E3 2011 - Sony's Moving in On Kinect - The UpStream

E3 2011 - Sony's Moving in On Kinect

posted Tuesday Jun 7, 2011 by Scott Ertz

E3 2011 - Sony's Moving in On Kinect

Last year, Sony showed off a little of what PlayStation Move was and what it could do, but all I really took away from it was Sorcery (yeah!). It was clear they had other ideas but no one had had the time or interest to create the things that were in their head. This year was a totally different story. After a full year of thinking Sony was going to waste away on the technology of Move they surprised us with a huge showing of games and concepts surrounding Move.

Some of the games used it in an original Wii-style waggley way but others used it in a way that enhanced the gameplay instead of shoving Move controls in to be part of the cool crowd. Let's start off by saying, while we have talked a lot about the success that Microsoft has had with Kinect, Sony is having a pretty impressive time with Move. Over 8 million units have sold, which is not too far behind Microsoft's 10 million Kinects. By the end of 201, they expect to have over 200 titles available that take advantage of Move.

Of course, some will be good, many will not. Hit the break to find out which are which.

I mentioned Sorcery from last year's presentation earlier. This year's version is called Medieval but unlike Sorcery, this game looks playable and fun. There is no inventory selection screen; instead weapons are chosen entirely based upon the motion you make. This makes it a much more natural playing environment and lets you feel more like you're the one battling instead of watching the character you are controlling battle.

On the other hand, we have some big franchises that are using it in a rather odd way. 2K Sports' NBA 2K12 has taken to using the Move controller more like a mouse than a motion controller. You can controller your players and the position of the ball in the same way you would control Zerglings in StarCraft. While an interesting approach to the technology, I do not believe it is going to enhance the playability of the game. In fact, I believe it will actually detract from the fun of playing a basketball game.

Another interesting implementation is in Little Big Planet 2, who will be patching the game to add Move functionality. Not only will you be able to control the game via Move, you will also be able to make Move-capable or Move-exclusive levels for everyone to play. My guess is that you will be able to customize the usage of the controller in the same way you can customize everything else in the game. I look forward to seeing how this one works out.

There are, of course, many other titles coming that I won't go into detail on here, but just know that Sony certainly stepped up their game, no pun intended, on the PlayStation Move and might actually have a chance at competing in the new realm of gaming.

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