Playstation Move: 5 reasons it will Fail

So I own a Playstation Move and Sports Champions. I came home late one night and found it there. Now I wasn’t all together surprised since my brother had been nagging me if he could get it for his birthday. I had been up until then trying to convince him to wait till it at least gets some decent games or at least a significant price drop (which will happen). I eventually grew tired of his constant badgering and told him to do as he wished.

So there I was starring at this Wii derivative with a soft multicolored head, the only game we currently have is sports champions. A collection of mini-games from ping pong to sword fights. Some will notice I will compare the PS Move with the Wii and it may appear an unfair comparison. But really what else were the creators of the Move thinking about when they were making it aside from trying to take some of the Wii’s motion controller fan base. Also to simplify and better explain my experience I think most people will benefit with something they already have had experience with. These two are competitors and I would feel I’m not doing right by the people that will read this if I don’t bring up the competitor. On that note there will be little Kinect hands on talk since I have not played it.

5 Reasons why PS Move fails

1)To Accurate: I think all of us who have owned Wii’s at one point or another have always been ticked about the lack of one to one movement done in waggling. The PS Move seemed to capitalize on this by making the motion controller a very fine tuned and accurate device, reacting one to one with things on screen. Unfortunately it became apparent to me that this derived much less fun out of the game. For it required more effort on my part to do any motion since it wanted that precise movement.

Now it may seem petty to complain about a motion game making me move but the idea about motion games specifically is to make them easy to pick up and play. The barrier to entry must at first start low and eventually ramp up like any good game with a great difficulty curve (see Ninja Gaiden on Xbox).

2) Safe Games: Go look at the games currently out for Move, go ahead and once you do, find me version of that game already out for Wii. Now copying your competitor is fine if you’re going to revise the idea or at least make it fun (see Darksiders or Dante’s Inferno). The unfortunate part is move is copying the blandest, uninteresting and uninspired games that already had been made to death on the Wii.

Sports Champions like mentioned previously is bunch of mini games mashed together to form a semblance of a game. Volleyball, sword fighting, and archery are some games included in here and though they are not horrendous they are so middle of the road that the game will be forgotten within a year from now. Much unlike Wii sports which is still played by most people with Wii’s (if the Wii is ever played).

Start the Party, Planet Mini-golf, and Kung Fu Rider are some of the shovel ware that has begun for Move and though there may be some promising games in the future, they have been to be shown to the public.

3)Original Games with Add-on Move Support: Toy story 3, MAG, Heavy Rain and Tiger woods’ are all examples of taking already non-Move games and giving them Add-on Move support. I understand why this is done, I mean why not use already existing tech and just add-on Move support it’s cheaper for Developers and it gives a few more games for Move to promote. My problem is that the Add-ons are done without much care or creativity and are purely done as a cash in/ afterthought. Which they usually are. I’ve yet to hear of a game that was made better due to the Move support.

4)Price: The PS Move basic bundle comes with the camera, motion controller, and sports champions it runs for about a $110-115 with tax. You’ll also want to get the additional Navigation controller, the nunchcuk for Move, that’s about another $35. So for about $150 give or take you get only one derivate game and a very demanding camera that requires 6 to 8ft of space between you and it for proper functioning.  The Nintendo Wii comes with two games Super Mario Bros Wii and Wii sports a Wii-mote and nunchuk for a little over $200. So for a little more that $50 you get an entire console that is insane and speaks for itself. PS move price drop, inevitable.

5)Middle Child Syndrome: This is a real syndrome often describing middle children as feeling out of place and never developing social links and easily looses interest, it also says about them being highly creative but never having the drive to finish anything long term. This definition can also be applied to Move when compared to fellow competitors.  The Wii is farthest in one direction with motion control as being a fun plaything without any real depth but fun for a go with some great games. The Kinect is the opposite side of the spectrum with no controller and very innovative ideas and complete new gameplay. There may be hitches with the tech but it can be refined and the gimmick of its originality gives it an edge.

The PS move is stuck in the middle. Not leaning to either way. On one side is there are no original games out currently so you can’t get anyone looking for something Wii like on PS3. On the other side the techs isn’t that far off and crazy to be interesting to the masses, and get the appeal of those tech heads.

PS move needs to fix these specific things if it ever wants a shot to compete in the motion game industry.