Motion Controls And Lingerie.

With the recent E3 conferences behind us, it’s fairly clear that Sony as well as Microsoft is putting a lot of confidence in motion controls. With the words “future of gaming”, “next revolution” and such thrown around casually, they’ve put a lot of focus in making people aware of their new gadgets. But how interested is the market really for these advancements?

According to some recent studies, gamers aren’t really warming up to the idea. Preorders for the peripherals are running very low and even intended launch buyers are barely breaking the 5% mark. A study conducted by OTX revealed that only 25 percent of people intending to buy also intend to preorder. And intention doesn’t necessarily mean a follow through. Electronic Entertainment Design and Research (EEDAR) made a similar conclusion, when purchase plans for the new motion controls didn’t break the top twenty "despite having high awareness among the core gaming community." Although they did stress that this doesn’t necessarily reflect low sales, since interest might go up when the release draws near and more games get announced.
 

Survey study for motion controls

This recent study however shows that interest has actually sacked in several areas since E3. In the core market of 25 to 28 year olds, there even has been a decline of more than 10 percent.  But this isn’t stopping the major players of trying to convince everyone of their new project.

Starting July 15th, Microsoft is releasing preview stations of Kinect in 13 Macy’s department stores across the US. In an attempt to reach as many individuals as possible, you’ll now be able to shop for a summer dress and dance around for your peers to judge. Who knew Macy’s had such a large gaming audience? They’re even going out of their way to give away 1 Kinect per day between August 12 and September 10 on their site.

What Microsoft and Sony don’t seem to grasp is that Nintendo has a large fan base for its franchises and the Wii success is grandly advanced by the support they get from that. We’ve seen it all before with Sony releasing the Eye Toy. In the beginning, there’s a peek of interest in the gadget, but soon after the novelty wears off and people start dumping the product. There just isn’t that much of a lasting appeal to dancing around in your living room at the moment.
 

Eye Toy "Kinetic". Yes, Kinetic.

Except for Child Of Eden, which has personally impressed yours truly, we didn’t get to see any products that are more than a glorified Eye Toy. Kinect showed some nice features with its media center, video chat and such, but the lack of compelling games don’t warrant a purchase as of yet. Ubisoft releasing a Michael Jackson game posthumous might give a spike to sales. They can't be blamed for cashing in just like everyone else, but it's a morally grey choice to make.

So, are you ready for Eye Toy Plus? We’d hope so, since you’ll be getting it force fed for quite some time still.

Daav Valentaten, NoobFeed.