Sony has a new message for Nintendo Wii gamers: Come join us.
The maker of the PlayStation 3 unveiled on Thursday its highly anticipated motion-based controller system, as it takes aim at Nintendo's dominance in gaming. With PlayStation Move, Sony hopes to lure gamers who have outgrown Nintendo, which launched the Wii in 2006 and became the first to introduce motion-detecting controllers.
Peter Dille, senior vice president of marketing for Sony Computer Entertainment, credited Nintendo Co. for "introducing motion gaming to the masses."
Now it's time for them to graduate to the PlayStation, which offers a new experience for both casual and hard-core gamers, he said at a press conference in San Francisco.
"The migration path from the Wii household to the PlayStation 3 household is a pretty natural path, partly because of the experience that you can get on the PlayStation Move but also because of the content that we find on PlayStation 3," he said.
Used with the existing PlayStation Eye camera, the wireless motion controller can track players' body movements. The controller, in turn, has on its end a light-emitting orb that is recognized by the camera.
"Nothing has ever been this precise," said Shuhei Yoshida, president of Sony Computer Electronics Worldwide Studios.
The PlayStation Move will go on sale this fall. Pricing details have not been released, but a starter bundle including the PlayStation Eye, motion controller and one game will retail for under $100, Dille said.
Major game publishers such as Activision Blizzard Inc., Electronic Arts Inc. and Square Enix are developing Move-compatible games.