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Sony Unveils PS3 Motion Controller
Sony confirmed rumors at E3 yesterday by debuting their take on a motion-based input device, set to be released for use with the PS3 in the spring of 2010. The BBC has some entertaining video of the demonstration. "A sensor sits on top of the TV and detects the position, distance and movement of two controllers held in a user's hand. The device can not only measure where the controllers are in relation to each other, but also how close they are to the sensor, meaning you can create true 3D movement within a game. ... During the demonstration, the developers showed what the Sony PlayStation Controller was capable of, enabling users to wield weapons, fire a bow and arrow, write on screen and manipulate objects in a virtual environment. 'One thing that is really difficult to do in a virtual world is drawing,' said Mr Marks. 'And in particular, writing requires extreme precision. [The controller can be measured] to sub-millimetre accuracy.'"
Not because they're a terrible idea.... Mostly because they're all patented. If one vendor's system "wins", we all lose.
Without competition, there are no price wars.. There's no innovation.. You're lucky if there are even incremental upgrades.
Patents don't prevent competition. You're confused.
Unfair licensing practises prevent competition.
Patenting actual hardware device innovations shouldn't be up for debate, its almost always a good thing for innovation. The problem is not licensing patents to competitors at fair rates.
- Michael T. Babcock (Yes, I blog)
Good enough by what standards? Mate, they rule the market. What more could they have wanted from a box that actually rakes in cash instead of costing the company hard $?
How many years is the Wii old now? And only now do Sony and Microsoft emerge with their own 'innovative' controller technology. How many billions of dollars is Nintendo ahead of them at this point?
Be glad. If anything, this will push Nintendo to come up with something even better. That can only be good for us gamers, right?
Both systems need accelerometers + gyros to sense the controller rotation (X & Y absolute, Z relative).
The Wii uses a camera on the remote and targets in the sensor bar to detect position and Z-rotation (absolute).
The PS3 thingy uses a camera on the TV and a target on the controller to detect position. I don't know how it detects Z-rotation (absolute); maybe it uses a magnetometer?
The PS3 can track position better because the Eye can see the controller most of the time. The Wii tracks better when the controller is pointed at the screen.
The graphics are killer. The AI has me pinned down. The story is immersive. If only I could freehand draw some genitalia on the wall this game would be perfect.
Yes, Nintendo's patent on the Wii Remote stopped Sony from releasing a wand-shaped motion controller after all.
No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
Wow, you actually used the "I could care less" phrase correctly. You actually care enough about motion controllers to gripe about the Wii remote, so yes you're right. You could care less.
Microsoft and Sony's new technologies are just appearing, halfway through the product life cycle. This means they'll be, what, 3 good games using this hardware. Just look at headsets. Sony didn't include one and so many games don't support such a fundamentally important piece of online play. This'll wind up in the dumpster next to the Playstation Eye and other such technologies.
I am starting to find that there is some sort of implied shame for most people in liking what Nintendo does. I hear the "it's a kids toy", like somehow a game/system that kids can play can't be any fun for adults. I know quite a few people I had to drag, kicking and screaming, to play a game on the Wii with me. They almost ALWAYS enjoy themselves. But more often than not, they flat out REFUSE to admit they enjoyed themselves and start bitching about the controller shape or the shell color or just about anything to convince themselves that they hate the system.
Same thing happens with Flash games, but at least there I can see it as a hate for the Flash platform bleeding into the objectionability. As for Wii hate, I have no idea where it comes from.
"When life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade. Make life take the lemons back!" -- Cave Johnson
- Yes Wii can !
Yeah, but it's not just shovelware. Take the new punchout for example. Almost every review I read said that the waggle controls worked, but barely, and that the game was more enjoyable just turning the controller sideways. IIRC, same goes for MarioKart, SSBM, and a few other games that were great games, but were just as enjoyable without waggle.
now a game like RE4 seemed built to use the Wii controller, along with a game like metroid prime (a little less so). The "Limited FPS" (aim anywhere on the screen, but character position is still controlled by analogue sticks or is on rails) seems to be the best use of the wii controls. Other games like Boom Blox are unthinkable without a wii controller.
I'm not trying to blame the 50:1 ratio of bad:good games on waggle controls, that's probably more related to the fact that the Wii has sold so much. However, I can only think of a handful of games that are improved upon by motion controls. I guess that's my main point, that I don't think there are enough instances of good games that require motion controls to require each console to have motion controls.
Whether or not there is some sort of god, I'm not supposed to say/god is a word and the argument ends there-Smog
Then stop playing on consoles, and go join an archery club.
You don't play with many "gamers" then. It's the people who identify themselves as "hardcore" that dislike the Wii, or find reasons to dislike it.
My blog. Good stuff (when I remember to update it). Read it.
Seriously though, you might want to give it a try. I know you want to do ever-more-outrageous things in console games (like shooting people), but that's because the main theme of the game (interaction with the controls, possible results, learning to master it) get boring really quickly. In real life, all of these things are much more varied and interesting; different bows, different strings, your muscles on different days, different wind, different targets, different people to compete with, different arrows, different flights. Even just the pain as a string hits your hand to remind you that you're doing it all wrong. You might even find that (*gasp*) you don't need to kill people to have fun.