Why Portal 2 doesn't support PS Move

By Wesley Yin-Poole Published 25 February, 2011

Valve speaks.

Last week Valve's brain-bending first-person puzzler Portal 2 had PlayStation Move support. It was a story that set the internet alight – Valve superstar writer Chet Faliszek had told the German PlayStation Blog Portal 2 would have "complete PlayStation Move support", although the feature "isn't fully integrated yet".

But it wasn't true. It wasn't even remotely true. The truth, in fact, was the complete opposite. Valve notified Eurogamer soon after publication to tell us so. Portal 2: no support for Move. "This quote was 'lost in translation'," Valve said.

We checked. We double checked. Eurogamer's translation of Chet's words on the German PlayStation Blog was sound. And the quotes were so specific. So what happened?

This afternoon, speaking to Eurogamer, Faliszek said it was a case of "mistranslation" not of German to English, but of English to German.

"Their translation from me to them, they may have not spoken that well," he said. "I don't speak that well of English to begin with! Who knows!"

So why doesn't Portal 2 support PlayStation Move?

"On the PC version we have the Hydra controller," Faliszek explained. "Those guys actually sit in our office. They've been working in our office for nine months, a year. So it's not something we'd trivialise and say, 'oh well, let's just toss this in, it doesn't need any thought or anything special.' They've been working in that way for that. We think it deserves that kind of respect if we're going to do it.

"We've always looked at Portal 2 as being the controllers we have going in and then the Hyrda. We designed for those things."

But what of the future? After Portal 2 launches in April, will Valve patch in Move support?

"Who knows?" Faliszek replied.

"I'm not sure it would make the game better. Obviously there are a bunch of games the Kinect and the Move absolutely made better and are for. But for this, where we had started from day one not thinking about that, it would not.

"The Hydra stuff, those guys have invented new puzzles to make their thing make sense. They've done the work to make it fit in and not be just this light touch on the top."

Picture of Wesley.

About Wesley Yin-Poole

Wesley is Eurogamer's news editor. He likes news, interviews, and more news. He also likes Street Fighter more than anyone can get him to shut up about it.

Read more articles from Wesley by visiting the Wesley Yin-Poole archive page.

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Comments (35) Latest comment 1 year ago

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

  • tobsen #1 1 year ago

    I don't even need to read this article because the omission of Move support is inexcusable EITHER WAY!

  • captain_Carl #2 1 year ago

    Didn't other studios fully implement Move in like, 2 weeks or something?

  • JediMasterMalik #3 1 year ago

    I'm not sure how keen I would be to play a Porta game with a motion controller anyway. Mind you I've not played with a move, and tbh would prefer a mouse especially for portal oveer any other input method.

  • NorUraeus #4 1 year ago

    Actually I only recently played the first Portal game on my PS3 (found the orange box in a bargain bin), and one of the first thing that struck me was that it was a perfect fit for the PS Move, more so than a 'normal' FPS.

  • subtlesnake #5 1 year ago

    "Didn't other studios fully implement Move in like, 2 weeks or something? "

    I'm sure Valve could knock together something in a few weeks that would allow you to control the game with the PS Move. That's not the same thing as designing the game to take advantage of the extra degrees of freedom Move offers.

    Valve's philosophy is that if they're going support Move, they'll do it properly - rather than just hacking something in at the last minute.
    Edited by subtlesnake at 25/02/11 @ 17:41

  • Cjail #6 1 year ago

    Be frank Valve you didn't think about Move because you have no faith in it at all.

  • Chufty #7 1 year ago

    You can't fault Valve's post-release support. If Move makes sense to them, it'll be patched in.

    Besides, it's Portal 2. You know you're going to buy it either way.
    Edited by Chufty at 25/02/11 @ 18:36

  • DrStrangelove #8 1 year ago

    So only pad control? I'll avoid the console versions like hell then.

  • SvennoJ #9 1 year ago

    A hydra controller, first time I heard of that one. So they're not supporting move but they are supporting a new motion controller for pc?

  • tinyspark #10 1 year ago

    @DrStrangelove.

    Still, you may as well buy the PS3 version considering you get the PC version free with it

    [link url=http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-01-18-portal-2-ps3-steam-cross-platform-play
    ]http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-0...[/link]

  • chris_ace #11 1 year ago

    Post deleted at 11:55:13 13-12-2011

  • SeesThroughAll #12 1 year ago

    It's OK. I wasn't planning on playing it with Move anyway.

  • Der_tolle_Emil #13 1 year ago

    Weird - Portal could gain quite a bit from Move support. And let's be honest, the pointer implementation to emulate a mouse can be done in a few weeks. If homebrewers can do that with the Wiimote than Valve should be able to do the same with the offical SDK.

  • kraenk12 #14 1 year ago

    one word: HYDRA

  • Rack #15 1 year ago

    Pity all that effort going into Hydra support isn't going to be played by as many people who wrote it. Would have been nice if it made it to Move.

  • Kaminari #16 1 year ago

    May I call BS?

  • captain_Carl #17 1 year ago

    Subtlesnake

    I don't think ANYONE would expect them to design Portal 2 around the Move controller. All i want is to use the Move as a pointer. Copy Killzone 3's implementation and they're off, it'd be perfect. It wouldn't take long to put in, and could only be an advantage. It's another bullet point on the list of features.

    Saying "we don't think it would work" - really? Most gaming sites seem to think it would work wonderfully from the reaction to the move compatible story.

  • weebl #18 1 year ago

    I imagine that Microsoft gave them a quiet ultimatum over adding motion control on one console and not the other (not that it would have worked with Kinect)

    I'm only guessing here, but given how straight forward it would be to implement it would take a reason like this for it not to happen. After all, the PC is getting motion control but that isn't a direct competitor to the 360, is it?

  • FogHeart #19 1 year ago

    I don't buy for an instant this idea that it's this huge long process to design the game and certain levels around Hydra, and they'd have to do it all over again for Move. Functionally, they're the same fucking thing, pointer and Navi. I doubt it's MS dictating what Valve can do, it's whoever makes the Hydra. They're sponsoring the development in part - they don't want people to consider buying Move and playing it on PS3, they want those people to choose PC and Hydra.

    I'm really disappointed, we have this brilliant new control system for FPS, and EA ignore it and don't put it in BulletStorm or MoH, Acti ignored it for CODBlOps, and now Valve ignoring it. Well, today EA lost a sale, I bought the Move-supported FPS. And I'd rather not fork out for an identical peripheral on Valve's say-so, thanks.

  • AttroPheed #20 1 year ago

    The cost of a feature that most of the PS3 audience won't give a shit about wasn't enough to warrant an extra icon covering the boxart. I'm guessing that the reason Razor's gimmicky waggle bullshit was included is because they paid for it. I'm also guessing even fewer people will bother with Razor's crap than bothered with Move and that's just because while a webcam and a flashlight may be better than a thumbstick for some things, waving your arms about probably isn't better than just using a mouse. Ever.

  • Arwin #21 1 year ago

    I've just been playing Killzone 3 with Move ... I'd say, fu#$*&g do it yesterday! And if you can leverage 9-12 months of research done on a similar controller that has only a fraction of the number of users that Move has, how silly would you be not to do it?

    And by the way poster above me, when I play Killzone 3 with Move, I'm moving my arm and wrist less (or certainly with less friction, seeing that my arm never has to move, and my hand is basically lying face up on my lap) than I am when using a mouse. So I don't think you know what you're talking about. ;)
    Edited by Arwin at 25/02/11 @ 22:40

  • Mister-Wario #22 1 year ago

    How differently do Hydra and Move function from one another? Move and Wii accomplish motion control using different technology but it's still the same core experience. And if you think a Move controller wouldn't be better than a conventional controller in a game like Portal I simply don't believe you.

    Oh, and Attropheed: it may astonish you to learn not every motion controlled game has you windmilling your arms. The only extreme motion control Metroid Prime used, for instance, was flicking the Wiimote upwards to to morph jump.
    Edited by Mister-Wario at 25/02/11 @ 22:46

  • dagas #23 1 year ago

    What's wrong wit ha good old fashioned controller or mouse? Who needs fancy cameras and wands anyway?

  • des #24 1 year ago

    "Designed for controllers"

    So PC is getting some shitty port?...thanks Valve

    Pass.

  • Phantom_Dynamite #25 1 year ago

    with all the support the Ps3 version is getting move not being there is not that bad its still the best consol version barring some huge technical flaw which I doubt will be there.

  • orangpelupa #26 1 year ago

    Hmm if there a MOVE PC Drivers, you should be able to use GlovePIE to control Portal 2.

    Just like when we use Wii-remote + nunchuck + GlovePIE on PC. It can move the cursor good, can walk using the nunchuck and so on.
    When the Move supported by GlovePIE, try it on PC with Portal 2 :)

  • Spekingur #27 1 year ago

    I think Hydra is a cooler name than Move!

  • Billy_Sastard #28 1 year ago

    What's to stop them adding it in an update?

  • ForozM #29 1 year ago

    I'd buy this in a heartbeat with Move support. Shooters on PS3 aren't just the same after Killzone 3 with Move.

    Sorry, the Move has spoiled me. I really hope Resistance 3 and Uncharted 3 will feature Move support.

  • ForozM #30 1 year ago

    After reading a few comments here I understand that there are still some people who has never touched a Move and thinks it's some gimmicky waggle controller. It's not. It's super intuitive and plays like a dream, analog sticks feel like sticks and stones in comparison. And unlike with mouse/keyboard, I can fall back in my couch and just relax, just like with any other gamepad.
    I don't really see myself buying any PS3 shooters without Move support in the future.

    Once you go Move, you're beyond and above.

  • orangpelupa #31 1 year ago

    @Foroz

    its just like playing with the Wiimote + Nunchuck. I have tried Wii (using dolphin on PC) and PS3 (by going to friend house). The shooting/aiming design between Wiimote+Nunchuck and PS Move+NaviCon is similar.

    the only good side with Move is i not need to keep the remote straight.

    iin Wii, remote need straigh for the camera to see IR Emitter.
    in Move, the remote can e moved etc etc without the losing of view due to the design is the reverse of wiimote (fixed camera variable emiter (move) Vs Fixed emiter variable camera (wiimote)

  • ForozM #32 1 year ago

    Sure, it's pretty much a rip off the Wii, but that doesn't mean I won't dominate online.

  • Murton #33 1 year ago

    "Valve's philosophy is that if they're going support Move, they'll do it properly - rather than just hacking something in at the last minute."

    If something is worth doing it's worth doing right eh? Nice adage, shame it doesn't seem to apply to press releases or there'd be no need to come out with this new statement. I find it very hard to believe that Valve would make a translation error that resulted in promises being made that Move would be supported when in fact it would not be, I do however believe that they'd say such things to build additional hype. Sounds to me that they screwed up their marketing by promising something that couldn't/wouldn't be done, we've seen it twice from EPIC in recent weeks and they've felt a huge backlash over it, which would explain this sudden backpedal from Valve, if it was a genuine error they'd have corrected it same day, not wait a couple of weeks.

    You'd have thought that given their history on the PS3 Valve would take an "under promise-over deliver" approach to win favour rather than continue digging the hole they threw themselves into.

  • BuddyChrist #34 1 year ago

    Wow, lotta move love in the room. *puts coat back on, slowly slides out...*

  • SixenseJosh #35 1 year ago

    Portal 2 will feature unique content that is only possible with the Razer Hydra because the levels are indeed being designed from the ground up to support them. The Hydra really will have the best performance of all motion peripherals available and I encourage you to check out http://www.sixense.com to see videos and news about the technology. It is not waggle and features extremely high precision and performance with no calibration. Cheers

    -Josh Bays, Sixense Product Evangelist.