Sony Motion Controller vs. Natal
You might be aware of Project Natal, but another motion controller that is simply outstanding is Sony’s Motion Controller (Codename: Gem). Let’s compare Sony’s “Gem” controller with Natal.
While Project Natal generated a lot more buzz than Sony’s motion controller, I personally was much more impressed by Sony’s Tech demo, but Natal has some great advantages.
Project Natal:
Facts:
- Color, depth and voice recognition
- Infrared projector + monochrome CMOS sensor
- Works at any lightning conditions
- Recognises your face + facial expressions
- Multi-array microphone can extract ambient noise
- Creates virtual skeleton of you (1 time)
Release Date:
- Not confirmed.
Project Natal Video: Ricochet Stage Demo
This ricochet demo is convincing and the motion tracking seems to be very exact and fast.
Project Natal Video: Painting Demo
The painting demo has some great features and shows that the voice recognition is already very advanced.
Project Natal Video: Product Vision
Keep in mind that this is just a promo video, a “product vision”. This is not a real tech demo:
Sony Motion Controller “Gem”:
Facts:
- Camera tracker
- Sensor knows exact orientation/acceleration and position in real world
- Motion tracking (not only color tracking)
- No Voice tracking
- Problematic with *strong* lights
Release Date:
- Approx. Spring 2010
Sony Motion Controller Video (Tech Demo E3)
This is a real tech demo and for me it underlines that Sony’s controller is (at this stage of development) far more advanced, why else wouldn’t Microsoft show some more features of Natal at the E3?
Conclusion: Sony’s Gem vs. Microsoft’s Natal
I was pretty impressed by Sony due to the fact that Sony actually presented a tech demo that was far better than the two tech demos of Project Natal combined (Painting + Ricochet). Sony aims for a release in spring 2010, while Microsoft still has to reveal a release date for Project Natal. Also, Sony already confirmed 15 games that will make use of their newest gem. It looks like Microsoft is a step behind Sony, what of course doesn’t mean that Sony’s controller will be better than Natal.
Microsoft has two features that could help Natal to become their biggest success:
- Voice Recognition
- Virtual creation of a skeleton
The voice recognition is a completely new feature that Nintendo’s Wii and Sony’s device lack. It might definitely come in handy when it comes to strategy games, controlling the device or maybe even next-generation RPG games. The fact that Microsoft’s Natal will create a virtual skeleton of you might be cool for sports games and will be one of the greatest advantages of Natal.
Sony Motion Controller Games
The following games will be updated to support “Gem”:
- Pain
- Flower
- Hustler Kings
- High Velocity Bowling
- EyePet
- Resident Evil 5
The following games are in development, temporary names below:
- Ape Escape
- Echochrome: Reality Theory
- Eccentric Slider
- Sing and Draw
- Champions of Time
- Motion Party
- The Shoot
- Tower
- Under Siege
Sony Motion Controller Buttons
They are even thinking about some special buttons for the motion controller. Dual-Shock support is also a possibility to make it feel more realistic.
Small correction – the PSEye has a 4 channel mic array just as is assumed Natal will have. So it can also accept voice input, isolate voices from one another, remove noise, determine where voices are coming from in relation to the mics etc.
The Singstar PS3 game even already has a voice controlled interface. You can tell it to play a song or whatever and it will just play the song. It works quite well, and in 20 languages. I believe they’re still working on their voice recognition library, though, and plan to release it to third party developers soon.