Sony: Our Motion Control Approach Is Better Than Microsoft's
We'll see a range of third and first-party titles at E3.
Sony Computer Entertainment America's Senior Vice President of Publisher Relations, Rob Dyer, said he was proud of the company's PR approach to its upcoming motion controller, which will be fully unveiled with first and third party games at E3 this year.
In a recent interview, Dyer also criticised Microsoft's "PR barrage" for rival device Natal, suggesting that the Xbox manufacturer is running on smoke and mirrors.
"Rather than give everybody the 'happy, happy, joy, joy' news and having a lot of great statements to say, 'This is what's going to happen', we're going to show up and have a line-up of products to show people," he said. "We're going to be Missouri; it's going to be 'show me.' And that's the deal."
In discussing third party support, Dyer explained that Sony's wand-and-camera setup makes for both a familiar experience for developers to get on board with, yet different enough to avoid the Wii curse of shovelware games. "From a third-party perspective it's easier to develop for, you can use the same code base that you currently use for PS3 or 360 or even the Wii in order to get a motion controller game out. You can't do that with Natal. You have to have a completely separate code base."
"I can assure you [shovelware is] not what you're going to see," Dyer continues. "The fact that we use a camera changes everything. I think the press has forgotten that Sony has been using a camera [for a long time]. This is now our second iteration of it. We know what the consumer wants with regards to using a camera and whether they want something in their hands or not."
The Senior VP rounded off his interview by stating that the PlayStation will see "a lot more innovation" in its games over Natal and the Wii, and that the jump into motion control wasn't simply a snap decision following Nintendo's success. "Trust me, we've spent way too much money on way too many outside resources looking at this. It's not, 'Oh gee, Nintendo did this. What a great idea. We need a motion controller.' It's 'Does our consumer want it? Does it make sense for the games? Can publishers maximize it and sell more games?' Based upon our research, the answer is 'Yes, a definitive resounding Yes.'"
Will the E3 crowd be saying 'yes' too? Let's hope so - it would be an awful waste of 'too much money' to see Sony's attempt at motion control bomb.
In a recent interview, Dyer also criticised Microsoft's "PR barrage" for rival device Natal, suggesting that the Xbox manufacturer is running on smoke and mirrors.
"Rather than give everybody the 'happy, happy, joy, joy' news and having a lot of great statements to say, 'This is what's going to happen', we're going to show up and have a line-up of products to show people," he said. "We're going to be Missouri; it's going to be 'show me.' And that's the deal."
In discussing third party support, Dyer explained that Sony's wand-and-camera setup makes for both a familiar experience for developers to get on board with, yet different enough to avoid the Wii curse of shovelware games. "From a third-party perspective it's easier to develop for, you can use the same code base that you currently use for PS3 or 360 or even the Wii in order to get a motion controller game out. You can't do that with Natal. You have to have a completely separate code base."
"I can assure you [shovelware is] not what you're going to see," Dyer continues. "The fact that we use a camera changes everything. I think the press has forgotten that Sony has been using a camera [for a long time]. This is now our second iteration of it. We know what the consumer wants with regards to using a camera and whether they want something in their hands or not."
The Senior VP rounded off his interview by stating that the PlayStation will see "a lot more innovation" in its games over Natal and the Wii, and that the jump into motion control wasn't simply a snap decision following Nintendo's success. "Trust me, we've spent way too much money on way too many outside resources looking at this. It's not, 'Oh gee, Nintendo did this. What a great idea. We need a motion controller.' It's 'Does our consumer want it? Does it make sense for the games? Can publishers maximize it and sell more games?' Based upon our research, the answer is 'Yes, a definitive resounding Yes.'"
Will the E3 crowd be saying 'yes' too? Let's hope so - it would be an awful waste of 'too much money' to see Sony's attempt at motion control bomb.
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Comments
Tony Charles 23 Feb 2010 12:24
1/4
Funny, how they both said motion control was a gimmick years ago......they will fail again. One thing remains always true software sells hardware, will their games be fun for a wide audience? I doubt it.
DrkStr 23 Feb 2010 14:11
2/4
Tony Charles wrote:
Funny, how they both said motion control was a gimmick years ago......they will fail again. One thing remains always true software sells hardware, will their games be fun for a wide audience? I doubt it.
The Wii's motion control was a gimmik until MP+. Without one to one controls you're just waving stupidly annoying guesstures to make things happen.
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Liam 23 Feb 2010 20:39
3/4
@DrkStr And they waggled alllll the way to bank. Are there garbage Wii waggle games? Yes! But Nintendo has made motion controlled videogames a staple in living rooms around the world and Sony & Microsoft are smart to try to capitalize on the public's reletively new acceptance of motion games.
PreciousRoi 24 Feb 2010 03:20
4/4
The Wii is also gathering dust in more than a few people's homes...just selling a lot of consoles or commercial success doesn't translate into "better" or even "good" from a gamer's perspective...I honestly don't understand the mentality. Do you want your console to do well commercially? Sure...but a console that's doing "OK", as all the current gen consoles are, and has a healthy amount of third party development would seem to me to be preferable to a console, like the Wii, that is having exceptional commercial success, but whose third party support is evidently substandard.
I'd say a real measure of a console's "health" would be its (especially third-party) attach rate...and Wii Play doesn't count...
Motion Control is still a gimmick...and I would hesitate to give Nintendo too much credit here...in its original iteration it was subpar, its a bit better now, but Sony has been developing its own version for longer than they have. Whichever console (or game) comes up with the superior implementation of motion control, one that will transcend the "gimmick" label, will deserve the credit for doing so, unsullied by claims of unoriginality.
I'd say a real measure of a console's "health" would be its (especially third-party) attach rate...and Wii Play doesn't count...
Motion Control is still a gimmick...and I would hesitate to give Nintendo too much credit here...in its original iteration it was subpar, its a bit better now, but Sony has been developing its own version for longer than they have. Whichever console (or game) comes up with the superior implementation of motion control, one that will transcend the "gimmick" label, will deserve the credit for doing so, unsullied by claims of unoriginality.