Watchout Natal, PS3 Coming Your Way

Sony's Final Design for The Controller

WARNING. This post is targeted for PS3 users. I'm sure by now you have all heard of the new PS3 motion controller and are thinking "I'm not buying that". I thought the same thing until I saw the live video at this years E3. It's not just another Wii remote, it's a lot more advanced then that. The reason for the sphere on top is so that the Playstation Eye (a web cam attached to the PS3) can sense the remote. Sony said the one at E3 was a company prototype, and it's not necessarily the way the final product will look or work. Sony also said that you can't have a fun video game experience with no buttons ( criticizing Natal). Sony has delayed the release date of the controller until Fall. The controller or wand if you will is detected by the Playstation Eye and turned into a weapon or tool virtually on the screen. Also the ball on top changes color depending on what your doing. I think the device is somewhere between Natal and Wii Motion Plus.

It's accuracy is supposed to be "sub millimeter" precise. Some names given to the device during production are Gem, Arc, and Sphere.  The name has been confirmed as of March and has been released to the public. Release date delay was announced by Sony's president Kaz Hirai. Kaz Haria delayed the projects release because they didn't have enough game titles to support the controller. Natal on the other hand has plenty of titles like the Milo and Kate, Ricochet, and Paint Party. Anyway Sony was the first to start experimenting with motion capture technology with their Eye Toy for PS2. After the Eye Toy they made the new and improved Playstation Eye for PS3, but was only for video chat similar to the Xbox Live cam. The latest news is the PS3 motion controller will have a nunchuck attachment. If this is true then the whole idea of the motion controller being a sword and the DualShock 3 controller as a shield will not happen.

Nintendo was offered Natal but they rejected it, but the motion controller was all Sony. Microsoft is under the impression that the Xbox's life cycle will last up to 2015, but if competition becomes tense they will have to reconsider the life cycle. But the latest news on the Sony's motion controller is that it is now called Playstation Move. It will be priced under $100 and might come in a bundle with the Playstation Eye, PS3 console, a demo disc, and the Move Controller. The last minute change in name from the original idea of Arc was due to the fact that Sony's rival Microsoft had a trademark for their Arc brand PC accessories. On March 9, Sony published the trademark Playstation Move in Europe. The next day Sony announced it as the official name at a press conference.The PlayStation Move sub-controller is one-handed supplementary controller designed for use in conjunction with the PlayStation Move motion controller for certain types of gameplay. Just like the left side of  a normal PlayStation Wireless Controller, the PlayStation Move sub-controller or it's nunchuck has a left analog stick (with an L3 button), a D-pad, and L1 and L2 analog triggers. The sub-controller also has  action buttons, to those of a standard Wireless Controller, a Sixaxis or DualShock 3 controller can be instead of the sub-controller with the PlayStation Move.

Some games that will get software updates to work with the move are Little Big Planet, Pain, Flower, Hustle Kings, High Velocity Bowling, EyePet, and Resident Evil 5: Alternative Edition. Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios is planning on releasing over twenty games for the Move before April 2011(this number does not include games released by third party publishers). Here some games that are in the works are Ape Escape (working title), Brunswick Pro Bowling, Champions of Time (working title), Eccentric Slider (working title), Echochrome 2 (working title), Motion Fighter (working title), Move Party, Sing and Draw (working title), Sports Champions, SOCOM 4 (working title), The Lord of the Rings: Aragorn's Quest, The Shoot (working title), Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11, Tower (working title), Toy Story 3: The Video Game, TV Superstars, and Under Siege. The gaming evolution has begun, and Sony has joined the ride. To see the Playstation Move in action see this video: http://www.viddler.com/explore/PSBlogEU/videos/320/0
For the E3 live video I was talking about, go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgLN7uOj8Jg