Sony: "Buttons are irreplaceable"

By Fred Dutton Published 21 September, 2010

Don't push it, Microsoft, says Marks.

Worried that gaming is careering towards a buttonless, waggle-only future? Fear not - Sony has insisted buttons are here to stay.

Discussing Microsoft Kinect's button-free set-up with Edge, PlayStation Move designer Richard Marks said, "I don't think that point of view is quite right.

"I think that you can do some things really well with just a camera, or just a 3D camera, but there's just some stuff you can't do as well. And there's a bunch of experiences you could never do as well. I think our system is really flexible because we still have a camera.

"Buttons are irreplaceable as an input device," he added. "Too many buttons are overwhelming, but one single action button is very powerful feeling. For core games you really do need a set of buttons to quickly choose things. Trying to replace buttons with gestures doesn't work very well."

Microsoft clearly disagrees – it's expecting three million sales of its Kinect system by Christmas. It arrives in stores on 10th November.

Writing about PlayStation Move recently, Digital Foundry demonstrated how Richard Marks and his team had experimented with controller-free gaming input many years ago before dismissing it in favour of EyeToy and then Move.

Picture of Fred.

About Fred Dutton

Fred Dutton is Eurogamer's US news editor, based in Washington DC.

Read more articles from Fred by visiting the Fred Dutton archive page.

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Comments (14) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Snixtor #1 2 years ago

    I continue to be baffled as to how these motion controls are in any way "better" than the conventional. We still need buttons, but in my view, we still need a joystick most of the time too!

    The pinacle of bizarre is motion control driving games. How is waving my arms around in the air supposed to be more immersive than holding an actual wheel and pressing actual pedals?

  • 00.00.01 #2 2 years ago

    Let's see what Kevin Butlers' opinion is on this... [link url=http://www.yaybuttons.com/
    ]http://www.yaybuttons.com/
    [/link]

  • djcool3005 #3 2 years ago

    Its really dependent on the game. Some games really do need buttons to be played and trying to replace buttons with hand gestures would be stupid. In an fps for example I'd much rather hold one of them model gun things and point that at the screen than just point my finger at the screen. It would just feel much better tbh. The gun would be able to provide force feedback too.

  • chuck_bone #4 2 years ago

    Kinect has to prove itself to the hardcore, because right now it mostly looks like games that require you holding your body in certain positions, and waving arms about frantically.
    Fun for a few genres, but useless for many others. That's why MS really has no choice but to do a parallel platform kind of thing with the Kinect. It cant easily integrate the Kinect in any meaningful way (that makes you feel happy you spent £130) in the kind of games the XBOX is popular for.
    I have no problem imagining 3million sales for the inect before Chrismtas, but beyond that? I doubt it has the kind of legs the Wii had. And once you have a Kinect, you don't need to buy another - unlike the move or the Wi mote.

  • Xardan #5 2 years ago

    If you think buttons are essential to interacting with something on screen then you need to use that imagination more.

  • arcam #6 2 years ago

    @Xardan

    "I think that you can do some things really well with just a camera, or just a 3D camera, but there's just some stuff you can't do as well."

    He accepts that interacting with something on screen can work well without buttons, but he's also pointing out that other things can't.

  • Sunyavadin #7 2 years ago

    Well duh.

    Modern pads are the result of decades of evolution, from more unweildy arcade sticks to more and more sensitive devices requiring less movement on the part of the player to achieve the desired result, and adding more button functionality as needed.

    Motion control has a long way to go to mach that. When it can laglessly recognise individual finger movements, within a virtual holographic interface delivered via augmented reality - sure. It will have caught up.

    Newsflash - we are not living in the Mass Effect era yet.

  • twyford #8 2 years ago

    This is the same Sony who told us we didn't need force feedback/rumble in our controllers when the PS3 launched! I do kind of agree that there are actions for which buttons are near on irreplaceable, but at the same time I can't bring myself to be surprised that "manufacturer of motion controller system that requires buttons says buttons are irreplaceable".

  • Mr_Bogus #9 2 years ago

    Buttons are good.
    Also force feedback.
    And an integrated speaker.

  • makeamazing #10 2 years ago

    I don't think Microsoft disagrees, it's just that they think that the general public is put off by buttons, so have removed them to make them buy 360's!

    Yeah, MS will say for the moment that people have problems with buttons, but the millions of Wii owners (which has sold alot to older people as well as non gamers say hello). So i dont think MS thinks buttons put the public off, that is just PR spin to create a situation that doesnt actually exist.

  • 32768Colours #11 2 years ago

    I think someone at MS thought back to Nintendo's "people are afraid of controllers" comment and took it too far. Nintendo reasoned that the average person with a telly is more than familiar with their TV remote, so they removed the control barrier by shaping the controller like a TV remote. One best-selling console later... Job done. Its simply no longer a problem that needs solving.

    Even though motion tech is in its relative infancy, the Wiimote - whether we like it or not - is almost certainly going to be the template for all controllers over the next generation or two, maybe more. MS might be halfway there though, but just coming at it from a different angle; I wouldn't be at all surprised if the next xbox combines an upgraded Kinect camera and more advanced Move style controller for us "hardcore" gamers. Of course albeit in a retro-fitted sense, Sony more or less have that capacity already.

    Ultimately they better get it right one way or another, because like Apple telling us all that the only good phone is a touch-screen phone, I think Nintendo, Sony and MS are all telling us motion control is the new standard, end of.

  • Sevens #12 2 years ago

    Won't someone think of the buttons!?

  • ThePissartist #13 2 years ago

    Rival hardware (button using) developer says buttons are best - shocker.

    I love the way Marks really wants everyone to believe Move is capable of the same as Kinect. Only a small number of people are that daft.

    "Please, PLEASE believe me!?"

    Piss off Marks.

    Probably both Kinect and Move are shit. We'll all be talking about how both were rubbish in a few years.

  • ThePissartist #14 2 years ago

    I wanna make a game where you've got to use an old style joystick with one big red button to slap about Sony and Microsoft PR types.

    Marks and that bloody Kudo bloke.