Sony Mimics Wii with Move Motion Controller for PlayStation 3

By Nick Mokey March 10, 2010

Step aside Nintendo, Sony’s on the Move. The Japanese electronics giant set its sights squarely on its fellow Japanese rivals on Wednesday by announcing the PlayStation Move, a precise motion controller for the PlayStation 3. The company broke the news at a press conference at the Game Developer’s Conference in San Francisco.

Known as “Arc” during its prototype stages, the Move features a wand-like controller with a colorful, LED-lit ball on top. A set of internal accelerometers along with tracking from Sony’s EyeToy camera allow it to translate real-life motion to players on the screen, similar to the Nintendo Wii and Microsoft’s upcoming Project Natal. Both Natal and Move are scheduled for a tentative fall 2010 release.

Sony plans to offer the Move in a starter kit bundled with the EyeToy camera and game for under $100, as well as an “ultimate” bundle, which will include the PS3 console, and a standalone package that only includes a controller. Pricing on the latter two hasn’t been hinted at yet, but with the EyeToy currently selling for around $30 on its own, we wouldn’t expect the standalone Move controllers to go for under $50.

Games in the works include Sports Champions and Move Party, which will both be Wii-style compilations with multiple mini games on one disc, such as Gladiator Duel and Table Tennis. Sony also claims “Virtually every third-party publisher” is on board to cook up titles for it, including Activision, Capcom, WB Games, Namco Bandai, Square Enix, Ubisoft, EA, Disney, Konami, Sega, Crave and Tecmo Koei.

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