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PS3 Motion Controller Named?

Tom Ivan's picture

By Tom Ivan

December 10, 2009

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The name of PS3's upcoming motion sensing controller may have been revealed by Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello.

"In the coming year, both Sony and Microsoft have announced new controllers. Motion sensor controls, Natal and Gem, these are likely to bring new consumers into the marketplace," he said at the UBS 37th Annual Global Media Conference, according to IGN.

Responding to Riccitiello’s comments, Sony told the site that "No official name for the PlayStation motion controller has been announced," while EA said that it was unable to confirm the accuracy of the executive’s remarks.

Utilising PlayStation Eye technology, PS3’s motion controller was first unveiled at E3 in June. The following month we caught up with SCEE’s vice president of research and development and the company’s head of developer services to talk about the controller and its capabilities.

The prototype controller that has been on show during tech demos since June looks like a plastic microphone with a glowing sphere on the end that the PlayStation Eye tracks, although Sony has said that the device’s visual appearance will change ahead of its release in spring 2010. A March launch in Japan has been rumoured.

At the Tokyo Game Show in September Sony named eight first party motion control titles in development. It also said that the controller will be compatible with a number of existing games including LittleBigPlanet, EyePet, Flower, Pain, High Velocity Bowling "and more".

A recently uncovered Sony patent hinted at some unannounced possibilities for the motion controller, including ways in which it could be combined with exiting PS3 Sixaxis and DualShock pads.

Byron_Kheroua's picture
On December 10th Byron_Kheroua said:

Whilst I don't completley agree with Sony's move (or MS's for that matter) I am among those who can see that the potential for innovation is immesurable. Motion controls are pushing gaming further and further, even if said movement/ progression is relativley slow and will take many years before every platform becomes fully comfortable with motion tech, theres still room for originality and creativity that normal or conventional controllers simply can't offer.

Ben_Lathwell's picture
On December 10th Ben_Lathwell said:

Waving multi-colored bell-ends at an eyetoy.

I bet Nintendo are shitting themselves

xstavrosx83's picture
On December 10th xstavrosx83 said:

i just can't see how these motion controllers are going to help the market...almost everyone owns a wii already... so please sony cancel this project and invest your money for better online,more good games and more tools to 3d party producers to gives us titles equal to U2.

hasan's picture
On December 11th hasan said:

Sony HD rendering monster combined Wii motion technology you may have the best console there. Unless Nintendo release Wii HD before it loses market share and they can. Their making a killing this generation [Profit every piece of software hardware and peripherals].

What may or may not catch on is natal because its unproven technology [unfamiliarity] I'm not looking forward to it, I seen the videos the people look stupid, not holding something and controlling seems unnatural but I may be wrong, we'll just have to wait and see....

xstavrosx83's picture
On December 11th xstavrosx83 said:

i agree we have to wait and see...but i don't like the wii because of the motion controller not because it's not HD,so i don't think something will change for me...what i believe is the market will flood with stupid solveware...but then again we have to wait and see...

WazWii's picture
On December 10th WazWii said:

Why not? As long as the games suit it. For instance, a Star Wars Game, perhaps integration into Dragon Quest and Monster Hunter games? The potential is there; it is just it has not been realized yet. That is why Sony took a low cost but game specific approach. We could get some really good HD tennis and Golf games out of this as well. At the same time it could even help the Wii get some decent third-party support. Motion controls can add something to a game if done well, we should not ignore that at all. It is just that they need to be put to good use rather than casual rubbish and marketing hype.