Playstation Move Unveiled

Motion control is the current must-have fad that the Big Three have been investing their precious time and resources into. The Wii was able to tap into a massive casual market with its accessible control scheme, and naturally Sony and Microsoft would love a piece of that action. Microsoft and Molyneux have been making a lot of noise about Project Natal, but Sony has finally revealed their take on motion control: The Playstation Move.

At first glance, the Playstation Move appears to be a black Wiimote with a brightly coloured globe sticking obscenely out of the top. Whilst these orbs make Sony’s peripheral an easy target for crude jokes, they critically provide a point of reference for the Playstation Eye camera that allows the controller’s position to be accurately located in 3D space. A gyroscope, accelerometer and terrestrial magnetic field sensor provides precise measurement of both controller motions and position relative to the television- which makes for an incredibly accurate motion control scheme. An optional ‘Subcontroller’ (basically a nunchuck with an extra D-Pad) allows the Move to be used with more conventional titles.

I’m still not convinced that motion control is anything more than a fashionable phase in the grand scheme of things, but the combination of large-scale body movements with small-scale button and trigger feedback is intriguing. Not only that, but support for LBP, SOCOM 4, and Eyepet has been confirmed; and 35 AAA publishers have also jumped on the bandwagon. The Playstation Move is shaping up nicely… and Sony has the in-house devs to make it a worthwhile purchase. The way it’s going, I’d take Sony’s pendulous orbs over Molyneux’s touchable child simulator any day. Microsoft will need to secure some big Natal titles very quickly to stay in the game.

[via Kotaku and 1UP]

OnLive US Launches June 17th

OnLive, the subscription-based cloud gaming service, will be launching this summer in the United States. According to the OnLive official blog, it will be released on June 17th and will cost $14.95 per month. There will doubtlessly be a number of bolt-on loyalty packages available nearer the time, which will be discussed at this year’s E3.

Just in case you don’t know, OnLive uses video streaming to allow even slow computers to play high end games, using remote servers to do all the hard work. So long as your computer can handle high-quality streaming video, it can play top-end titles without any upgrades whatsoever. I’ll let the CEO fill you in about the rest  himself:

“Once you are on the service, instant-play, top-tier, newly-released games will be for sale and for rent on an à la carte basis [as streaming video rather than software downloads]. Also included in your monthly service fee are OnLive-exclusive features such as instant-play free game demos; multiplayer across [all] platforms; and cloud-saving of games you’ve purchased—pause, and instantly resume from anywhere, even on a different platform.”- Steve Perlman, Founder and CEO

It’s likely that the US sales will determine whether OnLive makes it across the Atlantic. I’m personally excited about the new service, but I’d be interested to hear what you think about the cloud gaming service. Have your say in the comments!

Naruto Devs give us Seven Day Countdown

A mysterious countdown has appeared on CyberConnect2’s website. Apparently something is going to happen in seven days, though since they’re the developer behind the .hack and Natuto franchises, that something will almost certainly be a sequel.

I’ve got my fingers crossed for a Next-Gen or handheld .hack title, since I personally think that the //GU series showed real potential on the PS2. On the other hand, it will probably be just another churned out Naruto title. Still, only one week to find out!