I accomplished my goal of experiencing the PlayStation Move first hand at Fan Expo 2010. I entered the convention center just mere minutes after doors opened on Friday and rushed over to the PlayStation booth to get my hands on the Move controllers. The booth was relatively empty at this point – gamers started to filter in later in the day – so I was able to play a total of three different games a few times.
Before I began, I was asked to align myself inside a white box located on the screen for motion scanning. Once inside I moved the controller in different directions indicated on screen for calibration purposes. After a few tries, the scanning was complete and it was onto the gaming. The first game I tried was Table Tennis and it was very difficult to swing accurately and connect with the ball. With practice it became a tad easier but it was still not fluid. The second and most fun game was Disc Golf. I threw a disc toward a highlighted objective, trying to get the disc into the target with the fewest number of throws as possible in order to beat my opponent. The game requires one motion to mimic throwing a Frisbee while holding down on the back trigger button, and then releasing the trigger as you bring your arm forward. Both games were relatively simple and fun but might have limited replay value when the Sports Champions title is released.
The PlayStation representative then asked if I wanted to try Tiger Woods Golf, and this is where the frustration and humour kicked in. I would say it took me a good 9 practice swings (you must mimic a golf swing) before it was time to tee off, and it took me another 3 or 4 tries to connect with the ball while in game, at which point the rep and I had a good laugh. I will not divulge how many attempts it took to reach par as I want to save myself further embarrassment. The golf swings were hard to pull off and there was some delay, and no way of telling if this was a calibration issue or if I was doing something incorrect.
I would say the controllers for the Move and the Wii react and play nearly the same. The only glaring difference is that the Move controllers are sturdier. Overall I was very impressed with the Move titles at Fan Expo, and I must say the future looks bright for Sony.
The PlayStation Move ships September 17th, 2010 across Canada.
David Parbhakar is a video game enthusiast residing in Kitchener, Ontario. He has been gaming since the mid 1980's and continues to game whenever he can to this day. He owns a PS3, Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii, and gaming PC. Favorite games at the moment include; Call of Duty - Modern Warfare 2 and Socom - Cold front. He was a video game champ during his teenage years - representing in the finals for his age group and province in - 1992's Super NES Super Mario Championship, 1993's Super Star Fox Weekend, and 1994's Block Buster World Video Game Championship.
I played the game at E3….Nothing like the wii, I disagree with this article completely!