Sony: Move piggybacked Kinect hype
"We're lucky MS made such a big deal of it."
PlayStation Move wouldn't have flourished in the public eye had Kinect not existed, Shuhei Yoshida, president of Sony Worldwide Studios, believes. The comparisons, he said, elevated Move.
"It's very interesting that you say that - because ever since we announced Move at E3 last year, I've always felt like we were lucky that Microsoft made such a big deal with Project Natal," Yoshida told GamesIndustry.biz. "In a broader sense, we are categorised as 'motion gaming' - if we were just doing Move, we wouldn't have had as much coverage and attention from media and consumers.
"Because you have Kinect versus Move, or Natal versus Motion Controller... I've always felt that that helps to convey our message in terms of what's unique about Move. In our mind, from the beginning, we clearly understood the difference between what Microsoft is trying to do and what we have been doing.
"I feel like it's a great thing," he added, "to have the Kinect versus Move versus Wii comparison."
However, Yoshida didn't flatter Kinect; technology, he said, Sony and many other companies had appraised and turned down.
"3D cameras, technology-wise, are not anything like a secret," he said. "There are lots of technologies being presented by tech companies. I have no doubt that all companies have tried it and evaluated it, and have come to their own decisions."
"Yes, including ourselves - we've been doing camera research from the PS2 days, and of course we looked at 3D cameras. If you remember, we once did a presentation during one of our industry events using an early prototype of a 3DV or Primesense camera - talking about new technology directions. So yes, we're very, very familiar with the technology."
Sony's PlayStation Move controller was released last Friday. Launch-weekend sales are unknown, but Sony has avoided putting the emphasis on strong upfront sales as Microsoft has with Kinect.
Kinect launches in the UK on 10th November for £130.