Sports Champions (PS3 Move)

[spaceboy]

As I'm sure most of you have heard, the PS3 motion control setup "Move" has arrived.  And of course, I picked up the Sports Champions bundle.

So I've now played at least one game of all the game options in Sports Champions and have a good feel for the capabilities of the Move and I can say this is going to be a lot of fun.

The hardware works great and feels very natural in all your movements.  The whole 1:1 is no joke.  I can see my in game character moving exactly in time with me.

All games w@&k well but my favorite has to be Gladiator Duel.  I can't believe anyone said this doesn't w@&k well.  If you read the tips on what buttons do what you can move pretty well, dodging, bashing with your weapon or your shield, even doing special moves like jump attacks when someone is knocked down.  And what a good workout!  Because you are moving your arms in a wide range of motion I could really feel it in my shoulders.

Archery is one that is relatively passive but feels really cool using two Move controllers.  You can almost feel the tension when you draw your arrow back.  It's easy enough to hit your target during practice, but try doing it and aiming fast to beat your opponent to the target!

Throwing a frisbee is like throwing a frisbee, exactly the motion - I've even already gotten a trophy for a hole in one (I threw a few frisbees in my youth you know)..  Volley ball and ping pong are also very accurate and a good workout.  The only one that I kind of rushed through was Bocce.  I think it'd be fun having a drink with another player kicking back throwing some bocce ball, but alone against the CPU was not too great.  At least you can skip your competitors throw (in frisbee too).

I'm installing some of the demo disc games now which include some shooters and other puzzle games. I'm glad I picked it up and am looking forward to some good times (and honestly some good workouts as well).

[Art Blade]

:) Good to know you're enjoying it, space  :-X

[spaceboy]

Thanks Art!  I checked out a couple of the demos for a bit and thought the aiming was quite responsive and easy.  From the couch (I was done standing for the night) I was able to calibrate the controller in a couple easy steps.  This was cool - one of the game had you point to the middle, then "aim" at two targets in either corner of the screen.  There were no pointers or indicators on the screen when you did this and it basically is taking into consideration how you aim and calibrating as such.

The shooters I did in the demo so far were "on rails" shooters but some great arcade "light gun" fun.  There is an analog navigation controller for use with more open world type control schemes as well.

[Art Blade]

The controller is high tech.

The glowing ball matches your surrounding (max contrast) so the console can pick up its movements. Then it makes use of a magnetic sensor using our Earth's magnetic field (also preventing you from recalibrating often as well as calculating the position even when temporarily hidden from the camera), it uses an acceleration sensor and a gyroscope for movement and tilt detection which at the timy sync its force feedback, and it determins your 3D location (z-axis) by calculating how that glowing ball's shape gets bigger (closer) or smaller (farther away) at a rate of 60 frames per second, detecting even rapid movements.

Amazing  :)  :-X

[PZ]

Very cool, space - I had no knowledge of this controller at all - sounds like it adds Wii capabilities to the PS3  :-X

[Art Blade]

that is indeed the reason, PZ: "surprised  by the success of the Wii.." Sony developed their own controller.  ;D

[spaceboy]

so true.  And while it does bring Wii like capabilities it definitely has greater possibilties due to the 1:1 tracking and "z-axis" (thanks Art for posting all the technical stuff there!)   

In fact Microsoft is coming out with Kinect this fall which is a controller-less "camera -only" motion control option to compete with Wii and Move.  This could be described as similar to what Sony did with the EyeToy on PS2, but of course I expect Kinect to be superior and take it to another level.

Personally, I am happy Sony went with a camera-controller combo because I think it'll provide developers more to w@&k with and it seems a natural way to do certain things like shoot etc.  Plus I like the vibration feedback etc.  Either way both big boys are taking the Wii on and really giving consumers some fun choices this year.  The only downside  is this motion control topic (Move vs. Kinect) is reheating all the horrible console wars stuff again unfortunately.

[JRD]

Soon we'll be lterally stepping into virtual reality to play!  8)

[Art Blade]

Heh, and whacking someone over the head with a big club will make your hands ring :-()

[JRD]

At school, my kids (when I make some) will say:
"- When my dad was young he used to play games using mouse and keyboards huahuahuahuahuahuauha  ^+-+ ... and they were wired... hhhuuuuuaaaaaaaaahuahuahuahuahahuahuahuahfaegnawo qwoi9ur"
"- my dad had a controller he had to hold with both hands, can you believe it? muahuahuahuahuahuahua"

[Art Blade]

 :-D

[fragger]

Lol, JRD ;D :-()

[spaceboy]

Advancing to the Silver level in Gladiator has brought much tougher AI.   Having a blast with this game!

Here's a little video (that's not me) of a guy doing Gladiator,  he's a little less agressive than I play, but it shows good how the 1:1 tracking is.  You can see how he has his hands down and so is his shield.  He's playing on the easy Bronze level.  It's necessary to keep your sheild up to block and you can even parry with your weapon.

PlayStation Move Sports Champions Gladiator Duel Game Play Split Screen


Another game I'm really psyched about that comes out next month for Move is The Fight: Lights Out...

The Fight: Lights Out E3 Trailer

[PZ]

Cool - PS3 meets the Wii  :-X

[Art Blade]

I think I'd need to be really careful not to knock over my furniture when playing those  ;D

[spaceboy]

very true Art.  Make a little space for yourself.  The biggest thing to watch for is ceiling height, especially during volleyball!

[PZ]

I wonder what your neighbors would think if they saw you play FC2 with that kind of system.  :-()

[Art Blade]

Make a little space for yourself

erm.. I leave that to you (spacekid II?)

[spaceboy]

Make a little space for yourself

erm.. I leave that to you (spacekid II?)

lol Art,  I've already got 3 little spaces, so yeah that's enough.  They certainly contribute to the lack of real space in the house!

[Art Blade]

Hehehe! ;D So your family name is "crew" I believe.. like "oh, there's the space crew."  :-D

[fragger]

That's funny, guys ^+-+ And lol @ "3 little spaces" and "space crew" :-()

Those games look like terrific fun space, enjoy :-X

The biggest thing to watch for is ceiling height, especially during volleyball!

;D ;D

It won't be long before you'll start seeing Move-related accidents on YouTube and "funny home video" type shows - lamps being demolished, players inadvertently biffing each other, china cabinets having controllers accidently hurled into them - and I can see all that happening just inside my house, if I ever got one of those :-\\

Our ceiling fans too could be problematic :o

[Art Blade]

 :-D

There is one sort of sports that is dangerous for indoor fun: Golf. I could feel it already. Lacking a Move controller (let alone a console with respective games) I needed something real so I grabbed a large iron golf club and walked outside. Lacking a golf ball, I took a look at what the neighbour's garden had to offer.

A frog.

Of course I had to tie it up so it remained "seated."

After a few practice swings I hit it real good. Well, it didn't go too far, must have hit a couple of those trees, judging from the red freckles I found when examining the supposed landing area. But I did enjoy the sound it made when it sailed away.

Well, at least I hit "the green" with only one shot.

Spoiler

Almost a true story.  ;)

[PZ]

 ^+-+

[spaceboy]

That's kind of disturbing... lol

Just watch out for the next hole...it's a frog leg to the left.  hahaha

[spaceboy]

check out this intersting attachment for shooters with Move... you can see the navigation controller in the back of the handle which free up your left hand to hit the face buttons on the Move controller (the lighted one in the barrel)

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003XPHE1W/?tag=electronic-game-console-20