Is there any hope left for PlayStation Move?
- Posted May 23rd, 2012 at 14:21 EDT by Mike Harradence
- 13 Comments
When Sony announced PlayStation Move back at E3 2009, the device was met with a somewhat muted response from consumers and critics alike. After all, Nintendo had already cornered the market of controller waggling grannies and soccer mom’s with its ubiquitous Wii console, and for many, PS Move was ostensibly Sony’s own attempt at cashing in on this admittedly lucrative market. Fast forward to September 2010, and the motion-sensing controller finally hit store shelves, where it faced direct competition from Microsoft Kinect, which was basically Xbox 360’s answer to motion gaming. While both devices seemed neck-and-neck, it became abundantly clear later down the line that PS Move wasn’t quite attracting the attention Sony had in mind.
Now, nearly three years since the veil was lifted off PS Move, Sony’s waggle stick appears to be running on fumes. Compatible titles are drying up, and even those we’ve had don’t seem to be generating much interest among the hardcore crowd. The problem? PS Move hasn’t delivered that killer, standout triple-A offering that convinces gamers to dust off their controllers and embrace the motion-sensing shenanigans. Sure, there’s a few decent offerings, notably Killzone 3, House of the Dead 3 & 4 and Sports Champions, but is that enough to sway people away from Wii or convince them that PS Move offers something markedly different from the competition? Sadly, we think not.
As a piece of hardware, PS Move ticks all the boxes; it’s aesthetically pleasing, responsive and does what it says on the tin. Working in conjunction with PlayStation Eye, we can honestly say that we’ve found it just as competent as the Wii-mote, if not more so. However, whereas Nintendo’s white waggle stick has resonated with the mainstream, PS Move has failed to take off in the same manner. Just take a butcher’s at the software charts for the past couple of years; you’ll see plenty of Wii games, but hardly anything that takes advantage of PS Move. What’s worse, the games that do seem to sell well don’t really take full advantage of Sony’s motion-sensing peripheral, falling into the dreaded ‘tacked on’ category.
Sales started pretty strong, with Sony boasting shipments of 4.1 million globally in the two months since release, and to be fair industry watchers have indicated the device is snapping at the heels of Kinect. However, the problem is, the peripheral just doesn’t offer that transformative experience that Sony was perhaps banking on. Looking at the software, it’s difficult to see something that you can’t get elsewhere. Ultimately, what does PS Move offer that differentiates itself from Wii and Kinect? We think you’ll be hard pressed to find something, to be honest.
Look at Killzone 3. It’s a solid, triple-A shooter that functions pretty well with PS Move, and also takes advantage of the sharpshooter attachment. But does it really offer a new layer of immersion than you would get if you had plumped for a bog-standard DualShock 3? Not really. It’s merely an interesting alternative. Then there’s Datura, an intriguing, Myst-esque adventure that shows plenty of promise but feels underdeveloped and ultimately is just too short and niche to find its way to mainstream success. Meanwhile, Dead Space: Extraction, House of the Dead: Overkill, 3 and 4 are great old-school shooters that puts PS Move to good use, but you can find similar games on the Wii – it’s nothing ground-breaking, and not likely to sway you off the fence.
Sorcery has been touted as THE PS Move game to turn heads, though unfortunately even this falls short of delivering on its promise. While the foundations for a brilliant Move game are there, the whole affair seems disappointingly perfunctory, and spamming spells with Sony’s motion-sensing controller with little to no tactical flare seemed akin to just unloading an Uzi at your adversaries. Furthermore, it fails to register spells at the best of times, making the general gameplay an exercise in sheer frustration. Even the PS Move’s showpiece launch title, Sports Champions, which is basically Sony’s stab at Wii Sports, failed to offer anything more compelling than the Wii’s own efforts. In fact, while there’s definitely some solid gameplay to be had, the game is a bit of a mixed bag, with many titles lacking any discernible advantage over the endless amount of shovelware you’d find on Nintendo’s console.
PS Move needs that killer, transformative experience that takes full advantage of the tech on offer, while simultaneously standing out from anything Wii or Kinect offers. A unique game, built from the ground up, and more importantly, something original. Shooters are a dime a dozen, we’d like to see something along the lines of Datura, albeit on a far grander scale with slightly more intuitive controls.
So anyway, that’s our two cents on the subject. No one can deny PS Move is a capable piece of kit, and a few games have shown some decent promise. However, the peripheral has yet to offer any bold, innovative leaps forward in motion-control gaming, and we’ve still yet see that killer app that Sony promised a few years back. Can the company still deliver? It’s open to debate, but all eyes are on E3 to see what’s in the pipeline…
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Comments
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adamdolge
- 2:50pm EDT - May 23rd, 2012
- 1
Funny, I just had my niece and nephew (age 5 and 7) visit last weekend and they love video games. I have Move, just about every game, and the only thing we could all enjoy playing together was nba jam, ssx (they love sports) and lbp. the move wasn't touched because the wii does a better job at attracting kids that are too young to play difficult games, and adults (like my parents) who don't really know games but want to have fun with the family. There are some good expereinces on Move, for sure, but the PS3 owning market is different than the Wii owning market. Hard to believe we'll see a lot more invested in Move before PS4 is released.
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BloodyBill
- 2:55pm EDT - May 23rd, 2012
- 2
Biggest waste of 100$. Sports Champions is the only game I used it for.
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Drebin296 |
Drebin296- 3:35pm EDT - May 23rd, 2012
- 3
It's definitely a decent device, but I really don't think motion controls are that fantastic. I much prefer using a controller. Wii has good games, and is a good console for the casual gamer. But I don't think motion controls have a place with the more serious gamers. Not yet, anyway.
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SteveMcCool |
CiscoKid_22_- 3:36pm EDT - May 23rd, 2012
- 4
As long as Sony doesn't try to shove Move down our throats like Xbox did with Kinect.
Some of us still like to be lazy while playing games. -
mikeghtmare
- 5:04pm EDT - May 23rd, 2012
- 5
That's too bad.
I think it's much better than Wii, but it lacks support, should be cheaper, and should have more games (both casual and hard core) games. -
Paranoimia
- 6:37pm EDT - May 23rd, 2012
- 6
For me, Move isn't the problem. It's more accurate than the Wii, and infinitely better than Kinect.
The problem is the developers - including Sony themselves. There were some brilliant tech demos around for Move when it was released which showed massive potential. Unfortunately, no developer - as I said, including Sony - has actually come up with a game which uses that potential. Most software so far is Wii-esque shovelware.
I do, however, completely agree with @SteveMcCool - I'm glad Sony haven't shoved Move down our throats as Microsoft have done with Kinect; not only are the games specifically for Kinect absolutely dire, but they're shoe-horning Kinect support into games where it's completely unnecessary and, in some cases, practically unworkable. A friend bought one, and while I did enjoy the bowling game in Kinect Sports, he now uses it for no more than head tracking in Forza 4 - so he essentially blew all that money on a glorified webcam. At least my Move was only £40, and it sees regular use with a handful of games.
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tekkenfighter123
- 6:40pm EDT - May 23rd, 2012
- 7
What does Sony expect when they don't PUT OUT ANY GAMES?? Really, I guess they are going to blame pirated games for the failure of the Move. The ball looking thing had some use for some games, but the other controller device was a waste 100%. If anything, they should have straight up copied the wii games and made ps3 versions. Sony needs to get their act together. If they fail the Vita, I'm going Xbox next round....
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Maxsteven
- 7:38pm EDT - May 23rd, 2012
- 8
Move can be good i injoy Sports Champions and tumble thats about it.
I really want Sports Champions 2! and
A fully fledged disc golf game with like a dozen coures's on it!! come on sony
and more Bocce ball to, with courts set in loads of different locations ranging from the beach to back ali ways. or in the woods ect. :)
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honomaru
- 7:49pm EDT - May 23rd, 2012
- 9
@7 "If anything, they should have straight up copied the wii games and made ps3 versions."
Wow. Most pathetic thing I've read all day. It's one thing to be risk averse, it's another to be an unoriginal clown, sir. So instead of taking chances and coming out with their own stuff, you'd rather they shell out shovelware and carbon copies of successful wii games? Thank heavens you don't work for Sony and make decisions that actually matter because you'd suck at it.
And for anyone here who bought the move day one or anytime afterwards and still haven't found a single game they like for it, tough tits. You reap what you sow. When you buy periphereals and hardware knowing that you have no initial use for it, you are taking a risk and banking on the fact that something will come out that you like. If the risk doesn't pay off you have no grounds to complain. Your hand was not forced by Sony, and as of now they haven't broken any promises. You literally got what you paid for. It's like those fools who buy a whole console only one game and then complain when they dont like it as much as they thought and then have no further use for the device.
It's ok to trust a company enough to have faith that they'll pull through but at the end of the day, it's your money being spent, not theirs. Sony is my first company pick for games but I'm not touching the move until I see good software for it.
@7 Also you're a sheep. The Vita isn't underperforming because of its lack of titles or support, it's because of sales. Which arent necessarily bad numbers so to speak. It's like you're saying "If Sony makes consoles with a decent line up of titles but isn't able to convince more people that the lineup is decent, then I too will never support them again." Get real, you bandwagoner. Your stupid sheep logic is partly to blame for their lack of sales. -
Ghost-Rhayne |
Ghost-Rhayne- 6:07am EDT - May 24th, 2012
- 10
ove has been a huge success for me personally. It got me into the FPS genre. Move with Sharp Shooter on Killzone 3, SOCOM 4 and Resistance 3 was so awesome, and I can't wait to try it on Dust 514 and Bioshock Infinite. By design it has become an awesome alternative method of control which at the end of the day seems to be what's important to most people (see claims about not being forced on consumers like Kinect).
Games like inFamous 2 and LBP were also fun to play with the Move for me. So yeah, it's unfortunate that the device hasn't met the expectations of many, but I love it. CANNOT wait to play Bioshock with Move in 3D... -
Soldier 95B |
Solder_95B- 8:18am EDT - May 24th, 2012
- 11
Move was a last ditch effort to grab the casual crowd. Unfortunately, Sony dropped the ball on advertising and games. Developers don't want to make games for Move because the Move is so partitioned. They don't know if people have nun chuks, one controller, 2 controllers. Not to mention the lag compared to a controller. Not to mention, it costs a fortune to buy all those accessories for 2 or more people.
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BillMalibu
- 3:42am EDT - May 25th, 2012
- 13
Agreed. What better to move around with than a lightsaber? Sad thing that MS got the first shot at that.
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