SONY PLAYSTATION / MOVES FROM THE FUTURE

This week we've been delighted to see the return of fictional Sony PlayStation employee Kevin Butler, speaking to us 'from the future' in a viral ad emphasising the dominance of the brand's new Move motion-sensitive gaming technology.

PlayStation Move

We first met Butler in 2009 when he was Director of Game Accuracy in a campaign created by Deutsch Inc, LA - promoting the latest PlayStation 3 baseball sim MLB 09: The Show. Here, he refused to alter the physics of the game in which Boston Red Sox player and 2008 American League MVP, Dustin Pedroia, couldn't hit the 'High-inside fast ball'. The ensuing debate - fuelled by an superbly-sporting Pedroia himself - resulted in one of the most entertaining campaigns of the year, with sales of the game increasing by 46% compared to MLB 08...

MLB09: The Show - Case Study

In this new spot, Butler is now VP of Realistic Movements. Sporting a rather snappy (although slightly wonky) pair futuristic sunglasses, he explains in his transmission 'all the way from November 2010' how the recently launched PlayStation Move is trouncing the competition. That's Nintendo and Microsoft for the uninitiated...

He first walks into a room where a volunteer is playing a fighting game - using two of the controllers to demonstrate how the technology is capable of detecting not just lateral, but medial (that's back and forth) movement in a punching motion. Taking a direct, medial swipe at Nintendo's Wii Boxing, he says 'because real boxers don't hit like this' - cue girly slapping impression...

Next he visits a room in which someone is playing a more traditional first-person shooter, still using the motion controller. In something of a broadside at Microsoft's new Xbox 360 Natal technology which uses no controllers at all, he says: 'PlayStation move is not only crazy-precise, but it's also got what we in the future call "buttons", which turn out to be pretty important to that handful of millions of people who enjoy playing shooters, platformers, or well, anything which doesn't involve catching a big red ball'. This is of course referencing Ricochet ­- a simplistic beta title which Microsoft has been using to demo Natal...

Natal Ricochet Demo

A mean 'one-two' combo therefore from Sony, courtesy of Deutsch, and no doubt the first in many leading up to the Q3/4 launch of both Move and Natal. The question is, how will Microsoft retaliate - if at all? Early reports of Move suggest that it will play similarly to a slightly more advanced Wii; Natal on the other hand, with its 48-point body sensing and voice recognition etc, could redefine the entire category. One valid point raised by this viral, however, is that Microsoft will have to be very careful not to alienate its core Xbox 360 audience in chasing the casual/social gamers. It's all to play for...