The PlayStation Move Arrives — a Hands-On Report

itwbennett writes "The PlayStation Move hit retail stores on Friday and blogger Peter Smith spent the weekend putting it (and his shoulder) through its paces. So how does this motion controller compare to the Wii? Smith says it 'felt a lot more precise' but that 'there were instances where the depth perception of the camera got lost for a moment.' The bottom line: 'If you have a Wii and the Wii Motion Plus accessory, there isn't a whole lot here right now to justify $100-$170 worth of gear for most gamers.'" CNET is similarly critical, complaining of the continual calibration requirements and the dearth of good launch titles. The Guardian's games blog agrees that quality games are currently lacking, but says the accuracy and responsiveness are a step up from the Wii, giving the Move a lot of potential. iFixit did a teardown, providing an interesting look at the hardware inside the device.

Comments

Re:Wow

[rotide]

Ya, how dare they actually use the device for any meaningful length of time in their own homes/offices. Actually using the product, figuring out the good versus the bad and writing up a quality article just isn't warranted these days, apparently.

Short version: No Games, Waste of Money

[WillAffleckUW]

Never forget the pris dork factor of waving those things around.

Having your parents buy this is a great way to ensure your virginity if you're a teen boy.

Who is this for, really?

[damn_registrars]

I keep thinking Sony has delivered an answer to a question nobody is asking. You can buy a Wii brand new for $150 at any store you like, or you can spend $400 on a PS3 with the Move hardware. Sure, the Sony can play Blu-Ray, but people don't buy the Wii to play DVDs so why would they care about Blu-Ray? And even if the hardware is superior, it doesn't have the library of games available that the Wii already has.

The other end of the potential market would be people who already have a PS3 but really want Wii-like controls, but how many people does that segment represent? How many people who play Final Fantasy 28 on their PS3 finish playing that for 912 hours straight and then say "gee, I wish I could do Wii bowling on this console"?

The slightly cynical side of me wonders if this is just Sony trying to find a way to stick it to Nintendo (again) after the way that the SNES CD (later PS One) deal went down.

Re:Who is this for, really?

[Locke2005]

I own a Wii, but not a PS3 (because I'm cheap). The difference is not just in the graphics, which are much, much better on the PS3. It's also that the PS3 includes a hard drive which allows for a lot of downloadable content! This makes a big difference in games like Guitar Hero/Rock Band, which I recommend getting for PS3 or Xbox, not for Wii. The stupid thing is, the Wii has USB ports, so it could easily add an external hard drive or flash memory. Also, although the Wiimote excels as a swordplay simulator and makes a decent steering wheel, it sucks as a pointing device. Wiimote also has rumble and audio (yes, it's 2-way); do the Sony remotes provide this? My biggest complaint about the Wiimote (besides it's imprecision) is the wire between Wiimote and numchuck -- it's shorter than the distance between my hands. I would have preferred 2 separate wireless devices rather than 1 device with a tether to another device; it's just awkward. If money were no object, I'd own a PS3; but then, if money were no object, I'd own all 3 consoles -- PS3, XBox, and Wii. That's why PS3 sales will never exceed Wii sales; if you can afford a PS3, you can probably afford a Wii as well!

Re:Who is this for, really?

[kai.chan]

It is surprising to me that your post is +5 Insightful, when you are basing your opinion on false understanding of the different technologies.

The Wii is limited by the use of vectors rather than absolute positioning; whereas the PS Move is highly accurate in both minute and large movements.

People nowadays have a mentality that Wii = Casual games, therefore, Motion Controls = Casual games. What most people fail to understand (and I expected much more of the tech-savvy Slashdot users) is that the reason why motion controls has been associated with casual games is due to the lack of precision.

How many games on the Wii has successfully integrated motion control where you are actually moving your character's limbs/weapons in 1:1 precision? None (The new Zelda game didn't seem to be as accurate as the PS Move during the E3 2010 demonstration). Wii games, and most definitely, Kinect games, must be forgiving in design to account for the lack of precision; hence, the existence of causal games.

In terms of technology, PS Move is everything that we thought Wii can do when the Wii was first introduced. Who was disappointed when they first played Wii Boxing and found out that Wii is not 1:1? I sure did.

We all know that Kinect is all smoke-and-mirrors spewed out by Microsoft in order to trick uninformed users of what it can and can't do. The Kinect Star Wars demo will NEVER be the way that Microsoft has led the uninformed to believe due to Kinect's high latency and the software challenges associated with handling different body sizes and human movements.

PS Move, however, has highly accurate dynamic tracking (both slight and large movements) and will have amazingly accurate fighting games, lightsaber fights, etc, etc that is not possible on the Wii and especially Kinect. So to lump the PS Move with Wii bowling and base your opinion on previous motion control implementations is illogical.

Re:Who is this for, really?

[Fallingcow]

I've got a Wii and a PS3. Even after the Move, the Wii remains the king of fucking expensive controllers.

Gotta have a Wiimote for each set, to be the body of your absurd controller-squid. $40. Now you've got a pointer, no analog stick, and you can turn it sideways and PRESTO CHANGO it turns in to the least ergonomic Nintendo game controller since the NES. Terrific.

So you're gonna need an analog stick, plus motion sensing for your other hand if you want to use any of the games that take advantage of that, including one that comes with your Wii. That's another, what, $30?

Now to take care of the fact that the Wiimote is a shitty traditional controller and, surprise surprise, hasn't completely replaced traditional controls with arm waving and controller shaking, you'll need to buy a real controller to plug in to your controller (I put a controller in your controller so you can...) Another $30 or so.

$100 for a mostly-complete controller (since the IR pointer's highest purpose is obviously to be used in rail shooters, you'll still need a gun frame to stick the Wiimote in, otherwise what's the point? But I'll leave that aside for argument's sake), versus $50+$40 for a Sixaxis plus Move.

It's the hidden cost of a Wii, I've discovered; the console's cheaper but it's much more expensive to outfit (or at least was much more expensive before the Move, and is now--assuming enough games come out the the Move becomes a must-have--only slightly more expensive). Add in that you'll have to buy a recharge station and battery packs--another thing you don't need for the PS3--and you've got a console that's only cheap if you play it alone.

I don't hate the Wii (I would have sold mine if I did) but it's not that much cheaper than the other consoles if you game with friends, it's (oddly enough) far less travel-friendly (console+3x4 controller parts+IR thingy+charger=15 parts, vs. 5 for a PS3+4 controllers, plus you can use the PS3 controllers even if you forgot to charge them first) and it's not really a very good system out-of-the-box, until you pick up some of the extra crap.

Oh, and I forgot about Plus. Jesus. I swear Nintendo's whole business model this generation is to nickle-and-dime its customers to death with peripherals.

Ugh

[Pojut]

Thanks, Sony. Thanks for adding to the overabundence of games with needless motion controls. All this will do is fragment the gaming world even more, while taking potentially good games and making them a waggle fest. Nintendo already had this covered...you didn't have to step in with your overpriced hardware to saturate the market even further.

Re:Responsiveness

[Spad]

Which, given the 4 years since the Wii was released, is pretty poor.

By all accounts, the Move should blow the basic Wii controller out of the water and be at least par with the Motion Plus.

Re:Not a Wii HD

[DirePickle]

With a Wii you can play the new Zelda, Mario, and Metroid games, if those are up your alley.

Re:Not a Wii HD

[GweeDo]

My kids already have three pets and they have most definitely cost more than the Move (crap, probably more than the PS3 + Move + TV combined!) ;)

But is it worth it? Not yet. The software that is currently there isn't enough to fully justify it or prove the platform. Having said that, I do believe it shows the potential to be awesome. Check out this trailer for EchoChrome 2:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Usn6eo9FeTM
If Sony can get more interesting Move titles like this out, they will really have something.

Re:Is this a bad move for Sony?

[pyrosine]

When your customers dont have need of it - everyone who has wanted something wii-like has a wii by now (hence the decreasing sales and interest in the platform, the latter bit being my personal opinion through observation) and wont want a "playstation move".

Re:Responsiveness

[Anonymous Coward]

> By all accounts, the Move should blow the basic Wii controller out of the water and be at least par with the Motion Plus.

The constraint is not time, but cost of the components. You're not going to do much better unless you spend a /bunch/ more (like $10 instead of $1 for an accelerometer) for sensors that have better noise characteristics. (Also, sensing the size of the light sphere as a proxy for distance is probably /very/ noisy).

Re:Responsiveness

[DrXym]

By all accounts, the Move should blow the basic Wii controller out of the water and be at least par with the Motion Plus.

And it does. It's an extremely precise and accurate controller and the lag is not really noticeable. It is so accurate that the Start the Party game is able to overlay a sword / bat / etc exactly over the top of your camera image.

Whether this means anything in the long term is another matter.

Re:So, in short...

[DrXym]

... it doesn't work very well, there aren't any games out for it yet, they're late to market and it looks like a sex toy for a Dalek.

Actually the hardware works extremely well and is getting high praise. The launch lineup runs the gamut from excellent to tacked on. As with any launch lineup, you pick and choose the best titles (Tumble, Sports Champions) or wait for the next wave.