I am one huge fan of Sony’s games machines. There you go I’ve said it. That’s because I work hard and I play hard. When I play hard I want an interactive, fun and exciting experience. I have had every single incarnation of their Playstation – yes including the original formidable black Playstation – the one where they gave every nerdy individual the somewhat futile chance in hell of developing and testing games for themselves in their own front room. In my time I have been called a games player and a games technician – work that one out. But don’t ever get me started on the amount of times they have missed opportunities.

Take the Playstation Move for example – Tempting, all so tempting. Waiting in the queue inside my favourite games store I had all that anticipation a young child feels going into a bakery but then upon seeing it I felt unsatisfied and like that kid out of that famous fairy tale ‘The Emperors New Clothes’ – you know the one, the one who spoke up with brutal honesty and said to the emperor “Your naked!”. Because there I was standing amongst people who were going oooh and ahhh and emailing their mates ‘OMG’ at the Playstation Move demonstration only to pipe up and say “But it looks like a Wii control for god sake!”

Stunned silence ensued. “Oh” but the techie with the Matrix style jacket said sternly, “It’s got true 1:1 motion control and a glowing end”. ‘Right,’ I thought out loud ‘so that’s where I got it wrong – how silly of me’
Lets be honest, such is the strikingly similarities between the Wii and the Move remotes that you almost feel like you are being conned. Yes, it does have a round glowing end – an end very reminiscent of an Ambi Pur air freshener which changes colour at regular intervals but true 1:1 technology is nothing new; in fact it is the same technology pushed forward by Nintendo in their recent range of Motion Plus. Arguably where Nintendo have gone wrong is that their games have been made too much for the younger casual gamer, so where Playstation ultimately needs to pull rank is in the games and in the graphics.

To be fair to Sony the Playstation Move has a whole different set up to the Wii; although again very similar. The Playstation Eye camera tracks the movement this time, (those of you who have owned an Eye Pet will know just how sensitive it can be) and with its own on board mic what this brings to the games is a whole new level of interactivity as you can be the star and hear your voice in your own games. Huge thumbs up.

The controllers whilst similar in design to the Wii’s are lighter – thanks to built in lithium rechargeable – which, much like the Playstation 3 controllers are quick to charge yet take ages to run out. This is another plus as games on this machine tend not to be casual affairs – they last for hours compared to minutes and to make it worse you often want to just get stuck in. The controllers are also much more ergonomic too and ‘just feel right’. They also have Sony’s trademark rumble feedback as opposed to mini speakers which you get on the Wii controls which, let’s be honest are pants.

There is however a number of issues that easily emerge. You see, with exception of the Tiger woods game I made a concerted effort to avoid any Move Sports games, purely because I had been there and done it many times with the Wii already and, to be frank, I am sick of it and what’s more I am sure I am not the only games player to say this. Sony has almost left it too long to capitalize on this technology. So failing the sports games how many games are left at launch? Well not many, Start the Party, Eye Pet Move and Kung Fu Rider. Things that make you go hmmm eh? In fact I had to wait until this week to get my hands on Move editions of Resident Evil 5 and Heavy Rain. I just hope every game is not going to be updates of old classics.

Also the technology does need some final tweaks. Whilst the Playstation Eye camera picks up speed and movement very quickly, I spotted that detection of the force behind a gesture is relatively non-existent, and this could cause problems in fighting games. I’m also not sure about so many buttons being positioned on both controllers, this could cause problems against the more simplistic approach offered by the Wii and could prove to be a nightmare should games require lots of button combination.

Another thing is the price – it will cost you around £59.98 for both halves of the Playstation Move controller and Playstation Eye camera and all this comes with just a demo disc. Let’s get this in perspective this is one third of the cost of a complete Wii system – which comes with a game as standard. Tut-tut indeed.

So what’s my final verdict? Well no doubt for many serious gamers and kids this will be the pressie at the top of their shopping and impending (dare I say it) Christmas list however I would advise that you wait to see whether time brings about better games and improved technology. Xbox and the Kenect system are just around the corner…

1:1 Technology – what is it?

In a nutshell – 1:1 Technology is the reading of precise movement. In the earlier days of the Wii you would move your arm and the sensor would pick it up and would play what was essentially an animation for your character on the screen. This could be for your character to punch, jump, move etc in the game and it was a standard animation; that means it didn’t register degrees of movement. (Yes, you were probably flapping your arms about for nothing.) Motion plus and Playstation Move took it to the next level so now not only does the computer recognise that you have done a movement in real life but it also senses how much and transfers this animation to your character on the screen in a 1:1 way. You move – it does it exactly. Hence the term 1:1 Technology.

by Junior Smart