Monday 22 March 2010

The Playstation Move

What you can see here, is Sony's attempt to copy Nintendos success with the Wii. Dubbed the Playstation 'Move', it seems that Sony has decided that pitching it's struggling PS3 device as the essential premimum media hub for everyones living room is a strategy that requires some tinkering. The Move device will be bundled with a game, likely to be an itineration of SOCOM or a sport-related (*cough* Wii Sports *cough*) game for all the family. The bundles will cost less than $100 but will not come with a 'sub-controller' (*cough* Wii Nunchuck *cough*).

Aside from the rather obvious similarities with the Wii, Sony thought it might be fun to add an oversized, candy-coloured ping pong ball to each controller. The reason? The colour adapts to the environment in which it finds itself (probably a living room?!), in order to blend in. How about just not putting one there at all!? I've yet to play with the Move myself, but reviews appear to be mixed.

I think the announcement of the Move smacks of desperation on Sony's part. Support for Blu-ray has been lack lustre, with severe price cuts needed ahead of schedule in order for the market to gain traction. This is in part due to the recession but also due to the fact that people are moving away from optical media as a channel for consuming their films, music etc. The research and money poured into the Blu-ray/HD-DVD war by Sony was ludicrous and has resulted in little reward. Secondly, despite a claimed product life of 10 years for the PS3, Sony has had to release their 'Slim' itineration just 30 months after the delayed release of the original console, which itself went through numerous confusing spec-changes. This is a stark contrast to the immensely successful PS2, whose own 'Slim' version was released 4 years after the original; a much more convincing time scale for a product with a 10 year lifecycle.

Rather than develop a completely innovative technology such as Project Natal, Sony simply appears to be clutching at straws by attempting to imitate Nintendo's success. I hope they Move is implemented correctly, as a 3D Ico would be awesome, but I fear it will instead be an overpriced mess.

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