"Welcome, late crashers" 
As an unworthy follow-up to Iga's in-depth threads on motion control tech, I wanted to gauge again the pulse of our nifty community regarding the implementation of motion peripherals by both Sony and MS, and the way they are seeking to accomplish that in the face of a Nintendo that has every intention to keep leading the way in this field while thinking outside the box.
This E3 had an outstanding selection of titles, from all three HW makers and 3rd party devs, but I believe that the overarching theme of the event was the official introduction of both MS and Sony's motion control peripherals. Both Natal and the as-of-now-unnamed Sony wang peripheral which will involve the Eye Toy were presented at this year's E3, both claiming to be the evolution of Nintendo's own Wii remote. While MS's system seems to be further ahead in its dev cycle than Sony's, it would seem that the latter could have potentially less trouble in its implementation, given that it uses less complex technology, at any rate, they both aim for releases on the "sooner" side of the fence, considering how long has the current HW generation been running
In a GI interview with Shane Kim, Natal was adressed as a new canvas, in which the industry will be reinvented. Bold claim, considering the technical hurdles that the technology still has to overcome, which range from NIRS inaccuracies to cluttered living rooms with a lot of stuff going on. At least it seems to be functional, if the demos shown at E3 are of any indication. The implementation of the technology is the worrying issue here, and I find it highly unlikely that each and every possible gaming genre or experience will benefit from this stuff.
Sony, on the other hand, claims to have been working on this tech for years, and early impressions have been favorable. It must be noted, though, that Sony's peripheral needs the PS Eye (another peripheral) to work, so for people without the latter, it will be a higher entry price. Outside some tech demos, there hasn't been any mention of specific games/software in development as of now for the peripheral(s).
The impact of both technologies, coupled with the release of Wii Motion Plus and the presentation of the out-of-the-left-field Wii Vitality sensor, has made bigwigs such as John Riccitiello, EA boss, to say that the market could very well end up split in half, between motion control games, and traditional ones, while stating that they almost developed both of them at some point in time.
In the meantime, Nintendo's President, Satoru Iwata is happy about the newcomers' arrival to motion control land, because he's excited by the competition, while stinging a bit by saying that he expected them a year earlier, and warning them that the reborn gaming giant won't stay still and will strive to further push the envelope in a race that just took a significant turn...in full motion control.
Recently Spotted:
*crickets*
unworthy indeed.
The point is simple, Motion Plus exist now and you can play games on it, the other two are just prototypes. There is no comparison here.
i also feel that the engineering principles behind wiimote + wmp are more robust than the motion capture cameras. but like iwata, i'm glad motion controls are becoming accepted by all the companies as i think there are many ways in which they can help gaming go forward.
If you read the EA piece it says that THEY were developing Natal, the very same tech for their sports games and gave it up because of the cost. A cost a platform holder could leverage more successfully. They also say that they introduced Sony to their motion ball-on-stick technology 2 years ago.
The problem with Natal is that its controller-less which means that it will work like an eye toy or a static device unless you have something more interactive. How do you play Red Steel 2 when you can't move through the environment, or dont have something to hold to switch weapons? Do you hold your hand like a gun and cock a finger to fire? Do you then make a pretend sword grip and swing about?
Sony has the more reliable tech, I worry about the ball on a stick, if it goes behind something whilst making a motion it will momentarily lost track like Wii IR.
That's why something like the ultrasonic tech from that UK company or WMP sounds more reliable.
Either way, the problem with this new tech is that firsty, there are no release dates, price points or even software attached to it. You need something to push motion, an application to wow the masses. Wii Sports did that a few years ago, now its going to take something just as mass market to do the job again. And unlike Wii, 360 and PS3 didn't launch with a motion device packed with every console.
Sure new 360s from a certain time next year will have natal bundled, but the 30 million other people out there will have to what?
The other problem is that Motionplus was shown a year ago and is hitting NOW with real software, not just tech demos or mini-games and in a few months with more software. It will take just as long for games to be built with Natal and ball-on-stick in mind.
I almost see the motion controls of the other consoles as a way to indeed reach this 10 year lifecycle. It's a cheap way to extend the lifecycle of existing technology (like Wii did with cube hardware).
It's all good stuff, but its getting harder to get excited when more and more people are jumping in the pool. You get this, LOL, red ocean effect.