Sony's Motion Controllers Will Compete with Microsoft's Project Natal this Fall

Sony delays the launch of its Motion Controllers, which pits the game giant against Microsoft's Project Natal

Article | 01.20.10 | By John Gaudiosi

While Nintendo continues to sell its motion-sensor controlled Wiis, it’s taken four years but Sony and Microsoft will enter the mainstream competition. This fall Sony’s PlayStation 3 Motion Controller will go head-to-head with Microsoft’s Project Natal for Xbox 360 in an attempt to attract a more casual gaming audience.

Sony Computer Entertainment announced that its new Motion Controller will launch in Japan, Asian regions and countries, North America and Europe/PAL territories together with an extensive line-up of new games. The new controller, combined with the PlayStationEye camera, can detect the natural and intuitive movement of the hand and reflect the precise movement within the game, delivering a whole new entertainment experience on PS3.

"We have decided to release the Motion Controller in fall 2010 when we will be able to offer an exciting and varied line-up of software titles that will deliver the new entertainment experience to PS3 users," said Kazuo Hirai, President and Group CEO, Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.

"We will continue to work to have a comprehensive portfolio of attractive and innovative games for the Motion Controller, not only from SCE Worldwide Studios but also from the third party developers and publishers, whom we have been working closely with,” added Hirai. “We look forward to soon unveiling the exciting software line-up that further expands and defines the PS3 platform as the ultimate entertainment system for the home."

Sony’s Motion Controller was first shown at E3 last June, when it was dubbed the motion-sensor wand. Rumor has it that the controllers will ultimately be called Arc, which refers to the plasma bolts split from a Tesla Coil.

Unlike the SIXAXIS controller, Sony said it will vigorously promote the Motion Controller as the de facto controller of the PS3 platform along with the DUALSHOCK series controller and will deploy various measures to enhance the software line-up for the Motion Controller, delivering groundbreaking interactive entertainment only possible on the PS3 platform.

Although Sony had a much larger games presence at CES 2010 than Microsoft did, Sony focused on 3D games and Blu-ray 3D, as well as big titles like Gran Turismo 5, God of War 3 and Heavy Rain at the show. Microsoft featured Project Natal during its keynote address at CES 2010 and announced that its controller-less motion-sensor device, which also has facial and voice recognition, will launch this Christmas. Sony and Microsoft will demonstrate this technology at E3 2010 in Los Angeles this June.

For gamers, that means the marketing blitz will focus on Sony versus Microsoft in the next generation controller wars, rather than the next console battle. And Nintendo, which was ahead of the curve with this technology, will continue to release new games that utilize the Wii Remotes and Wii Motion Plus controls.

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About the Author

John Gaudiosi

Editor-in-Chief

John Gaudiosi has been covering videogames for the past 20 years for outlets like The Washington Post, CNET, Wired Magazine and CBS.com. He has focused on the convergence of entertainment and videogames for outlets like Video Business, Home Media Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, The Hollywood Reporter and Variety. He currently serves as Editor-in-Chief of Gamerlive.TV and is also a freelance game columnist for Reuters and writes for outlets like Forbes.com, NVISION, Official PlayStation Magazine, EGM Now, Geek Monthly, PrimaGames.com, and Yahoo! Games. John also serves as the video game expert for NBC in Washington D.C. and has produced videogame documentaries for The History Channel and Starz Entertainment. John was named one of the Top 50 Game Journalists in the world by Next-Gen.biz in 2007. He is the co-author of Scholastic Books' How to Get into Videogames, Prima Publishing's Madden: Twenty Years of Videogame Football and Electronic Arts: The Official History.

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Comments

by SteveAuztin | Tue, 2011-08-30 11:04

I must say WII are becoming

I must say WII are becoming more and more popular. i can spend my whole day playing it without getting bored! Steve, Shark Steam Mop Reviews