Forthcoming Move-compatible titles
John Daly’s ProStroke Golf (ETA 8th October 2010)
The main reason for including this here is to let everyone who was disappointed with Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 know that there is hope for a great golf game yet. Let’s hope for good things.
Time Crisis: Razing Storm (ETA 19th-21st October 2010 region-dependent)
Slightly surprisingly, this full-price competitor to The Shoot is not a Move-only game, but I imagine for most people who’ve played Time Crisis before this will be the preferred choice of on-rails shooter over the coming months.
Lord of The Rings: Aragorn’s Quest (ETA 29th October 2010)
This game was released on Tuesday in the US but will only reach us in Europe late next month. It’s very sad to hear then, that this is a port of the Wii game which scored a miserly 60% from IGN – so far the only review available. Here is what they had to say about the Move controls on PS3:
“But the PS3 visuals aren’t the only issue. This is one of the first games to support the PlayStation Move and its navigation controller as optional input, which you would assume would make the PS3 Move edition feel as close to the Wii’s remote and nunchuk as possible. But where Wii control is admirably responsive, the sword swinging on Move is surprisingly sluggish and inaccurate. There are far more misreads on this controller than on Wii, and after a few minutes of playing this way you’ll probably go right back to standard Dual Shock controls which work far better.”
(source: http://ps3.ign.com/articles/112/1122382p1.html#ixzz112SgpZnT )
That sounds like a great disappointment since I was personally really looking forward to seeing a significantly better hack’n’slash implementation than the shallow Gladiator Duel in Sports Champions, but as always, we’ll pass judgment once we get to play it ourselves.
Tron: Evolution (ETA 1st November 2010 – USA)
Another game which has received less than flattering press coverage so far, the remake of Tron appears to be more about puzzle solving and bog-standard Tomb Raider-style adventuring – complete with wall runs – than it does riding superfast light cycles on groovy monochrome grids. Which is a shame.
Buzz!: The Ultimate Music Quiz (ETA Winter 2010)
We don’t yet know exactly what Relentless Software have got planned for us with this one. It may simply be using the Move as a buzzer, or they may have something more outlandish a la TV Superstars in mind. At this point it’s just speculation – time will tell, but if you like the Buzz series, we can expect this will be just as fun, even if it’s just more trivia.
Dance Dance Revolution (ETA Winter 2010)
It is with simultaneous relishing and dread that I can only imagine how many broken arms, legs and floors there are going to be when Konami’s reboot of the series hits the streets this winter. Another one to keep an eye on for music fans.
LittleBigPlanet 2 (ETA 11th January 2011)
Unlike some of the other forthcoming titles, LBP2 is not all that note-worthy as a Move title because it has been revealed that the Move will only be used in a selection of small mini-games. We rather hope that Create Mode will be Move-driven as this would make development of complex levels radically easier without the convenience of a mouse on hand.
Dead Space 2 / Dead Space: Extraction (ETA 11th February 2011)
Since Dead Space 1 uses the same control scheme as Resident Evil 5, it will be interesting to see what kind of Move implementation EA come up with for this one.
Killzone 3 (ETA February 2011)
Of course, there is no doubt that the release of Killzone 3 (and SOCOM 4) will be the absolute final acid test as to whether Move can be successful with FPS games and the hardcore gamer market in general. More gruesome than the first game with 2-player co-op (yes, 2-player FirstPlay), improved graphics and 3D support as well as utilising the Move, this is shaping up to be one hell of a PS3-exclusive release.
SOCOM 4 (ETA Q1 2011)
See Killzone 3 :)
InFamous 2 (ETA 2011)
Same protagonist: new look, new voice, new attitude. Is it really the same protagonist? Let’s hope this game is a little better than the first one which I found a tad mediocre.
Virtua Tennis 4 (ETA 2011)
Could this be the killer Virtua Tennis? Virtua Tennis 2 on PS2 and 3 on PS3 were both great, and Virtua Tennis 2009 was, ehm, mediocre, with a far too easy and somewhat lifeless career mode. Tennis can surely be a killer app for the Move if done right, let’s just hope it deviates from Racket Sports and makes you physically move your avatar.
Other forthcoming Move-compatible titles
Ape Escape Fury! Fury! (ETA 9th December 2010 – Japan)
Create (ETA Q4 2010)
Disaster Report 4 (ETA Q1 2011 – Japan)
Dungeon Defenders (TBA)
NBA 2K11 (ETA October 2010 – USA)
Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath (ETA 2011)
Sesame Street (TBA)
The Sly Collection (ETA 16th November 2010 – USA)
Under Siege (ETA 2010)
Yoostar2 (TBA)
In part 3, we’ll survey a number of non-gamers and sceptics to get their opinions on the Move.
Charmed_Fanatic
The future’s bright, the future’s MOVE
Mickey2010
Sure is im not sure why but that Deadliest Catch:Sea Of Chaos really sticks out for me and i havent even seen any vids or screens yer.
Bladesteel
Make a (reasonably priced, and good) online multiplayer DLC for Sports Champions, and they’d make a lot of money.
tonycawley
Dead right. Some games would be awesome with online multiplayer, Bocce and archery being the main ones, but i think table tennis might struggle a little because any lag whatsoever would ruin it since it’s so very fast. Would definitely love it just for the archery and Bocce though. Actually disc golf would work really well too.
Bladesteel
Good point. Obviously I’d prefer it to work for all the games, given a good enough connection between the players. But all of the turn based games should be possible to make work even over crappy lines.
DJ-Katy
I’ve heard the lag argument with Move online games a few times lately and I don’t really see the problem. The data transfer is no more intense than that of an FPS. All of the games including Table Tennis should work just fine over a broadband connection.
Bladesteel
Yes but awful networking (crap code or crap network) would be more visible in that kind of senario. While the turn based games should be playable over speeds as low as dialup (with a wait before you’re sent the recorded data fromm your opponents move)
As I understand FPS games are loaded with fancy optimisations and tricks like prediction to make lag less noticeable, and those might not work as well for an accurate table tennis game. At the very least I’d expect the turn based stuff to be less work, and thus cheaper and more likely to be created.
DJ-Katy
I’m somewhat inclined to disagree although it’s certainly not clear cut.
Disc Golf, Bocce are turn-based, there is no issue there.
Beach Volleyball is basically a rhythm game like GH so I see no issue there either.
Archery is real-time but the players don’t interact with each other so some score lag will not matter. If two people hit a disappearing target simultaneously an online rule can be applied to arbitrate like it is in other games with that issue.
Table Tennis and Gladiator Duel are real-time player interactions and would surely run peer-to-peer rather than through a server. The connection between the two players will be crucial. Table Tennis can use prediction; the data transmitted would have to be a UDP stream of bat orientation and position. It works for Virtua Tennis 2009 so I don’t see why it wouldn’t here. Let’s say they use two transports, one for the ball trajectory and one for the bat position. The trajectory could be prioritised, then if there is some bat position lag it might look weird but it won’t affect gameplay.
I don’t think Gladiator Duel can use prediction and that would probably be the trickiest.
tonycawley
But i regularly experience lag in fps games, cod’s the worst for it. Sometimes it’s game breakingly bad. That’d kill table tennis, regardless of how many clever tricks they implemented to minimise it. By broadband is a uk average 5 meg.
tonycawley
My, not by!
tonycawley
Shot, not pint. Lol.
DJ-Katy
Yeah, but that’s your connection’s fault or those of your opponents, not the game.
tonycawley
I disagree very strongly with that final comment katy. Yes my connection may not be great, but it’s a lot better than a lot of people’s. Game developers are fully aware there is a massive difference in download speeds around the world, and their job is to make it so that there is as little impact on gameplay as possible. If they’re building a game’s network connection based on the assumption everyone has perfect internet connection then that is a very bad design decision.
DJ-Katy
All I can really say Tony is that multi-player networking code is very complex and can be tweaked infinitely with tons of variables, it is just not possible with the current state of the net to make it work well for everyone, so they/we just have to do the best we can when writing that code. It is better to have the option than not.
Developers do not expect everyone to have a perfect connection but that is a bit like a TV viewer blaming the show production company when the snow comes down and makes the signal on the satellite dish too low to receive the transmission properly.
The problem in both cases is with the service provider: the satellite transmission should have greater power to overcome those situations, and the ISP should be providing a more stable network. No matter how well a team and I sit down and code a predictive algorithm for an FPS, if your ISP gives you occasional 500ms lag spikes there is nothing we can do about that no matter how well we plan it for you.
ISPs are largely at fault for poor multiplayer experiences and it is those who should be pressured to produce proper networks.
tonycawley
Oh katy, we bicker like a married couple sometimes, i love our disagreements though, we’re both very opinionated people so we’re going to have these. We’re going to have to agree to disagree with this one. I think your tv programme analogy is terrible, doesn’t apply at all. Take tiger woods for example. My mrs dad has it, and i have it. We can’t connect to each other for a game, no matter what we try. He invites me. I accept. It tells me the game is no longer available, when clearly it is. There is no good reason for this to happen, ea regularly do it with their games, fifa is always as bad. That is the fault of the programmers, no matter what you say. Telling a 72 year old man to open ports on his router is just not acceptable, he has no idea what i’m talking about and you can’t expect people to have that level of knowledge about something so complicated. Other games don’t require you to open ports or put your console in a dmz so why do ea always do it? Bad programming, that’s why.
DJ-Katy
For that example, I agree. The lobby uses a centralised server for matchmaking. My analogy and comments were regarding after the game session has been set up. Once players have selected each other from the server-run lobby, peer-to-peer connections are established for the actual gameplay usually if it’s a 2-player game. In that phase of gameplay, the ISP connection is what’s important.
Badly coded lobbies are a completely separate matter; if matchmaking does not work properly, it is the game’s fault.
Bladesteel
I’d say in the 500ms lag spike the FPS have a big advantage. It has to happen at an inconvenient time for the player to get really pissed off. Lag won’t ruin the game if you’re crouching behind a barrel. But for a game of table tennis a delay of half a second at any time (except while waiting to serve) will ruin it.
Also while the network should take the blame, it all really comes down to perception. And less technical users will place the blame on the game a lot of the time (as in casual gamers, the kind lots of move games are targeting) . A business decision about including/excluding multiplayer should take that into consideration.
tonycawley
Great write up katy. I don’t agree with everything you’ve written but then that’ll never be the case. This is a very useful resource for anyone that wants information. Really well done, good work.
Gamoc
Excellent, excellent series of articles this, particularly this part. I love you, DJ-Katy.
freezebug2
Tough, Katy is a racer so love off lol.
Rocket_345
This has just pointed out how many games ive forgot about. My MOVE want list has just suddenly increased as there were games that i forgot were recieving the MOVE treatment such as InFamous 2 and Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2011.
tonycawley
Don’t bother with the tiger woods move support, it’s truly rubbish. So much functionality is lost with it, its a game breaker i’m afraid.
JaffaMan24
Completely agree. I tried the Tiger Woods demo and thought move implementation was shocking and the only time i’ve noticed any lag so far. The graphics looked 5 years old too. Thoroughly dissappointed.
TSBonyman
Great coverage Katy, i didn’t realise there were so many Move compatible games already on the horizon. and this is only part 2?!
I would like to mention a couple of small points.
In Resi 5 if you hold L1 to aim you can turn with the left stick or nav while aiming with the Move.
Heavy Rain doesn’t require a Nav, DS3 works just as well.
Thanks for the tip re picking up Eyepet pre-owned as i’ve been mulling it over.
I really like Tumble but yes the camera is a little clunky, especially after the natural motion of placing a block – if only it operated like the torch in echochrome ii.
I’m hoping that LBP2 allows you to create your own Move mini games.
Looking forward to part 3!
jayjay119
To be honest I feel Resi 5’s review was a bit unfair, the problems of the camera not panning, not being able to fire whilst moving etc are all there in the main version. If this version is anything like Resi 4 for Wii I’m going to love it. And come on, holding down three buttons can get tedious? That’s just laziness!
DJ-Katy
It is just like Resi 4 for Wii – if you liked that, you will definitely enjoy RE5 with the Move :) Hope that helps.
yogdog
Loved resi 4 on the wii, I think I might pick up move, ruse and resi 5 gold when I can.
Thanks katy :)
JigsawPieces
Great write-up, thanks :)
Can’t agree with you about Heavy Rain, though. I’ve just played through the whole game for the first time, using Move, having only tried the demo before. After playing through the first few levels, the visual language of the Move cues became quite natural, the gestures generally fitted what the character was doing on screen, and they felt much less arbitrary to me than those on the DS3 (which admittedly, I only tried in the demo). I thoroughly enjoyed it.
skibadee
great read. totally agree about hustle kings such a good game with the DS3 though.
jayboy31
Nice round-up although i’ve not had any problems with the MOVE controller having to be set on the right port. Tumble is ACE but then again so is Flight Control. I have Sports Champions but don’t play it that much, a combination of not being arsed to get up & put the disk in & not being arsed to get up & play the game. Tumble hogs the MOVE at the mo. I’m tempted by Hustle Kings now