Sony's PS3 Motion Controller Gets Demoed and Named

itwbennett writes "In a 45-minute press conference at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, Sony announced its motion controller, officially named the Playstation Move. The Move consists of the Eye Toy (a camera pointed at the player) and a wand-like controller with a lighted ball at the end and a range of buttons on the shaft, writes blogger Peter Smith. 'Alternatively games can use two of the wands, or one wand and one "sub-controller" that has an analog stick (the camera is always required),' says Smith. 'If this is sounding very much like the Wii's Remote and Nunchuk well, you aren't far off (though at least there's no cable between the two parts to smack you in the face when things get heated).' Here are Smith's thoughts on the demo: 'All in all, the demos seemed OK, but I, at least, wasn't really blown away by any of them. That said, it's always hard to tell how well these systems work without actually trying them for yourself. You need to feel the connection (or lack thereof) between what your hands are doing and what's going on on-screen in order to be sure. For example, in the boxing demo the player did a quick spin move that led to a roundhouse punch. It's hard to say if his motion triggered a pre-set action (a 'combo') or if the system was able to track the controller that accurately, and was able to 'connect the dots' from when his body briefly occluded the wand to when it reappeared.'"

Comments

Re:The Eye Toy is back

[Anonymous Coward]

Its actually called the Playstation Eye, Eye Toy was the last gen camera. Lower resolution and FPS capture rate.

EyeToy?

[benjymous]

"EyeToy" was the PS2 camera. PS2/Move use the "Playstation Eye"

Re:Pictures

[Locke2005]

I agree, I have a Wiimote and it is very disappointing as a pointing device. I don't have personal experience with the Move, but if you follow the link I included, it states We hate to say this about "pre-alpha" software, but we're feeling lag. An on-rails shooter we tried out, dubbed The Shoot, was discernibly inferior to shooting experiences we've had on the Wii, both in precision and refresh rate of the aiming cursor. That may be a software flaw, but I believe it is more likely due to the limitations of using a single cheap web cam for motion detection.

Re:Looks like an enhanced Wiimote

[Anonymous Coward]

At least, unlike the Wii, this tracks actual positions in space, so it can tell the difference between a flick of the wrist and a full-on karate chop.

Kind of like the Wii MotionPlus.

Re:A better name

[Anonymous Coward]

PROTIP: The girls in Playstation Home are not really girls.

Re:The Eye Toy is back

[bluesatin]

I meant that the Eye-toy tracked your body, which is what Project Natal does. While Sony's motion tracks your hands and what they're doing, which is what the Wii controller does.

Re:Wii on steroids?

[Locke2005]

Wii manufacturing costs originally estimated at $158 now down 40% to $95. PS3 manufacturing costs originally estimated at over $800, now down 70% to $240. Sure, Sony is doing cost reduction faster, and a system-in-a-chip solution like that of the slimline PS2 would drive cost down even farther. But right now, each PS3 costs 2.5 times as much to build -- it would be easy for Nintendo to undercut any Sony price reduction without losing money on each unit like Sony was doing when first shipped.

Re:A better name

[adolf]

Dedicated vibrating Playstation widgets are so 2004.