Report: Sony Outlines PS3 Motion Control Details To Devs

Author: by Staff

Sony has been detailing its PlayStation 3 motion control technology to official developers, according to new media reports, targeting a Spring 2010 debut with "a range of first-party and third-party content". According to a document reportedly sent to partners and extracted in part by video game weblog Kotaku, SCE noted to developers that the controller was designed to work "with any games across all genres from casual to core." During Sony's E3 press conference, Sony researcher Dr. Richard Marks appeared onstage to showcase a camera and motion sensor-based interface technology. During the presentation, he showed a Wiimote-sized "engineering prototype" controller which includes "a variety of buttons and motion sensors", and a glowing orb on the end that the PlayStation Eye can track. According to Sony's newly reported comments to developers, the PlayStation Eye motion accessory will come equipped with force feedback rumble, and up to four of the new motion controllers can be tracked at once. In addition, the "face-tracking and head-tracking capability already in the PS3 SDK" will also work with the supplied camera. In the E3 2009 demonstration, combination of EyeToy and motion sensor allowed the player to see himself on the screen, but with 'virtual items' rendered in place of his controller, including a baseball bat, flashlight, sword, and so on. Marks and his colleagues showcased a "first-person shooter" control style which allows the player to move around and control a gun, with a trigger on the controller, while a combination of the EyeToy and motion sensor track him. Interestingly, Kotaku reports that Sony is "currently looking into the possibility" of combining motion control accessory and stock PS3 controller functions, with the possibility of "the motion controller as a sword and use DualShock 3 as a shield." However, with this reported communication to developers a relatively early one in the device's development, it's possible that details may change before the 2010 release of the accessory, which is intended to compete both with Nintendo's Wii MotionPlus and Microsoft's Natal add-ons.