But, said Sony’s top marketing officer, they look down their nose at Nintendo’s motion control, and that’s why the PlayStation Move is on the scene – to make this kind of thing cool for the core.
Speaking to the Financial Times, Peter Dille acknowledged that “the Wii has been wildly successful but at the end of the day it’s not a very precise experience.”
Dille went on to explain that “hard-core gamers have looked down their nose at motion gaming: it’s not particularly satisfying for them because it’s not terribly precise or challenging, it’s more social.” Dille says Sony’s technology ramps up the precision so, what’s next, they’ll make the experience more antisocial? Well, not really.
We’ll have games that the whole family can play that are very social , but we’ll also be able to do hard-core gamer games via a motion device that has never been done before. It’s too early to say what the killer app or signature game is but we’ll continue through the spring and late summer before we make a decision on which game is the poster child or the best one to move the Move.
Well, guess this answers back comments by Reggie Fils-Aime that Nintendo would be embarrassed if it were the one following another company’s lead in motion control gaming.
But I think there’s another reason the core’s put off by motion control: It’s an entirely new skill set. We’ve spent years gaming on twin analogue controllers. There’s a comfort zone. There’s in some cases a personal style that’s built up. And there’s an intuition about what the face buttons usually mean in certain types of games. That’s completely out the window with motion control. Maybe motion control’s a success with the casual gamer is because that gamer is less invested in perfecting controller skills, and willing to dabble in more varieties?
Speaking for myself, I’m really not eager to go out and learn an entirely new skill set for a so-called “hardcore” game, in which I don’t already know basic shooter survival technique: You know, here’s how I look around, here’s how I move, here’s how I don’t get shot, here’s how I shoot. From what I’ve seen of the games so far, no one’s yet made the case why I should.
PS3′s Time is Now, says Sony [Financial Times]
Tezz
Sunday, April 4, 2010 at 9:36 PMspeaking for myself, motion control was always the inevitable in the search for the greatest immersion, and i am totally and utterly psyched to see what developers have to offer.
Justin Robson
Sunday, April 4, 2010 at 9:49 PMPssht, I’ve pretty much dismissed motion control since the Wii came out. I suppose at least Sony have somewhat kept the core gamers in mind, much more than Nintendo or Microsoft (Natal makes me cringe), but I’m still not sold. I say again, the day the Xbox 540 or PS4 come out and they don’t have traditional controllers is the day I drop modern gaming altogether.
Dire Wolf
Sunday, April 4, 2010 at 10:07 PMThe thing I don’t like about motion controlers is that they wont let me relax whilst using them. Also so far no good games have come out on the wii and I don’t see why the Playstation will be any different. All the wii games are party games or kids games. The few games they have for older gamers that are rated above pg are just crappy ports. Motion control could of been awesome for FPS games but no ones made a good one yet. Also Playstation motion controls look really lame. Even more kiddy then wii controlers.
Needs A New Username
Sunday, April 4, 2010 at 10:11 PMIts because its never been anything more than a gimmick
Incorporate in a meaningful, immersive way and make it as easy as analog sticks (i.e no rediculous flailing around, having to move around and other stupid motions) and maybe i’ll think about it.
Right now, a wii sports ripoff and a game where you slide around on an office chair haven’t convinced me to part with $100.
The only game i really see me really wanting motion control is a fully fledged Star Wars game with 1:1 motion, not canned animations. If that gets made, and it doesn’t suck, then i might buy a move.
Once you’ve been sucking in by the wii only to be let down though, you become very jaded towards this whole motion control stuff
ACCloud
Sunday, April 4, 2010 at 10:30 PMMethinks that Sony should play Red Steel 2, No More Heroes/2, Super Mario Galaxy, Mario Kart Wii, New Super Mario Bros., Madworld, Metroid Prime Trilogy, NPC Pikmin/2, etc. before making comments like this.
I generally find that alleged ‘hardcore’ gamers who look down their noses at motion controlled games are simply ignorant and insecure. I see the same thing every time (without exception) something new which challenges the traditional boundaries or basics of gaming is announced and shipped (e.g. quite recently, Heavy Rain, and even Red Steel 2 copped a lot of flack from fanboys in opposing camps – i.e. people who had never played it – on Gamefaqs and other forums).
Jay
Monday, April 5, 2010 at 12:58 PMThere is seriously a BIG BIG BIG BIG BIG BIG difference and gap between Nintendo core gamers and core gamers on the Xbox and PS3.
Your examples ain’t that spesh!
Ad
Tuesday, April 6, 2010 at 11:29 AMCan’t you provide a list of examples which isn’t half full of damned Mario games?
It’s really time Nintendo put him down like the aging and overused property he is. But hey, who needs innovation when you have a horde of fanboys who’d buy a remake of ET, provided it had Mario in it as well?
Kizaru
Sunday, April 4, 2010 at 11:46 PMPerhaps Owen, you’re just getting old, and being so, you’ve given up learning what it’s like to play with new possibilities. I’m sure arcade gamers of old have dismissed home consoles as gimmicks the first time they came out. Back then consoles used the D-pad exclusively and as the years went by, we grew accustomed to the analog stick.
I think it’s perhaps naive to talk about motion control gaming as something of a gimmick at this stage in time as I believe now more than ever we’re witnessing the initial stages of a new era.
The other thing is, most of the core audience is stupid. They’re incapable of recognising true potential until someone shows it to them.
All I know is, we shouldn’t really be giving motion control bad rep so much as we should be praising their potential because sooner or later, all it takes is a Kojima, Jaffe, a Bungie or a Naughty Dog to really get things going, and when it does, we are all of us gonna look like ****ing idiots.
Lucas Brown
Monday, April 5, 2010 at 1:26 AMThe problem I have with motion control is that very few developpers have implemented it meaningfully rather than just “another way to control the game”, ie waggle. I’m not saying it hasn’t been done though, there’s Red Steel 2, MP, Nyx Quest, Conduit, but few others.
Give me 2x 1:1 swords and a Minority Report style interface and I’m there.
Arc-ya-Wii
Monday, April 5, 2010 at 7:04 AMFinally, some competition to help expand the industry.
Robert
Monday, April 5, 2010 at 8:07 AMHey why mot add motion conntrol to movies? Imagine everyone in the cinema has to make a cranking motion for the movie to play, when the main character runs every one has to run on the spot hmm that would be fun.
The problem with all motion controls is people tire quickly, so who wants to wave their arms around for hours?
I see it as ok for short mini games but I dont want to be forced to play the next Call Of Duty using motion control with no option to switch it off.
I would prefer thought controlled instead.
Renee Oflynn
Monday, April 5, 2010 at 8:50 AMHas no one here played Metroid Prime? I believe it’s one of the best examples of how the motion controls should be used. They’re not there just because they can, it’s there to better the game.
I think that motion controls depend on the game and how to apply them.
It’s easy for Sony to say this stuff because they’re coming in late and can avoid all the mistakes already made by Nintendo and Microsoft.
Jimmy
Monday, April 5, 2010 at 8:52 AM“But, said Sony’s top marketing officer, they look down their nose at Nintendo’s motion control, and that’s why the PlayStation Move is on the scene – to make this kind of thing cool for the core.”
I see. And they thought the best way to make motion control cool was to take Nintendo’s “uncool” design and stick a giant glowing Rudolf nose on the end of it…
Arcane Azmadi
Monday, April 5, 2010 at 9:43 AMIt’s sad and pathetic watching Sony flail around like this, trying to convince their customers to buy their Wii rip-off without ever giving Nintendo any credit. And their new motion controller looks a thousand times more lame than the Wiimote ever did. They think they can make THAT “cool for the core”? It’s like watching a lizard dropped on a metal plate with a fire under it.
WiseHacker
Monday, April 5, 2010 at 1:36 PMWhat do you expect? They initially refused to pay royalties for the rotating weight mechanism and tried (and failed) to pull the wool over our eyes by saying that forced feedback (rumble) controllers were last generation.
DeviantBone
Monday, April 5, 2010 at 12:15 PMNatal seems more promising.
Andrew
Monday, April 5, 2010 at 1:19 PMI don’t think so. Hardcore gamers aren’t sitting at home thinking “this game would be a lot better if it was more challenging or more precise”, they are thinking “this would be a lot better if I was playing something else”. It’s no secret that certain types of games don’t sell with the audience of the Wii, and that’s why I think people are excited about the Move, because it may offer them more than Mario games and sports minigames.
How many great motion control ideas have been passed up because they won’t sell at all on the Wii?, at least with the Move that may be a thing of the past.
Steve M
Monday, April 5, 2010 at 2:11 PMHardcore games don’t look down their nose at motion control – at least, they shouldn’t – they look down their nose at the Wii’s game library and inferior graphics. Motion control on the Wii has done more than enough to prove itself.
I probably say this pretty much every time a Sony rep is quoted on Kotaku, but this sort of promotion does not make me like Sony. I thought they were moving away from this arrogant persona when they launched the PS3 Slim, but that’s not the case.
Honestly, if you’re going to sell people on your new product, don’t make baseless judgements about your competitors’ products and speak them as truth. It makes me wonder why they can just tell us what’s good about THEIR product.
James Shen
Monday, April 5, 2010 at 3:24 PMI like motion control.
I just don’t have the space to use it properly. Once I get my own house I’ll look into buying a console with motion-control support. It is good to try a variety of games and gaming style; plus it might get me moving more whilst enjoying some form of entertainment at the same time.
Problem; space.
Reality
Wednesday, November 10, 2010 at 3:02 AMWhen I play games in the evening rather than watching TV, I’m tired. The very last thing I want to do is back-flip around the living-room. That’s why I don’t use motion-control, work is exercise.