Topic: An early look at how the "target audience" reacts to Move

Hey there!

I've been working on Sony's promotion of the Move at a local mall and had an opportunity to get an early look at how people react to the Move. I'll lay it out below, but leave your thoughts and any observations you had with people who have seen the Move.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS
What are people saying/thinking when they first see it?

     * "So umm... it's just like the Wii right?"
     This is probably the most common one, but to tell you the truth this is not necessarily a bad thing. People always buy things that are familiar to them and having the wii as a starting point, I think Sony's strategy of converting wii owners to an HD-family oriented console may work really well.

     * The colored ball
     I didn't think this was a big deal, but average consumers are really attracted to the colored ball, and when they realize it's soft there's genuine surprise. Oddly enough, the colored ball is a big selling point, and at the very least it sparks a lot of curiosity.

     * The camera
     People are startled when they see themselves on screen. However, when people realize there's a camera there, it opens up so many ideas in their head.

     * Only $100???
     For many people that own a PS3, $100 is surprisingly very cheap to them. Who knew.

     * Calibration is for the cool kids
     I think all move calibration should be done with a live feed a la sports Champions. To the earlier point, the camera adds a new dimension and allows people to think they're "in the game." This removes the nuisance of calibrating and makes it feel like a natural extension of the platform.

THE GAMES
Who reacts to what games?

*Sports Champions - Sony was smart when they bundled this. This appeals to everyone. In fact, the biggest selling point is the competitive nature of the game. The best audience for this in my short time doing this is husband and wife.

*EyePet - I am addicted to eyepet, but it's only because I can pet it without even using the move controller. When it works, it's beyond creepy in how effective it is and it works more the most of the time. Boys and girls below the age 8 will eat this up. Also, young dads and older moms.

*Get Fit with Mel B - I was quite surprised at how much attention this one got. It's a very simple exercise game and can even be used without the motion controllers. The folks I saw enjoyed this the most were the young mothers and the really old males. Grandpa loves getting fit with Mel B apparently.

*Kung-Fu Rider - For as broken as this game is I'm surprised how many people love playing it. This is perfect for the male tween (around 12-13). I guess I forgot, when I was a kid and played games, I never thought if the game was bad or good. It was just a game. Kung-Fu Rider's low scores may affect overall sales, but for the person who doesn't game much or is rather young in gaming, this is actually a lot of fun. Not for me though

*Heroes on the Move - My impressions are that Clank's shooting level rocks and Sly's sword fighting level blows. And that is pretty much accurate for anyone who played this. Mostly males picked this up.

*Singstar +Dance - I LOVE THIS GAME! Haha. That aside, this is perfect for tween girls and teen boys who are a bit more in tune with themselves (see what I did there). It just works and is a blast to play. The song selection was decent, but my whole issue with Singstar is that I rarely see newer songs on the SingStore. We'll see if that improves, but setup is a bit cumbersome so it may detract some buyers.

*Brunswick Pro Bowling - This one is really a mixed bag. I played both this and High Velocity Bowling and I think I prefer the latter. Those who get it do really well, and those who don't often feel frustrated. Sometimes it's a great showcase for the Move, other times it just hurts it all together. Nevertheless, this is technically a game everyone enjoyed once they got it to start working.

*Start the Party - Umm... everyone. Haha. The big difference here is when said person would get bored. Girls lasted longer. Also the younger the person was, the longer they stayed on it. I could literally draw a bell curve for this game in terms of age and duration of interest.

So I think with the launch Sony has been successful in opening up the doors and through this and many other grassroots efforts, people are starting to become aware of what the Move is. Anecdotal statement of the post: EB games AND best buy were sold out of Moves within a few days and people were constantly asking us if they could buy it where we were demoing. My work with the Move promotion is done for now, but I'm still loving my Move games (especially Sports Champions - which every core gamer should have in their library)

nice info man--it's hard (for me anyway) to step outside the 24-year-old-male viewpoint and really appreciate how other demographics respond to things--analytical threads like this help

Trying to hold out until Black Friday/Christmas/whatever to try and save a few bucks of possible...given how well its selling though, I might not be able to make that plan work.

Great info, thanks!!! I for one love Sports Champions, my nephews were thrilled by Start the Party and I enjoyed playing with them, it's really fun if you play it from time to time. Another game I'm enjoying is Tumble, it really showcases the 1:1 motion of the Move controller.

Great info man. Im having a blast with Move and everyone Ive shown it too has been literally blown away by its accuracy and depth in Sports Championships. I know several people that played it once and bought it that or the next day. Sony knew exactly what they meant when they stated Move would sell itself.

can you make me a list with the countries where the Move Lab is still running?

What?!!?