I'm out...but doesn't mean I'm out. Gaming is a small biz, everyone knows everyone and there are few secrets. I know a whole lot about Move, too much perhaps which is why I so rarely post about it, but the state of Move is infuriating enough to where someone at the top at Sony needs a savage beating. Ok maybe that's overstating it, but the damn thing should have been out ages ago. And I mean a *really* long time ago.
Why? What's so infuriating about it? Why should it have been out earlier? Are you saying because of EyeToy or for some other reason?
They just didn't know what to do with it and/or didn't feel rushed to do anything with it. I just don't get what in hell they are thinking sometimes. Instead now they have been pushed into being "reactive" by Natal,
How do you know what Sony's internal process has been on this? I realize that people talk, but I also realize that in big companies the operational levels rarely know what's really going on at an executive level -- it's usually more like a 'chinese telephone' than any real information.
which is making them look confused because they have to rush it to market with a weak lineup of Move-i-fied DS3 games and no game plan, and they will get brutalized on price point.
What is the price-point of both solutions, then?
That is just plain wrong, and it didn't need to be this way because they had a ridiculously large head start.
Again, referring to the EyeToy?
It's their business to know this and to set the direction for all to follow, not mine. That is Sony's job.
Okay, so what's the direction to follow with Natal? I know for sure that this thread is completely void of ideas that aren't terrible. I haven't seen any ideas on the internet more compelling than 'lightsaber game', and that was when the sky was the limit with Natal. What're the real applications when we start to deal with a real piece of hardware and not pie-in-the-sky company promises? It's not your job, I realize that, but you'd think that for such a revolutionary piece of hardware (or so DF tells us) at least a
few ideas would trickle in. Is every good idea being snatched up by MS and venture capitalists?
This isn't to excuse Move; but 3 years of Wii have shown that we're not getting much milk from
that stone, so yeah, what we'll get with Move are quick DS3 gimmicks and ports (how many times have I said that?). I'd in fact question Sony's sanity if they were expecting their higher resolution solution were to do much better than that.
They have the dollars, the think tanks, the expertise, etc. I was just a drone coder, it was never my job to conjure up entirely new interface experiences anymore than it's the job of Joe Game Player.
Well, certainly the drone coders and Joe Game Players who are excited about this must have
some idea about what they're getting excited about? Or are they getting excited because they're being told to?
We are the receipients of new ideas which Sony should have been pursuing. But there is a fundamental problem with Sony that has dogged them for years now where they have cool ideas then do nothing with them. Instead they leave them in half finished states, leave them in mothballs for no particular reason, or throw them at devs and say "here, figure it out". Add Move to that list. At some point they will have been kicked in the teeth enough times to figure out that that method of operation just doesn't work anymore. The way they have played it will net them few new PS3 people with Move, which in terms of developers means there is little to no incentive to support it with meaningful dollars and research.
Except here I'm skeptical that third parties will be overly enthusiastic about supporting any of the motion controllers with research. Particularly if it doesn't come with a killer app. Third parties just don't know how to make these games. It's questionable whether anyone but Nintendo does (and I have my doubts about them, too). Especially with the sort of success we seem to be talking about; predicting it is like predicting lightning strikes.
I mean jeeze the contrast is startling. Microsoft has approached me multiple times for multiple Natal projects, and I know I'm not the only developer on this forum that has been pursued by Microsoft. They are dead serious about Natal, everything from building developer support, demonstrating new ideas, targeting new audiences, leading by example, the works.
This brings back something we heard a month or two ago, with the dev-only conference/meetup that MS held, and the allegedly terrible demo of Milo. What sort of leadership by example are we talking about? Is this something we'll see at E3, something that isn't Nintendo 'leading by example' by releasing Wii Sports and having every publisher copy it?
They have a game plan. Contrast this with Sony that sees Move as just another accessory.
Sony's 'position' waffles on this point. Sony isn't sure if it's an accessory or a platform. (Hint: it's an accessory. And so's Natal. Let's not buy into their doublespeak.)
The way Microsoft is treating Natal and Sony treating Move couldn't possibly be worlds further apart. It doesn't mean that both are immune to failure, but damn I'm infinitely more likely to join a startup that is making Natal games because I'd have some confidence of securing future projects after the initial one was done, whereas with Move who knows, at this point I'd expect to have a contract for the first title, then get cut after that.
That's reasonable; if MS is more likely to foot the bill, it's makes sense to work on exclusives. Again; we're not going to see Sony go too crazy on Move -- we might instead see shared promotional efforts, special publisher deals for 'PS3 Move' controls in games going forward. And of course, we'll probably see quickly uprezzed Wii ports/ripoffs popping up, probably on PSN.
Anyway, it should never have been this way, Sony had all the time in the world to take the lead in motion controls, they were way ahead of the game in that regard, with emphasis on the word "were". At this point Move will be just another accessory, when instead it could have been a game changer. They should have already been on 3rd generation Move games by now. It's exceedingly frustrating to see this company fall into this position time and time again. I want my 1980's Sony back.
Honestly, if Sony ever thought that a Move, post-Wii could be a game-changer, then they'd truly be idiots. Should SCE have taken its head out of its ass in, say, 2003-2004? Yes, certainly.
I want to see The Last Guardian, GT5 and their so-called flagship Move game this gen.
