Playstation Move and Xbox Natal (New Motion technology)

[nirojan]

The Nintendo Wii is dominating sale figures both in hardware and in Software because if it's motion technology that introduced games to a whole new audience of people.....(Yes, i mean "soccer moms").
Microsoft and Sony are fighting back:

Today at GDC 2010 (Game Developer's Conference) in San Fransisco the Playstation Move was announced. Sony secretive motion controller that debuted in E3 09. it uses similar interface that Wii uses and it also has a ball at the end that lights up...and apparently it vibrates(dont get too excited). The playstation Eye is required to capture the Move's motion ques.

PS MOVE DEBUT:
Sony Video Game, GDC 10: Press Conference: PlayStation Move | Game Trailers & Videos | GameTrailers.com

Natal, which is Microsoft's splash into "motion gaming". It uses a 3-D camera to capture a person's movements and is completely controller-free.

So far a long list of developers and publishers have signed on for both the Move and Project Natal.

[Pheesh]

There should be an answer on the poll exactly the same as the last one, except minus the "WII FTW" part.

Nintendo will still be top, and these gimmicks will only partially work. At the end of the day, the Wii is established already, it has the cuter image and cuter games, and it's cheaper.

But I still <3 my PS3 and all those Wii users are just conformists. Why don't you go back to your plastic, bubblegum lives full of fitness regimes and sunshine race-tracks.

[VeloZer0]

There should be an answer on the poll exactly the same as the last one, except minus the "WII FTW" part.

I'm also hopping on the hate for motion control bandwagon.

Nintendo will still be top, and these gimmicks will only partially work. At the end of the day, the Wii is established already, it has the cuter image and cuter games, and it's cheaper.

The Wii has brand name recognition. Most of the 'casual gamers' that the Wii targets probably don't even know the difference between the 360 and PS3.
Not to mention the cost difference between the two systems, which is a HUGE advantage when marketing to the casual market, as to them video games are a diversion instead of a way of life.

[Mo-Nercy]

There are two reasons IMO that casual gamers and people seeking 'fun for the whole family' kind of games will continue to buy the Wii after these two pieces of technology come out for PS3 and 360.

1) Price.
2) Brand recognition


*has just realised VeloZer0 said the EXACT same thing*

Touche, my friend.

[NorthernChaosGod]

There should be an answer on the poll exactly the same as the last one, except minus the "WII FTW" part.

This. I was livid when I heard both companies were coming out with waggle too. If I want waggle, there's already the Wii. When I want to play a game I want to sit on my ass and just stare at the screen, not hop around like an idiot.

Besides, it's doomed for failure anyway. It works on the Wii because it's cheap and for casuals, which the PS3 and 360 are not.

Maybe when this stuff is actually sophisticated there will be a real place for it, but I want the movie Gamer type sophistication.

[Pheesh]

Is it just me...or does Natal seem like it's going to be a fancy version of the eyetoy?

I've only read about it though, haven't bothered to look up any gameplay footage (if there is any).

[Slothy]

There should be an answer on the poll exactly the same as the last one, except minus the "WII FTW" part.

This please. I'll get to the why in a second.

Is it just me...or does Natal seem like it's going to be a fancy version of the eyetoy?

I've only read about it though, haven't bothered to look up any gameplay footage (if there is any).

Pretty much. And I don't think there is any real gameplay footage aside from stuff that's been partly staged or edited to represent what they want it to do, not what it actually can do now.

As far as I'm concerned motion controls might as well be dead in the water, Natal in particular. Without substantial physical feedback they're not nearly as immersive as people want them to be. Natal will be pretty much the worst case scenario because it will have absolutely no physical feedback. Steering a car or simulating a sword fight is bad enough on the Wii (and I'd imagine Sony's controller as well. I know steering with the Dual Shock is an unbelievable pain) because some vibration doesn't give you nearly the feedback you get from the real thing. Natal will be even worse for everything because you get no feedback at all. Not even the feedback of holding onto something in your hands as you try to steer a car, or hit a ball or whatever other crap they'll needlessly complicate in the pursuit of motion control immersion. And seeing as how the Wii controller already suffers from some amount of lag in picking up your movements in my experience, I can only imagine we'll have the same thing to deal with from Sony and Microsoft.

The only saving grace for motion controls is that they're easier for people like your grandma to get their head around than a confusing array of buttons. Fine for them, but that means motion controls aren't aimed at me.

So yeah, I guess that was a long way of saying give me buttons and analog sticks please.

[Mirage]

Motion controls can go die in a fire. Spend your R&D budget on something better.

[KentaRawr!]

I think it should be noted that the waggle the Wii is famous for will most likely not be replicated with these new controllers. Waggle is like button-mashing but with a button that requires slightly more force to press. The original Wii Remote couldn't really tell how far or how hard you were swinging the controller, so all the games required small motions to work. Natal and Playstation Move can read larger motions than the original Wii remote is able to. So, unless the developers decide they want the hard-to-press button effect, they probably won't make the required movements small.

Also, I'm curious to see how responsive Natal is.

[Rad Bromance]

The very reason I've lacked any interest in getting a Wii is because of the fact that the motion control thing is it's main selling point. A selling point that worked, none the less, but it just doesn't do anything for me. I prefer a game with a story and a goal played with a standard controller to "Generic Carnival Sports games 5!" played with a motion controller.

Unless any of the games that come out for use with these products looks exceptionally interesting I don't see myself purchasing them. Yeah I'm one of those weirdos who cares about the actual games rather than what they're played on/with.

[KentaRawr!]

The Wii's had a pretty significant amount of games that are more than just sports games. I think the 360 has a larger fanbase that accepts generic sports games with open arms.

[Captain Maxx Power]

Gimmicks + Low Prices = Profit. Simple as. I hate Nintendo for doing this, but to be honest they're a company with a track record of selling out like it's going out of style for the sake of pushing their company's interests into family homes. The pervasiveness of their marketing strategy and the knock-on effect it has on gaming as a medium only seem to be countered by it's self-created image, a feat akin to Disney's ability to seem like something other than a company churning out products in order to make cash.

[Iceglow]

God how I hate motion control.

Eventually all 3 will fail to provide anything new to gaming and frankly with the wii it's beginning to show already games coming out now are not major gamer games they're puzzle and sports/fitness games for casual gamers and young kids, tell me I'm wrong but seriously there's been a handful of games since and including Zelda Twilight Princess what are seriously intended to appeal to core gamers. The wii is constantly chucking out new attachments and periphials what don't really do anything new just a new way to do what has been previously done. I won't get in to the lack of actual movement required without wii motion plus and even then thats functionality that should never have been kept back as a seperate periphial it should have been shipped with the console.

Natal looks interesting, interesting on the grounds of if it actually pulls what they want off it could be something truly ground breaking in motion control and video capture gaming (which is what Eyetoy is) however theres a very big chance that even if Natal can do what they claim who other than Lionhead who've worked closely with the Natal team can truly get it's potential right at the start? Most developers will probably churn out 1 or 2 crap titles most likely ports of wii games or similar structures to the generic wii catalogue of games whilst they still learn how to use Natal properly which is where Natal can fail hard. Natal will be no doubt quite expensive to set up and if the games released for it shortly after it's launch are all crap then gamers won't care if theres a handful of decent games using it out there they'll avoid it like the plague and it'll die. I'm going to wait and see on this.

For the Sony Move system I'd like to quote an article, this article to be precise here goes:

When it ships this fall, Sony says the Move will sell in three configurations: A version with just the Move wands for those who already own the requisite PlayStation Eye camera, another option with the Eye, the Move wands, and a game, and a full bundle to include the Eye, Move wands, a game, and the PlayStation 3 console.

The "Eye, Move wands, and game" option should sell for "under $100," said Dille

Ok wow, Sony are really having a bit of a laugh with this imho. I refer to the highlighted green bold section of the quote above here. Requires the eye camera to even function. I highlighted that part because the eyetoy does motion control already in a sense, it is after all video capture control system much like the one that will be utilized by Natal. The fact that they reckon the eye, move wands and game will cost "under $100" which is generally in my experience a corporate way of saying "$99.99" which means in the uk they will expect £70+ for it. Eyetoy you can buy for £25.00 second hand, £35.00 new that means they'll be looking for double that easily for the camera, move wands and a game collection.

Now lets see one of the games they demonstrate with this:

The company then demonstrated several motion-control games, starting with a medieval sword-and-shield beat-em-up. From right or left hand slashes to shield blocks to a hands-behind-your-back stance that triggers taunts, the Move--tracked by the Eye--appeared capable of deftly processing every gesture and angle.

Nothing at all listed in the quote there actually implicates the move as doing something more than what they eye can already do in fact, tracking the slashes, tracking the behind back stance thats all the camera not the motion control at all. I would perhaps assume that there may be button pressing involved but then thats not relying on the motion control either really is it. To me the move is going to be nothing more than an excuse by Sony to charge double for their already existing motion control system.

I remain as ever to be proven wrong by seeing this first hand however so far nothing impresses me about the move.

Give me my twin analogue sticks and d-pad with 8 buttons every time.

[Rad Bromance]

The Wii's had a pretty significant amount of games that are more than just sports games.

No one ever said it didn't.

Every console since the 16-bit era has been saturated with sports games. It's normal and to be expected.

I think the 360 has a larger fanbase that accepts generic sports games with open arms.

Again, no more than any other console since the 16-bit era.

[KentaRawr!]

But then, why say

"Generic Carnival Sports games 5!"

?