Playstation Move: a brief history

Originally known by various names, the PlayStation Move was originally unveiled in June 2009. There was a lot of debate within Sony Entertainment on what to call the immobile controller. The press had continued to incorrectly refer to her as the Magic Wand or the Wand. Sony eventually named it “The Motion Controller” and in September 2009 the name “Move” was coined and used as the proper term for the controller.

Sony Entertainment was working on the controller as early as 2001. The first prototype versions of the Move were in circulation, like the Eye Toy, but these immobile controllers failed to capture people’s attention. By 2008, Sony had finished working on Move and was ready to release it to the public.

With the public and the media giving favorable reviews to PS3 Move, Move was being applied to all Sony PlayStation wireless games. The first game to use this was Dual Shock 3, which allowed the player to use the Move’s analog joystick to use the sword in-game. Rumors also at the time speculated that Sony had developed Move in retaliation against the Nintendo Wii’s Nunchuck wireless remote, but Sony denied any of those allegations.

The Move finally launched in January 2010, a bit too late for the holiday rush, but just in time for all viable players to spend their holiday bucks on this new remote. The logo probably has to be the most groundbreaking thing with PlayStation Move, a blue wavy shape that is supposed to be a representation of the light trail left by the Move when you move it with the illuminated sensor sphere inside.

Move was an automatic success that also incorporated a large selection of third-party video game support, which is very rare for new out-of-the-box designs like Move. Even today, Move sells nearly 100,000 units.

One in three PS3 games is specifically designed to be used with PlayStation Move in mind. There is a good variety of PS3 Move games available that are not bad at all, as most of the games are quite entertaining and fun. Unlike controller-specific games of the past for older game consoles, PS3 Move games don’t leave you wanting more. It’s no wonder that PlayStation Move is so popular and has made the PS3 so much more than it was at launch. Whether the PS3 Move was designed in retaliation against the Wii or not, it was certainly a brilliant move (no pun intended).