PlayStation Move Will Not Make SOCOM 4 Less Hardcore

Nobody expected SOCOM 4, a tactical shooter, to be among the launch titles for PlayStation Move, the motion tracking solution Sony plans to out during the fall.

After all, the success of the Nintendo Wii, which also uses motion tracking, is linked with more casual titles built around fitness and sports. But the people who are working on SOCOM 4 are saying that the need to make the game play well both with Move and with traditional PlayStation 3 controllers will not render it any less of a hardcore experience.

Elliot Martin, who is a producer working on SOCOM 4, told Eurogamer as part of an interview that “I would consider myself a hardcore gamer, so I feel I can have an opinion on this. But I've seen games in development which would be considered hardcore and which make very good use of the Move implementation - SOCOM being just one of them. It doesn't ruin the experience, that's the important thing. It may not be the exact experience certain people want but that's why we're being very careful to not lock it down. We're trying to preserve the different playing methods to appease everyone.”

Mr. Martin is also saying that the calibration sequence for Move will make sure the game knows how to interpret both big sweeping motions and flicks of the wrist, allowing the player to move as quickly or as slowly as they like through the world. One concern linked with Move and its integration that has not been addressed yet is how the multiplayer will work when some use motion tracking and some the DualShock controllers.

SOCOM 4 is developed by Zipper Interactive and will arrive exclusively for the PlayStation 3 at some point during the fall. Players will be going to a country in South-West Asia and fight an insurgent group with a team of four other operatives.