Analyst: Sony's Motion Tech "Superior From A Gaming Perspective"

It was the software exclusives that really made Sony's E3 press conference shine, but one of the more discussed presentations of the day was that cutting-edge motion control technology.

On stage one day after Microsoft debuted Project Natal, Sony made a big impression on the crowd and ever since, journalists and analysts have been involved in the same debate: who won? Well, one analyst - Cowen and Company's Doug Creutz - believes Sony has the edge in terms of a "gaming perspective." As reported by Gamasutra, several analysts weighed in on their views regarding E3, and Creutz wanted to focus on the distinct difference between Natal and Sony's motion technology. He said:

"The Project Natal demo from Microsoft got most of the ink, but I really thought Sony's demo was superior from a gaming perspective. Natal appeared to me to be a technological solution in search of a problem. Do I really care if I can navigate my Netflix queue without using a controller? I had a very hard time envisioning playing Modern Warfare 3 using Natal. By contrast, I had a very easy time envisioning it (and enjoying it) using Sony's control/motion capture scheme.

Microsoft appears to be trying to steal casual gamers away from Nintendo, which is a difficult proposition given that you're essentially asking casual gamers to upgrade twice during the cycle (assuming they already own a Wii). In contrast, Sony is squarely targeting the core gamer market, which is what they need to be doing. Of course, there is a wide chasm between a demo and a finished, playable, appropriately-priced product."

We have to agree with this assessment, and it's not the first time it has been said. Others have praised the "readiness" of Sony's technology, and Sony themselves have already explained that it can be implemented in "most any game" that is currently in the PS3 library. They've yet to secure a finalized release date, but when it arrives, you can be assured that this new technology will definitely turn a lot of heads.

6/24/2009 Ben Dutka

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Comments (Beta)

BikerSaint
Wednesday, June 24, 2009 @ 10:34:50 PM
Reply

This Sonymote just might be the 1st gaming item I've bought new vs. used in a while.

2 up, 0 down

Scarecrow
Wednesday, June 24, 2009 @ 10:37:55 PM
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WorldEndsWithMe
Wednesday, June 24, 2009 @ 10:47:21 PM
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The archery was what gripped me, I'm not huge on your basic Wii motion control kinda thing but now we have something that can actually...wait... take us back in time to light gun days? I dunno whatever, I just think it looked really cool and was very precise.

3 up, 0 down

Zemus101
Wednesday, June 24, 2009 @ 11:00:28 PM

I agree. When the dude started reaching to his back to pull out virtual arrows, my jaw hit the floor. I want to play! That! Just as it is ...and it's not even a final product by a long shot.

Last edited by Zemus101 on 6/24/2009 11:00:42 PM

1 up, 0 down

mustang750r
Wednesday, June 24, 2009 @ 10:51:05 PM
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Sony is going to have a major title/frachise to promote this product, and a lot of ads to get product awareness in the publics eye.

I'm confident that Sony can pull this off. Hell I've only saw the E3 demonstation and I'm already sold and would buy it on release.

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Orvisman
Thursday, June 25, 2009 @ 9:30:04 AM

Sony gave a Spring release window for this.

GOWIII comes out around that time.

Hmmmmmm?

0 up, 0 down

kevinater321
Thursday, June 25, 2009 @ 10:05:50 AM

maybe that is why GoWIII had to be released in 2010. Although i don't see this working with a GoW gmae :S

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godsman
Wednesday, June 24, 2009 @ 10:56:19 PM
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I dont think that Natal is sensitive enough to make any hardcore games. If it cannot even tell the difference between white and black skin color, what makes you think it can pick up little the slightest turning in the wheels.

When the Wii was promoted. It looked like a perfect 1:1 motion (on the commercials of course), but once you get one, you realize how limited the motion sensing experience is.

Sony's motion control, you can actually imagine real games to be made with these controls.

Natal is not that revolutionary. Whatever Microsoft showed at E3, PS3 Eyetoy can already do (scanning and motion sensing). Look at the Eye Pet game thats releasing this holiday. You can scan objects for the pet and then interact with it through motion sensing.

4 up, 0 down

Zemus101
Wednesday, June 24, 2009 @ 11:03:24 PM

Yeah, and it's funny that Microsoft is promoting the hell outta this Natal thing (damn you Jimmy Falon) Telling people how great and new this is. Sony has that eye pet thing as you said, and it does the same things ...and Sony isn't even promoting that yet and it comes out this holiday? lol I prefer the hardware and software to promote themselves rather than hype everyone up for something that'll apparently "change the way we play games" :P

Last edited by Zemus101 on 6/24/2009 11:03:46 PM

1 up, 0 down

Scarecrow
Wednesday, June 24, 2009 @ 11:06:53 PM

Sensitivy is the singlemost important thing with these devices

The sixasis is more accurate than the wiimote. The wiimote has all the degrees of motion covered though(but it's not precise/laggy) and not really sensetive enough.

^That's the same problem I see Natal facing, it doesn't pick up movements accurately enough. It'll probably be a frustrating device which will barely work with real games.

I really don't care 'bout neither, but I see more promise with the ps3-mote.

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Phoelix
Thursday, June 25, 2009 @ 7:25:41 AM

Natal is just missing buttons. There is no way that sports games will be possible on Natal because, unless they have some weird hand signal for running forward, there won't be a way to. Everything the player does has to be stationary.

Furthermore, there's also no way to do crazy fighting moves like leaping in the air and doing a flip kick right into the enemy's face (again, unless they have some hand signal or something).

Even more so, there's no trigger for FPS's. AND there's no way to move forward.

Natal looked cool, but I don't think it's really feasible at all. At least not with games that we play now.

3 up, 0 down

Cueil
Wednesday, July 01, 2009 @ 11:48:42 AM

That's funny, but what is funnier is that you can't see potential when it's slaps you in the face. It's easy to see what the PSmote can do... because it's just like the Wiimote+ only using a different methods to achieve the same results. I'll give you one example and maybe they'll get you a little interested in the possibilities... 3D Head Tracking... if you don't know what that means a little youtube browsing will show you a nice WiiMote mod someone did to get the effect.

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Kowhoho
Wednesday, June 24, 2009 @ 11:07:31 PM
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I really liked the whip during the motion demo. That and the much-loved bow-and-arrow, of course.

The way I see it with this motion control for the PS3 is this: I could go buy a wii, a few extra controllers and a ridiculous amount of cheap plastic add-ons for those controllers.....or I could just get the sonymote.

Last edited by Kowhoho on 6/24/2009 11:10:26 PM

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Deleted User
Wednesday, June 24, 2009 @ 11:12:34 PM
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Yeah the bow and arrow/sword & shield demo was amazing. I would seriously pay $20 for it! And I HATE the Wii-mote. It just looked so different, it also didn't hurt that the enemies looked amazing, not like the outdated graphics on the Wii.

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xnonsuchx
Thursday, June 25, 2009 @ 2:15:49 AM

...but would you pay $50-60 for it? What if the PS3 motion controller is that much...and you have to buy 2 of them for archery or sword & shield use? Hopefully, it won't be TOO pricey.

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kevinater321
Thursday, June 25, 2009 @ 10:10:03 AM

Well 100 bucks for the set of 2 seems pretty reasonable, considering that the Wiimote is 60$ and not that presice. But then again so is the DS3

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mustang750r
Wednesday, June 24, 2009 @ 11:13:14 PM
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The PSP game Invisimals has better promise for gamers than what ever game comes out for Natal.

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Kangasfwa
Wednesday, June 24, 2009 @ 11:13:26 PM
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Okami HD is the perfect launch title for this tech.

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IronFace2
Wednesday, June 24, 2009 @ 11:20:08 PM
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Wii is for children
but this is for real gamers, somehing I would like to have.

1 up, 0 down

sticklife
Wednesday, June 24, 2009 @ 11:58:12 PM
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I'm not sure why everyone here is so suddenly liking the idea of a motion controller. I've other post saying 'if I want to motion control I'll play the wii' Don't get get me wrong this will be much better than the wii but how many times out of ten would you really choose to use this over a duel shock? Me? maybe 2-3.

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WorldEndsWithMe
Thursday, June 25, 2009 @ 12:40:56 AM

I think it's the nature of the beast, this more mature tech looks like it could be used for some pretty interesting stuff instead of little rinky dink games. BUT I agree with you that it's never going to be a giant boon, but something you might use for a few games and that's it.

2 up, 0 down

Scarecrow
Thursday, June 25, 2009 @ 1:46:20 AM

I wanted Nintendo to REALLY show us that the wiimote could be used for GREAT games.

Twilight Pricness was ONE of them...

But it all ended there, no other GREAT game has really used it in impressive ways....

But yeah I agree with WorldEnds, some games could implement this well(Heavenly Sword being one <3)

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End of line
Thursday, June 25, 2009 @ 1:52:06 AM

It isnt been brought to us as a giant boon but just another way to play games. The Buzz controller is a perfect example, but motion has obviously has more potential. Look at the Silent Hill version on Wii using motion plus, there is no way I would go to use the controller if they nailed motion correctly.

@ sticklife: I was thinking the same thing, how quickly people's minds are changed with a tech demo. It grates me how gaming execs refer to us as consumers and not gamers but when we act like consumers (ie fickle) it's no wonder.

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Jed
Thursday, June 25, 2009 @ 5:32:04 AM

@Scarecrow

I thought resident evil 4 was really great with the wiimote also.

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BikerSaint
Thursday, June 25, 2009 @ 4:15:23 PM

Suddenly?
It's on record here that I said it could be a good thing, & I've been rooting for it since the very first Sonymote rumor leaked out, and that was way before E3.

BTW, I think that if Sony wants it's Sonymote sales to skyrocket right away, they should sell it as bundle with some kind of new innovate game as soon as it's mote comes out, in addition to being sold as a stand-alone controller too.

Last edited by BikerSaint on 6/25/2009 4:16:48 PM

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Jed
Thursday, June 25, 2009 @ 1:46:40 AM
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I think the wii gave the whole motion control thing a bad wrap. I liked the Idea of having some motion controlled games, and of course the light gun type games that you can play with the wiimote. But I don't like the idea of basing an entire console on the motion controls. That took a lot of away from the wii as far as conventional gaming goes.

The ps3 motion tech looks much better that the wiimote, and I think that when devs start to develop specialized motion controlled games for the ps3, and not trying to figure out how to integrate it into traditional games, we could see some really cool stuff that will be more attractive to the conventional gamer crowd.

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DGo8
Thursday, June 25, 2009 @ 3:45:02 AM
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im wit Zemus101's 1st comment when he reached back to get an arrow i was shocked they we can actully do so much with this....think of it...playing metal gear with this...or GTA...or Infamous i this is gonna be a massive success for sony! i'l be buyiny(Y)

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www
Thursday, June 25, 2009 @ 5:18:23 AM
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Yup Sony's Motion technology is more than ready but Natal, it looks like it has a long way.

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Andysw
Thursday, June 25, 2009 @ 5:48:43 AM
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Funny how microsoft said that the natal was superior.

1 up, 0 down

kevinater321
Thursday, June 25, 2009 @ 10:18:02 AM

Well Microsoft says a lot of things that arn't true

3 up, 0 down

tes37
Thursday, June 25, 2009 @ 6:28:28 AM
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I didn't think I'd be interested in this motion tech until I seen it at E3. I have a lot of confidence in Sony. They seem to be the only one lately that actually cares about the gamer and they've never been bad about peddling junk to consumers.

Last edited by tes37 on 6/25/2009 6:35:45 AM

1 up, 0 down

RustEDalex
Thursday, June 25, 2009 @ 7:07:01 AM
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hopefully they can make a decent star wars game using the light saber.they showed something similar at E3 but with the whip, which by peoples first reaches they thought was a light saber

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kevinater321
Thursday, June 25, 2009 @ 10:19:41 AM

The thing they showed at E3 looked like the Plasma whip from ratchet and clank: up your arsenal

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Dancemachine55
Thursday, June 25, 2009 @ 8:42:58 AM
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Does anyone else here remember what they said on stage about the Sony motion controls?

They hit the nail on the head when they mentioned that video games require buttons or triggers to perform certain actions that are assisted with motion controls. This is where Natal will struggle and the PS3 will dominate.

However, we must remember that a lot of people out there already have Wii's and that it was the first motion controller to work well and be easy to use for all people of all ages. The Sony motion controls will remain a priority for hardcore gamers and that is the perfect vision that Sony has.

Natal is attempting to steal the flashy hardware spotlight from the Wii, but will be a disappointment when people find that games don't work as well for it, or there aren't as many quality games for it compared to the Sony motion controls or the many Mario and shovelware games for the Wii.

Fortunately, with the growing number of gamers and tech enthusiasts, more people are going to shape into hardcore gamers. These are the people who never touched a console until they saw the Wii. They enjoyed the Wii and are now looking for something similar and familiar but offers more in terms of gaming and all-around entertainment. This is where the PS3 steps in.

Now, this isn't all the Wii gamers out there who will turn to this, but a small portion will realise that they can have motion controls with their sports games, play them in high definition and play top notch games that the Wii hasn't offered.

But, realistically, this tech is mostly for the existant fanbase at the time being. When enough games that use this tech well come out, then many gamers may be swayed from the inferior tech of the Wii to the better services the PS3 can offer. Whether they go with PS3 motion controls or Natal is their choice.

I feel like this tech, while better from a gaming standpoint, might struggle against Natal simply because Natal has gone one step further and removed controls completely. Not only that but MS has stupid amounts of money to throw at their new tech to market it and sway gamers to it. This is where Sony will struggle because in the public's eyes, they will appear as a Wii ripoff rather than innovators in their field even though their tech is superior from a gaming perspective. People will be more drawn to Natal because of its different approach to gaming. Gaming with no buttons.

Only timing, marketing and supporting software can truly bring Sony to the forefront against Natal. Does anyone here agree with me?

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Dancemachine55
Thursday, June 25, 2009 @ 8:47:20 AM

Just thought I'd add, lets not forget the size of the living room in the trailer for Natal along with how well lit it was and how much space was required to play. Very few people out there have a living room or bedroom big enough for them to do stuff like that.

As I said before, it will do well because it is different and flashy, but Sony will dominate with software.
As for sales numbers? Well lets wait and see how truly intelligent the gaming community really is.

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BikerSaint
Thursday, June 25, 2009 @ 4:25:46 PM

@Dancemachine 55
Oh yeah, you're preaching the gospel!!

Now, can we get a "Amen" from the rest of the choir? too??? LOL

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Cueil
Wednesday, July 01, 2009 @ 11:58:16 AM

I don't think you get it. Sure there is going to be Natal Exercising and Natal Belly Dancing Lesson(yummy). However because Natal requires no controller you can easily use it with a controller. This can be as simple as 3D facial mapping in Rainbow Six to something super cool like head tracking in Modern Warfare 3. The PS3mote has the same strengths as the Wiimote+ does and it'll be a fine addition to Sony's lineup of peripherals. However you shouldn't sell something short just because you can't think of how it could be used to add to the gaming experience.

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Karosso
Thursday, June 25, 2009 @ 10:31:11 AM
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If they found a way to make it work with all the games out already, it would be great.
Would grab a copy of Oblivion and start hacking away :-)

2 up, 0 down

Cueil
Wednesday, July 01, 2009 @ 11:49:31 AM

it would likely require a patch unless they could map the analog sticks to the motion some how

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Jalex
Thursday, June 25, 2009 @ 3:08:50 PM
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I don't mind all these newfangled motion-controllers, but I don't think my steady, ready controllers will ever leave my hands for more than a bit.

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duff916
Sunday, June 28, 2009 @ 4:37:49 PM
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Hustle Kings is coming out (and its a PS3 exclusive mind you). I hope we can use the new controller with that game. Also, Sony needs a Bowling game for the new controller too. I really liked Bowling on the Wii/Wii Sports.

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