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I’ve been thinking about the gaming news announced at E3 this year, with both Microsoft and Sony getting into the motion control arena. There’s no doubt that all the technology on display is impressive but here’s the thing – they’ll never sell any, or not in the current market anyway.

When you look at why the Wii was so successful the answer is obvious – the motion controller. What’s less obvious (until you think about it) is that this is the primary way of interacting with the console. Sure, the mars bar has a D-pad on it but that’s really only there because you need some buttons to press. The main control mechanism for the console is via motion.

Because you get that capability in the box, developers are forced to write games that use it and that’s the problem for MS and Sony. They ship standard controllers and nobody will write a game that relies on an optional accessory because it just won’t sell (unless it’s so mind-bogglingly innovative that you’ll buy the accessory just to play the game). The eye-toy has been around for years and I can count the number of games that use it without running out of fingers.

So here’s the point – If Sony and MS are really serious about motion control they need to make new consoles and their new stuff needs to have motion control as the only way of interacting with it. Sell the standard controllers as optional accessories if you must have them. By doing that you make a statement to developers that there’ll be a product out there and they’d better support it.

Until that happens, the motion control arena will remain firmly in the grip of Mario and his cohorts.

[Photograph from Ludovic Maillard]