Sony: "Buttons are irreplaceable"
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.
