Sony’s nameless motion controller, you know the one to take on Microsofts’ NATAL, is looking at an early 2010 release. The “wand” was shown off at E3 earlier this year, with great praise and true 1:1 motion control.
Kazuo Hirai, president and group CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment, told The Times Online that the company will release the peripheral in Spring of next year, that is our Autumn, for those living under a rock still, backed by a strong software line-up. Uh God of War 3 anyone?
“We are slating it for spring of next year,†he stated. “One of the things is that we just don’t want to put out the controller. We need a great software that supports the controller at launch. It’s something that we’ve been working on for the longest time.â€
So what do you think of this “wand”? Are Sony trying to get the jump on Microsoft’s NATAL? Or are they trying to make a quick buck by copying the Wii?
Last Updated: August 27, 2009
Nick
August 27, 2009 at 16:29
After getting a long lecture about Sony’s wand/camera tech on Empire forums it seems to me that this setup uses parts of Wii and Natal. The PSEYE can apparently also track your head ( Not the full skeletal structure like Natal though )and body like Natal while the wand plays exactly like the Wii controller. If you add both these features in a FPS like Metroid Prime for example then the EYE can track your head to move the camera i.e look left and the games camera moves left while the wand is used as as your pointer to shoot like the regular Wii mote.
Cant comment about Natal because i feel we know very little but personally i cant picture myself moving my arms and legs around in fresh air. I need some kind of feedback or something in my hand ( Maybe you can hold real world objects to compensate and the Natal camera can read them but the problem is that Sony already filed a patent for this so i dunno ). Seems to me though Natal is more for casual games while the wands and Wii mote can incorporate this into core and casual games.