Who Won the Motion Gaming War?

Cast your brain back to 2005. It's a golden year where Doctor Who makes a triumphant return to British television, Youtube grants aspiring young film makers publish their works to the whole world, and Justin Bieber only sings in front of his family at gatherings. Words cannot express my pity for them enough. 2005 was also the year the Nintendo Wii was unveiled at the Tokyo Game Show (and not E3 as so many people believe). The new motion controller caused split opinion. Some saw it as the future of gaming, others claimed that it spelled disaster for Nintendo, and that it was a gimmick that would soon die out. In fact, Sony continued this belief, despite how they created the Playstation Move, something which can only be described as Sony's Wii. In fact, back in 2010, Sony's head of marketing, Peter Dille, said this:

“Hard-core gamers have looked down their nose at motion gaming: it’s not particularly satisfying for them because it’s not terribly precise or challenging, it’s more social.”

For a company, you can't really insult someone anymore than that. Or at least you would think that, until Reggie Fills-Aimes said this:

“If imitation is the most sincere form of flattery then I’m blushing I’m so flattered.” 

“You know, I didn’t see the announcement. I did spend some time at the booth and saw some of what they were demonstrating and I think the question isn’t how will we react — I think the question is, so what is it that’s going to be compelling to the consumer in what they’re doing? 

“From our standpoint, motion control is core to what we do. We believe that we’ve brought a range of different experiences that utilize the motion controller and we pride ourselves on being innovators in the space and we’re going to continue to innovate. I think the key question is, how will they respond when we continue to innovate if this is their best effort?”

Sony were too busy consoling Peter Dille to respond until 2012, but it appears someone managed to stick a pin in the over inflated ego of Sony, because they ended up saying this:

“What I’m thinking is that it’s better suited towards the casual market, certainly, but we also are pretty clear that we could have done a better job on the titles we’ve had and we’ve brought to market for the PlayStation Move. As you’ve said, great tech, probably not so great applications so far. So there’s a job for us to do on the strength of games, and having seen what’s forthcoming gives me great hope that we can do a better job with Move as we look forward. So we’re certainly not forgetting about it.”
While the Nintendo fans gloated, others wondered this:

"Hang on... Sony are saying Playstation Move failed... There are barely any X-Box Kinect games... And what of the Wii? The Wii U works on the same basic principle, and it's one of the worlds best selling consoles. Are Nintendo winning?"

 Now, where other people would turn to sales, or just look into the infinite abyss that is the human soul, the Realm chooses to compare it via a competition. So... May the great comparison begin!

Nintendo Wii


We start off with the console that was first off the line. Back then, gaming was something associated with spotty unemployed single people who played in a dark room. Nintendo set out to attract couples, pensioners, toddlers, you name it, they wanted it. Which makes them sound a bit like a villain from Doctor Who. Now, what did they do to get this?


Ah. Pretty impressive. Games designed to be games that weren't the stereotypical game, to draw in women who weren't gamers, games with simple mechanics to draw in people who saw games as too complex, and games that were easy to control but appealed to gamers. I would say that achieved the aim pretty well, especially when you look at sales.

Hang on, what's that? The Wii alienates gamers?



Not bad either.

Then there's the name. You've got to lose some points on that. I'm sure when Iwata stood up and said "You know this new console? I think we should call it the Wii!", no one released what it would mean in English. But then again, it's memorable. So I'll leave that one out to the jury.

However, the Wii U goes to say something. When it was unveiled, one of the things they boasted about was how it had improved processing power, and HD graphics. This shows that they've finally acknowledged the elephant in Nintendo Conference Room 2A, and admitted that this:

Isn't much when compared to this:

I know the Nintendo example is an extreme case, and I know that the second example (from the Playstation 3) wasn't a motion control game. But look at this, a screenshot from the Zelda HD tech demo:

Much better. And this too will be using motion controls. So why couldn't they do it with the Wii? They've cost themselves some points there.

Score: 8/10

Playstation Move


I'm going to start this off with something that many of you no doubt have already guessed: I hate the Playstation Move. It's one of those blatant clones that actually comes off worse than the original. I mean, look at it!

It looks like a CD Player Remote that someone stuck a bouncy ball to. And it was made by people who insulted the whole Motion Gaming idea, and then claimed it was the best thing to hit the market after they brought out their own one. I could spend a whole article moaning about how much I hate the Playstation Move. But I won't. For I need to see how well it meets it's audience.

Let's look at the casual games:

Seriously? A dance game, a fitness game, and a movie game? And a little bit of research told me that the fitness game is one of those games that relies entirely on the player not eating. Alright, maybe the hardcore games might be better...

I have to say, there's this, a few shooters who wouldn't show me their box art, and that's about it.

Now, down to graphics. Here's a screenshot from Little Big Planet 2:

Pretty good. Got to give them credit for that. Graphics in a video game are the icing on the cake, and this is butter icing. Which I like. But they've lost out on the lack of originality, and available games, so I'm expecting some hatred from Sony fans once they see the rating I gave it.

Score: 4/10

X-Box Kinect

Some of you are no doubt thinking "Hang on, this guy does a lot of Nintendo stories, and has admitted to hating the Playstation Move. Surely he must hate X-Box Kinect as well!" I have to say, you're mostly wrong. While Move was a blatant rip off, with a tumorous appearance, Kinect tried to move in a different direction. Instead of using motion controls, it made you the controller. And I love me. 

Even if it does resemble something that Big Brother would put in your room to make sure you weren't stirring up a rebellion (and I mean the 1984 Big Brother, not the Channel 4 show that takes chavs and locks them up, only to release them back on the world at the end of the series. Stupid animal rights protesters.) But it used original controls. Innovation is the only way to move forward, and there is a fair amount of innovation in here.

Of course, there are quite a few errors in here. For example, some people may have seen this video:

All looks pretty good, doesn't it? Or at least it does up until you release you'll be playing the whole thing while resembling a Yoga program on fast forward. Which you know, doesn't convey the whole "Fearless Warrior of the stars" thing very well. And it get's worse...

That's right. They've turned one of the greatest stories ever told, into a Just Dance clone. And not the laser baring soldier kind. In fact, they've dragged those down with them, and turned them into dancers. In fact, they even have parts of the plot involved in dancing, with Leia having to dance for her life while Jabba watches, creepily looking past the semi-naked princess and looking at the player instead.

Of course, one of the most important things about a game is the controls. Which most Kinect games only have half off. Remember those Jedi fights in the above video? You don't move. Sometimes you'll work on the rails, sometimes your avatar will just stand there and wait for the enemy to run into you. I know.

I won't even mention the "racist Kinect" argument, but while the Kinect was a massive innovation, it didn't pay off. It's the perfect console for Dance Games, Fitness Games, and some sports games, but after that, it runs out, and you would be better off fiddling with a lump of molded plastic.

Score: 6/10

Well, it looks like the decision's in. The Nintendo Wii emerges victorious, in the area it started. However, I must admit that as an online console it fails, and that crown rests on the head of the X-Box, thanks to X-Box Live. Motion Gaming could prove to be very great. But if Sony and Microsoft have any sense, they'll stay out of it, and stick to what they do best.