Yesterday at a GDC press conference, Sony revealed the official name for their motion controller, the Playstation Move. While its been no secret that Sony was developing this peripheral, there haven’t been many details as of yet. All of this changed with the official name, pricing, and initial supported games announced today. In my observations of the various gaming news sites, and the community itself, Sony’s motion controller offering has had a tepid reception.  With the Wii already entrenched into motion controller technology, and Microsoft’s Project Natal on the horizon, Sony’s answer to this technology seemed well…uninspired.

I really dislike the labels of “casual” and “hardcore” gamers, because I consider myself someone who falls squarely in the middle. I play a wide variety of titles: classic games, new releases, casual games and games with hundreds of hours worth of content in them. That said, I find myself tending to avoid motion controller games (read: Wii games) not because they are for “casual gamers”, but rather because I prefer the tactile response of a traditional controller. Motion technology, as of yet, has left me unimpressed.

But when people raise the argument that motion controller centric games are only for casual gamers, I don’t buy it. I think this stigma came about due to the relative lack of accuracy that most Wii games exhibit (namely the 3rd party titles). Personally,  I think that there is a market for so-called “hardcore games” utilizing a motion controller if the technology is improved. Judging by the press on Sony’s new controller, it has the potential to be more precise than the Wii Remote. The announcement of full support in the latest SOCOM game is also encouraging, and could be a sign that developers finally have the technology to integrate motion technology into a game without it feeling like a complete gimmick.

What about Natal?

Sony’s tech combines a tangible device and buttons with motion capabilities. This situation allows for an immense number of ways to manipulate a game.  Natal, on the other hand, lacks a physical  controller, leading me to believe that there are far fewer ways a player can control the game, especially simultaneously. This could conceivably mean that a game would have to be made much simpler to conform to the Natal technology.  Since Natal is still in development, most of this is just speculation, but a conversation point nonetheless. What do you think?