Motion Sensing on the PS2?

[Black Atom]

I don't want to say this looks like a rip-off of the Wii, but...this looks like a total rip-off the Wii.

Peripheral manufacturer In2Games, which recently scored £7.6 million (approx $15.1 million) in venture capital funding, has announced its first series of motion sensing controllers and games titles for the PlayStation 2, due for release in the UK for this Christmas holiday season.

The first six games in the series will each come bundled with a unique controller. RealPlay Tennis has a wireless tennis racquet, RealPlay Pool provides its own cue, RealPlay Golf comes with a golf club controller, RealPlay Racing features a steering wheel, and RealPlay Bowling has a wireless bowling ball. The other title in the series, RealPlay Puzzlesphere, has players manipulating a physical sphere to get around a series of "vertigo-inducing" courses.

"The RealPlay range of games is aimed squarely at those PlayStation 2 owners who want to play wireless motion-sensing games without needing to splash out on a new console," commented In2Games CEO Elliott Myers.

Here's my favorite part:

http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/2007/228/puzzle_jpg_jpgcopy711_screen.jpg

The rest of this thread should just be adding dialog bubbles to this picture.

[StoneGold]

It's not like the Wii was very original.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U-Force


Seriously though, if ripping off hardware was illegal, we'd have never progressed beyond the Oddessey. So I'm kind of missing what your point is.

[Thorlief]

It's not like the Wii was very original.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U-Force


Seriously though, if ripping off hardware was illegal, we'd have never progressed beyond the Oddessey. So I'm kind of missing what your point is.

nice logic, but thats a Nintendo product. It's not exactly like ripping off another company's peripherals

[Black Atom]

It's not like the Wii was very original.

Well, A) Yes, it was. And B) Even if Nintendo didn't invent wireless motion-sensing, they deserves props for honing it, coming up with good applications and executing it well.


Seriously though, if ripping off hardware was illegal, we'd have never progressed beyond the Oddessey. So I'm kind of missing what your point is.

Wouldn't we just have a crapload of Oddesseys?

[StoneGold]

nice logic, but thats a Nintendo product. It's not exactly like ripping off another company's peripherals

Except it isn't. For the NES and by Nintendo are two entirely different things. It was a third party controller, made by Broderbund.

[Kage Kisaragi]

Gotta agree with StoneGold on this one.

[Black Atom]

So the idea is that when the guys at Nintendo sat around to decide what they should do for a Next-Gen console, someone was like "Any of you guys remember Broderbund's U-Force controller for the NES?" "Oh, yeah, U-Force was awesome! Let's capitalize on the smash success and timeliness of that 20 year old product and make a home console that employs play mechanics that're vaguely similar in concept."

This isn't really a case of just borrowing or adopting technology. In2Games is trying to piggyback the success of the Wii with this product. The CEO basically admits it.

[StoneGold]

So the idea is that when the guys at Nintendo sat around to decide what they should do for a Next-Gen console, someone was like "Any of you guys remember Broderbund's U-Force controller for the NES?" "Oh, yeah, U-Force was awesome! Let's capitalize on the smash success and timeliness of that 20 year old product and make a home console that employs play mechanics that're vaguely similar in concept."

This isn't really a case of just borrowing or adopting technology. In2Games is trying to piggyback the success of the Wii with this product. The CEO basically admits it.

And what I'm saying is "so what?" Odds are, at least one of your favorite games was a blatant ripoff of some other game. Most video game technology is ripped off of something, somewhere.


And if you really want to get technical, the Wii is more a knockoff of the mo-cap arcade games. Which were knocked off of stuff like U-Force. Which probably had roots in something else, but I couldn't tell you right now. The video game industry has always been incestuous with ideas.

[Donald M.]

The rest of this thread should just be adding dialog bubbles to this picture.

No, the rest of the thread should be everyone shrugging and asking why you care.

Well, A) Yes, it was. And B) Even if Nintendo didn't invent wireless motion-sensing, they deserves props for honing it, coming up with good applications and executing it well.


So . . . what, that means no one else can ever use the technology?


This isn't really a case of just borrowing or adopting technology. In2Games is trying to piggyback the success of the Wii with this product. The CEO basically admits it.

So? If no one ever tried to piggyback on someone else's success in the video game industry, we'd still be playing Pong. Remember, true innovation is rare. When a good idea comes along everyone else steals it. This is the way it has alway been, but I've never seen so much pointless grousing about it as with the Wii and motion sensing technology.

Weren't there games a few years back that were basically the same thing as these new PS2 games, but they were self-contained plug and play dealies? These predated Wii. Shock! Horror! Maybe the Great God Nintendo borrows ideas as well?

[Black Atom]

And what I'm saying is "so what?" Odds are, at least one of your favorite games was a blatant ripoff of some other game. Most video game technology is ripped off of something, somewhere.

Is it a coincidence that this is my favorite game?

http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/bigboxshots/6/562926_28847_front.jpg

And if you really want to get technical, the Wii is more a knockoff of the mo-cap arcade games. Which were knocked off of stuff like U-Force. Which probably had roots in something else, but I couldn't tell you right now. The video game industry has always been incestuous with ideas.

Maybe we disagree on what a knock-off is then. For example, I wouldn't say the DS is a knock-off of airport terminal kiosks because they beat Nintendo to the punch on the whole touch screen game or that the Wii is a knock-off of the Power Glove (which seems closer, in my mind, than U-Force).

[Black Atom]

No, the rest of the thread should be everyone shrugging and asking why you care.

I thought it was a pretty funny article. If it doesn't interest you, you could've simply let the thread die (I, myself, had forgotten I'd even posted it here). Considering no one cares, a lot of people sure have turned out to defend it.

So . . . what, that means no one else can ever use the technology?

Of course they can. But generally, something so blatantly manufactured to be a rip-off will usually earn some form of scorn or good-natured mockery from me.

He didn't "basically" admit it, he did admit it. It will probably make money assuming if game and controller combos are reasonably priced. If so, good for them.

So how many do you want me to send you for Christmas?

[Donald M.]

I thought it was a pretty funny article. If it doesn't interest you, you could've simply let the thread die (I, myself, had forgotten I'd even posted it here). Considering no one cares, a lot of people sure have turned out to defend it.


The fact that you found the article worthy of note is more interesting than the article itself.



Of course they can. But generally, something so blatantly manufactured to be a rip-off will usually earn some form of scorn or good-natured mockery from me.


This is a bunch of PS2 games with special controllers that have more in common with hardware that predates the Wii than with the Wii. Are they meant to capitalize on the Wii's success? Of course. It's not a rip-off, it's a somewhat similar implementation of a technology that's been around for years but is only now in vogue.


So how many do you want me to send you for Christmas?

As many as you can afford.

[Thorlief]

Except it isn't. For the NES and by Nintendo are two entirely different things. It was a third party controller, made by Broderbund.

As far as exclusives go I'd consider it a Nintendo product, although technically it isn't. Had it been ported to other consoles I'd agree with you

[StoneGold]

As far as exclusives go I'd consider it a Nintendo product, although technically it isn't. Had it been ported to other consoles I'd agree with you

It's not. Otherwise, every other crappy third party controller would be. The only reason why it wasn't is because the only competition at the time was the Master System, which was pretty much dead already by that point.

[StreetFighterRyu]

I honestly don't see what the big deal is. There were other consols before the Wii that had motion sensing controllers. They weren't that many though. Supposelly poeple would accidently throw them out of angry gaming. lol