Come this November all three console makers will have some form of motion control device on the market, now it's no surprise that Sony and Microsoft have finally gotten on to the motion control money train that Nintendo started four years ago but what's taken so long and will these new devices improve the experience for a traditional gamer?
When the Nintendo Wii released everybody laughed at the idea of motion controls and the aim toward the casual market, 4 years on and 70 million console sales later who's laughing now? it seams that Sony and Microsoft now want a slice of the pie, having already catered to the more traditional gamer with HD graphics, media content and online services it's time to take on the casual crowd but why use motion controls to get those sales generated by the casual market?
I suppose the idea of motion controls is the pick up and play mechanics that make playing a video game for the first time easy to stomach, it's worked for Nintendo to date so it should work for Sony and Microsoft? right?
The main success with the Wii in my opinion was the low cost, the advertising that focused on easy, accessible gaming experiences and word of mouth, there was something new and exciting kind of like when the the word Apple comes up! The main problem with the Wii is low quality graphics, low quality software and too much of it. Now I know there are some fantastic games for the Wii but most of the great one's don't even use motion controls to any extent, they could quite easily be played on a regular game pad.
The good points of the Move are accuracy and core games that a traditional gamer will be interested in, I still want to play games like Killzone, Resident Evil and Tiger Woods but enjoy them in new ways. I played a hell of a lot of Tiger Woods on the Wii with the Motion Plus last year and the thought of playing that game with even more accuracy and in HD is a nice thought indeed.
Does that mean the Move is the best device on that market? I think it's no secret looking at all the tech demo's, interviews and video's that Move offers the best motion control system but that doesn't mean it will be the biggest seller, in fact out of the three I personally think it will sell the least.
Yes it's cheap, yes it's the most precise and yes if offers the wider variety of software in HD quality, that suits me just fine but there are too many things to knock it down, things like too many options or bundles for the casual gamer, similar looking to the Wii and the fact that it's not standard means not every PS3 owner will have one, splitting the user base never seams to work well, remember the PSP Go?
The Move's software certainly looks like the best out of the two new devices but if Kinect sells a lot more units then Move then maybe, just maybe more developers will give Kinect priority over Move? after all sales are what matter in the end. Microsoft's device is not as accurate according to the people that have played both and the software looks very poor indeed at this stage in time but it does have a lot going for it, if you think that Kinect will fail just because it can't play games like Halo or Gears Of War yet then I think thats a bit delusional.
Microsoft's device has that buzz about it, the word "Kinect" is on everybody's lips, the artwork is all over the place, Microsoft will push this device very hard when it comes to advertising and the casual gamer will pick up on this new buzz or hype.
Another fact is Kinect's pricing, yes it's expensive but I think their goal is selling 360 consoles which explains the $299 Kinect package, selling the device to regular owners is not really expanding the user base of a console, this is where Sony will struggle as I can't see people picking up a PS3 just to play Move like they might a 360 just to play Kinect, this also explains the big focus on mini or casual games that Microsoft are putting out, the casual gamer will pick up on this.
Where does this leave me, a gamer that's not interested or really doesn't care who's winning the motion control sales charts? I personally think Microsoft is giving the core gamer the elbow to a certain extent regarding Kinect, It may be a lot of fun, I'm not denying that but the software that's been shown so far proves that sales matter over quality, there's just no desire for me to pick up that device yet. But as a prospective, casual gamer thats new to gaming the attractive $299 Kinect bundle with a HD console could be very hard to resist?
So for now I'm stuck in the middle of a corporate motion controlled battle for money and customers that I don't care about, at present the Move offers by far the best line up of software for a existing core gamer so thats my choice and I'll see where Microsoft's focus really lies in the next 6 months or so regarding the games they release because the last thing I need right now is another Wii full of low quality software.
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