14 DAY TRIAL // Two big technologies were thrust into the spotlight at E3, with hardware manufacturers hoping they would revolutionize the way videogames are played and pushing lagging sales up sharply.
Motion tracking is coming to the Xbox 360 and to the PlayStation 3 via Kinect and PlayStation Move, while Nintendo is bringing three-dimensional gaming to handhelds with the Nintendo 3DS. The only trouble with revolutionary hardware is that it also needs specially created videogames in order to be a success with customers.
Activision seems to be ready to work with all of the abovementioned technologies, Thomas Tippl, who is the Chief Operations Officer for the publisher, telling Gamespot in an interview that “I was particularly impressed by the 3DS, and it got a great reception. It’s a brilliant product. Nintendo’s figured out the glasses or the lack thereof are key,” adding, “Down the road, as we see an install base emerging on these new innovations and user interfaces from Sony and Xbox, we will have certain games for which they will be suitable and open up new ways to innovate and enhance the user experience. You can see games like Tony Hawk would be obvious.”
It's not clear how gamers who are still affected by the worldwide economic crisis will react to the launch of the PlayStation Move, which comes in September, and to that of Kinect, which is coming in early November. Microsoft has not yet announced a price point for its motion tracking device, while Sony is selling Move beginning with 49.99 dollars but a true motion control experience could end up costing more than 100 dollars depending on gamers’ needs.
While publishers like Activision are waiting to see how players adapt new peripherals, they will be getting significant support from Sony and Microsoft themselves, with titles like SOCOM 4 and Kinectimals coming on launch date.