Thursday, March 11, 2010

PlayStation Move hands-on and more



Just a few hours ago, I was able to play at some length with Sony's PlayStation Move. The presentation was impressive. The hands-on session less so. I talked to some guys from Engadget and Joystiq and we were all in agreement that the lag was immense across all games. The Sony people at hand noted that it wasn't due to the Move hardware but due to the low framerate of the early demos. Most were pre-alpha versions. So the finished product should be much more responsive.

The range of games on display was pretty good. I played ´Socom 4´, ´Move Party´, ´The Shoot´ and a fighting simulation. ´Socom 4´ looked very good, while the one level I played of ´The Shoot´ was looking rather poor. All games displayed the lousy framerates mentioned above, though, and the high latency this entails.

I later interviewed Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter who joked that he finally got the Wii HD he predicted, only that it wasn't manufactured by Nintendo. He was impressed, but didn't think it would necessarily be a system seller. The console is still $300 and the Move hardware bundle will cost another $100. He did note that it was time for Nintendo to act, though.

I also interviewed Westwood founder Louis Castle, who is now building an exciting new delivery platform called InstantAction and - amazingly - remembered me from our last interview years ago. His service allows games like ´Monkey Island´ or ´Assassin's Creed´ to be offered via social networks like Facebook. You click on the demo button and the game downloads onto your hard-drive amazingly fast. You can then embed the banner which launches the game to your blog or any other site. It seems like a great idea and works a treat.

And I was also able to speak to Steve Perlman, CEO of OnLive. He showed an iPhone running Crysis and it looked pretty much unbelievable. We have a street date and a price (June 17th, $14,95 a month), so the critics who cried vapourware were silenced. That's it for now. Tommorrow we will interview Peter Molyneux and Sid Meier the day after. Stay tuned for more impressions from GDC.

37 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nice article.
I hear that piotr babieno (owner of bloober team and Nibris head.) is there....I don't know what your schedule is but if you could take a second, stop by and mention Sadness and see what he says.

Unknown said...

Hi there,
judging by what I saw so far, I am a bit disappointed with the Move. Sony promised something, that would make the Wii controller system look lousy in comparision - but right now, the Move just seems like a uninspired clone, especially with the co-controller, that resembles the one of the Wii, too. I just hope, they games themselves will make better use of the possibilities - but that is the same factor that will decide the fate of Natal, so we have to see.

And OnLive: cool idea, but $15 per month just to use it - and you have to pay for all your games on top of that?! That's something for non-console-owners, but that's about it.

Unknown said...

Well, on an iPhone, your pushing ... what ... 240p graphics? Thats mathematically about 1/12th of 720p...

Anonymous said...

falafelkid,

i'm done. your last 6 articles have been a sad and unfunny fucking joke. i'm sorry, but you went from "interesting unique game journalist" to "another monotone industry puppet". i know that's harsh, and i know it's rude, but i need you to hear it (and from one of your biggest fans).

at this point, i want to remove you from my rss feeds. reading your articles has just become fuckin' depressing: oh, wow! a new falafelkid article! i hope this one will be unique and interesting this time. oh... well, too bad. nope. it's the EXACT SAME PARROTED "INDUSTRY" BULLSHIT that I see on gamespot, kotaku, 1up, and the like.

your heavy rain article (which i refrained from commenting on initially, mainly because i was laughing too hard) was a fucking JOKE. "turn the tide for ps3" my fucking ass. ludicrous. knowing the wii phenomena like the back of your hand, what in GODS NAME could POSSIBLY make you think that there is any sizable population interested in fucking DRAGONS LAIR 2010? it was a bad idea back then, and it's a bad idea now. it is not lighting any fires under anybody, and it certainly will NOT save the ps3. everybody with a fucking brain knows that. have you gone insane? I AM ACTUALLY BEING SERIOUS: HAVE YOU GONE FUCKING INSANE? IS SOMEONE ELSE WRITING YOUR BLOG?

you have (somehow!?) become a ridiculous parody of the journalist that you used to be. i am very sorry.

IALS said...

Ok. So there's officially no reason to own a Wii anymore...

;)

IALS said...

@superfan tactics

dude you have serious problems...please take advantage of proffessional help...you've let your childhood fantasies take over your mind...you've crawled somewhere where the sun don't shine if you know what I mean....and there is no light at the end of that tunnel m8 trust me.

Falafelkid can write whatever he wants on his blog..if you don't lke it go and play some pokemon.


IALS

Oli said...

Heya, I just came across your blog on my daily browsing and i think you've done a really good job of it! I also have a blog like yours, but less formal - can you take a look?

Don't worry about what that other "Anonymous" guy commented, your blog is good, keep them posts coming! :-)

- Oli

Some German Guy said...

Hey Fal,

take a look at this article from Matt at IGN:
http://uk.wii.ign.com/articles/107/1077008p1.html

This is the rumor stuff I love.
Please give your comments to this and tell us what you've been hearing from developers at GDC.

Anonymous said...

Just a quick note: Sales numbers are in... Heavy Rain barely managed to shift more than 200,000 units. Looks like the tide will not be turning after all. What a crazy fanboy I was to predict that!

Anonymous said...

Nothing wrong kids, move along.
Falafel came back from the GDC with Sony news and wrote another Sony post.
Wii Definitive speculation blog is operating at full capacity.

Anonymous said...

again this is neather wii speculation or news
oh what happened with heavy rain sales and ps3 sales there in last place wasnt ps3 going to take of with heavy rain according to this site...

move is a useless joke

sonys own words NOT SUITED TO FLICKS OF THE WRIST SMALL MOVEMENTS
WHY
BECAUSE ITS SHIT MOTION
camera tracking lags relying on big bulbs of light is stupid and shows how loose this thing is

camera lag of 6 frames out of 30
300 degrees tracking and no motion at all on the sub controller....

wii wm+ 1600 degrees tracking 5x more than move no lag no pointer ir mouse lag and 300 degrees motion tracking nunchuck vs no motion on sub controller

its inferior to wii its 4 years late and its a seperate unit from console......

and no public hands on hhmmmmm

Anonymous said...

the width of the bulb is say plus 1 inch THERES UR AIM RADIUS

WII-REMPTES IR MOUSE POINTER 1MM PRECISION NO CONTEST

WII POINTER NO LAG

MOVE CAM/BULB LOTS OF LAG

ITS CLEARLY INFERIOR IN EVERY WAY

1600 DEGREES MOTION WM+ VS 300 DEGREES MOVE

300 DEGREES MOTION NUNCHUCK VS NO MOTION SUB CONTROLLER

MOVE IS A LIE

NO REASON TO OWN A Wii NOW

I THINK NOT YOU IDIOT

Anonymous said...

CAN THE GERMAN GUY RUNNING THIS SITE EXPLAIN SONYS LAST PLACE PS3 SALES NDP AND HEAVY RAINS SALES BEING BLOWN AWAY BY 2D MARIO

PLEASE EXPLAIN THIS YOU SAID PS3/HEAVY RAIN WERE GOING TO OWN AND THIS WAS A TURNING POINT

Wii R STILL WAITING

IALS said...

Wow,this Blog magically attracts the most hardcore of goons and internetrambos the world Wide web has to offer like wiiboy superfantactics and myself of course!respect! yeah people thats whats up in the darkest corners of the internet! The freaks come out at night only on Wii def spec!The only one missing in this roundtable of internetvillians is Mr "Social-critic-George -Clooney -bullshit"king Uwe Boll! big up;-)))

Anonymous said...

90 million wii userbase wen this move thing is released and ps3 still in last place

Anonymous said...

the only FREAKS around here are the sony ps3/move fanfreaks

the ps3 will do well the year of the ps3 2007/08/09/10

loosing billions is great making billions is doom

onlu an idiot calls heavy rain a game and only an idiot thinks ps3 has a chance in hell

calling the guys who know SHUT UP SONY FAN FOOL CPL POSTS UP

Uwe Boll said...

Zomebody called my name?

Anonymous said...

mimicing another is the action of parrots and chimps

is sony a parrot or a chimp

jerry said...

The nintendo fanboys here are absolutely insane and downright pathetic. Falafelkid runs an outstanding blog and never comes off as biased. Who cares if he wants to write about heavy rain? He never said the game would help sony outsell the wii or anything of that nature.

If nintendo is all you want to read about then go buy nintendo power or read a different blog.

I find it funny how the nintendo fanboys accuse falafelkid of becoming a sony fanboy...

Hypocrisy much?

Keep up the good work falafelkid, there are still people here who care about the big picture when it comes to gaming and not just the wii.

Anonymous said...

What happened to all the Nintendo news?

Anonymous said...

WM+1600 DEGREES TRACKING PER SECOND AT THE HAND OF THE PLAYER

MOVE STICK 300 DEGREES AT A CAMERA PLUS HUGE LAG

NUNCHUCK 300 DEGREES TRACKING

SONY SUB THINGY NO MOTION WHATS SO EVER

WII 90 MILLION MOTION USERBASE BY END 2010

PS3 MOVE AROUND 1 MILLION USERS IN EARLY 2011
PS3 HAS LOST 5 BILLION AND WILL NEVER PROFIT

NINTENDO MOST PROFITABLE COMPANY ON EARTH PER EMPLOYEE

WHAT IS THERE HERE YOU DONT UNDERSTAND ITS SONY FANS WITH THE ISSUE NINTENDO FANS SAY HOW IT IS

SONY FANS LIVE IN A PS3 IS SUCCESSFUL FANTASY RELM

MIMICRY IS THE ACTION OF A CHIMP

YOUR CHIMP FANS

IALS said...

ok wiiboy you have won.....but do you mind me lookin forward to the last guardien and vanquish? I hope not

Anonymous said...

people saying sony better than nintendo might as well be saying rooney is better than messi SHUT UP IDIOTS

Unknown said...

http://gamesiteuk.x10hosting.com

God Of War 3 Reviews - Click here!!!

Anonymous said...

I just think the blog's title is misleading.
And owning more than one console when I have two jobs isn't something I can't handle.
Im too tempted.
Assuming me to be a Nintendo fanboy because questioning Sony content on a CLEARLY TITLED "WII DEFINITIVE SPECULATION" titled blog....
well.....
Sorry.
I just think the title of the blog is wrong.
That's all.
That doesnt make me stupid or a fanboy.
Im sure sony and micro make great games.
I just dont care to read about it because I only have a wii.
It's pretty simple.
The blog's title is officially misleading after falafel came back from GDC with ZERO nintendo info.
Something other blogs have done in spades.
Something weird is going on and I feel Falafel should explain to us loyal readers why he snubbed all the cool Ninty content when at GDC.

Nick R. said...

Wow... some of you are a tad bit cruel. You need to chill out. Love the Wii, but I like hearing other industry news as well. Sure you're bias from time to time - but that's your opinion, and this is your blog. No big deal to me. Keep up the good work.

Anonymous said...

NO MENTION OF 3DS BUT HE TALKS SONY FAN BOY CRAP ON THIS BLOG INSTEAD SONYS 3D JUST WENT UP IN SMOKE AND SO DID NATAL AND MOVE


3DS OWNS E3 3DS OWNS 2011 NATAL AND MOVE LIKE LITTLE BITCHES

THIS BLOG HAS NO CREDIBILITY

WANKER WRITE MORE SONY LOVE BULL

RGB said...

Nintendo is set to launch a 3D DS handheld device with the product tipped to go on sale in Australia by Xmas


The new device which delivers a 3-D display will go on show at the E3 video game trade show in June, Nintendo said. Nintendo would not say what kind of technology its new 3-D handheld employs or how much it would cost. The new console will be compatible with games for Nintendo's older DS and DSi handheld models, the company said.

The device will cone with it's own 3D glasses.

"We wanted to give the gaming industry a head's up about what to expect from Nintendo at E3," said Ken Toyoda, chief spokesman at Nintendo. "We'll invite people to play with the new device then."

Anonymous said...

"The 3DS will play games that "can be enjoyed with 3D effects WITHOUT the need for any special glasses."

Anonymous said...

3DS DOEST NEED GLASSES

ita 3d screen tech conbined with 3d head tracking add advanced stylus feed back PRESTO FEEL THE 3D

Unknown said...

Fal, unlike a couple of these people who would prefer to trash you, even though you are essentially the internet-based Sheriff of the Games Industry! They ought cut you a break.

In any case, as someone who has for years blogged about the possibility of Nintendo-developed 3D, I bet you feel awfully vindicated about the big Nintendo 3DS announcement. I can't wait to hear what you're opinion about this!

Anonymous said...

Hey guyz,

just wondering if you know this link http://au.shopping.com/xPP-nintendo_wii_games ? I do think they have good deals. let me know what do you think about?
do you have any online shop adress to shrare?

thanks!

Anonymous said...

against x3o mbt shoes. In a match many would of thought to be the Grand Finals mbt shoes for the tournament, you guys handily defeated x3o with a 16-6 score.

Jack@Gaming Forums said...

I really like your site for fantastic job its all credit goes to website owner and I have RE gold..Win.

Jack@Gaming Forums said...

Awesome! Can’t wait to pick up this game this fall! I played it once already, tho I never finished it. Looking forward to actually beating the game this time.

Jack@Gaming Forum said...

Day one buy sounds awesome, cannot wait for Move, I’ll be picking up Socom 4 and The Fight as well :)

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