At first look, the PS3’s new Move controller looks a lot like a cash grab, and, to be honest, it probably was. However, even though Sony is just jumping on the motion control bandwagon doesn’t mean that their take on it has to be bad. In fact, my experience was quite the opposite.
The Move has received many an upsetting visual description, and one has to wonder what Sony was thinking when they designed it. At best it can be described as a light up lollipop; I won’t go into what its worst description is. Of course, what it looks like doesn’t really matter; the real question is “does it play well?”
Yes, it does work well. Sony put its technology to good use with the Move and it can be seen in the responsiveness of the controls and the ease of game play. When I was given the chance to use it I was playing the game Sports Champion, which comes included with the camera and controller bundle. It offers 6 game modes: disk golf, archery, gladiator, bocce ball, volley ball, and table tennis. Gladiator was my favorite as it was a sword fight simulator where the Move controller is the handle of the sword or, at the touch of a button, your shield. The movements of my character on screen matched mine better than I would have expected. I was also impressed with the table tennis. It matched the strength of my swings and the angle of the controller perfectly allowing me to the curve the ball just like in real life.
This seems to be another situation where Sony and Microsoft went in different directions at the fork in the road. With the Microsoft’s Kinect the technology is incredible and unlike any that has been applied to games to date, but they didn’t put that technology to good use with good games. In Sony’s case, they essentially took a Wiimote and gave it a different look, but they backed it up with a solid line up of games that they have continued to add to.
The Playstation Move starter bundle is priced at around $95 which will get you a Move camera, a Move controller, and the game Sports Champion. You can also just get a Move controller for $42. Overall, if you own a PS3 but not a Wii then you should get a Move if it sounds at all interesting to you.