lol, aye, I don’t think the gaming public/industry will _ever_ forget the power glove!  Deffo not saying Sony were first, but they were first with something that was at least reasonably successful (multiple millions sold and the like).

The NES Power Glove and U-Force controllers precede the Eyetoy by a long shot. Don’t forget those AWESOME controllers!

Too right :).

Amen brother. This motion control thing is getting out of hand. Blegh. It just makes me appreciate a good old-fashioned controller all the more. 

Aye, Cross-game chat is awesome, it’s just not a gameplay but more a social thing.  As for Move, I’ll deffo agree that the navigation controller is a straight rip-off, but the work on the core motion sensing began well before Ninty announced anything, and is far, _far_ more capable than Ninty’s tech (even it’s motion+ stuff – and I’ve owned both) – at the very least, it’s an evolution, but I’d argue it’s more likely an idea that developed in parallel, and got greenlit when the Wii took off (all of the big three do lots of development on plans that never see the light of day).

But seriously, from a gaming perspective outside of dance simulations (which the Kinect does _really_ well) and possibly some non-weapon fighting stuff (not the stuff they’ve got out now, but Ryse looks like it has potential), the Move does motion _gaming_ better than the competition.  Move can be used for anything from controlling an RTS (Under Siege and RUSE) to puzzle games (Echochrome ii, Tumble), to light-gun games, to shooters (although I think a controller is better personally, but I do know a few peeps who’ve been swayed), to the standard Sports/Pets/Carnival games stuff.  Kinect does some stuff better, but can’t match the breadth, and  Motion+ can match some but not all of the stuff, and has no AR capability.

On the by, I think neither Kinect or Move are problematic, but need to be viewed as peripherals, rather than core tech.  I look at my Move set-up like I look at my racing wheel – I don’t expect it to work with every game, nor be supported by 1000 games, but to be good at what it does for a select range of experiences.  Same for Kinect.  Problem is, both Sony and MS would like them to be in everything, which makes about as much sense as playing MW3 with a DDR dance mat!

I see your point Axe, fair enough. If the implication is that 360 has superior matchmaking, yeah that’s nonsense. I think it’s up to the individual how much cross-game party chat decides the issue. For me, I use gaming to keep in touch with friends back East, so it’s a deal-breaker. I need to be able to chat just with my people, and move them from game to game seamlessly. I just have to have that. 

I’m STILL gonna have to argue the Move is a Wii clone, that Eurogamer article notwithstanding. However, I’ll concede that I had forgotten about the Eyetoy. I mean, damn, for the PS2? That’s way way ahead of the pack.

If anything, it’s too bad they let the Wii take the field and become the motion control guys, when it was clearly on their minds before. 

Points right back at ya for a well argued response :).  However, I think when it comes to gameplay rather than socialising, dedicated servers dwarf being able to chat with people in another game.  The lag difference between dedicated servers and peer-to-peer or CoD’s ‘one console used as a server’ system is chalk and cheese, and the single largest impact on any online game, from a gameplay perspective, is lag.

That, and you’ve still got the ability to chat with your team on PS3, it’s not as if everyone runs silent.  You just don’t have the capacity to set up a separate sub-channel of just your mates on that team.  I agree cross-game chat is awesome, and I’ll happily argue that XBL is better than PSN because of it, but cross-game chat isn’t gameplay (hell, by definition it’s not even in the same game, although can usefully be used as such).

Totally agree matchmaking is (unsurprisingly – Activision are hardly going to code it differently for the 360 than for the PS3) the same on both consoles. However, the author implies through his use of words that it’s actually superior on 360, which is a bit of a stretch.

As for Sony ‘aping’ Nintendo, that’s just trolling put out by Ninty fans.  Eurogamer says it best:

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-the-case-for-playstation-move-article 

And as for innovating, Eyetoy _was_ the first full-body tracking gameplay option on console, by a number of years!

I’d also note that Move provides (from a gameplay perspective – totally agree that Kinect’s non-gameplay potential is enormous, but I’m arguing from a gaming perspective here – if we’re talking innovation in industrial/professional motion control, then that’s a whole ‘nother issue) a wider range of potential gameplay options.  Hell, most of the ‘core gaming’ ‘Kinect’ things due out this year are voice control – which can be done just as well and sometimes better with a mic!  Move also works _much_ better in relatively confined spaces – not all gamers have the run of their lounge room or a cavernous bedroom.

However, I also suspect Sony _will_ copy Microsoft by basing the next-gen Move around a Kinect-level camera with IR depth sensing, to create the best of both worlds, and I’d also tip Microsoft to go the other way (create a ‘controller’ for Kinect similar to Move). 

And then people on both ‘sides’ who don’t own both pieces of kit will be able to enjoy the positives of both :).

I always dig comments that take time to spell out their points carefully, so points to you for that. I think you’re totally right in your criticism of point #1, and I also agree that Move hasn’t “conceded” anything. True that. 

However,”Online gaming is at its best on PS3.” I just cannot possibly agree with that. Putting aside PSN’s repeated crashes and egregious leak of confidential customer information, Xbox Live’s cross-game chat support dwarfs dedicated servers and server lists any day of the week. Maybe if there was a discernible difference in match-making quality, but I’ve owned both system for years, and there ain’t. You’d have been better off pointing out Sony’s more open-door policy with user-created content, which would have at least held some water as a real counterpoint. 

Also, Sony at the forefront of motion control? Look, the Kinect and Move are both deeply problematic, but at least the Kinect has fascinating potential as a piece of technology. It’s being used everywhere from motion capture rigs and 3-D rendering to physical and speech therapy.Again, if you were to argue that Sony supports their motion control with software better and more consistently than Kinect, then you’re absolutely right. But calling these guys pioneers for aping Nintendo is just…come on.

How about #4 – there are _already_ far more dedicated server online games on the PS3 when compared with its console competitors, and the matchmaking for the first-party games works just fine.  Ie, when push comes to shove, online gaming is at its best on PS3, if you play a lot of games (if you only play one game, then clearly the best online gaming will be on the system that runs that game best).  Even better, more games on PS3 also have server/lobby lists, which if you have friends to game with online and can cope with primary-school levels of organisation, tends to yield deeper, more enjoyable results. Of course, matchmaking will still be there (like it is now, again just as good as its competitors) for all the kids that can’t cope with anything more than pressing the quickmatch button.

Or #3 – There were a bunch of Move games out this holiday – Carnival games, Dancestar Party, Medieval Moves, and some others. In fact, a pretty similar number of Move games as there were Kinect games.  Indeed, based on the logic used in this article, it could be equally (and just as nonsensically) argued that Kinect has conceded to Move.  But why bother with facts when random rubbish is so much more fun?  Sony have been at the forefront of motion control in gaming since they kicked off the latest ‘cycle’ last gen with Eyetoy, and with the popularity of motion games, expecting it to be dropped is like expecting Microsoft to go software-only. 

Or #1 – if they do (as is likely) stick with Blu-ray, and they foresee bigger games than 50GB, then they’ll likely just make sure the drive is compatible with the quad-layer BD disks.  Hell, Panasonic has developed disks that run off a BD laser that can store 400GB.  You may be just a little off with the disk-swapping comment – only by about 350GB!

That’s not to say that there aren’t good points to be made – #2, #8, #10 and #13 are all solid predictions, and while #7 is phrased in such a way that suggests Sony does it more than its competitors (when all three to plenty of copying), I would expect all three to copy each other going into the launch stage, although I’d be very surprised if Sony copied the Wii U’s somewhat crazy approach to controllers (either its cost, or using analog nubs instead of sticks, both are issues that are going to cause Ninty grief over time) – more likely, I’d expect an expanded Move that looked a little more like Kinect, but maintained the controllers as well.

Yes, yes it is. Did you play that thing all the way through? Good god man.