Sony's PS3 Motion Controller Gets Demoed and Named 116
itwbennett writes "In a 45-minute press conference at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, Sony announced its motion controller, officially named the Playstation Move. The Move consists of the Eye Toy (a camera pointed at the player) and a wand-like controller with a lighted ball at the end and a range of buttons on the shaft, writes blogger Peter Smith. 'Alternatively games can use two of the wands, or one wand and one "sub-controller" that has an analog stick (the camera is always required),' says Smith. 'If this is sounding very much like the Wii's Remote and Nunchuk well, you aren't far off (though at least there's no cable between the two parts to smack you in the face when things get heated).' Here are Smith's thoughts on the demo: 'All in all, the demos seemed OK, but I, at least, wasn't really blown away by any of them. That said, it's always hard to tell how well these systems work without actually trying them for yourself. You need to feel the connection (or lack thereof) between what your hands are doing and what's going on on-screen in order to be sure. For example, in the boxing demo the player did a quick spin move that led to a roundhouse punch. It's hard to say if his motion triggered a pre-set action (a 'combo') or if the system was able to track the controller that accurately, and was able to 'connect the dots' from when his body briefly occluded the wand to when it reappeared.'"
Is the controller hard to use? (Score:5, Funny)
I think I speak for all /.ers when I say that I can't wait to get my hands on this shaft. Does it require an especially tight grip? If there's a danger I can wear out my arm manipulating it, should I switch to my left hand occasionally? Are the balls just decorative or do they serve a function? And how am I rewarded at the end of the game?
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Playing with the balls is markedly different than playing with your Wii.
There's more cupping and less stroking motions.
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Come on Slashdot... this is old news. The PlayStation Move was demonstrated [youtube.com] a while back.
Re:Is the controller hard to use? (Score:5, Funny)
...And how am I rewarded at the end of the game?
Uh, with blindness?
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Kitten genocide.
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"Warning: Controller is to be HELD and NOT THROWN! Do not chuck, toss, lob, or pitch device at any person or object!"
Whew! That was a close one! Thanks Annoying Warning Because Someone Did Something Stupid And Sued! What would I do without you?
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Achtung! Don't not throw controller at PS3's remaining good eye!
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I love that myth.
Honestly, the FIRST thing I did was remove the useless wrist straps. I have had a LOT of Wii players at the house and never had a Wiimote go flying.
Honestly, just because a few people had kids that needed to calm down and were swinging their arms as hard as they can does not mean the other 98% of people out there have that problem. I even got rid of the ugly and ooky feeling squishy silicone head protectors off our wii plus motion enhancers. I dont have head wounded people everywhere.
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Well that's great for you personally, but lots of people have trouble holding on to a small remote while waving their arms around. I don't think it's unreasonable to have a wrist strap on it.
And not only that just because it has yet to occur does not mean it will not occur! An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure as they say.
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That's what I used to think but you'd be surprised how undescribably clumsy and respectless a certain percentage of the adult population really are. Like they're little kids who start to overreact when they're frustrated.
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Yeah, I should probably do that too, the only reason I even wear the wrist strap is because it's really annoying when it flaps around while you use the controller.
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It kind of gives a new meaning to "my wand is totally out of juice".
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Your comment reminded me of this [bash.org].
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Two-wand play (Score:2)
The Eye Toy is back (Score:3, Interesting)
I have the Eye Toy for the PS2, some of the games are not totally worthless. It's actually tolerably good at recognizing one person's outline. I'd like to see someone do this with SONAR or LIDAR so that it didn't matter if your clothes were the same color as the background. I know the modern stuff is better but it's still not great.
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This has more in common with the Wii controller, a better comparison would be between Microsoft's Project Natal and the Eye Toy.
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Except, the whole system uses the Eye Toy instead of an IR camera.. did you even read the summary?
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I meant that the Eye-toy tracked your body, which is what Project Natal does. While Sony's motion tracks your hands and what they're doing, which is what the Wii controller does.
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But the system uses a camera, and so can still track your body as PS2 eye-toy games did - it doesn't have to be limited to purely monitoring the hand controllers. I think this is the way forward at the moment because you can have the best of both worlds.
I know Sony don't publicly have a system with pseudo-3D motion capture from 2D video yet, but they have been doing motion games for years and so far Natal is just a bunch of ideas and promises rather than proven tech. I think for Natal to work with games it
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This system was designed to address exactly the problem you mention [newscientist.com] with picking out things in low contrast, funnily enough.
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Since you said that, I looked it up on Wikipedia [wikipedia.org]. That's keen, it's sort of a monocular bat peripheral.
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Its actually called the Playstation Eye, Eye Toy was the last gen camera. Lower resolution and FPS capture rate.
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"I'd like to see someone do this with SONAR or LIDAR so that it didn't matter if your clothes were the same color as the background."
Sounds like Natal is what you're looking for then as that's one of the problems it solves.
Whether it'll be any good in practice we'll have to wait and see. I'm guessing E3 will be the best bet for decent news on Natal and for more on this.
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Wii cable (Score:1)
there's no cable between the two parts to smack you in the face when things get heated
Smacking myself in the face with the cable is how I keep myself humble.
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there's no cable between the two parts to smack you in the face when things get heated
Smacking myself in the face with the cable is how I keep myself humble.
Pie Jesu Domine, dona eis requiem. Dona eis requiem sempiternam. THWAP
And if you think this is a biblical reference, please don't mod this.
Innuendo (Score:1)
Its almost like they're trying:
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If you keep that up I'll be forced to point out that your shaft only has one ball.
A better name (Score:3, Funny)
How about the "Vibrating Orb of Pleasure". If you think there were a lot of vibrating "massage" mini games on XBL Arcade, just think of what you would get with this thing. A vibrating controller with a big(lubable, not sure that's a word) plastic head on it. Lot of ugly emo girls with eye cameras are just waiting to take this thing into Playstation Home.
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PROTIP: The girls in Playstation Home are not really girls.
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Dedicated vibrating Playstation widgets are so 2004 [gamegirladvance.com].
Looks like an enhanced Wiimote (Score:2)
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So hard to say.. when the Wii came out it went from wtf is Nintendo smoking, to ZOMG the games will be amazing to... somewhere in between. It really comes down to the games, right now I'm not going to go out and buy either the Move or Natal until I see the games and how they make use of it. If it actually add's to the fun and isn't a gimmick i'll go for it.
Right now I haven't seen anything demo'ed with Natal that makes me go must buy. Amazingly cool tech yes, but still waiting for the "killer app". Same
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With Natal, the whole question is: will it work. Having full-body tracking of an articulated skeleton without any special tracking target (like a wand) is obviously the ideal - if it works.
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At least, unlike the Wii, this tracks actual positions in space, so it can tell the difference between a flick of the wrist and a full-on karate chop.
Kind of like the Wii MotionPlus.
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But unlike the Wii, if you'd rather just sit down and waggle the controller, you can't.
And if you happen to be missing a hand, you are probably out of luck. Well, unless it is a pirate game.
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I consider that an advantage. Having the choice of just waggling your wrist instead of moving your whole body is like having a "god mode", it ruins the game because you feel silly actually doing it when it isn't necessary.
And it totally destroys the motion tracker for online gaming, since the person just sitting there twiddling his fingers would have a huge advantage.
Don't get me wrong, traditional games using trad
Re:Looks like an enhanced Wiimote (Score:4, Interesting)
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The Nunchuck has the stick and buttons all comfortably accessible,
So does the Move Subcontroller, it however has additional buttons instead of just the two on the Nintendo Nunchuk. I consider that a serious improvement, as the Wiimote/Nunchuk combination had a serious lack of buttons, forcing the use of +, -, 1 and 2 for core gameplay functions.
What however boggles my mind is that the Subcontroller does not have motion detection and that they are demoning dual-wild games with two Move controllers at the same time. So it seems they want you to get two Moves, a Subcontrolle
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Why didn't Sony put an LED ball on the subcontroller? That would even allow for some simpler 2-player games to be played with just one set of controllers.
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Most likely cost I assume, as its not just a ball, the full motion detection also consists of gyros and a magnetic sensor. However, I consider that decision to be extremely stupid, as its drastically limits what you can do with the controller.
Another way to look at the issue is, why didn't they put an analogstick on the Move controller? One would assume that Sony has learned by now that a second analogstick is a really useful thing to have (see PSP camera problems in half the games) and it would have also a
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Unfortunately, I cannot count my wife among those.
Ba-zing!
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The live demos so far suggest latency and exaggerated motions are going to feature quite prominently, especially now MS are saying
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And what do you mean by moving out onto the CPU? MS moved all the processing onto the Xbox really early on with Natal to bring retail costs down when and if this ever hits the shelves.
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It is by modern computing standards, especially when the CPU is meant to be busy doing what the console is meant for which is playing games. If one core or one hardware thread is occupied 100% processing images and making sense of them, it obviously impacts on game performance.
And what do you mean by moving out onto the CPU? MS moved all the processing onto the Xbox really e
The "Move" (Score:2)
And I thought “Wii” was a stupid name.
Re:The "Move" (Score:5, Funny)
Wiimove your pweconceptions.
Better than... (Score:2)
...the Movement, at least.
lol (Score:4, Funny)
Thing totally looks like a dildo. There better be some vibraty downloadables on the PSN...otherwise, they are missing out on a HUGE market for this product.
Should be able to "connect the dots" (Score:1)
Honestly, if it can't do this to some degree then it's a pretty rubbish system. You'll need some form of motion prediction just to get stable tracking in a computer vision system. It may have been a preset combo still but this sort of tracking is pretty well understood and Sony do have some bright guys doing computer vision.
Where have I seen that before...? (Score:2)
Looks like Sony ripped off the open-source Atlas Gloves (http://atlasgloves.org/) so they could get gesture control without bumping into Nintendo's patents.
Wii on steroids? (Score:1)
The difference is the power of the console. Now you can get Wii-like games that actually look good. And the extra power allows a potentially much better interpretation of the inputs. That said though Sony isn't necessarily the best provider of tools and the hardware may or may not be on par. If the price of the PS3 can potentially go down and reach the level of "affordability" of the Wii, and developpers get enough support from Sony to use the interface efficiently this can be a kick ass combo.
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The PS3 has much higher resolution graphics; it is never going to match the price point of the Wii.
I wouldn't be too sure about that. The PS3 has been steadily dropping in price since release, while Nintendo have stubbornly refused to cut the RRP for the Wii, just as they did with the Gamecube. It's likely the PS3 will end up costing less than the Wii late in its lifespan, just like you can pick up a PS2 for $99 from Best Buy these days.
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But I get your point... I just fail to see how HD graphics with motion control games would bring anything new and worthwhile to the table.
It will never be big (Score:5, Insightful)
No significant add-on every does well for a console for a very simple reason: if its not built-in to the core system, game designers are very leery of designing around it.
You just have to look at the history of the market. The best example is controllers. There were 4+ controller add-ons for the NES, SNES, Sega Master System, Genesis -- all relegated to the fringes of profitability. Why spend development time making a 4-player mode when there probably wasn't going to be more than 10% of the market who could even had the capability? And what fraction of that will buy your game? It was just plain 'ol 'bad return on investment'.
Flash forward to the N64; 4 controllers! What happens? Practically every game has 4-player modes, because you *know* the system has the capability. Sony & Microsoft saw it was a good idea and followed suit. Ironic, given what we're talking about -- more history repeating itself ;)
That isn't to say its not worth making add-ons like this. The fact that they keep making them suggests to me that enough money is being made to make them worthwhile. But I've yet to see an after-market add-on that more than a fraction of games on that system supported.
I assume Sony knows this, so they're probably just putting a toe in the water to see if its worth building this into their next-gen system. They'll probably make some money off this, but there's no way in hell this is going to steal much market share from the Wii -- there simply won't be many decent games. If the Wii has taught as anything, its that shoehorning motion control into a game doesn't really work; to work right the game needs to really be designed with motion control in mind. Unfortunately, I suspect that's what we'll see of most PS3 Move games: it will be an afterthought.
Re:It will never be big (Score:5, Insightful)
No significant add-on every does well for a console for a very simple reason: if its not built-in to the core system, game designers are very leery of designing around it.
Wii Fit seems to be doing excellent. Guitar Hero and its ilk (even though you can only use the accessory for the same style game.)
So even though the old style accessories never took off, these modern ones have done rather well. But they also had an excellent bundled product, making them worthwhile.
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Re:It will never be big (Score:4, Interesting)
Which is why I think this will fail. I mean, Guitar Hero wasn't really A "periphreal" game, it was a game that was only minorly more expensive and came with a guitar controller. It happened to be a really popular game, which then other games were made to be compatable with the controller (eventually). Wii Fit has the same approach. It's a game first, and a controller second. Sony's approach is totally backwards for a Non-standard controller. All of the games are called "Sports Champions" and "Shooter" and "Shovelware", which does not bode well for a REASON to buy this controller. You must create a game that makes a reason for your controller to exist, not vice versa when you're controller isn't packaged with your system.
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I remember reading about SCEfoo testing a wand controller with the PS2 eyetoy, never went beyond prototype though.
Also there are two coontrol addons that I know of that became very very popular: the PS2 eyetoy (that thing sold more than the Network Adapter!), and the original PSone Dual Shock. We have to separate controller add-ons, which sometimes succeed, vs other add-ons, which mostly don't.
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So how did the Guitar Hero and Rockband series manage to pull off being some of the top selling titles ever then? Even the Wii Balance board has done well.
The problem is, most aftersales addons are just complete afterthoughts. Well designed, fun addons do just fine.
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I agree. There have only been a few peripherals that I can think of that have succeeded.
Dual Shock - became standard equipment for the later PS1's
Dual Shock 3 - became standard equipment for later PS3's
Guitar Hero guitar
maybe the Rock Band stuff.
I like my GunCon and Street Fighter TE Fightstick, but I'd be hesitant to call them truly successful. Both are pretty much niche controllers and probably are/were profitable.
The Move controller has a high barrier to entry since it requires an Eye and the ball contro
DualShock (Score:2)
Personally, I can't wait to play RE5 with the Move, the way it was meant to be played. Before I heard it would be supported, I was wishing the game came out on Wii instead.
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No significant add-on every does well for a console for a very simple reason: if its not built-in to the core system, game designers are very leery of designing around it.
The PlayStation launched with a controller that only had the standard d-pad for directional movement, yet the Dual Analogue Controller introduced in 1997 was both popular and well supported.
EyeToy? (Score:4, Informative)
"EyeToy [wikipedia.org]" was the PS2 camera. PS2/Move use the "Playstation Eye [wikipedia.org]"
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Mod parent up. This is a common mistake, and will only get worse now that the PlayStation Move has been officially announced. The Move does not use a PS2 peripheral as most people are reporting, It uses the Eye, which originally(?) shipped with Eye of Judgment card game -- although most people I know who own an Eye use it to video conference on the PS3.
Bringing Gaming to My Media Center (Score:3, Interesting)
The Dualshock 3 functions terrificaly as an interface to fire up Netflix, Pandora, and Blu-ray discs...can't say I've used it as a game controller very much, however.
I think the Wii tainted me...the whole dual analog setup is pretty tough for me to get back into. Maybe the Move will be able to merge graphics and play-abiliy, and make PS3 gamers out of guys like me.
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Maybe the Move will be able to merge graphics and play-abiliy, and make PS3 gamers out of guys like me.
If your having trouble with just the joysticks on the controller, I don't think anything is going to make you much of a gamer bro.
Simpsons DID IT...SIMPSONS DID IT.. (Score:2, Funny)
No way (Score:2)
Sorry, but I refuse to play video games with a controller that looks like the most popular "personal massager [amazon.com]" of all time.
I see "look and feel" lawsuit from Hitachi coming.
Sounds terrible (Score:1, Troll)
This sounds terrible. Sony already has the EyeToy. When it was originally created, it was a big thing, and they hired someone from NASA who was working on remote control of rovers using the human body. And it was some big high-tech thing. It turned out to be a cheap webcam and some simple software to see if there was motion at that point. They put absolutely zero effort into it. The Eyetoy was silly gimmick.
If this is sounding very much like the Wii's Remote and Nunchuk well, you aren't far off (
Really? It sounds totally different to me. An eyetoy is a cheap webcam with a limited frame r
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The PS3 Eye is not the same as the PS2's Eyetoy. SCEfoo did test out a wand controller prototype with the PS2 Eyetoy, but it never went beyond that, probably for the reasons you state. But the PS3 Eye is a better camera than the Eyetoy, so maybe they can pull it off now.
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Yes, but the Wii doesn't use just the sensor bar. The accelerometers are a key feature.
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From http://www.slashgear.com/sony-ps3-motion-controller-coming-spring-2010-2457935/ [slashgear.com]
should meet the “stringent” demands of hardcore gamers, thanks to its combination of two motion sensors, three axes gyroscope and three axes accelerometer.
Also, check out how the image keeps the same orientation as the controller on this video [youtube.com]
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Yeah, the eurogamer article on the Move [eurogamer.net] also claims that there are accelerometers.
This just establishes that the original post was making a lot of assumptions. There was very little information at that point since all they had the was GDC announcement speech to go on. If it really were an EyeToy + a glowy controller, this would be awful.
Does anyone want this? Seriously? (Score:2)
I have a PS3, I play it all the time, and I have a Wii as well so I'm not averse to motion controls... but really, does anyone want this?
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More than $500, defiantly not.
Pictures (Score:2)
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This seems to be an issue with the game The Shoot, not with the controller itself. As others have reported that it feels noticably more accurate then the Wiimote in SOCOM.
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Egads! Can any self-respecting man play with that thing without feeling like a total creep? Is Sony going after the ladies?
Sony's Next 'Innovation'? (Score:2, Funny)
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I've heard Sony is preparing to launch new technology for the next version of the PSP:
"The PSP Contact" adding innovating touch screen technology. Some of my sources even said the device may even have more than one screen... can you believe that!
Short comparsion with wiimote.. (Score:2, Interesting)
Better:
+ lighter
Worse:
- less accurate and sluggish
- looks porn
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Worse: - less accurate and sluggish
Try more accurate, and the sluggish is only related to the game. Check the E3 live demos.
Looking forward to this (Score:1, Interesting)
I have the Eye Toy for the PS2 and Kinetic and love it. It's not perfect but it is pretty damn good for the $30 I paid for it. I modified the lighting in my living room so it works better and I use it to work out every day. I also have the Wii (including Wii Fit) and am more impressed by the Eye Toy/Kinetic.
I'm really looking forward to the PS Move, might have to buy a PS3 now.