Four PS3 wands can be used at once

By Robert Purchese Published 22 June, 2009

Plus: they'll have rumble, says report.

Sony plans a major push for the PS3 wand motion-sensor in spring next year, with plans to establish "a range of first-party and third-party content".

That's according to a developer brief leaked on Kotaku, which goes on to reveal that the wand will have rumble and up to four controllers can be used at once.

Sony unveiled the prototype wand motion sensor at E3. The hardware has in-built sensors as well as a dome on top that is tracked by the PlayStation Eye. This provides 1:1 motion-sensing capability. Furthermore, Sony says the PS Eye will be able to track head movement and recognise voice.

Sony notes, however, that there will be "SPU overhead" that has "an impact on memory" when using these features.

The platform holder also told developers there is "possibility" the DualShock 3 pad, which features rudimentary motion-sensing, will be compatible with the wand controller. An example where the wand is used as a sword and the DualShock 3 as a shield was given.

There's still no firm release date for the PS3 wand.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

You may also like...

Comments (27) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • LazyDan #1 3 years ago

    Will they have speakers in them as well?!

    Gosh!

  • rotmm #2 3 years ago

    As most of the onscrene demo's showed 2 Playmotes being used at the same time to control actions, does that mean that generally games using the new devices will be 2-player only?

  • Masaroth #3 3 years ago

    not liking the sound of "an impact on memory". It doesnt say how much of a impact it will have so it might not be too bad.

  • Olemak #4 3 years ago

    All four wands may be used by one person at the same time for the ultimate human-console interface experience. Equipping the third and fourth wand may be a bit awkward and painful, but it's really worth it, although I would not reccomend anyone to sit down while the third wand is inserted equipped.

  • Raziel #5 3 years ago

    If they make an awesome Sword/Shield game, I'll buy one.

    Thats all I'm interested in in motion controlling.

  • woodnotes #6 3 years ago

    "motion-tracking library has some SPU overhead and has an impact on memory as well, although these will be minimized."

    Get ready for Wii-quality graphics.

  • rotmm #7 3 years ago

    @Masaroth,

    The way the PS3 works is that most things "console related" have an impact on memory for developers. If a dev wants to include voice chat, then there's an impact on memory. Eyetoy? Impact on memory. Custom soundtracks? Again. The same for PSP connectivity, screenshots, etc. Because of this, devs are well used to working within that kind of environment and can make decisions on which features to support (or not) depending on their need.

  • Arwin #8 3 years ago

    Considering how even 1MB makes a difference for devs like Insomniac ...

    Anyway, I imagine there will be quite a few games that will suffice using just one wand per player, much like on the Wii, so I reckon four player games are definitely not out of the question.

  • GreyBeard #9 3 years ago

    They are just pointing out (ho ho) that all the functionality of the Natal can be replicated in software, but at some performance cost. Considering the amount of grunt the CELL has, this shouldn't be an issue, although memory usage obviously is going to increases.

    Its worth considering that as yet noone knows how much the Natal's onboard processor does. Realistically the more it does then most likely the higher cost of the peripheral, especially if they make it a re-programmable device. (firmware update via USB)

  • MaxiSleep #10 3 years ago

    Cant believe they have rumble. SO last gen





    :)

  • Canyarion #11 3 years ago

    So suddenly it can also track body movement and recognize voices! You really wonder where Sony get their ideas...

    Also, am I the only one who really wants a nunchuck-type attachment/controller?

  • El-Dev #12 3 years ago

    One is too many.

  • Steroyd #13 3 years ago

    what dev is going to write Motion+, PS3wand AND Natal versions of their games? Maybe EA will do it with their sports titles, but nothing else will come of this stuff.

    You're right why bother coding for multiple consoles at all, it's such a waste of time...

    Sony's in a nice position with this, for example at first glance the difference between Motion+ and Sony's Wand look minimal so you could easily port Wii games over to the PS3.

    Alternatively you can cross platform Natal with Sony's PSeye although that might gimp what Natal can really do, with PSeye being the earlier technology.

  • Ducklord #14 3 years ago

    But it's not mandatory, is it? I mean developers aren't being forced to implement motion features, but they have the option of expanding their games beyond, say, the Wii.

  • Widge #15 3 years ago

    Once the market is there, the devs will utilise it. You're looking at either funding from the parent company and/or decent 1st party support to encourage the take up though.

    Good marketing too. i.e. don't employ the Wii Music ad person to do the Natal one.

  • Les #16 3 years ago

    "So suddenly it can also track body movement and recognize voices! You really wonder where Sony get their ideas..."

    It doesn't take a genius to figure out that their solution always had the capability to do these things. But as the general population is rather stupid, it doesn't hurt to state the obvious every now and then...

  • makeamazing #17 3 years ago

    Saying that the extra memory requirements will make the PS3 have Wii based graphics is just silly. Of course every bit of memory does count, but you might be surprised that good developers will find ways of circumventing this problem. The wii/Ps3 are not in the same league graphically, even if the PS3 had this memory overhead it wont change it that much.

  • AusFreelancer #18 3 years ago

    I demand a 2 page "article" linking this with a PS3slim...!

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #19 3 years ago

    Four PS3 wands can be used at once

    I think I've seen that video. It's amazing, the elasticity of human skin.

  • Burkey123 #20 3 years ago

    I love the wiimote/nunchuk combo. I think Sony need to create a nunchuk style controller with it. How do you use this wand for adventure games? How do you walk around?

  • GreyBeard #21 3 years ago

    Well it is, sort of. Don't forget the rumours about Sony's "break-apart" controller, so its possible (maybe even probable) that 1 controller can be snapped out into two separate motion wands.

    Remember they made a big point of the controllers used for the E3 demo being prototypes. Everyone took this at the time that Sony were panicked by Natal and rushed it together, but maybe they were just keeping the actual device under wraps. We know they have a bunch of related patents, and if they realistically intend a spring 2010 release with the feature's they have recently revealed, they must have something a lot further along than anyone thought. Just like the slimmed-down PS3 they swear blind doesn't exist.

    All very cloak and dagger...



  • Les #22 3 years ago

    "Everyone took this at the time that Sony were panicked by Natal and rushed it together"

    It would be truly an achievement if they'd been able to rush that together within a day... ;) But as is often the case, what 'everyone' deducts to be the case is silly.

  • superdelphinus #23 3 years ago

    did anyone even ask the question??

  • Machiavellian #24 3 years ago

    They are just pointing out (ho ho) that all the functionality of the Natal can be replicated in software, but at some performance cost. Considering the amount of grunt the CELL has, this shouldn't be an issue, although memory usage obviously is going to increases.

    Actually what this sounds like to me is the same thing Sony has done with PSN and the Dual Shock. The competition showcase something Sony did not think about and then Sony comes back and say we can do it too. The problem is that while the competition has researched on implementing their technology and understand the pros and cons, Sony has not and thus their effort will be weak.

    So yes, the PSEye can do head,face tracking and voice recognition but the question is how much research has Sony invested in those pieces of technology. MS appears to understand that taking away memory and processing from their console will not be something developers will want to do unless they are making games on the Wii level. You already have developers saying that they are using all of the SPEs so having to take up more memory and an SPU can get costly.

    Anyway, I hope this is not Sony reacting but instead has already poured the amount to time, money and thought into their solution so it will be something that developers will get behind.

  • des #25 3 years ago

    "They are just pointing out (ho ho) that all the functionality of the Natal can be replicated in software, but at some performance cost."

    Hmm...No...Natal tracks 48 points,you would need 48 wands to replicate it...



  • Machiavellian #26 3 years ago

    "They are just pointing out (ho ho) that all the functionality of the Natal can be replicated in software, but at some performance cost."

    Hmm...No...Natal tracks 48 points,you would need 48 wands to replicate it...

    Actually, Natal would be able to track 192 points since it was stated that 4 player support will be included with Natal.

  • des #27 3 years ago

    Yes,you are right,192 for 4 players.