PS3 motion controller unveiled as Move

If you've been waiting on tenterhooks for more news of Sony's enigmatic motion controller, wait no longer. The controller (formerly called Arc) was officially unveiled today as Move during Sony's press conference at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, and shown off alongside a handful of games.

Onstage, the Move looked to be more or less exactly what we expected it to be: the PlayStation 3's answer to the Wii remote and Nunchuk, complete with games that look conceptually similar to Nintendo's showcase titles. Golfing, archery, table tennis and, yes, boxing were all represented, albeit with a more clearly "mature" bent than Nintendo's Mii-infused minigames.

Above: Motion Fighter looks slick, but also suspiciously like a grittier take on Wii Sports boxing

The biggest difference - apart from what Sony promises will be a total 1:1 experience, which Nintendo doesn't offer - is that the Move will work in tandem with the PlayStation Eye camera. In fact, the Move starter kit - which will retail for under $100 and likely release sometime this fall - will come packaged with the Eye, as well as the Move controller and a Move-specific game. As for which game it'll be, our guess is the minigame-centric Sports Champions, which features a cool-looking Gladiator Duel mode in addition to its more ordinary-looking table tennis and archery games.

Also showcased was Move Party, an Eye-connected minigame collection that promises to provide family fun and endless fodder for jokes at its own expense.

Sony also showed off how the Move would work with other, non-Move-specific games, including EyePet (which will enable you to play games with the Pet using Move) and LittleBigPlanet, which will introduce a new material that can be manipulated by a second player using Move as a pointer.

Finally, Sony closed out the presentation by unveiling the Move's optional subcontroller...

Above: Totally not a Nunchuk. No no no!

... which can be used to control the also-unveiled (and considerably more awesome-looking) SOCOM 4.

Above: Just think how much more fun shooters will be when they're played with a stick-shaped controller in each hand

Honestly, we wish we could muster more enthusiasm for this thing, but it just looks like Sony's poised to proudly repeat everything about controlling Wii games that we got tired of and learned to hate years ago. But we'll withhold judgment until we've actually had some hands-on time with Move, which will happen later this evening.

Until then, try to stay positive.

Mar 10, 2010