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E3 2009: Sony Ready “The Wand” As A Motion Control War Seems Imminent

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"The Wand" Will Probably Be A Bit Like This.

"The Wand" Will Probably Be A Bit Like This.

Microsoft announced a weird Eye Toy-esque gimmick last night with the terrible name “Natal”. With Nintendo already prominent in the motion control department, it seems just Sony are left to make the jump.

Cue rumours coming out of E3 about Sony’s “Wand”; a new controller which will allow full motion tracking.

After the uproar Microsoft’s exaggerated “Natal” demos caused last night – we think Sony would be better off sticking with the games. But hey, these conferences take months to organise, there’s no way they’re going to drop something now.

Nintendo must be seething.

  • Electric Potato
    No one has said anything about Natal replacing conventional gamepads.

    But...that thing is pretty frickin' slick if it works anywhere close to what the demos have portrayed.
    I'm sitting here cringing at Nintendo's yet-again awful E3 presence and hoping Sony has something big up it's sleeve.
  • anthortic
    motion sensing with physical controlers ala the wii is the only way to go not controller free motion sensing ala natal. How would you control an fps, a plastic peripheral would help but it would not have the control fidelity. Natal looks like it will produce some fine "casual" games but to replace the dual analogue setup an evolution of the wiimote NOT the eyetoy is needed.
  • Jeff
    LOL.

    And everything I just said about the site was confirmed by just scrolling down the first page.

    "We are wondering how Kojima is going to achieve his “visions” within the environment of the 360; we’re not saying it’s not possible but, hey, PS3 has blu-ray."

    It's okay to admit you're a site run for and written for Sony fanboys, with such ridiculous quotes like that.

    "Eye Pet. A Lot Like Milo Without The False Promises."

    Or that, which you have no place saying, as it's not out for you to have an opinion on whether or not the promises are false.
  • Jeff
    What an embarrassing website. No wonder barely anyone knows about the site. Fact is, this article is fanboyish, biased, and horrifically written.

    "the terrible name “Natal”."

    "It does have a terrible name."

    Except, it doesn't. That's not the final name. It's "Project Natal". Like how 360 was Xenon, Dreamcast was Katana, GameCube was Dolphin, Wii was Revolution, etc.

    It's just unprofessional and stupid to call out the codename of the product.

    "After the uproar Microsoft’s exaggerated “Natal” demos caused last night - we think Sony would be better off sticking with the games."

    Uh, why? I'm not even sure what this means. Are you trying to say the demos were bad and Sony shouldn't bother, or that they were so good that Sony shouldn't bother?

    Not to mention, you're simply wrong. How were they "exaggerated"? The on-stage demos they showed were not exaggerated or CG. They were blatant demos of games they have in mind.
  • @ Mizzyke - We're writers on a Playstation site yes. It does have a terrible name. And it is very much an Eye Toy type device. Clearly it's a step up from the Eye Toy, but it's an Eye Toy nonetheless. Are you denying that?

    I don't think what I saw of Natal looked "amazing" at all. The Molyneux demo was CLEARLY prescripted, and the live painting demos were fine but not all that interesting at all.

    I'm not denying there isn't potential there - if Molyneux let's me go hands on with Milo I'll write up an entire article clarifying that Lionhead studios did indeed create A.I. that even NASA scientists can't.
  • c-drive
    PS should stick with normal controls. Motion sensing is not a great way to control a game, just like touch screens. These methods are not accurate enough yet and just gimmicky. Way more geared towards short casual gaming.

    @MIZZYKE: No flaming intended, I think you're the only one I've heard that was impressed by that demo. The Eye-Toy already can do most of that stuff and has been around for quite a while. If you're really into motion sensing you should just get a Wii. As for the name Natal, I share the opinion of the author, it doesn't sound very catchy. In fact I believe the word means "infant".
  • Mizzyke
    You know, i think you have just lost all my respect. Im a vivid ps3 gamer, but from what i saw of the microsoft presentation yesterday i don't think it can be topped, and im eagerly anticipating my birthday so i can actually get myself a 360..

    But to say that Natal was a "weird Eye Toy-esque gimmick last night with a terrible name" is just stupid. You're a writer ffs, be professional.
    As much as we may not like it, that thing looked amazing, and I dont think the eyetoy will be anything like that in a while yet
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