Move 2 Weeks On Part 4: Interview With A Skeptic

For me personally, the issue of whether hardcore gamers and motion control skeptics can have their imaginations captured by the Move is critical to its success or failure. It is also likely to determine in the long run whether we are privy to a mire of social games or a flood of FPSs.

Here we present an interview with a skeptic gamer. The gamer owns a PS3, Wii and plays PC games frequently. He commented that the Wii is a gimmick and was unconvinced that Move would fare any better. The skeptic’s play time consisted of the same Tumble tasks in part 3 of this series, some turn-based multi-player gaming on Tumble, plus single player and multi-player Table Tennis, Archery, Disc Golf and Bocce in Sports Champions. The total session was around 3 hours.

Some portions of the interview have been edited and re-arranged for readability. The statements are unchanged.

Katy: As a true Move skeptic, could you give some feedback in general, and vs the Wii? The hardware as well as the games.

Gamer: As for the games, in all honesty, it’s got a long way to go to beat Super Mario Galaxy.

Katy: SMG wasn’t a launch title though, is it not better to compare with Wii Sports?

Gamer: It doesn’t matter – SMG is now old so it is comparable. The Wii was the first console of its kind: the Move is next-gen same principle. It’s better, but it’s not a revolution.

The technology to make the Move legendary is there, it’s down to game developers to produce the games which will make the difference.

Katy: Can you give your view on Sports Champions?

Gamer: It is better than Wii Sports, but only because it’s a few years newer and on a superior console. Would I play Sports Champions a lot? I very much doubt it. It looks ok for a bit until you get down to some aspects: walls are big clumps of poorly rendered textures for example. The games are fun in a multi-player aspect, but I don’t think it will hold much water if you play them alone.

Katy: I agree, it is much better in multi-player. Would you play it more if you had human opponents?

Gamer: I would play it at all. Without friends to play with, Sports Champions is an absolutely pointless purchase except for the fact there are no other decent Move games out at the moment. Tumble I didn’t care much for. Boring concept with an OK presentation.

If I was 15 years old I would have loved Sports Champions, but I’m 30.

Katy: What about the hardware?

Gamer: As a piece of technology, it’s got its limits. I’m not particularly tall for a Norwegian [187cm], and the camera had issues with me reaching for arrows in Archery. Unless you’ve got a large room, that is going to be a big issue with many people.

In many ways, Move has the same child defects the Wii had. As a remote goes, it’s ok, but I felt the motion capture can still get much better. I noticed when I was playing Tumble that you sit perfectly still and yet the bricks you are holding move back and forth. I got the impression it would keep a momentum even if you slowed down.

Tracking is still the biggest issue, and it always has been with these kind of remotes – it was the same back at the NES and SNES times and the PS2 light guns also had this issue. It was mainly fixed properly when the Wii was introduced, and the Move felt pretty much identical with the actual movement.

The Move also requires more physical movement than the Wii, that is both good and bad. Good because you can do more stuff, but bad because you actually have to have quite a lot of space for it.

I also feel the Wii controller is the better designed toy: it’s got the Nintendo trademark square build, and it feels a lot more sturdy than the flimsy and light Move plastic, because of the batteries – I prefer weight in my controllers. I also think that maybe the Wii is overall better for the wireless pointy controller concept though. It’s got the fun games, massively vivid colours and the more child-like attitude. The Move in my opinion isn’t a viable purchase until we see some really heavy titles coming out utilizing the controllers really well. I’m also not sure PS3 gamers will be bothered to bounce around their living rooms for any considerable amount of time. I mean, look at the Wii, everyone has one, nobody plays with it.

Katy: What about you personally – do you see yourself buying a Move or foresee anything good coming out for it that piques your interest?

Gamer: It’s fun. It’s good fun to play with the controller, but I’ve got a Wii, and spending a bit of time trying it, getting a first impression of, “yeah, this would be good” and then getting an hour to let it mould in my head, I’m much more hesitant now, because I know it’s a fun gimmick, but would I actually use it? Very hard to say. It involves re-arranging the living room every time you want to play with it, having patient and forgiving neighbours and the energy to bother using it after a day at work.

Having tried it, I wouldn’t buy one until I find a game I feel will be worth it, and to be honest, I don’t follow the game scene well enough to predict any releases that will make it worth it.

Katy: Forthcoming games will include RUSE, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11, Mortal Kombat, Havy Rain Move Edition, SingStar Dance, Konami’s new DDR-style game, EA Sports Active 2, Lord of The Rings: Aragorn’s Quest, Time Crisis: Razing Storm, Killzone 3 and Crysis 2. Gran Turismo 5 will feature Move support. Do any of these games appeal to you?

Gamer: Time Crisis, Killzone 3 and Crysis 2 would be fun. Golf might be fun but I’m not sure a golf simulator would be my kind of thing for the Move. Dancing, no way!

I will definitely have to try Time Crisis though – if I get a Move, that is probably where and when I’ll buy it.

Katy: Are there any particular games you’d like to see?

Gamer: Let’s take Geometry Wars for the Wii. In my opinion that is the simplest, and – apart from Super Mario Galaxy – the best game I’ve tried on a motion controller to date. Super Stardust HD therefore might be massively good with the Move.

Katy: What do you know about Microsoft’s related product Kinect, out in two months?

Gamer: Nothing.

Katy: It is two cameras spaced apart to get depth perception, no controller. How do you think that would work for games like Sports Champions, Tumble and Time Crisis?

Gamer: Absolutely no idea. I fear that will just require even more space.

Katy: How do you feel about the fact there will be no trigger buttons?

Gamer: No buttons will mean it will feel strange at this point in time, especially considering it’s an add-on for a lesser console and not an integrated part of the system. It will be like the EyePet with magic card: absolutely horrible after more than 20 minutes.

Katy: Any final thoughts?

Gamer: Being a massively marketed product which is on a vastly superior platform and 3-4 years newer than the Wii, I’d expect a lot more from the Move than it has so far delivered.

How come they can spend so much money and effort to make the Move when there isn’t an official mouse out? That would have been much better.

Katy: I have to agree on the mouse point. It’s a shocking omission. Okay, let’s conclude with your ratings.

Frequency of Wii use – 1 (occasionally)

Ease of use – did not answer

Ergonomics – 2 – “The trigger feels wrong, and the face buttons are way too small”

Fun factor – 2 – “It would be 1, but 2 because of multi-player, not because of the Move. Let me put it this way: I wouldn’t play either golf or bocce anywhere near as much as I did bowling on the Wii.”

Value for money – 2 – “It’s a rip off right now because there are no good games for it. Considering it’s in my opinion hardly an upgrade on the Wii, which is less than half the price of a PS3; but then again, it is the same price as an normal controller, and PS3 peripherals are generally expensive.”

Replayability – 2 – “I suspect it will be like the Wii: you play a lot for a week or three, then you gradually grow bored of it. Rarely but not never.”

So, there you have it. Thanks very much to the skeptic for taking several hours out for the play time and interview. Whether you believe these views are accurate or misguided, there is little doubt there are many gamers out there who are not alone in this opinion.