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Sony, Please Consider Packaging The Motion Controllers In Pairs With Analogue Sticks.

I’m concerned. Showing the Resident Evil 5: Directors Cut played with a single Playstation Motion Controller and a DualShock held with one hand literally frightens me. Not only is it terrible PR, it’s also a flawed the system and a downright bad idea. I lay no claim to being a tenth of the genius Playstation innovator Dr. Richard Marks is; but I think I have a better idea. I just hope Sony have the time to at least think about it.

I’ve never considered the Playstation Motion Controller as a peripheral going after the Wii’s success. Simply, it’s not. It’s going to be perhaps something to get new players interested for sure, and a new way to play for existing Playstation owners — I think Sony understand that. Or at least I thought they did. A bulk of the Sony E3 Motion Control presentation showed more “hardcore” gamer playing styles. It’s something Sony themselves echoed — seemingly interested in offering the potential of core experiences with motion controls.

The problem is, how can Sony deliver on those type of experiences without an analogue stick. Even the Wii provides a stick for individual character movement. It’s looking like the Playstation Motion Controller will be without that functionality, and as such is flawed. Particularly without a nunchuck solution.

You can break the problems of the Motion Controller even further. Sony have said that ideally they want people to play with two motion controllers — yet it seems they are going to sell them individually. I appreciate this keeps costs down – but it breaks parity. The Playstation Motion Controller is already a niche — it assumes users own a PS3 system, a Playstation Eye and a Wand; what development team could ever break that niche even further and design their game for those with two wands? It would be suicide, right?

So here’s my solution: sell the wands in pairs. Now I appreciate this bumps up costs. Really I do. But if Sony want to make this successful, they have to do it properly. Particularly when they’re against the already massively popular Wii and unproven (but hyped) Microsoft Natal. Sell them in pairs and you have an out of the box multiplayer solution for those games that only require one remote, plus you ensure that everyone who has invested in the Playstation Motion Controller is capable of playing those games that require two motion controllers.

But here’s the crux of my point, for the love of goodness put an analogue stick on every controller. By doing so the problem of holding a Dualshock with one hand while playing is gone. Effectively by having a Motion Controller in each hand, both with an analogue stick you’re replicating the DualShock’s control layout, but adding in untethered, precise Motion Controls aswell. You’re solving the Nunchuck problem, the control problem, and the parity problem in one simple stroke. And yes, it will make the Motion Controllers cost more, but again — if a job’s worth doing, perhaps do it properly?

I guess my biggest criticism from writing this article will be that the moment you add analogue sticks, you defeat the point of the Motion Controller. It becomes complicated and not at all user friendly. Well let’s take this argument full circle shall we — Sony know that this controller’s niche will be in making Motion Controls fun for existing gamers – an outlet who currently bitch at the Wii’s attempts with every opportunity – so, by all means give the casuals the games they seek. But make it enjoyable for stuff like Resident Evil 5: Director’s Cut too. Half holding a Dualshock is not the solution.

It’s all about choice.

“Twiggy” is an anonymous PushSquare columnist who has been spotted in three major cities across the globe. It’s rumoured he’s on the run from the British monarchy who accused him of treason.

Previous entries in the “Twiggy” range:

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• Does The Playstation 3 Need Motion-Control & How Will Sony Apply It?
• Why Did Guerilla’s Killzone 2 Force Me To Kill The More Interesting Good Guys? I Hate The ISA!
• Sony’s E3 2009 Press Conference Could Be The Biggest In History & A Turning Point In Software Perception
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