How is Sony's Wii Remote clone — the PlayStation Move — doing? As you'd expect, not too bad, but not exactly great either. Maybe motion controls really were a fad.
Since its launch in 2010, Sony says its managed to ship 10.5 million of its Move controllers (including Navigation controllers) globally. That's number of units shipped, not sold, meaning there could be a large quantity sitting on retail shelves or in warehouses not getting played with.
Compare that figure to the number of Kinect Microsoft has sold — over 10 million — and the PlayStation Move looks more like a latecomer to the motion control gaming world.
Truthfully, the Move hardware is excellent and in most aspects much more accurate than the Wii Remote or Kinect, but its main problem is a lack of game support.
In the early Move days there was Sports Champions, SOCOM 4 and Killzone 3 (which wasn't too terrible with the SharpShooter add-on), but outside of those initial launch titles and the recent GoldenEye 007: Reloaded, the lineup has been lackluster.
Speaking with Official PlayStation Magazine UK, Sony Computer Entertainment UK's new managing director Fergal Gara said that "[Sony] could have done a better job on the titles." He went on to say that Move might be better off relegated to being a casual market option.
So where are all the games? The upcoming Sorcery looks to finally give the Move its moment to shine, but we need more. Gamers deserve more.
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This brings up the interesting discussion on whether additional peripherals are sustainable. You see, unlike the Move or Kinect, which were essentially responses to the success of the Wii's motion controls, Nintendo built its Wii console completely around the Wii Remote. It's not a gimmick tacked on — it's central to the experience and Nintendo hopes to repeat its success story again with the Wii U and its new tablet controller.
When the Wii Remote was first unveiled, it felt like Nintendo was opening up a new beast that would completely change the way gaming would work forever. I recall Shigeru Miyamoto saying something along the lines of "The Wii Remote will be the new industry standard." So when Sony jumped on with the Move, it felt like that moment was arriving.
Now with the move back towards a "traditional controller" design on the Wii U (albeit with a touchscreen), it seems that motion control might not be advanced enough to become the new controller standard.
To end this, I want to know if you have played with your Move recently, or did the initial hype die before it could get really fired up?
