So a new console race is in motion. Literally.
The theme of this week’s E3 video game show in Los Angeles has become motion-sensing controllers, with Microsoft and then Nintendo and Sony all demonstrating new products.
Microsoft unveiled Project Natal – a camera, sensor and microphone array. Nintendo demonstrated the MotionPlus – a more sensitive controller for the Wii. Sony showed off something that combined its Eye camera with a wand-like device.
Nintendo has been the sole runner in this race for some time. It has made motion-sensing capabilities the key differentiator for the Wii since its launch. It showed the improved version of its Wiimote, a clip-on extender with extra sensitivity, at E3 last year, and said on Tuesday it was now ready to launch it this summer with its Wii Sports Resort game.
Sony dropped the virtual ball it was holding in front of its EyeToy camera, created for the PlayStation 2 as long ago as 2003, but has picked it up again, with the team that created the Eyetoy now being asked to improve upon it with the unnamed wand device. It should be available in spring 2010.
Microsoft will be last out of the gate six months later with the most ambitious device, which includes voice and facial recognition as well as tracking of body movements.
It’s hard to assess which one may turn out to be the most successful and to what degree these new devices will boost console and software sales and help extend the life of the current-generation machines.
I tried Nintendo’s at the show and was impressed with the spin I could put on a ball with a flick of the wrist, but it’s still an incremental improvement for the Wiimote. Sony’s EyeToy has never been more than a novelty product and while a lot of effort is being put into the new wands, the concept could remain a niche “play”.
The most interesting implementation of Microsoft’s technology is direct communication between players and characters and crossovers between the real and virtual world. But this will take a long time to perfect.
What is clear is that these efforts appear to be a long-term commitment by the console makers to try to break down what they see as the last barrier separating them from the non-gamers they want to recruit.
Satoru Iwata, Nintendo’s president, said the market could still be expanded by another 150m in the US, Japan and Europe if these potential players could be won over.
Up to now, they have been put off by having to push buttons and twiddle knobs. Allowing them to talk, smile and shake hands with virtual characters is seen as the best way of earning their acceptance and adoption of these new frontiers.
