3D and Motion are Just the Beginning for Video Games

It is not shocking that the Big 3 of video games are all on the same page – all of them are moving to motion tracking and now 3D:

E3 Update...

This is all in line with the efforts of video game producers to make more and more immersive gaming environments. It was just a matter of time before the Wii motion tracking remote was copied (and improved by Sony) and the new Xbox toy will actually capture body motion with a sensor (doing away with the remote altogether).

On the branding front, I would say Nintendo and Microsoft are in the lead. Nintendo has done a good job of maintaining its “family friendly” niche and has for the most part avoided the temptation to go after more hard-core gamers (who have less disposable income but more willingness to spend money on the latest releases). Microsoft focused on its own niche and stole a lot of market share from Sony in this category, a lot of credit going to the Halo titles, of course.

Once again, Sony is potentially behind the curve. Their Move controller is supposedly an advance on the Wii motion capture system, but with the Xbox system going beyond the controller, the Playstation advance may be too little too late. The one advantage (that I hope to see a big advertising push for in the near future) is their 3D capacity. If they can make it out with the first full 3D gaming system (as opposed to the Nintendo 3DS), they might be able to gain back some of their ground.