Yoshida: PS3 Motion Controller Is 'Hardware Platform' For Sony

Author: by Staff

The upcoming PlayStation 3 motion controller will not just be an extra gaming peripheral, but a "platform product" that will have a variety of applications, says Sony Worldwide Studios boss Shuhei Yoshida. "We are still in the very early days of motion control development," Yoshida told Gamasutra as part of a larger interview. The Sony veteran took the reins of SCE Worldwide Studios from former head Phil Harrison in May last year. "We have had talks with company management where we discussed whether we should approach [the motion controller] as a peripheral or a platform, and we agree that this has huge potential -- so we position this as a hardware platform," he said. Sony unveiled its yet-unnamed motion control solution at the E3 conference in June this year. The company plans on updating certain games such as Little Big Planet to support motion control, and Capcom is one example of a third-party that is developing a game for the controller with a new version of Resident Evil 5. "The initiative [for the motion controller] was from Worldwide Studios, but this has to be designed so that many different kinds of games from all publishers can participate in this hardware platform," Yoshida explained. "So it's not like in the case of SingStar, where the mic is designed to work with the SingStar games; we made a decision that this motion control is a platform product that has to work for a variety of products," he said. "We are very fortunate that Capcom and [producer Jun] Takeuchi-san has said that he wants to work on Resident Evil 5 for the motion controller because this is a different type of game than what we are developing," Yoshida said. "So we are trying to get the needs from different types of teams as we design the hardware." Sony has made clear that its motion controller strategy isn't only about accessibility for non-gamers, but also providing a new experience for core consumers who have been PlayStatation fans for years. Yoshida reiterated that point, saying, "[We're working] with many teams to try different types of games to be able to cover the different needs of different types of games. So we have some teams working on very casual games, and other teams working on core audience type of games." For more on Sony's motion control plans and overarching internal software strategy, read Gamasutra's in-depth feature interview with Yoshida, published today.