Sony talks PS3 motion control – accurate and backwards compatible
It’s been two weeks since Sony unveiled its effort to join the motion control battle with its PS3 wand. But in that time, most people’s attention has been aimed in the direction of Microsoft and Project Natal. Which just won’t do. So Sony has begun talking up its motion sensing controller, with executives describing it as both “stunningly accurate” and backwards compatible.
With the success of the Wii, we all knew the other two console manufacturers would also try their hand at a motion controller. E3 2008 brought us Wii MotionPlus, while E3 2009 brought us Xbox 360 Natal and PS3 wand-type thing. Project Natal took all the headlines due to its no-hands approach to motion control but Sony shouldn’t be counted out yet.
Sony has taken the middle ground, with its motion control being pitched somewhere between the Wii MotionPlus and Project Natal. While MotionPlus has already arrived to barely a whimper of excitement, and Project Natal has yet to receive a release date of any kind, Sony has committed to a Spring 2010 release for its entry into the market.
Which just leaves time to wheel the big guns out to start talking up the system, which is exactly what has happened over the past week.
Andrew House, CEO and President of SCEE, spoke to GI.biz:
It’s stunningly accurate in terms of the way it tracks movement. That sounds like an incremental step in terms of motion technology, but it’s a huge one in terms of saying ‘now it’s arrived’ and it’s really going to change the way we think about how we play games.
What we had at the E3 showing was very forward facing technology, a firm date for launch which is important as it gives us a good lead time to assemble the right sorts of content to take advantage of it. And we demonstrated a very tangible sense of how this will translate into gaming experiences. Those are three critical things.
Jack Tretton, CEO and President of SCEA, spoke to CNBC:
Personally, it’s very difficult for me to perceive ‘God of War 3’ being played with the Wii controller. It’s a different experience that doesn’t lend itself to certain types of games. [But] I think our [motion] controller can be used with every game that’s on the system now — and every game we’re working on.
I think that’s absolutely conceivable [that the system could backwards compatible].
I’m not yet as excited about the PS3 motion control that was on display at E3 as I am about Project Natal, which seems like a true game changer, if it works as well as hyped. But Sony is unlikely to concede this battle without an almighty fight.
Making the system backwards compatible would be a huge coup because it immediately does away with the need for a killer launch title; every title is a goer. The head start Sony is going to get over Microsoft could also prove important, especially if the PS3 wand, or whatever it ends up being called, gets strongly marketed and priced in the right bracket to appeal to all.
Related Posts:
47 Responses to “Sony talks PS3 motion control – accurate and backwards compatible”
Leave a Reply:
You must be logged in to post a comment. Don't have an account? Register today!
June 18th, 2009
I personally don’t care much about motion sensing crap i hardly use my Sixaxis motion sensing technology on Warhawk is great. But Sony new Motion Sensing controller looks very promising and we already saw a working prototype unlike Microsoft Sony built something to show off. Project Natal is gonna be over priced and i bet is gonna be launch early 2011 and with no backwards compatibility and full of problems. How come Microsoft didn’t show a Prototype demo just lame videos oh please anyone can do that. Microsoft should be counted out already since they got nothing close to real yet. Sony already has the EyeToy and PlayStation Eye and Motion Sensing.
June 18th, 2009
Ivan must not have seen the Burnout Paradise video.
June 18th, 2009
LOL
June 18th, 2009
is… is ivan actually laughing at himself?… wow… alot has changed…
and shouldnt this make that andrew dud love both 360 n ps3 just as much?
June 18th, 2009
I’m laughing at Microsoft. Andrew House is correct jealously sucks for you guess.
June 18th, 2009
The wand looks like something I was probed with during Mardi Gras.
June 18th, 2009
What
June 18th, 2009
You know what i’m talking about. You were the one lubing it up.
June 18th, 2009
Cmon i think we can all agree that as we represent more of the “hardcore” market, none of us will buy/play these new things. I probably won’t buy the motion controllers unless there’s something groundbreaking done with them, likewise if i owned a 360 i would find it a pain using natal for paradise as it would wear me out pretending to act like a racing driver.
June 18th, 2009
I would never play with out my Sixaxis or Dualshock 2 and 3 controller. Motion Sensing is pathetic useless.
June 18th, 2009
Ivan – “Andrew House is correct jealously sucks for you guess”. Eh? Do you have a random sentence generator?
Bourne – What are you going to do when all the 3 consoles are all motion controlled? Don’t fight the tide. Read the review of Tiger Woods 10 on the Wii with Motion + and you can see that the future is brighter than you may think. The days of button pushing are numbered.
Why are people so scared of motion control. Do people not like to see change and progress or are people frightened of looking a bit silly acting out movements for games? Is the only progress we want to be purely graphical? Years ago people marvled at the thought of motion control. Now that its here, the “true hardcore” gamers don’t want to know. Maybe the days of the “hardcore” game are numbered?
June 18th, 2009
Hay Bigmickyd – “and shouldnt this make that andrew dud love both 360 n ps3 just as much?”. No, I will still choose to detest sony.
June 18th, 2009
Do you need more than one wand if you want to control the movement of both arms or legs? or will the camera pick up that motion and use the wand for “finetuning” its input?
June 18th, 2009
A camera to fine tune the input. That sounds like a nightmare for the dev teams to get working right. Maybe we should stick to button pushing!
June 18th, 2009
PS3 would always use the Dualshock 3 or Sixaxis as the main controller.
June 18th, 2009
And the next playstation will most likely use the dualshock3 (or 4) with the wand being bundled with the system so as to appeal to both casual and hardcore. So you will liekly be ok Ivan.
But sitting on the fence isn’t the only way sony will have a sore ass next gen. No commitment will show a lack of direction. They will lose some of their hardcore fan base and capture a fraction of the increasing casual market while Microsoft and Nintendo continue their domination of this gen into the next.
sony have some hard decisions to make. Commit to a motion future, don’t dilute your controller set up with multiple offerings. Or become a niche product that will not be main stream enough to maintain industry support.
June 18th, 2009
“PS3 would always use the Dualshock 3 or Sixaxis as the main controller.”
Totally agree with Ivan. You either jump in the deep end like Big-N and make all games use motion control or you don’t bother.
The six-axis is the perfect example of trying to do both and failing miserably at motion control.
June 18th, 2009
MS has the same decision to make me_ …. or did you conveniently forget about that ??
June 18th, 2009
Spideydog : Microsoft’s decision is a bit easier that sony’s. They can package their old controller and their new controller at absolutely no cost. Coz its the players limbs. Which most players have already for free.
Actually thats a point. How would flids use the new Project Natal?
June 18th, 2009
Andrew “Microsoft’s decision is a bit easier that sony’s. They can package their old controller and their new controller at absolutely no cost.”
I like ur theory but doesnt give anything for free. they know they can get ur money and they will charge you for it.
June 18th, 2009
Ahhh, andrew they have to still package all the sensing equipment …… so no, it’s still the same decision.
“How would flids use the new Project Natal?”
Have you heard of “strap ons”
June 18th, 2009
HA ha ha. ***NEW*** Xbox Natal, includes 4 motion sensing strap ons.
So the next gen is shaping up to be a very different battle. In one corner we have Microsoft and their Natal Strap Ons. In the other corner we have sony and their Magic “The Intruder” Wands.
June 18th, 2009
The intruder wands you can see on the outside too ……
June 18th, 2009
spidey dont bother. he is just here to talk shit
June 18th, 2009
Oh, I think Andrew_ds and I have a gentleman’s agreement here.
I’m having fun anyways !!!!!
June 18th, 2009
Well Sony already showed us that the PS3 wand is light years better than the inaccurate, broken Wii mote controller. Even the rough, unfinished teck demo looked better than anything to date that’s been done on the Wii.
Nintedno had a pretty cool idea, but wasted it. The Wii mote is unresponsive and has broken controls in almost every game that has been released. Also most of Nintendo’s games don’t even use the motion controls due to the fact that they suck.
Again, Nintendo dropped the ball. If anyone can make a good game that uses motion controls, it’s Sony.
June 18th, 2009
i don’t quite get the wand is better than the wiimote? is it supposed to be motion+ or wiimote? isn’t it that the wand is competing w/ motion+?
i know motion+ is 1:1 and wand is 1:1. but the wand do not have IR right? i guess wii’s design is better.
June 18th, 2009
‘Again, Nintendo dropped the ball. If anyone can make a good game that uses motion controls, it’s Sony.’
I wouldn’t say they dropped the ball, the tech that MS and Sony are making for this generation aren’t going to win back the audience Nintendo stole from them. Well I guess you could say they’ve dropped the ball, but they already got the touchdown.
If the next Nintendo console rolls out with motion controls (I presume it will) then you can bet its going to be improved technology that is accurate from day one.
June 18th, 2009
Ivan….wait I mean Barnabe. Of course the controls are inaccurate if the Wiimote is broken. But a working one is great.
Seriously though. sony have developed a more honed version of something Nintendo released almost 3 years ago. Ninty themselves have basically admitted that its not perfect by the release of Wii Motion +. So far the reviews speak for themselves.
And how can millions upon millions of sales of the Wii be considered a wasted idea. Have Nintendo dropped the ball or have they made a sh*t load of cash by catering to a market sony and Microsoft FAILED to see, and are now back peddling to try and get a cut of.
“If anyone can make a good game that uses motion controls, it’s sony”. Well thats up to sony to prove and us to judge.
So maybe Nintendo didn’t drop the ball. Maybe they placed it down, left if for the kiddies to fight over and went to play a whole different ball game.
June 18th, 2009
Yay chornak. Welcome here dude! And thanks for the input. At last another balanced, non bais contributor.
June 18th, 2009
hey andrew, i laughed regarding the broken wiimote. hahahahahaha. that’s a good one.
i forgot to add something. does the wand have a vibrate functionality and a speaker too?
June 18th, 2009
So now we have Wii motion plus. How much does a Wii mote, Nunchuck, and motion plus cost now?
Wii Mote – $40
Nunchuck – $20
Wii Motion plus – $20
$80 f-ing dollars! All sold separately.
June 18th, 2009
Punch Out – $50. It’s basically Super Punch Out (SNES) with slightly higher res graphics, no online play, and one new character. Again – Rip Off!
June 18th, 2009
Mario kart is the same as the previous two
SSBB is also the same.
The basically killed the Donky Kong franchise
they Killed Paper Mario and Mario Party.
June 18th, 2009
“Mario kart is the same as the previous two”
Actually, online adds quite a bit to the game’s longevity. Not only that, but it has twice the number of tracks as any other Mario Kart, and has bikes as well as carts, which adds an awesome new dimension to the actual gameplay.
Mario Kart Wii is nearly perfect, and is by far the best game on the system. I would only change two things: 1) That freaking retarded name, and 2) Offer more classic tracks for download!
-Arvis
June 18th, 2009
I wasn’t a fan of the wideass tracks. The game felt quite slow.
June 18th, 2009
Yeah, the game does feel slow…. IF YOU SUCK AT IT!!! PWNED!!
-Arvis
June 18th, 2009
1 H4X0R3D TEH CLIENT!
I raise your PNWED with a – AL CAPWNED!
June 18th, 2009
It´s very hard to think about any genre that keeps dramatically changing with each iteration. Most sequels on any platform have enough changes to keep us entertained but not to revolutionize the industry each time.
Sure, we can point SSB franchise, but how about Street Fighter? SF2, SFA and SF3 are subseries that got lot of useless versions. KOF anyone? It happens to anybody, not just Nintendo.
Mario kart and Paper Mario are both superb on their own. Paper Mario for the Wii changed a lot from the first two games, but strangely that seems like a problem to Roca.
DK franchise was dead to me since MS bought Rare (I´m still waiting for KI, GEye and PD for this generation). And no… I am not gonna defend Mario Party…
About Sony´s controller: I think it´s awesome that they are taking this path too. FPS are fantastic with such scheme. And that is only one part of it… REAL COMPETENCE will benefit us gamers regardless of the platform we prefer.
New to the blorge, first post. You can see my photo here: http://gamer.blorge.com/2009/06/15/myth-or-fact-new-natal-powered-xbox-360-system-likely/
(Yeah! That pretty boy with the intelligent look!)
June 18th, 2009
Hey I just realised, the dude from Metallica’s ‘One’ video can’t play with Natal.
June 18th, 2009
If you think it looks slow have a look at some of the videos for world record laps.
Some people have way too much time on their hands.
June 19th, 2009
Mario Kart has slowly lost its appeal with each neww version. The first required some skill but Double Dash was an absolute lottery. I know they are changing who its aimed at (families and drunk friends) but we need something to a bit more serious TOO.
Like someone pointed out, most games just don’t change too radically. Its too risky to alienate your core audience.
But one of the biggest genres that is guilty of this is the FPS game. I have actually stopped buying games mags due to the fact that month in month out 50% of the “new” games reviewed are all FPS or TPS games. I don’t mind playing the odd one but some people must be obsessed to keep the manufacturers of them in business to keep churning more and more out.
June 19th, 2009
I think the main point is that Nintendo never tries anything new. What was there last new game… StarFox 64? They just keep constantly repeating the same 5 games over and over again.
June 19th, 2009
Agreed Barnabe. I have found myself not getting the core Nintendo games this time round. I am most disapointed with them and Animal Crossing. Its the same game. They had so much scope for that game but….
Mario Galaxy is good though. Nay, its great. I will buy the Mario games as thay are just incredible fun. Lets face it SMB, SMB 2, SMB 3 and SMW were all pretty much more of the same, but damn were they fun. Mario Galaxy 2 looks like more of the same but to behonest thats fine with me. I wish Capcom would release another game based on RE4. I would buy it in a second.
But over all I agree. Some times Nintendo seem to either dilute games (Mario Kart) or not progress them (Animal Crossing).
June 19th, 2009
“know they are changing who its aimed at (families and drunk friends) ”
You got something against drunk friends??????
It’s the main reason my ranking in Mario Kart is so low. Weeks of pumping up my score is blown away by one Friday night on the booze
June 19th, 2009
me_:,
I got a lap-time in the Top 20 on SNES Mario Circuit 3, and have never lost an online race on that course.
-Arvis
June 19th, 2009
‘I think the main point is that Nintendo never tries anything new.’
Yeah and it sucks
The games are still fun, but it gets kind of annoying when you’re playing the same zelda over and over and over again… And when they do make a change (wind waker) they manage to botch it so that everyone whines and they fall back to OoT mechanics.