My Experience With The PlayStation Move

I’ve been lucky enough to have the PlayStation Move for a couple of months now and with Microsoft Kinect around the corner I figured it would be a great time to talk about it in case you plan on picking one of these up. Now this article won’t be about Kinect in any other way except that I mentioned it in this paragraph, I’m just going to talk about the PlayStation Move hardware, the functionality of it, and the games supporting it. I hope that this might help your decision making process. Leave us your thoughts on this article as well as any others, just something as simple as that really helps to motivate us to continue our work. (And if you enjoy our work, share it with a friend! There are Twitter, Facebook as well as a few other links on this page, feel free to use them.)

PlayStation Move Hardware
The hardware itself only consists of two required items, the PlayStation Eye and the PlayStation Move Controller. Sony also has several other items you can also pick up hardware wise, they have the PlayStation Navigation Controller, the PlayStation Move Charging Station and the PlayStation Move Shooting Attachment. (They weren’t really creative in the naming process here.)

The only thing I can really say about the Eye is that it’s a webcam with a mic, not the best looking device but it’s functional. The worst thing about the Eye for me isn’t really it’s fault, it’s the PlayStation’s fault for putting no usb ports in the back of the console, because of the Eye I always have to have this annoying usb cable sticking out in front of the console and then wrapping around it, to me that just looks messy underneath my TV. The main part of the PlayStation Move Controller is about the same size of the Wii Remote Controller, about the same weight too. The Move Controller has a great curved shape to it that rests perfectly in your hand and then it has that soft “globe” at the top of it that just kind of sticks out like a sore thumb when it’s in your hand. I was actually pretty impressed by how the Move Controller felt in my hands, it was like the perfect shape and weight for me, it just felt natural. I also picked up the Navigation Controller and it’s a nice addition, much better then having to use the Dualshock 3. I found myself use it for controlling the XMB in addition to the games just because of how simple it was. My only issue, it’s a really small one, is that there is no triangle button on it which is nice to have while at the XMB.

Functionality
It worked, it worked all the time. I had no issues at all with the PlayStation Move. Bright light, dark light, people moving around me, it just worked. I was really surprised by how well the Move works, the device always knew where the controller was and any little amount of movement was felt and replicated on screen, perfect one for one here. There really isn’t too much to say here because it everything just did exactly what you thought and how you would want it.

Games
The PlayStation Move already has a pretty nice game line up, unfortunately most of the games are kind of gimmicky. With a launch that had, EyePet, KungFu Rider, Sports Champions, Start The Party!, and Racquet Sports, I personally felt that Sports Champions was the best game out of that bunch. It was the perfect game to have fun, show off the Move Controller and just enough gimmick without going overboard or feeling to childish with it. Even my wife who is not a gamer really had some fun with this game. Start The Party! was a lot of fun too, this one is entirely minigames but fun minigames that incorporate that PlayStation Eye to put yourself on the screen and it even takes snapshots during the games to capture your moments. EyePet was pretty fun, my daughter actually had a fun time with that, she is two and a half and was actually interacting with our virtual pet. This was her first real gaming experience and any type of activity that puts a smile on her face while I get to play with her is a win in my book. KungFu Rider and Racquet Sports are the other two games that I picked up at launch, they really just didn’t impress me at all. Racquet Sports felt like that dumbed down version of Sports Champions and KungFu Rider felt like a game that should have been in the PSN store rather then a full retail title.

Where the PlayStation Move really stands out though isn’t just the gimmicky type of games, it’s how it is actually getting “hardcore” type of game support. Heavy Rain was patched to include Move support, as was Tiger Woods and Resident Evil 5 (if you get the gold edition). John Daly’s ProStroke Golf was just recently released, you can actually read our review of it here. MAG has had Move support added, the next Socom, and Killzone 3 will also allow the Move Controller. This is a nice and welcome addition for any would be buyers of PlayStation Move because it shows that Sony isn’t just focusing on those casual type of games, that they really want this to succeed by allowing this to work with all type of games.

Overall
PlayStation Move really surprised me with how well it worked and how it’s not just for the soccer moms and their families. The biggest issue with the PlayStation Move probably has to be the entry fees. If you buy the PlayStation Move Starter Bundle that puts you back a hundred dollars. Add two Navigation Controller, an extra Move Controller, the charge station and then you are sitting around two hundred and forty dollars. That amount is more then most of the consoles and that’s just so you can play with your friends. If you have the money though and you are looking for something new, I can really support picking up the PlayStation Move. While it will have it’s fair share of casual games, it won’t stop there, it will support games for all types of gamers which is nice to see. Is it a must buy? Well I don’t quite think it’s at that level, but it is something that everyone should actually give it a try and think for yourself if it’s for you.