Play Station Eye: To Much Motion?

Sony released their idea of what motion control should be at this years E3. In short, it was the same principle as cinematic “Mo Cap” (Motion Capture): a camera tracks balls that give off a special kind of light (usual IR) and then a computer is able to distinguished the movement. Basically the way Sony uses it is that the IR is on the controller and a camera near your TV can pick up movements. With the horsepower of PS3, it is able to track movements very precisely and quickly.

But the problem is do we want that much realism in our games not to mention buying new controllers? The Uncanny Valley is basically how creepy humans think something is when it becomes too life like and it seems that video games are started to head that way. With motion controls and extremely High Definition graphics, I think we’re going to reach the point we’re we are basically playing our lives on screen if we haven’t already. The Wii was definitely a stepping stone towards motion controls but it might have been all we needed. PS3 seems to precise to be practical for gaming and Project NATAL lacks haptic feedback.

Although Sony’s Motion Captures Technology (titled “PS EYE”) was shown off as being able to do some amazing stuff when it comes to shooters, strategy games, and overall realism when it comes to wielding items in hand (e.i. Swords, Whips, Baseball Bats), if this isn’t as real as we can get, it sure is damn close. One major reason the Wii hasn’t been good for shooters is because no one wants to be standing up holding their hands out in front of them pretending its a gun pointed at the TV for hours on end. It’s just strenuous and kind of pointless to be in alone doing it.

On the other hand, Project NATAL showed some interesting new ideas for motion control like the 3-d Break Out. But Are motion controls going to ever hit the hardcore gamer? It seems like the type of games hardcore gamers play are just too complex to insert motion controls with practicality.