Sony’s Move is ”really flexible” because it has camera and buttons, with the latter ”irreplaceable” for certain experiences. Gestures substandard.
”I don’t think that point of view is quite right,” commented designer Richard Marks, speaking about whether buttons will be phased out for a waggle-only future in gaming.
”I think that you can do some things really well with just a camera, or just a 3D camera, but there’s just some stuff you can’t do as well. And there’s a bunch of experiences you could never do as well. I think our system is really flexible because we still have a camera.”
”Buttons are irreplaceable as an input device,” he stated.
”Too many buttons are overwhelming, but one single action button is very powerful feeling. For core games you really do need a set of buttons to quickly choose things. Trying to replace buttons with gestures doesn’t work very well.”
Microsoft is predicting around 3m sales for its Kinect units by Christmas as it arrives in stores November 10th. Recently Sony Worldwide Studios boss practially thanked Microsoft and Kinect for their timing because it boosted PlayStation Move’s awareness.
Are buttons and controllers ‘irreplaceable’ or just a complacent crutch?
