[Valigarmander]

Wii And Natal Will Have "Trouble Matching" Sony Motion Controller, Sony Says

With 2010 nearly upon us, all three platform holders have started to outline their strategies for the new year. According director of hardware marketing John Koller, Sony's three pillars will be "motion control gaming, 3D gaming, and the PlayStation Network."

Referring to the motion controller, Koller told GamePro, "I think the areas that are going to be really critical to our success will be family games, as well as shooters and sports games,"

"Those are going to be the areas that will really define success, because they're areas that quite honestly, I think Project Natal and the Wii are going to have trouble matching, from a differentiation standpoint."

Sony sees motion control as "being that much more than what exists on the market," Koller said.

"The Holy Grail of gaming is placing you as a consumer into the game physically. When we provide further details, people will see exactly where we're going, not only from a technological standpoint on the hardware, but also where the gameplay is transitioning."

Details about Sony's motion controller have been relatively sparse since its debut at E3 2009. The controller is a handheld wand that uses the PlayStation Eye to help track its position. It was rumored to be called the "Gem," but Sony has said that it was only an early codename for the project, with the final name still to be announced.

Whatever it ends up being called, the motion controller is slated for release in Spring 2010.