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Editor's note: While editing this article, I learned that the PlayStation Move launches in just over three weeks. I had no idea. (I knew it was at some point during the fall.) Where's the coverage? Much like Jon, I'm not saying that this is a hard-and-fast death knell for the product, but it certainly doesn't bode well.... -James
This is the PlayStation Move.
Last week I walked into one of the dozen or so local GameStops within five miles of my apartment. I was there to look for any used GameCube games I hadn't already found or browse through the newest DS releases...or play a quick round of Street Fighter 4 with a stranger who also didn't have anywhere special to be on a weekday afternoon. Ah, summertime as a teacher.
When I walked in, I saw the new PlayStation Move display box. And when I picked up that empty placeholder, I had a gut reaction: No one is going to buy this thing.
Let me qualify what I mean by "no one." A million or so early adopters and gadget hounds will grab it during the holiday season. Then several thousand wealthy families with over-privileged children. And then the Move will stop "moving," as it were.
I want to be clear that pure (uninformed) intuition provides the basis for my argument. It comes from the feel of the box in my hands, the look of the wand, and the total price next to each product SKU in that display corner.
But I mean, the Move seemed cool, right? You've got the tactile response of the controller. You've got the requisite packed-in sports-compilation software. You've got the slightly menacing Eye camera, which, combined with the glowing red orb, conjures memories of HAL from 2001. And all of this is only $99.99.
It's too bad you need a $300 console to use it. To be fair, I thought the Move looked promising when Sony announced it. Sure, it's a blatant rip off of the Wii. So what? Band-Aids were a copy of whatever bandage was being sold at the time, and we know how that turned out. Be it cars or movies or toilet paper, imitation is how industry works.
If the Move could offer the raw power of the PS3 alongside refined motion controls that use 2010 technology, why wouldn't it succeed? Who wouldn't want one? On paper, its success seems inevitable.
People that have PS3s right now are content. They enjoyed playing Resident Evil 5 with their dual-analog controller. Will they buy it again solely for Move functionality? Wii owners certainly made Capcom a few bucks by snapping up the Wii-enable Resident Evil 4 in droves. But RE4 alone didn't sell the Wii.
The question is whether the same legion of families, grandmothers, nursery homes, schools, cruise ships, and lapsed gamers will get as excited about Sports Champions as they did about Wii Sports.
My thought: No, they won't. It just ain't happenin'.
If only Kudo Tsunoda would hold still....
And maybe that's okay. A million-seller peripheral would have been a huge success in a pre-Wii world.
But is this the foundation of the PS3's future? I hope not. Perhaps Sony will be happy with EyeToy-like success for the Move. But I can't help but feel that after the dust settles, more people will be staring into the eye of their Kinect camera than pointing their glowing, red stick at their TV screen.
And the final outcome of it all? Sony will have "moved" from dominator to doormat in a single console generation.
Disclaimer: The preceding is merely my opinion and is not based on sales forecasts or any other industry projections.
