Sony who is set to take Nintendo head on with a new motion controller has started demonstrating games that interface with their new Move device. It has also emerged that Nintendo is working on a new more advanced motion controller for their Wii gaming console.
Travis Steiner, the SOCOM 4 lead designer, demonstrated the new Sony offering in the US last night. Among the new software shown were three first-party launch titles that will bring full motion-sensing control to the gaming platform, via add-on wand-like accessories and PlaySation3’s The Eye video camera that mounts on the top of a TV screen.
Some configurations of the Move kits are expected to sell in Australia for around $199. A variety of bundled options are expected, though no details have been released as yet.
Sony is also expected to offer a bundled version of the PS3 console with the Move motion controllers and a game.
According to TWICE Magazine, the handheld wands control onscreen action by using The Eye camera to monitor the movement of an RGB light-emitting diode shining through a soft bulb on the tip of the wand. The colour of the LED light can be changed to any hue the player desires, and an included wrist strap on the wand protects players and equipment from accidental releases.
Sony said the system was designed to be more responsive and accurate than competitive gaming systems with motion-sensing attributes.
The company expects to have at least 20 first- and third-party titles adapted to the Move between now and end of the next Japanese fiscal year in March 2011.
Launch titles on display included:
SOCOM 4: the fourth instalment of Sony’s popular shooter franchise, which is set in South East Asia in The Straits of Malacca, uses both the Move wand and a second hand-held “sub-controller.” The latter is added for intuitive navigation of in-game characters and objects. The new game takes full advantage of the Move’s precise motion and aiming attributes and enables trajectory calculations for arching the throw of a grenade or determining the location of enemy targets for called-in air strikes.
Move Party: an assortment of motion-controlled party games, including an onscreen barbershop game where players give o-screen characters haircuts that match a constantly changing pattern, a shape-painting game where players rapidly outline and fill in various onscreen shapes, and a balloon-popping game featuring balloons that are actually land mines.
Sports Champion: a collection of action games that includes table tennis, gladiator fighting, archery and volleyball, among others.
One of the most physically active of the new games, Sports Champion requires players to literally move the controller like a racket, ball, weapon or other object.
Although none of the demonstrated games had any 3D attributes to take advantage of the PS3 system update that will bring 3D capability to the console, the capability was said to be in development and may be presented as an add-on patch for some titles going forward, though nothing official was announced to that effect.
Among other Move-compatible launch titles that have been announced to date are the following:
Third party titles: EA Sports Active 2.0; LOTR Aragorn’s Quest; Resident Evil 5: Gold Edition; Tiger Woods 2011
First party titles: LittleBigPlanet, The Shoot, Motion Fighter, TV SuperStars, Eccentric Slider, Ape Escape, Brunswick Pro Bowling, Under Siege, Flower Eye, Pet Pain, High Velocity Bowling, Hustle Kings, Echochrome 2.
Although it is not part of the Move-enabled titles, Sony also previewed the upcoming E-rated Mod Nation Racers (due May 24), which is a cart-racing game that allows players to build their own racetrack courses in a variety of virtual exotic locations and to populate those environments in a wide variety of imaginative objects. The game will handle up to 12 online racers and will allow online contestants to vote on the most popular track creations, in addition to racing online.
