Sony sat down with
Eurogamer at the Develop conference last week, and had some interesting things to say about its
new motion controller technology -- including a bit of polite smack to talk about the
Wiimote. Unfortunately, we're not sure that Paul Holman, SCEE VP of R&D, was referencing
MotionPlus when he said that Sony's tech is "another generation forward, or even a couple of generations" ahead of the Wiimote. Holman, along with Kish Hirani, head of developer services, sidestepped questions about MotionPlus specifically, but were more than happy to talk down
Project Natal -- with a couple generations of EyeToy already under their belt. What's more interesting is what they revealed about their own product, including built-in microphone that can detect the direction of audio, and the availability of the glowing ball to developers to add immersion -- it can be lit with any color in the spectrum. They wouldn't confirm much about what buttons the controller would have, other than that it would have buttons, but it seems Sony's main objective is providing developers with a broad buffet of control options to pick and choose and implement. They're also sticking by that Spring 2010 date, though the launch could be somewhat contingent upon what games are ready by then.
[Via
Joystiq]
posted July 21st 2009 4:28PM
Just because you add a motion controller, that doesn't make your CPUs any easier to program I guess.
Cell is so last gen.
Based on what I can tell from the videos, it looks like he's got the image mirrored along the horizontal. Why he did this, I can't tell, maybe so that his right is the same as the audience's right?
@Derbeste
I see what you did there. Taking the image of Cell as an incredibly powerful processor and turning it on its head by calling it "last-gen". How clever. *yawn*
@Mike
If you're yawning like that, perhaps you should get some sleep instead of trying to put us all to sleep. ;)
As you can tell, I tend to believe turnabout is fair play and that one should realize that if one criticizes, then then should be ready to receive the same in turn.....myself included. :)
As for Sony, if they simply expounded the virtues of their own tech, I would not criticize. But once they start criticizing other tech simply to try to justify their own, they open themselves up for even the worst of puns imo.
Too bad Sony's profits aren't a "generation or two ahead". Meanwhile Nintendo laughs all the way to the bank. Hey Sony, it's only OK to brag if you can actually do it, otherwise STFU.
Zing!
Nice line. :D
Can't blame Nintendo, though. I think their console is absolute crap, but I'll be damned if they haven't shown a complete mastery of marketing skills. Good move for them.
@mike
maybe if sony wasn't so concentrated on trying to force their strange proprietary formats on the world, they would be more successful.
I'd love to speculate on whether or not the motion controllers for PS3 are going to be so great, but the fact of the matter is that we don't know enough information about the controllers or Project Natal to make any kind of educated guess on what will and will not be.... well, gay. Sure, we have some rough specs and ideas that have been given to us by the manufacturers, but since when do any manufactures NOT lie straight-faced to the consumers? I remember years before the segway rolled out, it was supposed to "revolutionize human transportation." And my, how far they have come.
I am excited to see the motion controllers for PS3 and the controller-less Project Natal. They both have the potential to be really great, but they also have the potential to really suck. My main beef with the Wii isn't necessarily the graphics (which we all know are terrible) but rather the awful gameplay. The games simply aren't any fun! Let's all hope that Microsoft and Sony are merely taking inspiration from Nintendo in that they are thinking outside the box in how we play certain video games (or create new genres for us to play); and let's all hope that they aren't planning to rip off all the un-fun games that have come out on the Wii.
One thing is for sure: this is going to get interesting
Natal doesn't need to replace the gamepad, but for minigames that would be great if you have to drop the joystick and punch or stab a knife in your foe's throat for example.
I believe that many ways to use this technology will show up.
Don't you actually have to have a product that is being sold in the market to be generations "ahead" of something that is on the market. Until I see an actual product on the market that is better than Ninentdo's current product, this is just douchy boasting.
So does Microsoft say with its Natal. In truth the 2 companies have just only reached the "generation" of control that the Wii introduced.
I believe that the hardest part when it comes to Natal will be moving your character around. I think they would be much better off doing exactly what they are doing right now except include a wireless controller sort of like the Wii Nunchuck. It needs to be something small that fits in your hand while still allowing you to use that hand (not fingers) to interact with Natal's motion and camera control technology just as if the player wasn't holding anything at all. This device will allow the player to move their character around using a joystick while still feeling immersed inside the video game world like MS envisions. I would also add a button or two just in case. It will not meet the 100% controllerless goal that MS is striving to achieve, but I do think it will be more fun this way.
I believe that it is going to end up like time crisis with a joystick on the control for moving. I'm actually going to reference the article with the M4 that came out earlier, but just joysticks.
I believe the hardest part when it comes to Natal is the price and the precision, if it is not a vaporware at all.
For heaven sake, a MOCAP system cost over $20k, required a uber-pc to run correctly (sometimes not in realtime or with a considerable lag) and is anything but precise (and you can't dress any suit).
Natal is the answer from part of MS to say "we are done nothing but we can show some fancy montage".
You should read the engadget review of Natal. You know, it was actually PLAYABLE at E3 unlike Sony's product.
The cost of the PS3 is extremely high to begin with. Now you're asking your customer to not only purchase a camera, but to also purchase at a minimum for 1 person 2 magic wands.
MS is basically going to sell Natal at cost or practically give it away. They're putting all their resources into making it a success. Sony is scared, that's why they keep putting out these press releases almost every other day. I'm sure they're hearing from other companies how great Natal is going to be, so these press releases are to take the wind out of MS sails.
The 2 demos used @ the E3 demonstration were built on the Unreal 3 Engine and they were also able to tweak the code of Burn Out Paradise to be used with Natal.
Yes but nobody is saying that the game showed in the E3 WAS A REAL NATAL or simply a mocap system in disguise (or even worst).
Motion Capture system are nothing new, in fact right now you can buy a kit :from 8 to 16 cameras and a suit-like-tron dress. So, when MS said they can do the same if not better using only one camera and without any special suit, then i say BS!.
And you can add the fact that only a small and select group of journalist was able to play with it but they was unable to take photos and/or videos.
Do you remember when Microsoft used Mac instead of a real xbox for a exposition?
Uh... who cares about where is when, obviously Sony does, and does it contradictingly. Yeah maybe they're a generation or two ahead of the Wiimote, but okay let's see, let's try to play down Project Natal, saying we were the first to do so. Can I reverse this for Nintendo? Sure Sony has the Light up sex toy, but we were the first with the vibrating one. I mean come on Sony, if you're going to make an argument, at least stay consistant. First saying yours is better then saying you were first in something else even though it doesnt seem to do as well as the competitors. It's the same for Nintendo, even though it might be less than what Sony has, it was there first, but unlike Sony, Nintendo is totally pulling everyone into this motion type of gaming. None of these will suffice to me until feed back is good enough, meaning if I hit someone with a sword in the game, I better feel like the thing stop my sword with some very strong feed back like I was actually doing it.
that's probably where the gyro comes in to simulate the force and weight that is if someone @ sony had thought about the feedback.
Honest question, did Nintendo boast about their controller before it hit the market like that?
Yep. It's called marketing.
Remember all of those "Wii would like to play" commercials? That's considered "bragging".
I like the motion, and that sound sensor sounds good, but I still don't get the colored ball. Just put some ir emitters on the thing, then you can use it as a pointer too.
Even if it's ahead like that Sony has to remember that virtually every family in America and Japan own a Wii at this point. (You know what I mean at least).
Interesting the way Sony guy was so quick to bash the Wiimote but he totally sidestepped the WiiMotion + question. If any of you fannies can read between the lines that seems to me that the motion + aint that bad compared to Sony.
This is silly boasting - even if Sony and/or Microsoft pulls out motion-sensing devices that blow M+ out of the water, they're not going to end well. No matter what they do, Sony and Microsoft have indeed, as they say, set sail for fail.
Why? Sony and Microsoft are late to the party.
Today, for console developers, if you wanna make a big, new game, it's either Wii, or PS360. Microsoft and Sony now are competing against Nintendo for developers - the PS360 and Wii control fairly similarly sized portions of the market (well, the Wii is more than half, but the PS360 side is more active).
The PS360 has the hardcore gamers - FPS and RPG fanboys who like to scream at little kids they pwn on the internet and look up Final Fantasy hentai. The Wii has a fanbase that spans all ages and all different kinds of people - including PS360-wielding hardcore gamers.
So when Natal and the PSWand are out in the wild, a developer is going to make a game, they will sit down and say, hmm, do we want to highlight motion controls and engaging gameplay, or awesome effects and graphics? Essentially, what used to be Wii vs PS360. But now, Sony and Microsoft are pushing motion-controlled games... so along with Nintendo, the whole console gaming industry is now pushing this "new" gaming style. So developers have a choice...
Let's say, since I don't feel like finding numbers and trust I'll get flamed and corrected no matter what I say here, that Microsoft owns 30% of the console gaming market, maybe 35%.
Sony owns the other 15-20%, and the big N has 50%. Easy numbers, right? That Wii vs. PS360 fight used to be fair. But back to that choice... we have
Microsoft & Natal:
30-35% of the gaming market
No previous motion-sensing game/tech
Hardcore gamers who like FPSes like Halo and chocolate milk
Nobody yet has the tech, everyone who wants to will have to buy it separately
vs.
Sony & the Wand:
15-20% of market
Miserable failure with the EyeToy
More hardcore gamers, with more Japanese fanboys and RPG fans
Nobody yet has the tech, everyone who wants to will have to buy it separately
vs.
Nintendo & Wiimote & M+:
50% of console gaming market
Established motion control user base... if you have a Wii, you are fine with the idea of motion controls!
Large casual gaming user base, but some hardcore users- diverse user base
Everyone already has tech, many people already have extended tech
So... do you see why they are doomed to fail? As a developer, the Wii user base of hardcore gamers is fairly large, and MadWorld and TCon have shown - I imagine the amount of gamers that will adapt to Sony and Microsoft's voyages into the motion market will be few in the beginning - so why make it for anything but the Wii?
Microsoft and Sony are also splitting up the game market... the more and more developed these things become, the harder and harder it will be for multiplatform games to exist. It's simply to much work to make good controls for 3 different motion control systems!
So, Sony and Microsoft made a bad move here - they encouraged developers (and the publishers developers listen to!) that motion control is the way to go - sadly, I don't think that Sony and Microsoft's motion control is the way to go.
~Beruit*
a lot of typing when the point was listed but interpreted wrong.
nintendo knew it couldn't compete on hardware. so by making the wiimote, they were guaranteeing games that only would be developed for nintendo. basically free exclusivity. before, a company had to say, will we make a game for the wii or for the ps3/360.
now with the motion for 360/ps3, there are no free third-party exclusives for the wii. all games for the wii can now easily be ported to 360/ps3. but you can't port 360/ps3 to wii. it just doesn't have the power. hence, games like ghostbusters got a cartoony look for wii because the developer knew they couldn't cram the realistic version onto the wii.
and all of you are thinking too much in the box. with natal for instance, you could have a new blend of gameplay features. imagine flying a flight simulator with a real flight stick. now imaging turning your head slightly to look around the environment in a dogfight. no more having to hit buttons or a thumbstick just to look to your right. now imagine forza. instead of having a multidisplay setup. you could just turn your head a bit to see a better view.
or imagine playing a RTS game and encircling your units with one hand. and issuing commands with the other hand. a la the Minority Report.
no one says it's one or the other. now the precision is there for a combination of unique movements.
point is you don't need a controller or you scan in your own controller and add as many buttons as you want or many controllers as you want,oh and this is not just xbox thing,this will also be a windows 7 thing too.
personally i want true akimbo guns( that i can point at two directions at the same time) in css,and the ablity to headbutt,kick,punch,bite and shout at people all at the same time,,,,while be able to scan what ever,,,but that is just me,if you want single limb input dildos,thats fair enough go and buy a sony,
When a company starts touting the glowing-in-all-colors properties of their balls when talking about a new product, you know they're desperate.
It's called interactivity.
I can flip that statement right back at you. When a company begins to flout the ability to see their avatar's shoes, you know they are desperate.
doesn't that picture bug the hell out of anyone??? every time i see an article they show that pic. and for something claiming to be millimeter accurate, the pic shows otherwise. look at the angle of the guy's wrist and what direction the sword should be facing. and then look at the onscreen representation. it's all wrong and the sword is pointing in the wrong direction!
What you all don't get, especially Murfo, is that Natal isn't aiming to be a "controller-less" system. They're just trying to add an extra dimension to things. They've even specifically said that controllers will be needed and added to some games. And they've never said that this controller has to be a standard 360 controller.
This means that the Natal controllers are much much more flexible than the wii's contrary to what Murfo thinks. Hell if they wanted to they could put out a controller almost identical to the wii's with a joystick and a point device, and you could move and aim and shoot all at once. Or you could scan in your own stuff like someone else mentioned and skip the step of snapping your controller into the plastic tennis racket and just use a real one.
And to all the people claiming it's vaporware, tell that to the developers and bloggers who have already been invited to demo it. They all agree that it is one of the most fluid systems they've ever used.
I'm not really trying to just tote up Natal but it's hard to put the other systems on the same level if things work like they're supposed to. The PSWand isn't really any different than Motion + besides a pretty shiny color changing ball and a microphone. And Natal's flexibility means it can imitate either the Wii or PSWand if it wanted to.
That's nice Sony... but why does it look like a sexual torture device...
All of this will be moot when I can plug in my 20ghz cerebral user nano tech (C.U.N.T. for short) and be in the game. :p
I have to say that there's no bragging about your controller being 'maybe even a couple' generations forward when you're most definitely playing catch-up with Nintendo. And I've owned every piece of Sony gaming hardware there's been.
Also, the PS3 not only does 3D, but 4D gaming!
Before Sony mentioned this, people claimed that they would rather not bother with a Wii, flinging around something just to play a video game.
Now that Sony tries to release something similar (no, I am not saying the same), people are standing up for it. I mean, it's just.. hypocritical a little. And I would probably write something more meaningful but I have been up for 21 hours so far but brain is going nogo.
Poor Sorny. They are so delusional at this point it's almost comical. After all the BS they have been spewing about being the market leader and how this thing is generations ahead anything else blah blah blah they need to put up or shut up.
Wow Sony, you announce a technology 4 years after Nintendo does and it's................wait for it..................BETTER!!!! Congratulations, you did what every company has done since the beginning of time: make better products through improved technology.
Had Sony announced this thing at the same time as Nintendo announced their wii-mote, then they'd have something. But for now maybe they should just shut up. I can guarantee Nintendo is already working on the next mind-blowing interactive tool into gaming which will again change the face of interactive entertainment as we know it just as they did with motion control.
I love when companies try to compete with the wii-mote and say what they have is better. OF COURSE IT'S BETTER YOU DUMBASSES, you've been working on it for the past 3 years (or more) while Nintendo has been selling bazillions of consoles based on 4 year old technology. Way to finally catch up. Idiots.
ofcourse its generation ahead of the wiimote, this thing probably went into development recently. but i bet if nintendo went and built soemthing now it would be ahead of this so what is sony's point? nintendo was still the first to make motion sensing gaming go mainstream and now sony wants to try and grab some spotlight aswell as MS. i think they should spend more time talking about their products and less time throwing in jabs at other companies, they may make some more market share if they dont piss over the other campers.