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Sony discusses the past and future of AR gaming
Sony's been working to tap the largely untapped augmented reality gaming market since 2003, when it launched the world's leading window wiping simulator, EyeToy Play. Check out the video below to see how their AR strategy has changed since then -- and where it's going in the coming years.
Sony's Move.me database used to create gesture-enabled mouse driver (video)
Unless you're into weird promotional mascots, video games, or measuring the rotation of the earth, the PlayStation Move probably hasn't caught your eye. Here's an idea: what if you could wave it about to control your PC? Earlier this week, electronics hobbyist Jacob Pennock used the Move.me C library to build a gesture-controlled mouse driver, and we've got the project's tech demo after the break. Watch as Pennock launches Facebook by drawing an "F," starts a video with a jaunty "V," and closes a few items with a quick "X" motion over the offending windows. Control motions are loaded through the creator's own gesture recognition library, called hyperglyph, which he claims can record motions with 98 percent accuracy. As Move.me is currently a closed beta, Pennock is keeping the source code under wraps, but he hopes to eventually put the driver to use controlling a gesture-based Linux media center. Pretty neat, but not quite enough to stave off our Kinect hack envy. [Thanks, Robert]
Get fighting fit with UFC Personal Trainer in June
Ready to get your Affliction t-shirt all sweaty? THQ has announced a June launch for UFC Personal Trainer, allowing you to spend your summer pantomiming mixed martial arts in front of your Wii, PS3, or Xbox 360. It's got the talent to be a credible training game: it's designed by the National Academy of Sports Medicine, THQ says, and received input from three MMA trainers who have worked with top UFC fighters. THQ was quiet about the features in the PlayStation Move or Wii versions in the press release, but the Kinect version will feature "content exclusive to Kinect for Xbox 360, voice command navigation and a full-body tracking system."%Gallery-120595%
PSN serving up exclusive Virtua Tennis 4 demos
Sega is planning two demos for its upcoming Virtua Tennis 4. As Sega's Mie Kumagai notes on PlayStation Blog Europe, both demos will be exclusive to the PlayStation 3. The first demo will be released on April 13 in Europe -- April 19 in the US, Sega tells Joystiq -- and will show off the game's new World Tour mode. The newly revised globetrotting mode uses a board game layout, which you can glimpse in a trailer after the break. The demo will allow players to try out a small portion of the mode's first season. Another demo is also planned for later this year. The second demo will include PlayStation Move support and will also let players test out the game's 3D functionality.
Resistance 3 to support PlayStation Move and Sharp Shooter, along with 3D
Insomniac has just announced at its Community Day event here in Los Angeles that when Resistance 3 finally arrives on September 6, it will bring with it support for 3D televisions, as well as compatibility with PlayStation Move and its Sharp Shooter attachment. The studio said during a public panel that it was encouraged by the Move functionality in Killzone 3 and plans to implement Resistance 3 in a similar way. This is all good news, because, let us tell you: If you've never died in a Chimera attack, holding a model gun with a motion controller attached while wearing 3D glasses, well ... you haven't really lived.
Tiger Woods 12 features improved PlayStation Move functionality
The PS3 version of Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12: The Masters supports the PlayStation Move, though the functionality is greatly improved over last year. EA has not only improved the sensitivity of the swing itself, but added in the first-person True-Aim system seen in last year's Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 on the Wii. Now, because my review focuses so much on the caddy (and because the PlayStation Move arrived very late from Sony), Move didn't make it in before deadline. However, that added time to mess around with the mechanic has proven to me that the PS3 version is far more sensitive to slight swing variations and wrist movement, which makes the learning curve a bit steeper. Still, after only an hour, my proficiency increased. And because the Move is so sensitive, it was a lot easier for me to gauge how much power I was putting into a swing compared to using an analog stick. Combined with the graphical fidelity of the PS3 version, I can say without a doubt that PlayStation Move makes Tiger Woods on the PS3 the preferred version.
BioShock Infinite won't support Move, Levine 'open to' 3D
When it comes to BioShock Infinite, Irrational Games is committed to delivering parity across platforms. Unlike the PS3 port of the original BioShock, the PS3 version of Infinite is being developed in house alongside the other versions. The PS3 game won't be adding any trivial, platform-specific gimmicks either. Creative director Ken Levine told Play that Infinite won't feature PlayStation Move integration, explaining that he'd "never want to throw in Move support just because it's going to make some first party happy." Levine suggested that Irrational simply doesn't see a novel use for the motion controller within the game. "[It's] like, 'Okay, do you want to harvest or save Little Sister? Waggle left to harvest, waggle right to save!'" he imagined if Move was applied to the first BioShock. "You can have Move support on your box, but people are going to know you're cheating them," he said, noting that "you have to be able to say you're doing something special with it." Levine, however, hasn't made a decision about a possible 3D display option in Infinite (which wouldn't necessarily be exclusive to the PS3 version). "It's something I'd be more open to," he admitted. "I'm not saying whether we're doing that or not, but it's sort of a passive integration."
Walmart selling 320 GB PS3 with Move for $350 shipped to store
Amazon had the usually $400 350GB PS3 Move bundle for $50 off a while back, but now that that deal's ended, Walmart's in on the action. Right now, you can grab the bundle from its site for just $350 shipped to a store near you (a little more if you want it sent straight home). You even get a copy of Sports Champions along with it, so you can start swinging right away. The bundle itself is usually $400, so if you missed the Amazon deal the first time around and have been meaning to pick one of these up, now's your chance. [Thanks, Ahmed]
PlayStation Move creator suggests Sony won't abandon traditional controllers
The chances that the PlayStation 4 will ship with a Move-like motion controller instead of traditional gamepad got a little slimmer, thanks to an interview with Sony R&D wizard Dr. Richard Marks. "I said that pretty much from the beginning that we're not trying to get rid of the gamepad," he told Gamasutra, saying of the idea that Sony might go motion-only for PS4: "I don't think that makes sense." "The gamepad is a really good abstract device," Marks explained. "It can map to so many different things. It doesn't map one-to-one to those things, but it doesn't need to for a lot of game experiences." Of course, Marks is no doubt tinkering on some future iteration of the Move technology, but there's one gameplay interface he apparently has no interest in exploring: brain waves. "I think the brain interface thing is too far," he admitted when the topic was broached. "When you play some of the experiences like Rock Band where you break into a sweat playing the drums, those things are good. I like those things. I don't want to remove all of that."
StarDrone slingshots onto PSN April 5 with Move support
Described by its developer as a mix of pinball and brick-breaking, StarDrone finally has a launch date for North America of April 5, 2011. Already available in Europe, the title is designed with PlayStation Move in mind -- players aim at "hubs" and fire a cable to latch onto them -- but its creator, the Ukraine's Beatshapers, says it can be played just fine with a DualShock 3. You can get a much better feel for StarDrone's momentum-based gameplay in the new video after the break. The game will retail for $7.99, or $4.99 for PlayStation Plus subscribers.
PlayStation Move Ape Escape nets summer release in North America
Japan's (mostly) on-rails Ape Escape entry for PlayStation Move, Ape Escape Fury! Fury! is getting a North American release on PSN this summer, according to a post on the PlayStation blog. In a stroke of marketing apathy, it'll be hitting here under the woefully unimaginative title PlayStation Move Ape Escape. We actually previewed the Japanese version last fall -- it's essentially a collection of 15 levels and some minigames in which players snatch up space monkeys by waving the Move controller. In other words: It's not a PS3 remake of the original Ape Escape, which would have been really cool.%Gallery-118853%
Move.me invites everyone to develop for PlayStation Move
The PlayStation Move homebrew community hasn't been quite as prolific as Kinect's. But that may soon change with the introduction of Move.me. Coming soon, Move.me is a downloadable application for the PS3 that allows researchers, students, hobbyists, developers, anyone, the ability to develop for the PlayStation Move. "We want to see what innovative applications programmers can create using the PS Move controller, the PS3 system, the PlayStation Eye camera, and a PC," the official site decrees. Move.me will be available for download via the PlayStation Network this Spring, but interested applicants will be able to register for an early look now. The first 150 qualified applicants that are accepted will receive a voucher in the next two weeks. Are you willing to take the challenge?
Sony announces Move.me application for researchers and hobbyists, promises improvements to PlayStation Home
The PlayStation Move may not have proven to be as instantly hackable as Microsoft's Kinect, but it looks like Sony is now trying to change that -- it's just announced its new Move.me server application that promises to let researchers, hobbyists and others use the Move as a controller for a PC, with the PlayStation 3 handling all the work in between. It will be available for download from the PlayStation Network this spring, although you can also try your luck with Sony's early-product seeding program if you'd like to get it sooner -- no PS3 SDK or licensing agreement is required. In other PlayStation news, Sony's also confirmed that it's now working on version 1.5 of PlayStation Home, which promises to add real-time multiplayer gaming functionality to the virtual world, along with improved physics and refined graphics. Details on it are otherwise still fairly light, but it's also slated for a public release sometime this spring. Head on past the break for the official word on both announcements from Sony.
320GB PS3 Move bundle $50 off on Amazon
Without warning -- or explanation -- Amazon has snipped a sizable $50 off the 320GB PlayStation 3 bundle that includes PlayStation Move and Sports Champions. The set normally retails for $400 (and other retailers still list this standard price). Amazon's listing has no expiration date for the apparent sale. [Thanks, Robert]
SOCOM 4 bundled with Move in $150 'Full Deployment Edition'
If you're thinking about picking up a PlayStation Move controller with which to bust caps in the bottoms of your foes in SOCOM 4, Sony and Zipper Interactive have announced a pretty tight little bundle to fit your needs. It's the SOCOM 4 Full Deployment Edition, a $149.99 package which includes the game, a Move controller and Navigation controller, the "Sharp Shooter" gun attachment and a PlayStation Eye camera. The bundle will arrive on store shelves on the same day as the standalone game, April 19. That's a pretty sweet deal -- all those components sold piecemeal would run you over $200. More importantly, think about all the time you'll save if you purchase them altogether! Seriously, searching for these items and clicking "Add to Cart" five times would take you, like, three whole minutes. Three minutes! In this fast-paced, interconnected world, that's like, seven minutes.
Virtua Tennis 4 lobbed to retail May 10
Sega is sending Virtua Tennis 4 for PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii over the net May 10. Now if don't know the release date, it's your own fault. (And with that, we're out of tennis jokes.)
PlayStation Move Hack: Tracking the earth's rotation
Sure, the PlayStation Move hasn't had the explosive hacking scene of its Microsoft-branded competitor, but that doesn't mean it's not capable of some mind-boggling secondary functions. Modders at PABR Technologies recently combined the controller, a turntable, and ... a bunch of other tools we've never heard of before to create a Copernitron: A device capable of finding geographic north, determining latitude and measuring the rotation of Earth. There's a lot of nigh-incomprehensible science in the device's video demonstration (which is posted after the jump), but you don't need a Ph.D. in physics to appreciate the complexity of the final result. You may need one to understand what the hell it's doing, though.
PlayStation Move, turntable used to track the Earth's rotation
The above pictured contraption, called Copernitron, features a PlayStation Move controller, a turntable, and a homebrew Helmholtz coil (you know, for canceling out interference caused by our planet's magnetic field). By sending data to a Linux PC via Bluetooth, this bad boy will measure the Earth's rotation, find geographic north, and determine altitude. Apparently, this is achieved by measuring the controller's subtle movements as it spins around at 45 RPM. And while the PS Move gyros are much more accurate than those of any other controller on the market, they're not too accurate: if they were, the designer points out, "ITAR might classify them as missile components. That's why we can't have nice motion tracking." See it in action after the break.
Kevin Butler becomes peripheral to Killzone 3 marketing
Armed with our Killzone 3 review, you should have no trouble entering, enjoying and escaping Kevin Butler's charismatic marketing aura. Well, you might pick up some office decorations while you're in there.
Portal 2 will not support PlayStation Move [update]
Update [2:30PM]: "Portal 2 does not include support for Sony's motion controller," Valve clarified in a press statement today, saying quotes in a German language PlayStation Blog interview that had indicated PlayStation Move integration was in the works had been "lost in translation." (See our original post after the break.)
