Hands-on with PlayStation Move, Controller Dissected


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Sony has been showing off PlayStation Move a lot lately, but it's hard to tell what the experience is like from all the talk. So we recently tested it extensively and quizzed all the developers we could find for snippets of info. So far, it seems that PS Move has no great games but incredible tech. Read on for our analysis of the controller and the games we got to play.

PS Move dissected

PS3's motion controller is now called PlayStation Move and goes on sale this Autumn. US gamers can pick one up with the PlayStation Eye camera and a game for under $100 (around £67). The UK bundle will vary, but details are TBA.

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The Move might seem underwhelming – it looks similar to the technically inferior Wii Remote and the initial games are cold and familiar. There are highlights but it doesn't seem like a tech revolution. Jeff Gerstmann of Giant Bomb voices similar concerns: "The Sony stuff looks lifeless to me. Yeah – they've got a game that looks like Wii Sports but it doesn't have the vibrancy of a Nintendo game." After getting our hands on every title, everything started to make a lot more sense. Perfect head tracking, body recognition and one-to-one motion control with no noticeable lag. Yes - we were moving a poorly textured robot around a blank room with no discernible objective but the cutting edge tech felt oddly compelling and futuristic to use. Then we tried the weaponry demo that Sony first showed at E3. Rapidly spinning the remote between our palms or tossing it 180 degrees didn't cause issues with the tracking. We couldn't even mess up the system by hiding it behind our back. Motion capture expert Doug Beck explained the spookily impressive tech: "The console can apply circle fitting so even if it's behind something you can still reconstruct the whole thing. The motion controller can compensate when it disappears from the camera's view."

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The demo left us feeling optimistic. Yes – the first wave of software consists of mostly casual games that don't push the tech to its limits, but the Move is a truly future-proofed peripheral. It's got the power to draw in a new audience while satisfying hardcore gamers' tech cravings.

1) The sphere

This oversized ball is the key. It's bright enough to be recognised in the dark and large enough to allow accurate depth perception. Even if it's partially obscured, the PS3 can track its position in 3D space.

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Above: 1) Sphere, 2) T button (trigger on underside), 3) Action button, 4) Face buttons

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2) The T button

The analogue 'T' button is a nice, curved trigger on the underside of the controller, and allows for a convincing 'grabbing' motion when combined with the Action button. We predict it'll be used to represent a lot of triggers/switches/fingers/aerosol cans in the near future.

3) The action button

Though Sony reps were referring to this as the 'action' button, the name isn't finalised. It sits under your thumb and feels like an evolution of the Buzz Remote's red button – it should prove handily obvious for casual games, with snug tactile response.

4) The face buttons

They've been rotated 45 degrees but are instantly familiar to any PlayStation gamer. They're small enough that casual players won't get confused by them but well positioned for more complex games. The Start/Select buttons are subtly hidden on the side of the Move to avoid unnecessary confusion.

The Navigation controller

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The sub controller is going to be sold separately from PS Move and can be substituted by a standard Dualshock held in one hand – it's not as comfortable, but a viable alternative. Note the placement of the D-pad. Annoyingly, it's below the analogue stick, just like the Wiimote with its D-pad below its A button. Pressing down on that thing is going to require serious thumb-wrenching.

Move FAQ

How many PS Moves can you use at once?

You can use up to four, but they'll have to be displaying different shades so the PS3 can distinguish between them.

What changes the colour of the sphere?

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There are three coloured LEDs in there. It's normally the developer's choice but it'll also change automatically depending on the backdrop to stay easily visible to the PS Eye.

How do I charge it?

Just like a Dualshock – plug it in to your PS3.

Has it got feedback?

Yes – it's got a similar vibration function to the Dualshock 3.

Will my existing EyeToy work with Move?

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As long as it's the PS3 model, yes.

Every Move game played and rated Painting tech demo

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Okay – it's not strictly a game but this tech demo highlighted the Move's accuracy better than any other software we saw. Notice how Sony's own Richard Marks has enough control to line his own handwriting with slightly thinner handwriting. To change colours he just needed to dip the glowing sphere into the palette at the bottom of the screen.

Potential: 5/5

Augmented reality tech demo

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This tracked our torso, head, and emulated the movement of our arms without any noticeable lag. The Move kept everything in perfect perspective, even when we squeezed the trigger to distort our massive robot hand. The demo got us excited about the Move's future and made us feel guilty about our presumptive Wii-comparisons.

Potential: 5/5

SOCOM 4

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Using the pointer to aim our red dot and the navigation controller to move, SOCOM 4 gave us an idea of how enthusiasts might use the Move for 'hardcore' games. Picking off enemies worked well, but it felt counter intuitive aiming our remote at the sides of the screen to turn. Lead Designer, Travis Steiner, reckons that testers using the Move end up pwning DualShock 3 kids. Hmm.

Potential: 3/5

Motion Fighter

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This is actually a gesture-based game like the majority of Wiimote fighters. It was a bit disappointing not getting to use one-to-one control, but we were informed that it was a design decision based on the poor street-brawling skills of gamers as opposed to technical limitations. The build was just 20% complete but it felt responsive and looked stylish.

Potential: 4/5

Move Party

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A varied selection of casual games, Party is a turn based affair that's already looking polished but not as thorough as we'd have liked – it's hard not to question the long term appeal of cutting a monster's hair or swatting flies with a virtual tennis racquet. It did use the PSEye to take a profile picture of each player and record a soundbite though, which was a nice touch.

Potential: 3/5

Sports Champions

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We got to sample two minigames from Sony's answer to Wii Sports. It lacked the charm and accessibility of Nintendo's title but had superior motion controls. Table tennis was reassuringly button-free and Gladiator Duel (where you hold a sword and shield and go one-on-one with an opponent) combined one-to-one-control with gestures to good effect.

Potential: 4/5

The Shoot

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Another underwhelming Wii-alike, The Shoot is a light-gun game with a few gestures bundled in to perform special moves. It used the PSEye to detect your body position (allowing you to dodge projectiles) demonstrated the pointer's accuracy, and got us excited about the next Time Crisis.

Potential: 2/5

TV Superstars

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Map your face to an avatar and go on the steady rise to TV stardom (if that's your thing). This casual title has you performing mediocre minigames (use sweeping gestures to make your character dance) and dress them up in 'funny' outfits. One for the ladies then. The ladies with bad taste in games.

Potential: 1/5

Brunswick Pro Bowling

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This felt worse than the bowling minigame in Wii sports. It was a bit of a glitchy mess but we were supposedly playing on a pre-alpha build. If this had been the only game on the floor we'd have smashed up the Move and left feeling very sad indeed.

Potential: 0/5

"I don't believe what I see from Natal"

Industry experts reveal the inside track on PS Move "I don't believe what I see from Natal – they have great marketing and publicity but watching their videos? It needs a leap of faith to believe that it's going to work well in my living room. Sony haven't tried to compromise form for function. They've made some smart design choices. When I see that I think: okay – they designed that to work."

Doug Beck – Lead Developer at Naturalpoint (Motion control experts)

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Above: That's Richard Marks in the foreground

"There's a lot of ideas in development right now. The easiest ones to make are the ones that you have seen before. I think as this device lasts long across our platform's lifetime you'll see more innovation coming out of it. We did a lot of that work in the past with EyeToy where we explored how much you can do without anything in your hand. Move gives you the combination of buttons, camera and precise tracking. Without a marker it's hard to get that kind of accuracy from it."

Richard Marks – SCE Senior Researcher "It's about proof of concept – we're not ever going to shoehorn something into a game just because. We need to give our audience something compelling, that's going to fulfil their expectations rather than putting something out that's duct-taped on."

Jake Biegel – Insomniac games Senior Designer and Multi-player Lead

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Above: The esteemed Jeff Gertsmann

"The Move changes how third parties view the Wii. You'll probably see them start to bring out their games on both PS3 and the Wii. That could potentially matter because you'll have better-looking versions of the games on the PS3 – it might shift the balance of power."

Jeff Gerstmann – Giantbomb.com "You can point at the screen and kill a target – that's the key. When you pick up the Move it feels like something different, something unique. Having that one-to-one control of where your shots are going – it's going to make Socom more immersive."

Travis Steiner – SOCOM 4 Lead Developer

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Above: Ubisoft's Michael Lavaire

"We can't really push the game to the extreme where a few degrees of movement can actually make a difference because we could end up with a batch of Moves that are not quite as accurate as others. It's like the deadzone on the Sixaxis – you have batches that work well and some that are a bit more loose."

Michael Lavaire – Technical Architect Ubisoft

Source: www.gamesradar.com/f/hands-on-with-playstation-move/a-2010041510586912018

Augmented reality tech demo

"This tracked our torso, head, and emulated the movement of our arms without any noticeable lag. The Move kept everything in perfect perspective, even when we squeezed the trigger to distort our massive robot hand. The demo got us excited about the Move's future and made us feel guilty about our presumptive Wii-comparisons."

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Move > Natal IMHO.

I'd rather hold something rather than swing my arms round aimlessly. Plus it look slow, so MS need to sort that out. Will be buying Move.

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The only way I'm going to get a Move is if we finally get that Star Wars Lightsabre game everyone wanted on the Wii, I can see it being implemented far better with the Move.

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Move > Natal IMHO.

I'd rather hold something rather than swing my arms round aimlessly. Plus it look slow, so MS need to sort that out. Will be buying Move.

The thing with Natal is Microsoft can add a controller anytime they want. Natal can work with or without one. IMO MS are probably planning to release a 'stick' controller when Natal launches, it just hasn't been demoed it yet. Failing that, you can hold your existing controller with Natal in one hand just like you can with Move.

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Too late :rofl:

DAMN THE MAN!!!

Move > Natal IMHO.

I'd rather hold something rather than swing my arms round aimlessly. Plus it look slow, so MS need to sort that out. Will be buying Move.

Well, none of us has seen or used much with Natal aside from a few year-old videos.

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Here's a video from Sony's event in Seattle showcasing the PlayStation 3 Move system and SOCOM 4, followed by today's column - a Q&A with Brian Soderberg, president of SOCOM developer Zipper Interactive.

seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/technologybrierdudleysblog/2011645707_video_sony_ps3_move_demo_plus.html

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