First Looks// PlayStation Move Controller

Bocce is a much less reactive prospect, but offers a faithful representation of a sport which looks appealing in real life, if we were but bold enough to try it. Given that it is only played by Italian youths who look like underwear models, as they wait for their yacht to be re-fuelled, I've never built up the courage. So, being able to have the realistic Bocce experience in the privacy of our smelly videogames dungeon is a liberating experience.

It is also the one which has demanded most of our time since PlayStation Move arrived. While it's less visceral than Ping-Pong or Archery it is much, much more competitive, and pits your physical and mental skills much more directly against those of your opponents'.

The game requires a deft touch, and a keen eye, and rewards these with a satisfying potential to accurately place shots or to fiendishly knock your opponent off the Pallino. The Move controller is sufficiently sensitive that you can delver spin to your shots with reasonable confidence.

I'm not suggesting that there's any reason to ditch your Wii, but if you've already got a PlayStation, there's no good reason not to get a Move. Sure the acid test will be if core games and third-parties can utilise the new control methods well, and Nintendo's experience has not augured well for this.

But-third parties have had the disincentive to having to develop an almost totally different version of a title to accommodate the Wii's more limited graphical capabilities. Adding Move controls to a PS3 game might be less daunting… but that could lead to hastily tacked on shovelware version that does credit to neither the developers nor the hardware. Only time will tell. Until it does, I'll be playing Bocce.

Thanks for that Marcus

In Closing
By Tim
So, there's two takes from very different perspectives. What did I think of the games? To be honest I'll join the Bocce fan group. Neither StarttheParty nor EyePet really grabbed me. That said, party games generally leave me cold, and having gone through parenting a baby to a pre-teen, I've had all the bringing up cute but difficult creatures I need to.

Both those titles in fact use the kind of augmented reality that the EyeToy tried its heart out to make popular before PlayStation Eye came along. There is absolutely no way of assessing how Move will stand up in the face of serious gaming based on those.

I am also, frankly, dubious about how Move can be applied to core racing games such as GT 5. That said, given the accuracy of the device, I would be intrigued to see it play out in something like inFamous 2, and I am already on podcast record as stating that I genuinely feel that Heavy Rain will absolutely benefit from the wafting but rigorous control.

All-in-all, Move has made a solid impression. Now, bring on the real tests.