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Retrospective: Why Playstation Move was better than Kinect

xbox360s_kinect_printIn 2010, both Sony and Microsoft released new motion devices. The Playstation 3 got the Playstation Move while Xbox 360 got the Kinect. Microsoft’s solution got a majority of the attention and ended selling better. Nevertheless, we believed that the Playstation Move was better from a quality standpoint based on the following advantages:

First-Party Support

Sony has the biggest first-party development core when compared to Microsoft and Nintendo. Most of studios ended up incorporating Playstation Move into the Playstation 3 games. Heavy Rain and LittleBigPlanet got patched to add support for the new controller while Killzone 3 and SOCOM US Navy SEALs 4 are shipping with support right out of the box.

On the other side, the first-party support for Microsoft has been slowly dwindling in recent years. Aside from a handful of Xbox 360 games like Fable 3, Forza Kinect and Kinect Sports, Microsoft is mainly relying on the third-party companies. The Playstation Move certainly has a big advantage over Kinect in terms of support from the internal studios.

Hardcore Focus

Although the Playstation Move has its fair share of games made specifically for casuals, Sony also positioned it as a device for hardcore gamers. As a result, the potential audience for the device ended being much bigger. Not to mention that the hardcore audiences typically spend more on the Playstation 3 than the casual ones. Thus, this advantage benefits Sony in more ways than one.

On the other hand, Microsoft initially projected Kinect as a causal device. Because of this, many hardcore gamers on the Xbox 360 felt alienated when Kinect launched. The potential audience for the camera also ended up being slashed as the same hardcore community has no must-have hardcore killer app to purchase Kinect.

Playstation Eye

Before Kinect existed, Sony released the Eye Toy for the Playstation 2. Similar to the Xbox 360 camera accessory, the Eye Toy makes your body into a controller. For the Playstation 3, Sony released a more advanced camera in the Playstation Eye. Although Kinect is technically more advanced, the Playstation Move, which requires the Playstation Eye, can theoretically feature the same body-sensing control scheme in addition to proving a more traditional motion controller to boot.

On the other end of the spectrum, Kinect only has a camera. You won’t have a motion-sensing stick with buttons to provide any tactile feedback. Therefore, you are only limited to using your body as a controller when playing Kinect games.