If Sony (NYSE: SNE) has its way, gamers will be doing a little more moving this weekend.
Move -- the company's motion-based PlayStation controller -- hits the market on Friday. The "move" buys Sony a head start on rival Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT). The Xbox's pricier Kinect is still two months away.
I haven't had the honor of kicking the tires of the new controller, but I've seen enough of the promotional videos to leave me unimpressed. Boxing? Golfing? Archery? Aren't these the same games that folks have been playing on Nintendo's (Nasdaq: NTDOY.PK) Wii? Sure, they look a lot better than they did on the Wii three years ago. Sony's PS3 is a workhorse. However, I'm not going to get excited about that. Kinect's controller is more compelling, but its high sticker price will make it a hard sell as well.
I don't mind going out on a limb here: Sony's PlayStation Move will be a bust. Gamers don't want to get up and move around anymore.
Sure, the Wii's controller got families off the couch. A range of workout titles -- spearheaded by its own Wii Fit -- made the console appealing to women and older gamers.
Unfortunately, the die-hard gamers playing on Xbox 360 and PS3 systems aren't cut from the same demographic cloth. Teens and young adults don't want to get up from their rockers or beanbags unless the Mountain Dew runs dry. Donning headsets for multiplayer action, their only real exercise feat is reaching over to the Cheetos bag between levels.
Sure, they got up for a moment. Activision Blizzard's (Nasdaq: ATVI) Guitar Hero and Viacom's (NYSE: VIA) Rock Band got folks jamming air guitar to rhythmic games, but that peaked two years ago. Gamers are sitting down again, gunning down folks in Call of Duty or playing Electronic Arts' (Nasdaq: ERTS) Madden NFL 11 like the armchair quarterbacks that they are. If you don't believe me on that last point, ask yourself why the two best-selling video games last month were Madden for the Xbox 360 and the PS3. The Wii version -- which incorporates the Wii's motion-based controller -- didn't even crack the top 10.
In a nutshell, gamers don't want to move. They barely wanted to groove. Sony and Microsoft have a lot to prove -- and they will fail at it with this year's so-called evolutionary controller enhancements.
Disagree with Rick? Do you feel that PlayStation Move and Microsoft Kinect will be movers and shakers? Share your rescue plan in the comment box below.
