Disney exec calls PS3 wand Gem

By Ellie Gibson Published 18 February, 2010

Plus: Epic Mickey coming to other consoles?

Disney Interactive Media bossman Steve Wadsworth has added to the confusion over what the PS3 motion controller will end up being called.

In his speech at the DICE Summit yesterday, Wadsworth referred to "Sony's Gem", according to Game Informer. But isn't Gem just a codename, as Sony said last year?

Or is it called Arc? No, wait, that's a codename too, like Sony said. Our money's on Kaz Hirai's Electromagical Joywand.

In the same speech Wadsworth discussed Epic Mickey, the forthcoming plartformer from Warren Spector and Junction Point. At the moment it's exclusive to the Wii - but that could change what with the advent of new motion controller systems like Project Natal and Gem / Arc / KHEJ.

"We have a very large audience base that has Wiis in their home," Wadsworth said, as overheard by Gamasutra. "That's not to say that we won't go to other platforms [in the future]."

Epic Mickey is due to arrive on Wii this autumn. Visit the gamepage for all the gubbins.

Picture of Ellie.

About Ellie Gibson

Since joining Eurogamer in the mid 2000s, Ellie has written about subjects as diverse as the fall of Gizmondo, the rise of Hollyoaks actresses in Red Alert games and the noise a bear makes under NSFW circumstances.

Read more articles from Ellie by visiting the Ellie Gibson archive page.

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Comments (17) Latest comment 2 years ago

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

  • Moribundman #1 2 years ago

    What, as in the slightly sinister 80s cartoon about a punky girl band?

  • swissorc #2 2 years ago

    Still not sold on "Epic" micky especially since if I want a new platformer this year mario is about. We shall see.

  • awb83 #3 2 years ago

    I think GEM is a canny name for the motion controller.

  • zubnut #4 2 years ago

    I'd go with "PStick"

  • M_of_the_sys #5 2 years ago

    Epic Mickey... can't wait...

    Didn't Disney say they were only making their big titles on the Wii and DS now?

  • Britesparc Verified Creative, ITV #6 2 years ago

    Kaz Hirai's Electromagical Joywand?

    The mind boggles with dubious imagery.

  • irve77 #7 2 years ago

    maybe the wand will be packaged with a Jem and the Holograms game thrown in.

    Ah just think of the joy that would bring to the 2... maybe 3 people in the whole world that ever watched that show !

  • cianchristopher #8 2 years ago

    I guess the fact that they haven't even thought of a name yet speaks volumes about the haste to which Sony were forced to announce this product...

  • makeamazing #9 2 years ago

    @cianchristopher, you know Natal is a code name too right, and that doesnt have a proper name yet :)

    I do agree that they rushed to get it in their E3 presentation, but that was such a long time ago :D

  • Alterego-X #10 2 years ago

    @makeamazing:
    I don't think that Natal was taken that seriously either, for that matter.

    And it's not just the name, they are both supposed to be released in this year, and there is still no software announced for either of them, just some ports of originally non-motion controlled games for the PS3, and possibly some side-features of Fable 3 on the xbox. Nowadays, every blockbuster game is supposed to be announced at least a year before the release.

    At the moment, it seems to me that the two companies had put more effort into the marketing of "our Wii-killer is just around the corner" hype than into actual product development.

  • Skooch #11 2 years ago

    In the absence of an official name, isn't it perfectly reasonable for the 'wand' to be referred to by it's codename?

    Surely, every time it is mentioned it isn't worthy of another news article?

  • messiahtj #12 2 years ago

    Just wait and see. They will launch Epic Mickey on 360/PS3 (motion control or not) when they realize this game sold 10,000 copies on the Wii.

  • messiahtj #13 2 years ago

    "10,000 copies ? Nah . But i can wait to see . If you say so... lol "

    So you think this game will be a huge sucess and will be a million seeller on the Wii?? You clearly don't know how bad third party games on the Wii sell, dude. But you said this will sell well....if you said so...LMAO! =)

  • smelly #14 2 years ago

    "You clearly don't know how bad third party games on the Wii sell, dude"


    And you clearly havent noticed how bad most of those 3rd party games are - or if they're good (like madworld) wouldnt have sold on ANY platform.

  • smelly #15 2 years ago

    @Otogizoshi :I have no idea what sony said today.

    Also i never played mad world, but it got good reviews. I didnt play it as it didnt look like my type of game - or the type of game which'd sell on ANY system.

    3rd party wii games tend to suck, but the publisher are using the excuse of "3rd party games dont sell on teh wii" as opposed to wondering if maybe that bad games dont sell on the wii... Because it seems to me that only 1st party games tend to be good (with a few obvious exceptions)

  • Rubarack #16 2 years ago

    If it's called Kaz Hirai's Electromagical Joywand I'm buying it and a PS3 to go with it.

  • IronCladChicken #17 2 years ago

    I don't own a PS3, but I think the wand sounds like a good idea - if it helps the core gamer base to accept the wand interface then we can finally move on.