailer.
It is laggy to one tenth of a second by statistics, BUT, if it played online, it should be a BIT more laggy, actually not a bit, A LOT! Because both sides are going to have lag, in fact in a 32 Player Match for shooting for example will LAG! Coz everyone has the same bit of lag, thus lagging EVERYTHING else e.g. Frame Rate, movement, shootings, trigger reaction time etc.
Hence PlayStation Move is precise to the tenth of a millimeter, it can detect the tip of the PS Move's Arc (ball point), as the Natal can't detect ANY of that! XO
Plus the PS Move, ain't at ALL laggy! =)
Either way, both sides are going to be successful (I think Sony's gonna win this console war, just like the PSOne, and the PS2 had in their console era).
The only loser here is Nintendo, and HOPEFULLY, they won't be stupid in saying that they're going to launch a new console and ACTUALLY DO IT!
Sony and Microsoft ARE GOING TO KILL NINTENDO!
Apple may join the console wars, like they did with the SONY PSP and NINTENDO DS as a Preview.
But Sony's got 3D, and PLENTY of Exclusives, Innovations, and MUCH MORE in the pipeline, so Nintendo you're in MAJOR trouble foreas Microsoft, just stay in there, you'll get another time to shine, but perhaps now, Ain't ya time m8y.
the move, on the other hand, is recalibrating multiple times per second, thanks to the camera tracking the glowing sphere, and this allows uninterrupted, full 1:1 interaction ala VR or augmented reality.
grand slam tennis requires you to recalibrate a neutral racket position after every single swing. move's earth magnetic field sensor and glowing sphere will remedy that problem.
can wii do vr? can wii do full, uninterrupted 1:1 without annoying recalibrations after every shot? can wii do augmented reality? can wii do face tracking?
nintendo's published ONE GAME for motion plus in the year it's been out. sony has 20 move games planned in the first 5 months of launch and is treating it like a "mini-platform launch." they've specifically said that it'll be much more important to them than the eyetoy was on ps2.
i'll leave you with this comparison of move and wii sports resort table tennis:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqi2eaY_gZ0
if you can't appreciate the difference then humanity is a failure. i wouldn't be surprised, actually.