# Good Cop / Bad Cop: PlayStation Move



## Ares (Nov 23, 2009)

*Good Cop / Bad Cop: PlayStation Move
*
*Motion control or out-of-control? That's the question. (Not really.)
*by Patch 'Awesome Sauce' Kolan and Cam 'Lame Duck Dickens' Shea, IGN AU

*Australia, * *March 28, 2010* - Right, it's been a while since IGN AU has gently caressed and/or laid the boot into a topic with a Good Cop / Bad Cop, but we think, off the back of Sony's PlayStation Move unveiling (well, the _proper_ unveiling), the time has come to bring this feature out of the vault. 

Good Cop / Bad Cop: PlayStation Move 
*Good Cop Patch:* For me, Move represents the culmination of a lot of really good ideas from Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony itself; for what it lacks in original thinking, it makes up with true potential for amazing gaming experiences. I'm not talking Wii Sports knock-offs or other minigame-fests either – though, we're already seeing those genres being heavily targeted by several developers out there. Instead, I'm talking about the potential to satisfy the core gaming market in ways that Wii MotionPlus can't touch and Natal, on the surface, cannot emulate sans-buttons by default. 

*Bad Cop Cam:* Yeah, but the reality is that the majority of games _are_ going to be mini-game fests and rubbish that we're not going to want to play. Move Fighting? (Or whatever it's called.) That sounds like the worst game I can imagine. The last thing I want to do when I play a videogame is to stand up and pretend to fight someone. Punching the air is not gameplay. Besides which, I'm not a boxer/fighter and I don't _want to be_ a boxer/fighter. Instead, I want to be able to play on-screen through a few deft button presses and a little timing. 

I'm telling you, man, this - and Natal for that matter - is just going to be an expensive way to get a sweet new interface for your system. I think it has a stack of potential, but let's be realistic here – how much of that is going to be capitalised on in the first couple of years? I think it's going be a long wait until there are enough compelling reasons to justify the price. Unless you're rich, in which case – go nuts! 

*"MOVE"* over, inverted Zorbing enthusiast!​ 
*Good Cop Patch:* Po-faced pugilism aside, I sort of agree with your mentality. Sort of. Look, I like the idea of a 'Spike' style first-person brawler that takes elements of Punch-Out!! and blends it with an edgier, more adult-oriented presentation. You can go back to Streeties IV, I guess. But I digress – I think you're forgetting about the core games that are already in development that instantly sound more appealing with Move integration: Resident Evil 5, SOCOM and LittleBigPlanet. These three titles alone sound like perfect fits to me. 

We saw that it took about a year for the Wii to get up to speed with proper 'gamers'-games'; Metroid Prime 3 showed how first-person shooters could work almost flawlessly with motion control integration, while a game like Super Mario Galaxy was (and is) simply unrivalled for depth and control accuracy on the platform. I'd expect that a lot of devs have had the chance to tinker with the Wii, come to terms with refining the motion control and are now pouring that expertise into developing high-quality games for Move. Agreed? It makes sense in a lot of ways to view the Wii as this generation's motion control training wheels for players - and developers. 

*Bad Cop Cam:* First of all - Resident Evil 5, SOCOM and LittleBigPlanet? Someone get me a bed because I'm about to fall asleep. That's meant to make me care?! LBP's the only one that's vaguely interesting and that's just because it'll make level creation easier for dudes with too much time on their hands. And that's not me. 

Secondly, why would a developer sink a substantial amount of money into a Move project for the core gamer? Unless Sony is handing out serious incentives, why would you make a title for a new piece of hardware with no install base? It costs a lot of money to make a triple A title, so you'd either make a cheap mini-game compilation (not interested), bite-size tech demo games for download over PSN (cool, but not enough to justify the price of Move) or you'd incorporate Move functionality into a game that's already in development or already released (again, cool, but I'm not going to buy Move for this). 

*"MOVE"* over, hamster in a ball!​ 
Take a look at the Wii. How many games are being made that really utilise MotionPlus? Barely any – there just isn't much incentive to make a game that can only reach a (relatively) small percentage of the Wii's install base. 

It'll be the same for Move unless it has a seriously killer app (with more in the pipeline). It needs a Wii Sports – a game that will get this hardware flying off store shelves. It can't come later, either – it has to be packed in with the hardware. So riddle me this, Good Cop: where's the killer app? Move is coming later this year and I sure haven't seen anything that will compel me to buy it. It's debatable whether there's anything that would compel a broader audience to buy it either. Without a killer app it doesn't matter how good the tech is, or how much potential it has; it won't go anywhere. 

It's a little bit of a catch 22 – without a killer app, Move won't sell enough to justify developers putting significant resources behind it, but without developers how can there be a killer app? The reality is that it's up to Sony to make one. The company has the talent too. Its Japan Studios are one of the best development houses around, while the likes of Sony London are no slouches either. Even so, show me the money Sony...

*Good Cop Patch:* Wow, okay motor-mouth. Apply them brakes. Last time I checked, all three of those games were outstanding – and I can't imagine they'd be any less so with the addition of perfectly accurate motion controls. Yes, some will be better suited to Move than others, but at least these are complex gaming experiences from the get-go. 

You're right about the install-base issue – but someone has to go first, and when you do, you stand to clean up through the initial wave of early adopters buying from a limited pool of titles. The PS3 install-base is pretty healthy right now, and if Sony is smart, they'll emulate one more of Nintendo's more successful strategies and include a pack-in game with Move. Hopefully that will spur some serious sales and this will solidify the development scene. 

Will Move have its killer-app, then? Well, we haven't even hit E3 yet – and already we're seeing an initial wave of solid titles. You can bet that Sony is cooking up something very special indeed for its presentation this year. The mind reels at the possibilities – particularly some key development studios who have been very quiet – Insomniac, we're looking at you. A motion-controlled, head-tracking Resistance 3? Yes please. 

I suppose the issue with MotionPlus, then, is that it's still an optional-extra. It's not the default hardware. That puts it at odds with what the PS3's Move can do. If move takes off, it might even go on to replace the Dual Shock 3 as the default controller; weirder things have happened – just look at the uptake of touch-based games and styluses these days. People are adjusting more and more to the concept of direct-input control methods, and I think Sony is potentially straddling the hardcore and casual markets rather nicely. 

*"MOVE"* over, MC Escher's spherical self-portrait!​ 
*Bad Cop Cam:* An initial wave of solid titles, eh? Sorry, but I'm not interested in 'solid' – I want 'great', and until I get 'great' I'm not going to drop my hard-earned cash on a new piece of kit. Granted, the killer app that the Move desperately needs in all likelihood won't actually appeal to me, but which of the games Sony has shown so far has the potential to make this hardware a hit? The most likely candidate would have to be *Move Party!*, which looks very much like next-generation EyeToy title, with its augmented reality mini-games. With the right combination of games and the right marketing push, Move Party! could definitely get a broad family audience interested. Whether they'll be willing to spend the money is another question. 

Aside from that, there's *Sports Champions*, Sony's attempt at a Wii Sports-style compilation, with archery, table tennis and gladiatorial combat, but pretty much the entire world has played Wii Sports or Wii Sports Resort so – greater control fidelity or not – I really can't see more casual players getting that excited about this. There's also *Brunswick Pro Bowling* - see previous comment re: Wii Sports, *TV Superstars* - looks cute but it's no system seller, *The Shoot* - I think not, and *Slider* - quirky and Japanese, sure, but let's be honest, this is just filling the range out. 

By way of an example, look at the PlayStation Eye – you'd think after the success of the EyeToy the generation before that Sony would have known how to make it a success on PS3, but it clearly didn't. The pack-in game, Eye of Judgment, was just way too niche and... erm... what else was there? A handful of titles and PlayStation Eye functionality in big games like SingStar Vol. 2 and Burnout Paradise. My point is – software is key. 

Looking on the positive side, at least none of the titles on the way revolve around interacting with a creepy ten year old boy. That's a huge plus in my books. 

*"MOVE"* over, Jake Gyllenhaal's 'Bubble Boy'!​ 
*Good Cop Patch:* I won't admit defeat on this one because, naturally, the sucker isn't nearly out yet – and we haven't seen the kinds of original concepts that are going to push Move through the marketplace. I also think that Sony's recent emphasis on making PS3 titles compatible with 3D TV is going to become a major contributor to Move's longer-term success. Essentially, Sony is future-proofing the PS3 hardware by looking at market trends and augmenting their hardware and marketing angles accordingly. 

I suppose we're not going to be able to see how all of this comes together until we have the benefit of hindsight; that's going to take a while. However, one thing we _can_ do is draw up a wish-list of games and concept that might just suit the Moveset-up beyond Natal and Wii MotionPlus. Straight off the bat, we need LucasArts to drop a Star Wars lightsaber game on the system that, in addition to featuring tremendous Digital Molecular Matter and Euphoria tech, places your torso and arms in the game world. That'd shift units, certainly – I'm sure something's in the works. 

Other things? A Harry Potter titles for the tweens; the Move controller already looks like a magic wand – why not take it a step further, EA? As for original concepts, look no further than games like Echochrome and Patapon for inspiration. I'd love to see games that require two wands for true 3D depth interaction, combining puzzle and rhythm elements with iconic style. For more traditional players, the potential for multi-touch controls for RTSs is a bit of a winner. A game like Ubisoft's R.U.S.E., which is already Microsoft Surface-enabled, seems like an easy fit. 

Finally, it might be a little ways off, but we're all waiting for that Minority Report-style user interface that combines augmented reality with 3D interactivity – basically a 3D mouse interface. Already there are tech-demonstrations of this concept running on Move, and given the right types of ideas and a tight control scheme, I could see the PS3 having an augmented reality Xross Media Bar option as a default feature in every PS3. Then, if you can imagine such a thing, combine this new interface with a 3D TV – and suddenly the whole interface comes to life. 

With grand ideas and the hardware to work with, I really hope developers don't take the easy route with PlayStation Move.


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