Get ready to Move

Sony announced the PlayStation Move, a motion controller system that looks much like the Wii controller (except with a very cool LED glowing ball on the end), last year at the E3 convention. There wasn't much official news about it from then until last week, during the 2010 E3. Sony announced price ranges, as well as games and functionality.

While the Move is definitely trying to pull in some of the casual games that may be bored with the Wii's lack of good games (other than 1st party Nintendo games), Sony promises that the hardcore gamer will like it too. Sony promises 1:1 movement ratio with the Move controller, something Nintendo claimed when the Wii first released, though we later found out Nintendo's claim for 1:1 was off (which is why they release Wii Motion Plus as an add on to controllers). Instead of using an RF system like the Wii, the Move's controller is tracked by using the PlayStation Eye. The camera in the PlayStation Eye tracks the LEDs in the sphere on the end of the controller.

The demos I watched really did seem to be 1:1 ratio. The onscreen avatars seemed to move exactly the way the people holding the controller did. Sony announced a few games for the Move, which included a Harry Potter-ish wizard game call Sorcery. This game looks amazing to me. You can select different spells and cast them by flinging the wand at the screen. I think the demo really showed off the movement quality that Sony claims is possible with the Move. The person running the demo had no problem selecting spells quickly and easily, and was very accurate in casting them. The move also promises to add functionality to the First Person Shooter genre. Adding a wii-like nunchuk to the Move's main controller, you can control movement of your character better than you ever good with the Wii. The demos they ran playing games that would normally require a controller looked very good. The aiming seemed much more fluid than what we are used to with the Wii, which usually doesn't do exactly what you want it to do.

For me to be excited about the PlayStation Move is a surprise to me. I really don't care of the Wii. I think it's fun for party like games, Wii Sports and games like that, but doesn't translate well to more hardcore games (Super Mario Bros. Wii, Mario Cart, Metroid). Move looks like it may be out to change our perception of laggy, glitchy and frustrating motion control. If Sony can get movement ratio to 1:1 and bring out quality games that aren't just thrown together, or rip offs of popular wii games, then I will definitely be on board for this party.