Saturday, March 13, 2010

PlayStarion Move has me saying "Meh"

Concrete details are always nice aren't they? When Sony showed off it's own motion controller in the shape of a wand, there were some pretty bright possibilities. Obviously, with Nintendo's grip on the motion control market as firm as a wrist strap will hold it, some entering competition might just force them to up their software game right?

Honestly, nothing of the Move-supporting software has appeared appealing to me in any way. SOCOM 4 is the only core game that supports Move right now, and I would rather play it with a traditional controller. That title alone seems like the fig leaf Sony is handing to their primary audience at launch of the PlayStation Move.

Other titles look exactly like Wii Sports Resort, a light gun game, and the minigame collections that line the shelving at any old big box retailer. Motion Fighter might be the only exception, but without a proper preview of that title, I'm inclined to lump it in with the others and label the whole project a mess.

What the PlayStation Move has really got me thinking about is having "the option" to use motion controls, and having "the option" to use a standard controller. I don't have to buy every motion controlled game that comes down the pipeline, but in core games, if there's an extra incentive to use motion controls, or they add something to the overall experience, then I might buy in. That calls multiplayer balancing into question though because of the difference in controls, but that's another topic for another post.

Beyond the software, I have to admit that the Move controller looks interesting, especially thanks to its color-changing ball. There's been some confusion as to whether the ball changes to reflect on screen action or the colors the PS Eye sees, but it doesn't matter, it just looks cool. If it helps add to the overall accuracy of the device then that's awesome, it just looks neat.

The rest of the decice and the "movement" wand that it's paired with still look like PlayStation branded Wii Remotes. I can see how the overall input is different, and I can see what a developer might do with the Move is different, but I still think the overall interface will be the same.

Of course, that means a lot of the software will be the same too. Maybe I'm being an elitist asshole when I say that video games are meant to be experienced in one way, and while that way may diverge into many different ways of experiencing games, the core input device will remain a two handed controller.

There's still another motion control initiative to hear from, but I'll keep myself reserved. Ever since my fervor for the launch of the Wii, I've tried to temper my excitement with thoughts of how disappointed I was with console in the end. I hate selling my video games, and I hate selling consoles even more, but my Wii was just taking up space. How will the Move be different?

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