14 DAY TRIAL // Motion tracking is all the rage at the moment, with both Sony and Microsoft gearing up for the fall launch season with very different solutions that aim to attract as many of those fascinated by the capabilities of the Nintendo Wii as possible. The latter is betting big on Project Natal, which is built around camera tracking and has no handheld controller, while the former is countering with the PlayStation Move.
Richard Marks is the man who actually created the concept of the Move and has recently offered more details about the technology he developed and about its possibilities.
Talking to Kotaku, he claimed that the Sony solution is better than anything Nintendo or Microsoft can offer. Marks says the Move, which uses a combination of both camera-based tracking and controller movement, represents the “absolute best tracking.” The movement that happens on the Z axis is especially well recognized by the Sony system, as it is both camera tracked and transmitted by the sensors inside the Sony wand.
Marks adds that the system is designed with limits that are higher than any gamer is capable of, “You could spin it all the way around eight times in one second. You can't do that, but in a short time you could get a burst.” He also says that the PlayStation Eye gets 60 frames per second while the Move controller itself transmits more data than that.
The Move also has a proprietary locking connector near the bottom, which Sony is not yet ready to talk about and will probably enable extra functions when other devices are attached. The controller also sports a so-called T-button, which enables players to execute simple actions without resorting to any sub-controller pairing. Marks also says that changing light conditions do not affect the Move very much, with recalibration only needed when the level of light changes dramatically in a room.