Archive for June, 2009

New rumors of a PS3 price cut of $100 to coincide with launch of Madden 10 in August (the 18th to be exact) have surfaced. Industry Gamers are predicting a price drop to take advantage of the big event that the Madden series always creates when they release in the States. I don’t know if this will be worldwide or US only (maybe a price drop in Europe when FIFA 10 releases in Octber). A price drop is what a lot of potential customers want (including my tipster, Dan) and can only mean strong sales in the long run.

Full story at Industry Gamers.

I hear people asking, “Can Sony and Microsoft get their motion tech to work as well as their flashy product demos?” I think that’s the wrong question. Motion tech works. I have no question that Sony can complete a working archery mini-game and Microsoft can deliver a dodge ball mini-game just like the ones that they demoed. I also think it’s a safe bet that Nintendo can keep pumping out more of the same motion-controlled mini-game compilations (like Wii Sports Resort) that made the Wii a hit in the first place.

The better question is how can the industry use motion tech to deliver an improved game experience beyond novelty mini-games?

Sony showed their motion wand used as a fancy light gun. Yet, we’ve had working light guns around for years, and they are universally ignored even though most of today’s games are centered around gun play. The problem with light guns is that the player has to look straight ahead at their TV as as soon as the player wants to move or look around, the controller falls apart and they have to use a traditional game-pad type device.

The tech demos all worked the same way: The player is standing still and looking forward and either shooting a bow and arrow, throwing a shuriken, swinging a whip, or whatever. But the player can’t look or move. This limitation works well for baseball, tennis, and mini-games, but for any action/adventure game, the player needs to look and move around a 3D space.

The big motion control killer-app may lie with head-tracking 3D goggles. If the player could explore a cave in Uncharted or an underwater world in Bioshock or spin around to face enemies in a stealth action game and experience the 3D world with his/her very own head and eyes, that would be a complete game changer.

After looking at all the motion-controller technologies at E3, most of the demonstrated gesture controls looks like they would work great in a Wii Sports style mini-game, but not in a full blown “serious” game. Most of the tech demos that were shown made the gesture controls look like they would get in the way rather than enhance a serious game. People underestimate how simple and effective boring old controllers can be.

However, motion control technology really does have the potential to be a game changer. Here is what I’m hoping for that unfortunately, none of the big three console makers are hinting at:

• Head Tracking Visor Display that gives the player fully natural control over the player’s view.
• 3D display technology (stereoscopic stuff like this)
• Motion-Controlled light-gun or wand style peripheral for aiming/shooting
• All of the above combined with new AAA 3D games.

Completely natural head-tracking 3D camera controls is a big deal. People move their heads to look around them and orient themselves in real life. Using that natural camera control rather than an artificial analog stick is a major increase in intuitive control and immersion and it’s applicable to almost every 3D game.

I remember the horrible “Virtual Reality” stuff from the 1990′s including Nintendo’s Virtual Boy, but even the skeptics have to admit that all of the underlying technologies have come a long, long way since those times.

What do you think? Would this work? Will the console makers do this? Will this require another wave of hardware systems?