It’s time to get off your couch and start moving. PlayStation Move, the video game industry’s latest technological innovation, transforms your living room into the perfect venue for gladiator duels, archery battles, beach volleyball matches and much more. Sedentary gaming is becoming a thing of the past, as motion technology gives you more control over your games and allows you to interact with them on a whole new level.
The Move, which was released Friday, is Sony’s foray into motion technology. The Move requires a PlayStation 3 system, a PlayStation Eye camera and a PlayStation Move motion controller. These three products work together to create a more immersing gaming experience, revolutionizing a concept pioneered by the Nintendo Wii.
The controller is similar to a remote, but has a soft, luminescent ball on top that becomes a different color depending on the lighting conditions of your room. The camera tracks the ball with sub-millimeter accuracy, allowing for a robust, sophisticated gaming experience.
Titles like Sports Champions and Eyepet are among the first Move exclusive titles. Each game showcases the variety of ways gamers can use the Move controller. Sports Champions encourages gamers to break a sweat while having fun with friends or family in two-player challenges. Because a player’s every movement is accurately mapped to the on-screen character, the game is immediately intuitive and has a lot of game play depth. For example, it’s not just about how fast you throw the Frisbee in disc golf; it’s about the speed, angle, and arc of your motion controller.
“I think (motion technology) games are a really fun way to engage in an activity you wouldn’t normally do inside your living room, like playing soccer indoors,” said Briana Balthrop, a 22-year-old senior majoring in English. “Also, there are many games that allow a large group of people to play at once.”
Eyepet is a family title where players can interact with a spunky, lovable digital pet. Unlike traditional games, Eyepet uses the PlayStation Eye camera to display your entire living room, with the digital pet seamlessly added in. The game allows players to give their custom pets baths, play mini-games with them, and even draw 3D toys for their pet to play with. According to Steve Matsuyama, a PlayStation Move Representative, the Move motion controller is the primary form of interaction, and is dynamically replaced in the video feed with various in-game objects, making this title both a technical marvel and lots of fun.
“(The PlayStation Move) is fantastic,” said Javier Gurrola, a 24-year-old staff writer at ConsolePress.com, a gaming website. “The games are amazingly fun and almost always make you feel like you’ve worked out at the gym.”
While there are very few readily available PlayStation Move exclusive titles, there are pre-existing games that have been made PlayStation Move compatible. This means that certain PlayStation 3 games can be configured to become compatible with the Move via a free online update through the PlayStation store. In addition to free updates, there are numerous free online demos and videos of current and upcoming Move releases.
The motion controller retails for $49.99, the navigation controller for $29.99, and the PS Eye for $39.99. Bundles for the Move range from $99.99 to $399.99. The navigation controller is something that more and more games will incorporate in the future. First person shooter games, like Killzone, will require the navigation controller for movement.
There are also a wide variety of attachments that can be purchased for the Move. Companies are manufacturing boxing gloves, guns and other attachments to link up with the Move remote, all makes for a more realistic gaming experience.
The PlayStation Move will also work with 3D games, enhancing the gaming experience even more. There are endless possibilities for the Move and only time will tell how realistic gaming will get. But for now, be prepared to put some physical work into beating your games.
Side Bar: PlayStation Move vs. Nintendo Wii
Wii:
The Wii’s motion controllers determine their approximate locations within the player’s room by detecting the LED lights on the sensor bar, which is typically placed below the television. Without the sensor bar, the Wii’s motion controllers can only determine their motion on two out of three axes. And without a $20 add-on called Motion Plus, the motion controller does not have true 1:1 movement with the player’s hand.
Controller: Wii Remote with nunchuck connected by wire, requires batteries
Move:
The PS Move works the other way around. Instead of the controllers figuring out their locations in the player’s room, the PlayStation Eye camera looks for the size and color of the glowing ball on each motion controller to determine distance and relative position, as well as which player is holding which controller. And the Move motion controller already has 1:1 motion tracking right out of the box, making it $10 cheaper than Nintendo’s controller.
Controller: Wireless Move remote with wireless navigation controller, built-in rechargable batteries
Originally published in the Daily Titan on September 20, 2010.
