Is Sixaxis a white elephant?

Martin Gram is Lead PS3 Programmer for IO (makers of the Hitman series as well as Kane & Lynch).

"It's a neat feature. It breaks the mould and the control code, which is always fun. I personally think that it adds depth to the PS3. From a design standpoint it opens up opportunities to make game mechanics more varied, which in turn should lead to more interesting games.

The high point for Sixaxis so far is how Ratchet and Clank seamlessly use the motion sensing. Low point is the grenade throwing in Uncharted. I've heard that Folklore is very good too.

"It's probably too early to say whether Sixaxis has been a success or not. I find that the feature is working well when used in its right element. Trying to achieve precision control with motion sensing is very hard due to the nature of the device. So finding the places where motion sensing is in its sweet spot is the key to success.

"From what I've seen and tried, the Wii-mote and Sixaxis are somewhat similar in performance. The Wii-mote does however have a completely different importance on the Nintendo system compared to that of the Sixaxis on the PS3.

"I'd preferably have both vibration and motion-sensitivity in a controller. I find that motion sensing has most potential of the two, and I like the lighter Sixaxis controller compared to the DualShock version. Forced to pick one, I would have go with motion controls.

Justin Towell

Justin was a GamesRadar staffer for 10 years but is now a freelancer, musician and videographer. He's big on retro, Sega and racing games (especially retro Sega racing games) and currently also writes for Play Magazine, Traxion.gg, PC Gamer and TopTenReviews, as well as running his own YouTube channel. Having learned to love all platforms equally after Sega left the hardware industry (sniff), his favourite games include Christmas NiGHTS into Dreams, Zelda BotW, Sea of Thieves, Sega Rally Championship and Treasure Island Dizzy.