EA watching the Motion Controller with “great interest”
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As previously reported, Sony are planning to release their motion controller towards the back end of this year. The latest company to throw their hat in the ring is EA – but have they got anything they can announce to us yet?
Love them or hate them EA is still one of the more influential companies around, and with their massive sports division they are definitely someone Sony should be courting with their new motion control technology.
In an interview with CVG, EA’s Peter Moore had the following to say about the controller;
“I’ve seen the technology working. I think it’s going to be a great complement to what’s out there. Sony will put their collective technology and marketing might behind it.
It’s a different experience than Wii and we’re watching it with great interest. As you might imagine, we’re working on stuff – in particular on what sports can bring to it.
One thing we’ve learnt with the Wii is that we can afford [to spend time on building bespoke games]. The two that stand out in terms of authentic sports motion on Wii are golf and tennis. If you can capture that motion, that brings the game to life in a very unique way. We’re looking at how we bring that sports credibility and authenticity to life with Sony’s new platform.”
So whilst its disappointing EA aren’t telling us more – we suspect that E3 will be the time and place – it’s good to see they are impressed.
Would it be awfully controversial if Team Attitude were to read between the lines of Peter’s statement that Sony’s product is a “different experience than Wii”? To us, ‘different’ translates into ‘more accurate and efficient, and we hope EA can take advantage of that fact and not just port across old Wii Motion Plus games like Grand Slam Tennis.
Heck – maybe Peter will like it so much, he’ll get a Motion Controller tattoo.
What do you guys think?
I’m looking forward to this, but I think it’s important not to over-exaggerate the impact of the motion controller on ‘core’ gaming – waving your arms around is something that can only be done for relatively short periods at a time (try holding your arm up constantly for 10 minutes and you’ll see what I mean), whereas I like to be able to sit down for a good 2-hour session of gaming when I can. I’ve recently experimented with a Wii, and the use of the Wiimote for Super Mario Galaxy was as badly tacked on as any Sixaxis implementation on the PS3, and took away from the game with no option to turn it off. Similarly, playing Metroid Prime for a couple of hours gives me a sore shoulder, and the layout of the buttons on the Wiimote made it pretty fiddly to do stuff like bring up the map or launch a missile (of course, the ‘Arc’s’ button placements may be better), so if all FPS went down this route, it’d just mean I’d be playing FPS a lot less often.
I think what this will do is bring into the PS3’s library a lot of the party game and sports/fitness concepts from the Wii, which is a great thing, but won’t turn gaming on its head. It’ll be great fun, but I can’t see it being more than an added genre than a revolution in gaming as we know it.
I can’t wait
Agree entirely – I think it’ll be heaps fun, but in the same way that a lightgun game or Wii Sports Resort is great fun, rather than the way Dragon Age or MAG get it happening. Of course, I could be horribly wrong, and we’ll all be playing MAG with Sony “Arc’s” by year’s end
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The worry is, who is Sony aiming this at?? People who want fitness games et al aren’t going to spend £300 on a ps3 when they can buy a wii for £180.
Indeed they can’t, but there are a lot of PS3 owners with a Wii (me included – I think a survey in the US had a figure of 40-odd per cent), and if they can one-up what the Wii’s offering, then there’s clearly a market, and the people will already own a PS3.
It’ll also mean that if someone’s shopping for a new console, and has half an eye on a Blu-ray player and like the idea of motion controls, they’re more likely to pick up a PS3, rather than a stand-alone BD player and a Wii.
I’m not complaining – I’m sure I’ll get and enjoy the motion controller stuff, just like I loved Eyetoy (which I maintain was ahead of its time, and is still ahead of a lot of the stuff on the Wii).