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Sony to Market the Move to Your Mom
Mike Rohde and Cole Burton
March 11, 2010
Based on the video playing on the enormous screen that Sony has set up at GDC, they will advertise the Move motion controller as something your Mom would buy, cause it's fun for the whole family. The thing is, after she's done with a rousing game of Ping Pong, you can jump into the Gladiator Pit.
Sony has Move, the official name of their motion controller, on display at GDC. Attendees can wave the wand around and their onscreen counterparts waves a sword or a ping pong paddle or a baseball bat. Sony is claiming the games will be for hardcore gamers, casual gamers, and games that Mom would appreciate. It's commonly known in the marketing world that Mom is the one who makes the day-to-day buying decisions. So, if Mom is on board with Move, then that makes it easier for her offspring to go out and buy the games. Smart PS3 owners will happily challenge Mom to a game of ping pong and then advance to the Gladiator pit after Mom leaves to make dinner.
Personally, I believe this whole motion control thing is going to become a generational issue. Those of us who grew up using keyboards and controllers may never make the switch to motion control. We are far too accustomed to sitting back on the couch or the lazy boy and, well, lazily using a controller.
However, if you started gaming with a motion controller and never used a standard controller, then using a standard controller could look downright dull and boring. My kids could grow up playing games having no idea what a A, X, B, and Y buttons are. A controller like that would look downright archaic.
On the other hand, a wand allows you to move faster, with more precise striking and combo abilities and allows for a far more immersive gaming experience. Us older guys would look like fat lazy sobs holding a controller while the new generation is reaching behind their back to grab an arrow and then pulling back with their right arm to gauge distance while simultaneously using the left arm to determine accuracy. No, to me, this doesn't sound relaxing. It sounds like an active workout with entertainment thrown in. You wouldn't play games to unwind, you'd play games to burn calories.
In the video on this page, you can see that the PlayStation Move is very similar to the Wii's gaming style. Please also note that for the FPS games, they don't show how you'd use the Move. For one thing, the motion controls look about the same. It seems that the PS Eye is replacing the Wii's motion sensor/bar as the way to pick up the wireless wands. I must say, the video looks very impressive. I especially like how they add on to the wand in the video to show what the player is currently using. For example, in the boxing game, they showed boxing gloves on each hand.
One thing is for sure, with Sony's PlayStation Move looking as good as it does, Nintendo will have to pull some more surprises out of their back pocket this year. However, we still have no exact date or price on this nice-looking piece of technology. Stay tuned for updates on this product here on GoozerNation.com!
Also on the GDC Expo Floor
Also on display were stereoscopic 3D games. Yeah, you gotta put on the visor/goggle/glasses apparatus for it to work and then away you go. While it does look nice, I don't really like the idea of wearing the goggles.
The rest of the exhibits were mostly geared toward developers. If you are an unemployed developer looking for a job, this is the place to be. Apparently everyone from LucasArts to UbiSoft to THQ and everyone in between are accepting resumes.
Surprisingly enough there was no good schwag. No t-shirts or nuthin. A little disappointing. Oh well. I did pick up a shot glass. So that was cool.
There were also more MMOs on display than you could shake a fist at. Is that something Goozers are interested in? Should we start to cover MMOs? I did see a press release that a couple of guys from the now defunct Pandemic studios are creating a Chinese-based MMO. How big will MMOs really become?
