Welcome to the first of our massive 4-parter Move special. Two weeks on, I have hammered the Move and Navi to pieces to bring you the most in-depth Move report on the net. Did they even give me any biscuits for my work? No. Why? Because they’re tight wads. Send complaints to TSA Towers. I want my biscuits.
So, for all three of you who don’t have a Move yet, let’s get down to brass tacks, starting with the hardware.
Packaging and Contents
The standalone Move and Navi come in those sealed plastic packaging boxes which require a saw and considerable accidental self-harming to open, and should in my opinion be banned altogether. Fortunately, the Starter Pack at least comes in a more environmentally friendly cardboard box.
Inside you’ll find the controller and a manual full of obligatorily ridiculous warnings. First complaint: both devices require a USB cable to charge, and neither come with one. If like me you only have one charging cable, you are going to have to charge them one at a time via your PS3. They also don’t come pre-charged, so you’ll also have the pleasure of needing to wait a couple of hours before you can do anything.
The demo disk in the starter pack offers 11 demos which includes a couple not currently on the PSN store such as The Fight and Time Crisis, but it is not likely worth the extra money just for these.
Design
The Move is a two-piece mould which is a little unfortunate but not really a problem, and I think most buyers won’t realise until they get one that the orb on the end is actually squishy – developers can change the light in the orb to any colour they wish, which is a nice touch in multi-player games where the colour indicates who’s turn it is.
On the controller you’ll find a PS button, a Move button, the four face buttons and a trigger underneath called T. On the left and right-hand sides are Select and Start buttons flush to the plastic moulding. Holding down T in the XMB lets you navigate, and this is surprisingly easy after a few minutes of practice.
The Navi has X and O, an arrow pad which is pleasantly beveled inwards, an analog stick, a PS button plus L1 and L2. Or in my case, R1 and R2 because I’m left-handed and they didn’t think of that.
Both devices are robustly constructed in the same way the DualShock 3 is robustly constructed: it’s as good as you can get when using really cheap plastic, but should withstand plenty of throwing around regardless. Excessive compression or tortion on the orb will cause is to become mis-shapen, so be careful not to stand on it.
My main complaint about the Move device is that the orb is an absolute dirt magnet. Now, while my house is not exactly spick-and-span (I am a gamer after all), it is not a war zone either, and even the process of taking the Move out of its box immediately saw dust all over it. Place it on your sofa or carpet and you will find micro-fibres building up on it in no time. It doesn’t affect gameplay, but it looks unsightly. Unfotunately the orb is also a two-piece mould which means all the minute flecks of dust build up in the mould joint.
As a lefty, I also didn’t appreciate the placement of Start. The orientation of the buttons is such that for a right-handed player, Start is easy to reach and Select isn’t. For me, this is the opposite.
Setting up
Configuration is a snap and just like a regular controller except with an additional calibration step, which is very easy to perform. Plug your Move and Navi into the USB ports, press PS on them, pull out the cables and you’re good to go.
Each of the two devices uses one controller port, but games take their interaction via the port of the Move controller: the Navi automatically pairs with it via Bluetooth, so its controller port assignment should normally be irrelevant (but see later).
I have one major complaint: almost every game requires you to re-calibrate the Move within the game as well as via the XMB. Most games require you to do this every time you start them. This is rather stupid in my opinion when calibration has already been performed, and this urgently needs to be standardized in a firmware patch. Every game requires calibration using a different technique, and one or two (notably Echochrome ii) caused quite a bit of hassle.
Your PS Eye needs to be set to widescreen mode (the blue dot above the lens), which should be the same as how most of you are using it already, and generally speaking pointing it straight forwards works fine, but note that EyePet requires you to tilt it all the way down, so be prepared to keep faffing about resetting the camera if you plan to play EyePet.
In use
First up, if you’re on a budget, save your money. Only Heavy Rain and Resident Evil 5 Gold Edition require a Navi; in RUSE it is optional, and almost no games require 2 Move controllers at the moment, including the multi-player games which with the exception of for example Table Tennis in Sports Champions, are mostly turn-based.
The controllers are very light and pretty easy to use, although I did get confused when playing Resident Evil 5 a few times since you have access to X and O on both hands. Tracking is very accurate with some games using 1-to-1 mapping and others using a coarser granularity to help the player.
Be aware that while you don’t normally notice the orb in front of you when playing, it will reflect in your TV screen and is more or less always visible.
The camera coped equally well with dark and light conditions although the video is very grainy and covered in blue speckles during the dark in games which show a video feed. Sports Champions warned me that my room was too bright due to my powerful aquarium lights, but this did not affect gameplay. In the dark, the only problem I had was with EyePet recognising my hand movements (without the Move).
Space requirements
Make no mistake, Move requires a bigger room than the hype would have you believe. While you can sit playing Flight Control HD and hardly move at all, if you’re planning to play something like High Velocity Bowling or Sports Champions, you will need room. Sony advises standing 2.5m (8 feet) from the camera – I used it from 1.5m away with no problems. However, height is an issue. I am 167cm (5′ 6”), but when a friend of height 187cm (6′ 1”) came to play, the Move would regularly lose tracking as he raised it in the air due to being sufficiently close to the TV that the orb went out of the camera’s field of vision.
Unlike the Wii, playing a game like tennis on the Move requires you to physically walk left and right at times because the avatar does not stand in one spot as it does in Wii Sports. On other games you will be asked to spin around, lunge, jump back and so on. The Move absolutely requires more room than a Wiimote to operate successfully.
Battery life
In a nutshell, it’s awful. If you take on a full days’ gaming session of 6-8 hours, expect to have to charge your Move at least twice. The manual warns against playing with the USB charging cable plugged in, but for sitting down games I often found myself doing just that, because it was the only way to continue. Battery life is a major issue, and since the controller is much lighter than a Wiimote, I do hope that more potent heavier batteries are released to help address this.
Conclusions
Overall, I’m pleased with the Move. It (usually) works as it should, and the games that are worth playing are great fun. I am lucky enough to have the space for it, and in my opinion it is priced well at only £39.99 for the Move, £50.99 for a Starter Pack including camera, Move and demo disk, and £22.49 for a Navi here in Norway, where prices are normally massively inflated compared to the UK.
Aside from my main banes of poor battery life and rapid dirt accumulation, all is well in every other regard.
In the next part, we’ll have a comprehensive run-down of every Move game, past, present and future, and take a look at what’s worth playing.
solidsteven
it doesn’t come with it’s own cable then will have to wait until i buy another ds3 and more hardcore games gets a move update
Lymmusic
some incredibly dubious statements here… i’m enjoying both moves and may get a nav early next year.
does everyone have a different starter disc as mine doesn’t have time crisis or the fight demos… ?
my 2nd move also came in cardboard box so maybe its different in djkatyland
fave titles so far are tumble and sports champions, hustle kings is passable and hv bowling is pretty naff gesture based almost but at least they tried and patch was free in uk.
Hellblayzer
Same here, im in the UK, picked up the starter pack with the starter demo disk and i didnt see either Time Crisis or The Fight demos on the disc….any one have info on this?
aerobes
There was a disc with the starter pack? I’m assuming it contained everything the PSN store produced that very week. I’m unsure about Time Crisis but The Fight isn’t scheduled for release until 5/11 so I’m thinking a demo for that (supposing they do one) will be along shortly.
On another note, I hope Sony have demos for all upcoming Move stuff because it’ll really help people make a decision upon purchases.
Rocket_345
Other countries had The Fight and Time Crisis demos on thier disk whilst the UK didn’t.
BalramRules
move is da perfect motion controller and kinect spells fail all over it!
teflon
why thanks for your highly intellectual, relevant and well balanced input… *rolls eyes*
AG2297
Well at least kinect can spell ay
scubastevie
I wouldn’t jump to conclusions at the moment, I felt after E3 that it wasnt gonna be up to the standard of move but Ive played kinect recently and I was very impressed with what I saw and it was alot of fun to play, They have some very good ideas going with some of the games they have.
aerobes
Interesting reading, Katy. I look forward to your continued opinion pieces.
I haven’t used my Move a great deal just recently, I really want echochrome ii but I haven’t heard a thing about it since Move was released (besides the demo of course). If anyone knows when it’s due for release could you let me know please?
dextreme08
I have no complaints about the move at all. battery life seems fine but that may be because I have 2 usb leads halfing charging time, I picked one up for 2pound from a bargain store (hooty’s).
the few niggles I do have don’t actually annoy me, I move the camera for each game so calibrating isn’t an issue, (so that the camera can get all my movement in ie. low for bocce, higher for gladiator duel, at the chair for tumble) and so it makes sense to have to calibrate.
anyone waiting for a core game imo should get it now and get sports champions, there is so much depth in game that’s not conveyed in the demo, if you don’t believe me try a match on gold in any event!
DJ-Katy
Regarding the demo disk: seems there are two versions. Some looking on the interwebz says the UK one has 9 demos, not 11, hence the two missing ones.
Regarding the plastic, slightly amazed at subtle hints I may have misreported that. Here is my Move packaging:
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs124.ash2/39522_442163924476_816199476_5019822_2600153_n.jpg
As you can see, it’s quite plastic.
aerobes
Ugh! I hate those things!
Ours (Ours being UK) definitely came in a cardboard box (I’d post a photo but I can’t be bothered, not to mention the fact I have no idea what I’m doing). I wonder if ours coming in a box was a placeholder of sorts until they made enough plastic moulds? I guess it’s totally irrelevant but If Sony are listening … I like cardboard! :D
beeje13
I got 2 from shopto (UK) one was in plastic, the other was in cardboard!
Roynaldo
I got those with my move and navi (also got a starter pack unopened that i got with my new slim im thinkng about selling) and i think all DS3s come with the same chainsaw esque shell.
Absolute nightmare!
Roynaldo
you are a lefty?? You freak!!!! ;)
Seriously though, this sums up my thoughts perfectly and im just so damned pissed off my YLOD ps3 has my Sports Champions stuck inside it.
If you fancy some Resi 5 Katy, give me a shout :)
aerobes
Just wondering, Roy. Is RE5 any easier with Move because it’s a plat I want but I really struggle so I held on to it in the that Move might help me get Plat.
Roynaldo
Only did a few levels before i got YLOD but i can safely say it is as hard as all hell with hte move but so much fun at the same time.
I was doing it on easy with djhsecondnature and we struggled at that. No chance on hardest. Im still happy to play without move if you want to have a few games with me.
aerobes
Sure man, I have the Gold Edition so I’m up for a few games. :) (My PSN is aerobes BTW)
TSBonyman
Nice in depth review Katy. My Move also came in a cardboard box thankfully. I picked up a second Move as i wanted to play the Archery and Gladiator games ‘properly’ but i actually found Archery easier with one Move but at least i can now charge one while i use the other.
I noticed the Move reflecting on the screen in a lot of the E3 footage etc but thankfully it doesn’t show up on my Philips Flat Tv, just a faint sheen of colour thrown off by the Move and barely perceptible, so it depends how reflective your screen is.
Also i have a window behind me with a thin blind, when the sun shines my window is almost like a glowing lamp but i held the Move directly in front of it and it still tracked perfectly for me.
If you are jumping from game to game, you will need to calibrate for each one but i can sit and play Tumble for a few hours, just occasionally pressing circle to centre the pointer.
I’m not sure what’s involved in calibration exactly but i guess it’s white balance,choosing a colour that doesn’t clash with your surroundings, distance and height of the Move from the camera, maybe even positioning relative to the angle between the camera and the Move, depending if the camera is flat or tilted down for some games.
It would be nice to have one calibration from the XMB and then not have to do it again but i think variables such as lighting,(which can vary if you don’t have thick curtains or if you switch from an overhead light to using lamps) or a coloured object in your space that wasn’t there when you first calibrated, might possibly throw off the calibration. Still, if you can control all the variables that might affect calibration i don’t see why they couldn’t update the games to just use one caibration, even if you occasionally had to recalibrate it. Having said that i don’t find calibration a chore as it takes so little time to do it.
I’ve played some of Heavy Rain and Resi 5 ,just using a DS3 as a nav and i don’t think i’ll be buying a nav as the DS3 was no trouble resting on my lap. Anyway I can’t imagine i would be playing anything other than sports games standing up. :)
JaffaMan24
I needed cheering up after the holiday from hell so I had a £100 impulse buy whilst on the free wifi in the hospital in Majorca. A starter pack, 2nd controller and sports champions were waiting for me when I got back. I barely charged them and had a good few hours of play so I’m fairly confident battery life will be very reasonable. Calibration while frequent is very quick (trying to see how quick i can do it!) so i can forgive it for the timebeing. The accuracy and responsiveness is simply phenomenal. Any lag, if present, is barely perceptible (I wonder if my brain filters it out).
Currently enjoying jumping around like a fool in gladiator duel. Has anyone tried the mini golf?
TSBonyman
Planet minigolf plays well with Move, I beat my first round in one go with the Move, whereas the same round had taken me several attempts with the DS3 controls.
DJ-Katy
Hm. I wonder if the battery in my Move is faulty then. I have to charge it every night if I’ve used it a lot and it certainly does not last for 10 hours of continuous use, let alone several days.
aldomontoya
I’ve got 2, and the battery life on the first lasted but a few hours, but the 2nd is still going strong most the way through Heavy Rain…seems the batteries are a bit variable then.
TSBonyman
Do you charge it directly from the PS3 or are you using a charging dock ?- i have the Energiser DS3 charging dock which has 2 Usb ports so i tried using those but i found the Move didn’t charge properly and had a weird blinking light sequence. I switched back to charging from the PS3 usb port and it charged properly.
I had to charge mine after my first day using the Move but i definitely drained the battery that day as i had the day off and played all the demos and tried several of the patched games also! :) I’m using it no more than 2-3 hours per day now so it can last a few days that way.
It’s a pity they can’t incorporate some sort of Eco-Drive tech like they have in watches :D
DJ-Katy
Well as you’ll see tomorrow I have used it for a good 6+ hours a day for at least a week in succession, I’m sure if I used it an hour or two a day it’d go for a while. But I’m quite sure my Sixaxis controllers last a lot longer.
I charge direct from the PS3 – don’t have a docking station.
UsernameHere
So it will last 10 days if you play 2-3 hours per day? I may have to let mine charge at the ps3 then, instead of my pc.
TSBonyman
@UsernameHere – i’m presuming you meant 10 hours – stayed up a bit late did you? :)