MOVEing up in the world...

... Yeah, not a very clever play on words, but you get the idea. I have recently gotten the Playstation Move, and with it a copy of Resident Evil 5: Gold edition.

I like the Move. It picks up movements decently well, and rather than it just being a flick of the wrist like it is with the Wii motion controls: You control every nuance of whatever it is you're controlling on the screen. I've played some of the Sports Champions games. I'll put a more full fledged post about it next week. I will say this though: It's more than just a glorified demo disc, which if you've ever played Wii Sports, well... that's what that game felt like.

Now, normally when I play through a series of games, I need to play them in order, with Silent Hill being a notable exception (I actually played the first one third, since I couldn't find it anywhere). All of the Crash Bandicoots, the Spyro's, any gaming series I have I need to play them from when they began, that way I can see how the story goes from one game to the next, I can see all the little references and improvements made. With Resident Evil, I figured I would do the same thing... but then when the Gold Edition of 5 came out, with Move compatibility, I figured why not? Originally I was getting the GE for Jeff, and he was going to trade me his copy of the original version, but since he ended up getting it for himself, I wasn't going to just give my copy away...

To be honest, I've always maintained that the Wii was tailor made for shooters: All you really need to do is aim the Wii-mote at the screen, fire, and voila: Instant killing gratification. Which makes me wonder why playing RE5G on PS3 feels better than any Wii shooter I've played. The controls just work very naturally for it.

I tried the game very briefly at Jeff's place using the Dualshock setup, and I gotta admit, I much prefer just pointing at the screen. There's just something about it that makes it feel more fluid. Again, RE5 on the PS3 is what I wish Wii shooters would feel like.

On a final note, even almost two years after the games release, RE5 is probably the best looking game I have ever seen, and I've seen way too many games than could ever be considered healhty. From Press Start Two Play, I'm Chris Taylor, wishing all a pleasant Gammage.

PlayStation Move

PlayStation Move came out last Friday. I figured, why not get it... after all, I am dying to get the RE4 Wii experience with Resident Evil 5 (which Chris and I should start playing pretty soon).

I got the Sports Champions Bundle with an extra Move Controller and a navigation controller (there was a promo at Toys'R'Us). I must admit that I am intrigued in Motion tech in general. When it was first announced for the Wii, I thought it would be revolutionary. The Wii was, but not necessarily because of motion.

Although there has been a few games that use it well, developpers either don't bother to spend the time to put out refined game on the system or the tech simply isn't there. Even the Motion + has yet to see an actual game make good use of it (hopefully Skyward Sword will rectify that).

Enter the PlayStation Move. A derivative accesory at best, it may hold the key to hardcore gaming and motion controls (I have yet to try Kinect, simply because it is not out yet, but I do not think it's potential lies in the same area). In many ways, it is Wii Motion + PlayStation Eye Toy. Once you are properly set up, it works like a charm. It feels good in your hand and it is surprisingly light. The ball itself is made of a soft foamy plastic, meaning you don't need to fear hitting your friends.

The bundle comes packaged with: 1 Move controller, 1 PlayStation Eye, 1 Sports Champions and 1 demo disc. There is also an EyePet bundle, where the included game is EyePet instead of Sports Champions. I already had the Eye, but the demo disc is a nice thing to have.

Here are my impressions on the games so far:

Sports Champions: To me, HUGE SURPRISE. I was expectingly something in line with Wii Sports Resort (which I thought was a huge disappointment). It is true that I did not have any expections towards Sports Champions, but boy is that game fun. Sure it looks generatic and could use some personality, but man, I just can't get enough of it. Volleyball I thought was surprisingly addictive. Table Tennis is superior enough to the Wii one that I'll most likely never touch the game again (although I do have a soft spot for Wakeboarding). I had never heard of Bocce before, but I think it is going to satiate my "curling need" until an actual Move Curling game comes out. I haven't played Frisbee Gold yet, but if the controls are like in the other games, should be great. Archery...I need to find the sweet spot because it is the only thing I'm having some problems controlling right now. And Gladiator Combat (or whatever the actual name is) is so much fun. Imagine a Soul Calibur type game with GOOD motion controls. It's that much fun... although you do need 2 move controllers.

Tumble: Fun block placement game. Imagine a videogame version of Jenga if you will (or other block games like Villa Paletti or Hamsterrolle...although these titles are definitely more niche). It takes a few minutes to get used to the controls, but once you do it is very solid. Maybe not as entertaining as Boom Blox, but solid enough for a $10 downloadable title.

The Shoot: I only tried the demo, but it is an old school arcadey shooter. The artstyle is okay (with cardboard characters to ensure that it is not too violent) and the gameplay has some fun twist. I am not sure if it is worth $40 however.

I tried some of the other demos, but they weren't my type of game. EyePet is surprisingly cute, but I'm not into pets or virtual pets so... (unless they are of the WoW Collectible variety).

Overall, the launch titles are nothing stellar, but the tech is very impressive and I think it's potential for more hardcore games is nothing to be scoffed at. However, with 2 very different techs, I'm very curious to see how titles for them will pan out. I cannot wait to try the multiplayer aspects of these titles, should be fun.