BBC: Move more precise than Kinect

In what can only be seen an unwelcome PR blow for Microsoft ahead of its E3 press conference at 18:00 (BST) tonight, the BBC’s tech correspondent has voiced his unease about some elements of Kinect’s design.

Speaking after a hands-on sessions at Microsoft’s pre-E3 gathering last night, Rory Cellan-Jones stated:

It was an enjoyable, if sweaty, half-hour, and I could certainly see the attractions of throwing away the control and just flinging yourself at the game.

But I was not quite convinced that Microsoft’s technology would deliver for hard-core gamers. It seemed to work well on fun Wii-like games where you didn’t need too much precision – I’m not so sure how whether it would deliver on a first-person shooter.”

However, Cellan-Jones was a lot more positive about Sony’s Move controller.

I’ve also had a go on Sony’s Move motion control system, which is unveiled on Tuesday,” he continued. Sony’s solution is much less radical. It has retained the controller, now adorned with glowing spheres which interact with a sensor unit on the television.

This makes the whole experience less physical than with Kinect, but it also delivers a lot more precision. Sony showed us a table tennis game which seemed to mimic the real thing much more closely than I have seen elsewhere.”