The Brilliant Playstation Move

My household has a brilliant new toy – Playstation Move. For those of you who don’t know what this is, PlayStation Move is a motion-sensing game controller platform for the PlayStation 3, based on a handheld motion ‘wand’ and a PlayStation Eye camera used to track the wand's position. We ordered the Playstation Move starter pack (£49.99) which comes with a wand, Playstation Eye and a demo disk of the games which are currently available and a few which are due to be released soon. Within half an hour of trying it we were in the car on the way to our local Game to buy a second controller and a full copy of the brilliant Sports Champions – this has lead to what can only be described as Table Tennis and Disc Golf grudge matches between my husband and I. The System The Move technology has crazy pinpoint accuracy due to the microphone style wands having an accelerometer and a gyrometer to sense motion on three axes, so it'll responded to users simply turning a wrist or moved backwards and forwards and the slightest movement. One of my favourite wand features is the impressive glowing ball, which is powered by a full colour 24bit RGB LED which can change colours – this can either be used so the camera can differentiate between different controllers if you're playing with a friend or to show different game states - it might glow red if your character is injured, for example. Next on our to-buy list is the Move navigation controller which is a one-handed supplementary controller designed for use in conjunction with the wand during game play. Very similar to the Nintendo Wii’s Nunchuk the move controller has a d-pad, an analogue stick, and two shoulder buttons and when held in your left hand, adds extra input possibilities for Move games. Games As you can imagine there are only a hand full of games available at the moment but already for me this is where the Move really excels next to the Wii. The games are for adults, there are a few kids’ games thrown in for family evenings but this definitely a toy for the grown-ups. My favourite games so far are: Sports Champions People will tell you this is like Nintendo’s Wii Sports – it’s not! It has 6 different sports you can play, Beach Volleyball which you will feel like a prat playing but is great fun, Table tennis which is a fantastic two player game, Gold Discus which is a golf style game played with Frisbees, bocce (boules) which is fun and frustrating at the same time, Swords which is a gladiatorial battle game, and my personal favourite archery which I must admit I have become slightly addicted to. Tumble I am a bit of a puzzle freak so this was right up my street! This Jenga style game requires you to build towers out of differently shaped blocks using the Move controller to pick them up and carefully place them. This for me is the game which shows the technology off best the slightest of movements can send your tower crashing to the ground. A bargain at only £7.99 from the Playstation online store. EyePet My 11 year old niece went crazy for this demo – you can get down on the floor and play with your eyepet, giving it showers and tickling its tummy. I would buy this but I have two lovely little cavalier dogs and I don’t think they would be too happy with me tickling a virtual tummy with they have actually tummy’s they like to have tickled! Other games of note are Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 – obviously a golf game and The Shoot - has you blasting your way through a series of movie sets featuring sci-fi, horror and western environments. The one I am most looking forward to getting is Virtua Tennis 4 which is due out next year; reports from those who have tried it are suggesting that the game will be brilliant and a stand out seller for Sony next year. All-in-all a fun addition to the Playstation stable - I would suggest if you are thinking about buying this for Christmas get along to your local shopping centre now because I think this is going to be very difficult to get in December!