Richard Marks PlayStation Move interview

The man behind the revolutionary PlayStation Move motion controller has a chat with PlayStation.com to really get you moving.

How do you feel about the response to PlayStation Move so far?

A lot of the developers expressed positive feedback when they tried PlayStation Move, so I'm happy they're feeling good about it. I think that a lot of players still don't know too much about it yet, and some people are a lot more excited about it than they were originally - they first thought it was only a motion control device, but it can do a lot more and everyone's starting to realise that.

What have been among the most impressive applications of the PS Move technology you've seen in the games so far?

There's so many different ways to use it, so it's hard to say... I think it's neat that it's so good for first person shooters. And a game like Tumble is doing really neat things where you can reach in, grab things and move them around. I think there are so many different ways people are using PS Move and that's great.

Is there anything that you're specifically looking forward to on PS Move?

Well I like action adventure and real time strategy games... so Sorcery and R.U.S.E are the kind of games I want to try right away. Also, my wife doesn't play games usually, but she'd play something like Start the Party! so it's great that it can do that too.

So do you feel that PS Move is an accessible way of introducing non-gamers to the medium?

Yeah, definitely. I think for PlayStation 3, PS Move adds a great extra dimension and experience for casual players, as well as core players. I'm glad we have it.

What is the perfect set-up for PlayStation Move in terms of lighting and the type of room you're in?

The perfect set-up just needs to be the kind of environment you want to watch television in. So you don't want really strong sunlight, although PS Move can handle variable lighting conditions including the total lack of light because of the light coming from the Sphere. Regarding the PlayStation Eye camera, you can usually position that above or below your TV, but I'd suggest placing it as close to chest height as possible for an ideal experience.

How much did you learn from the creation of the EyeToy USB Camera, to the PlayStation Eye camera, to the creation of PS Move?

We learned a lot with EyeToy. First of all we tried to do as much as we could with just the camera with titles like EyeToy Play and SpyToy, because we really wanted to bring in new people to play and create new ways to play. We tried to do even more and started experimenting with a 3D camera but still wanted to explore more potential experiences for the user. So we added a controller back into the mix and still focused on keeping it accessible to everyone - and then it gave us so much more capability.

We added not only the camera tracking for the controller, but internal sensors too which made the responsiveness and precision really good, so that also gave us this ability where we could really do the sort of things a core player expects from games.

Is the combination of PS Move and stereoscopic 3D the ultimate gaming experience?

Stereoscopic 3D combined with PS Move is very compelling. There's this really strong sense of immersion. A stereoscopic 3D display can be compelling, but being able to actually reach into the 3D world to manipulate it, that's something people have not really been able to experience before and I think people would find that enjoyable. So I think putting PS Move and stereoscopic 3D together you have a completely new experience.

I don't think all games need to be in stereoscopic 3D in the same way that I don't think all games need to use PS Move, but there are a set of experiences which just won't be done any better than what you get when you use them together.

How much further can game developers go with PlayStation Move?

I think there's a lot of new things you can do with PS Move, especially the virtual reality academic community, which has all sorts of things you can do with a spatial controller like PS Move, and I think you'll see more and more of those capabilities mapped into software for PS Move, to give you the sort of experiences you just haven't seen before.

We also have the voice input for the PlayStation Eye camera; we can do more video processing; and of course we have the PS Move itself, so all that together in one system means we have a lot of richness to draw new applications from.