Sony and Microsoft don't need motion control
Sony and Microsoft might be trailing far behind Nintendo in this generation's game console war, but that doesn't mean they need to follow the leader.
Let the Wii have all the motion fun.
(Credit: Nintendo)A report in Variety last week said Sony might be unveiling a motion-sensing controller at E3 that's more advanced than its Sixaxis (motion-sensing) controller. It will be shaped like a Wii temote and use LEDs and "a small Webcam to track the device's movements." Variety claims the Sony controller will be more accurate that the Wii remote, especially as the player moves it toward and away from the screen.
Engadget also reported last week that it received a tip from someone who claimed to be an insider at Microsoft. The person said the company is working on a motion-sensing bar that follows full-body movement without controllers. Players would be able to control all aspects of the game with their bodies.
There's no word on when (or if) either of these technologies will be announced, since neither Microsoft nor Sony have commented on them. While there is a real possibility of both companies trying to get into the motion-sensing space, I don't think it's necessary for them to do so.
Part of Nintendo's success is due to its unique control mechanism. It's not perfect. Motion-control games are typically quite simple, and I think they're best-suited for a multiplayer experience.
But when you play a game on the PlayStation 3 or the Xbox 360, it's different. Both consoles use classic controls to create an experience that's more diverse. You can still play those fun multiplayer games, but if you want an extremely complex title like Fable 2, you can have that, too. We've yet to see many elaborate games featuring complex controls on the Wii.
We also can't forget that Nintendo has, so far, proven to be the only company that really "gets" motion gaming. I've played a majority of the titles on the Wii and I can say that only Nintendo has fully captured the technology. Most third-party titles fail to provide a viable experience. They're difficult to play and the controls seem tacked on.
Nintendo has had an extremely difficult time trying to get third-party developers to develop games that exploit the Wii's full potential even though its console is far and away the most popular of this generation. Will a new motion-control mechanism from Sony or Microsoft be different in some way? I don't see it.
Motion controls are fun. But they're not required to make a good game console great. Both Sony and Microsoft need to stick to what they do best--offering a diverse and powerful gaming experience--and leave motion controls to Nintendo.
Though the Wii is an unbridled success, following Nintendo won't do Microsoft or Sony any good.
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Don Reisinger is a technology columnist who has written about everything from HDTVs to computers to Flowbee Haircut Systems. Don is a member of the CNET Blog Network, and posts at The Digital Home. He is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure.
It's too bad that Sony's graphic library developers are completely inept. Deliberately made it hard? More like "we don't know what we were doing" and then market came in and said that "we need to make it sound like this is by design."
This article sounds great from the protectionist gaming group that doesn't want outsiders invading their space, but it makes no business sense.
Just my $.02.... and I honestly don't really care if Sony or Microsoft release motion controls. I doubt I'd ever buy them.
the same could be done on the xbox with a usb bluetooth dongle. don't say it can't happen, it just takes the will to do so....
any genius developers out there working on this already?
The answer is because just as games have to be written to properly use a Wiimote, a Wiimote is not the right controller for all games.
When the Wii first came out I thought it was a silly little system. But then all my XBox and PS friends who had played it said it's actually pretty cool. So a year or so later I bought it for the kids for Christmas. They love it and play it all the time. I don't understand the hate from XBox and PS fanboys for the Wii on this and the other cnet article about the wiimotes. If you don't like it, don't buy it. It wasn't made for you, but apparently my family is the target audience because we all play it several times a day. Same for the accessories, if you don't want the steering wheel, extra wiimotes, rechargeable batteries, motion plus etc., don't buy it. It's not necessary.
Oh and Don, you might try having an editor look over your column before publishing it. It reads like an post on fanboy forum with misspelled words and missing verbs. Use a human editor, that's what real writers do.
How ever at theme parks and arcades it probably only a matter of time.
That being said however, there is one gigantic reason why they shouldn't go down this path. To put it plainly, nether Sony nor Microsoft are Nintendo. As it has been often pointed out the only games that truly take advantage of the control possibilities presented by the Wii motion controls have been Nintendo developed titles. Thus far the implementation of the motion controls by 3rd party developers has lagged behind the in house produced games. The mind shudders when you imagine what the landscape of motion employing titles for a PS3 or 360 would look like since nether Microsoft or Sony have as strong a home development stable as Nintendo does. Just looking at the 3rd party response to the Wii where motion controlling is a built in component of the system, I can't imagine that the 3rd party developers would be more likely to embrace that sort of interface on a console platform where at best these control types would be only an optional feature. Potentially meaning that for a 3rd party developer you would need to create at least 2 control schemes per platform, and maybe as many as 6 if your title is intended to be cross platform on all three systems. There is no way that I can imagine that with all of these needed control schemes something will be given the short end of the stick during development.
The only way to solve this control scheme conundrum would be for Sony and Microsoft to develop their own in house stable to produce these games. This ultimately could be a good thing leading to console specific titles and help to differentiate the consoles. However, I can not help but be skeptical towards the development potential for titles that will take advantage of a technology that will at best be optional for your user base.
Just my 2 cents.
So, if you want to continue to play your PS3 or 360, go ahead! It will do the exact same thing it has. Making this new feature will not help or hinder these products much in either way. It will be a fun gimmick most people will ignore.
- by Kwasiowusu May 15, 2009 11:40 AM PDT
- I give this article an "F" for fail.
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(21 Comments)Why on earth would Microsoft make all ther hard core games like Halo, Gears, CoD etc run with motion control?
Did even Nintendo force CoD WaW to run with motion control? Nope.
We are talking about 2 different markets here. The motion control for casual games that actually benefit from motion controls..like golf, tennis, darts etc. The "normal" games like Halo etc can very comfortably continue to use the normal 360 controller, no?