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We touched it: PlayStation Move from every angle

March 10th, 2010 No comments

Click to MOVE into the gallery

Professionally taken publicity shots of new hardware are nice, sure, but nothing really compares to seeing what the thing actually looks like in the real world. It's with that in mind that we grabbed a PlayStation Move and snapped the photos you can browse in the gallery below. In them, you'll see such noteworthy features as the USB syncing / charging port; what appear to be notches for some addition doodad to lock onto at the bottom of the Move; and the select and start buttons tucked away on either side of the "wand" itself.

JoystiqWe touched it: PlayStation Move from every angle originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 11 Mar 2010 01:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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‘Arc’ lives on in PlayStation Move’s logo

March 10th, 2010 No comments
Even the not-so-keen-eyed observer has probably noticed by now that the PlayStation Move's logo doesn't really look like a letter "M." That's because it's a letter "A," as in "Arc," the name which, according to multiple Sony sources who wished to remain anonymous, is what the peripheral was to be called at retail until the company was refused a trademark on the Arc name. In fact, we've been told that the change to "Move" was made quite recently, which further explains the incongruous logo.

If you think "Move" is an odd name for Sony's motion controller, these same sources assured us that we got lucky - many of the other proposed names following the trademark denial were ranged from silly to awful, they said. When we suggested that "PlayStation Boogie" was about as bad as we could imagine, we were told, "Actually, that's an improvement over a lot of them."

Keep an eye on the Move logo -- we wouldn't be surprised if Sony's marketing department adds a little extra blue ink before E3, making it a true (stylized) letter "M."

Joystiq'Arc' lives on in PlayStation Move's logo originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 11 Mar 2010 00:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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PlayStation Move Gets Its First Wii Port [Gdc10]

March 10th, 2010 No comments

Hands-on: PlayStation Move’s ‘Move Party’

March 10th, 2010 No comments
Click to enlarge

The PlayStation Move-equivalent of the minigame compilations released for PS2's EyeToy, Move Party is an excuse to use Sony's motion controller to look like a fool in front of your family and friends. (As if holding a glowing wand and pantomiming playing a sport isn't already silly enough.)

Ludwig and I took turns looking utterly ridiculous while playing the title earlier today, trying to best one another in a series of minigames which ranged from swatting bugs with tennis rackets to painting shapes in the air - things that would have been entirely possible with Sony's older tech. We got a brief taste of the Move's potential when we needed to stab a spear at jellyfish floating up the screen - I really had to stab toward the screen pretty strongly to pop them. The precision possible with the Move was best demonstrated by the haircut minigame, where it was possible to finely cut along the scalp line to remove the comical characters' locks.

The most impressive element of Move Party, though, is by far the precision with which the various tools - paintbrushes, shears, rackets - that all mimicked how I was holding the controller exactly in the on-screen "augmented reality" video. It was ... kind of spooky. Though it wasn't announced as such, this has to be the software title Sony intends to pack in with the hardware. I can't imagine it debuting as a full-priced retail title. Maybe at $20, or, better yet, a PSN release.

JoystiqHands-on: PlayStation Move's 'Move Party' originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 11 Mar 2010 00:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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GDC: Making games to prevent violence against children

March 10th, 2010 No comments
The highlight of yesterday's GDC Serious Game Summit panels focused on an appropriately consequential topic: How games can help protect children from the commonplace dangers they face from predators, both online and off. The panel was led by Child Safety Research and Innovation Center president Allan McCullough -- a man who's strived to develop games which teach young people how to identify and avoid dangerous situations.

The two Flash-based games which represent the fruits of McCullough's two decades of labor look deceptively simple on the surface. They are, after all, hand-illustrated, poorly animated educational games geared towards children, with budgets too small to allow the hiring of professional voice actors and experienced gaming professionals. However, beneath the crude surface of these games lie clever methods of imparting crucial information to their young players which could ostensibly help them avoid encounters with people who mean them harm.

Continue reading GDC: Making games to prevent violence against children

JoystiqGDC: Making games to prevent violence against children originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 11 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Monkey Island 2 Special Edition: Yaarrr First Screenshots [Gdc10]

March 10th, 2010 No comments

Hands-on: PlayStation Move’s Sports Champions

March 10th, 2010 No comments
Click for the gallery of Champions

You might think it derisive to call Sports Champions (working title) the Wii Sports of PlayStation Move, but it's really intended as a compliment. Although the collection of sports-themed games are relatively simple, they adequately highlight the Move's motion-sensing capabilities and, most importantly, how they're distinguished from those offered by the Wii (something that another Move game, The Shoot, did not do). Like Wii Sports, Sports Champions seems good at selling you on the hardware's abilities -- and what they might mean in more elaborate games.

The Gladiator game is a simple affair of blocking and attacking (your character moves towards the opponent automatically), but the Move will take into account the height of your swings and the positioning of your shield (generated by a second Move controller). It'll also sense distance -- if you don't hold your weapon arm back, it'll swing into your own shield to deleterious effect. Aside from swinging and blocking, you can also move both arms upwards to activate a jumping attack, or shuffle the controllers to the side in order to roll out of the way from an incoming strike. Basic stuff, but natural enough to not come across as a tacked-on gesture.

The Table Tennis game was even more promising, and easily bested the Wii's equivalent. Your paddle's angle and area of exposure is almost instantly determined by how you're holding the controller. The Move's weight, coupled with the game's quick response and predictable physics, made every swing feel ... just right. It'll be a shame if a table tennis game turns out to be one of the best launch games for Move, but at least it'll stand out as one of the best of its ilk. That's a win, right?

JoystiqHands-on: PlayStation Move's Sports Champions originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 23:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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PlayStation Move Hands-on Impressions

March 10th, 2010 No comments
At GDC 2010, Sony formally introduced its motion controller, aptly titled: PlayStation Move. For those that haven't been following its development and unveiling at E3 2009, the technology pairs a high-definition camera (the already available PlayStation Eye) and a wand with a colored orb at the top.

Garnett Lee and I went hands-on with two pre-alpha titles here at GDC: SOCOM 4 and Sports Champions.


SOCOM 4

SOCOM 4, announced last week, is the latest in the franc...

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Lego Universe beta invites being sent out

March 10th, 2010 No comments
We're received a handful of tips, and Massively confirms it: beta invites for the surprisingly hype-worthy Lego Universe beta have started to roll out. It's something we entirely want in on.

But, alas, no invite for us. Our tips box is only a repository for our own sadness, as others regale us with tales of their conquests; their own acquired beta invites. No, it's fine -- don't worry about us. We're just going to sit in the corner, with our real-life Legos, pretending there are actual people behind those hopelessly optimistic smiles, willing to interact with us in a virtual world.

JoystiqLego Universe beta invites being sent out originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 23:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Lego Universe beta invites being sent out

March 10th, 2010 No comments
We're received a handful of tips, and Massively confirms it: beta invites for the surprisingly hype-worthy Lego Universe beta have started to roll out. It's something we entirely want in on.

But, alas, no invite for us. Our tips box is only a repository for our own sadness, as others regale us with tales of their conquests; their own acquired beta invites. No, it's fine -- don't worry about us. We're just going to sit in the corner, with our real-life Legos, pretending there are actual people behind those hopelessly optimistic smiles, willing to interact with us in a virtual world.

JoystiqLego Universe beta invites being sent out originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 23:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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