I’ve had the PlayStation Move hardware and a smattering of games in my grubby mitts for a few weeks now, and whilst my previous hands on only had good things to say about the actual controller, I perhaps wasn’t quite so complimentary about the games. There was, I summised, plenty of potential with Move but some of the titles that will be available mid September seemed to misfire a little, missing the mark that you’d normally associated with software releasing at what is essentially the PS3’s midpoint.
I was, however, wrong. Over the weekend I got the chance to demo PlayStation Move to some friends. Sorry Sony, couldn’t resist. These are friends that are aware of games, play them now and again but aren’t what you’d call hardcore (and probably far better off for it) – the speed at which they grasped the concept of Move and the ease at which they dived into the games was incredible, and the slight disappointment my jaded self had with (for example) Start The Party dissolved immediately – in the right hands, so to speak, it’s brilliant.
Probably a consequence of both having seen what the Eyetoy had tried do in the past, and writing about what Super Generic Shooter 2010 can do over its rival on another console has tainted my view of what games should be about: fun. Start The Party is absolutely that – it’s pitched perfectly towards gamers that aren’t asked to digest 720p screenshots all day and don’t care whether something’s running at 30fps or 60 – and it works so well that having seen my mates hogging all the action I felt compelled to let our readers know that I’d made a mistake.
It’s not that I’d written off the Move, of course, I love the thing and I think it’s going to be a huge success. But whilst games like Sports Champions seemed fully rounded and more consistent, I’d doubted the potential of Sony’s party title without giving it a proper playtest with its target audience. It’s so refreshing to just pass over the Move Controller and say “the trigger’s to shoot” rather than having to explain dozens of buttons, and because Start The Party plays off well known actions (like whacking moles or cutting hair) even the minigames explain themselves.
Naturally, putting the player in the game itself helps too – when you can see yourself on screen, the Move Controller whatever device the game wants it to be in front of you (don’t underestimate the immediate, wholly immersive sensation of seeing your hand holding a massive sword on screen) you have scale, scope and purpose, and it’s obvious what you’re meant to do. Thus, when the game starts firing off 5 second blasts of microgame there’s no ambiguity, no doubt – the players are always in control without ever really thinking about it.
This isn’t to say that Start The Party is for everyone, of course – but if Sony pitch all this correctly and get the adverts and the demo pods out there in time for launch (nudge the Wii out of the way a bit, would you?) then I’m confident in Sony’s abilities to get the right message across. And in the grand scale of things, when us so-called hardcore gamers are back to worrying about pixelcounting and Trophies, we can rest easy in the knowledge that there’ll be thousands more happy PS3 owners out there swatting at flies and making pizza.
3shirts
Awesome. I can see that it would be hard to step back from looking at games all day every day and approach them from the perspective they are actually aimed at.
Good to hear
badgersnapper68
Its always worth evaluating what attracted us all the gaming in the first place but must be harder if its all you do – both for leisure and work. I think my Wii is going to get traded in at this rate…….
Yahavage
I have to say at first I wasn’t all that bothered about Move, thinking it was just Sony jumping in on the Wii bandwagon – but I am coming round, they do actually seem to be putting a great deal of thought into this. I’m quite looking forward to it now, although I won’t be rushing out for it on launch day, it’s definitly on my Christmas list now :D
cc_star
Everything I read & see suggests the frisbee/disc golf game is going to be the PS3’s ‘Wii Bowling’ ie. Loved instantly and played by millions, the experience of which will be a system seller.
The experience of having ‘fun’ playing a game is all to rare when you’re in the thick of it, so I can’t wait…
Kovacs
Archery is awesome. I was firing out arrows like Legolas in a matter of minutes. Sony dude: “Crikey! Are you into archery yourself?”
Me: “No, I just like shooting things.”
Kamokazi-UK
I was hoping for ‘ The Fight ‘ as my game of choice… but this looks like fun.
Stitch
Disappointingly ‘The Fight’ doesn’t seem to use one to one tracking, i think it just won’t do what i’m looking for in a psMove game.
bunimomike
We just need Sony to open their marketing department for more than 10% of any given year and we’ll be laughing
DrNate86
Sony have a marketing department?
Dan Lee
Ive spoken to SCEE’s head of marketing, and the plan for Move seems to be based around demo pods and getting people to actually play it and realise its not just a Wii rip off.
amiga_dude
Err, Sony Playstation has a market department in Europe, I beg to differ. Are shore he wasn’t working for Playstation USA.
Who in rightful mind thinks “The game is just the start” makes any sence?
bunimomike
“IT ONLY DOES EVERYTHING”. No it doesn’t. It doesn’t market itself. YOU have to do that. Sony, write this down.
*goes into major rant*
Loxstokk
Think Im going to trade my Wii in for this hardware!
BadBoyBoogie
I’ve just done the same!! My Wii had been used just twice in the last 2 years, so it went on eBay a fortnight ago!!
cc_star
I wonder if Wii’s flood eBay between now and Move’s release date I’ll be able to get a cheap one
Hmmmm
bajere
im just getting my wii boxes out the attic as well. hardly use it, not much point keeping it, ill use the cash towards a G27 and Move. I want to see some Move and game bundles though, mainly Time Crisis and virtual tennis. maybe KZ3 or socom. but i think im pushing it hoping for those
Danza Di Fuoco E Ghiaccio
NOO! not the Wii
Bilbo_bobbins
Nice article nofi…a good read, and it sounds perfect for when friends come round for a drink or two too. I love these games.
hosepha
I’m getting really excited about move. I started off at ‘meh’ but some of the video’s i’ve seen recently look great. Sports Champions and Start the party look fun but I think i’m mot excited about little psn titles – especially echochrome ii that looks amazing!
Lord_Gremlin
In truth move is the winner because kinect is broken and lags like hell.
Apnomis
Good article Nofi I think Sony have done a really good job with Move and have pitched it just right in making it appeal to their core audience as well as the casual audience, rather than throwing their dignity out of the window and shamelessly running down the street after the Wii bandwagon (I’m naming no names!), PS Move still feel very much like a PlayStation product and I’m sure like me just as many people will pick up Move and Resi 5 Gold (£12.99 at Zavvi) as will be picking it up with Start the Party.
There are probably many core gamers out there that are wanting a casual party experience for certain occasions or members of the family as well as their usual ‘hardcore’ experience too, and when you factor in the owners that like games like Buzz or SingStar and those that primarily bought a PS3 for Blu-ray then there is a big potential audience for PS Move.
As long as Sony keep an eye on the quality-control of the titles (and I’m guessing the development costs vs the Wii will help keep budget games on the PSN Store and out of the high street) then it’s hard to see how Move can’t succeed. It won’t necessarily grow console sales massively – unless Sony suprise me with a Microsoft style advertising campaign and get it visible and available to try in stores – but I do think it will become a very popular peripherial…
DR-DAVROS
Thanks for the tip from Zavvi. I like making a saving so cancelled my order from thehut at £13.93 as I had a £1 discount code and ordered from zavvi. I’m now 94p richer :)
DR-DAVROS
justinjh
Thanks, I’ve ordered Resi 5 Gold from Zavvi as well…
shields_t
Gotta love TSA, cheers for the tip guys, just ordered it myself too.
Pity there’s no affiliate link to zavvi on the tsastore page.