Platform distribution
History of Sony.
Sony, A huge landmark on the electronics world was originally called, Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo - Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Company. It first made its name recently after World War II, Japan's economy in a massive slump from the war, they started with repairing broken radios and making small voltmeters. The first distributed electronic good was an automatic rice cooker, their company name later changed to Sony- the name taken from the Latin for "Sound", sonus and the 1950's English word "Sonny-boy". This then lead to their pivoting piece of merchandise under their new name, the transistor radio; followed by the pocket transistor radio.
Currently the company has a vast variety of electronic goods, from phones, visual and audio entertainment, financial services and so forth. However their hold in the gaming world was actually a bit later than what would be expected from such technological giants.
Sony was very reluctant to join in on the growing games industry initially, however it became more apparent that it was a fast growing area in the electronics world. They first teamed up with Nintendo, Sony coming up with a whole new format for games to play on, as an add on to the current gaming format. However after Nintendo suddenly backed out of the deal; instead of simply leaving the idea of joining in on the gaming market, they eventually released their first console; the Playstation 1 in the mid 90's.
Currently the company has a vast variety of electronic goods, from phones, visual and audio entertainment, financial services and so forth. However their hold in the gaming world was actually a bit later than what would be expected from such technological giants.
Sony was very reluctant to join in on the growing games industry initially, however it became more apparent that it was a fast growing area in the electronics world. They first teamed up with Nintendo, Sony coming up with a whole new format for games to play on, as an add on to the current gaming format. However after Nintendo suddenly backed out of the deal; instead of simply leaving the idea of joining in on the gaming market, they eventually released their first console; the Playstation 1 in the mid 90's.
Console history
The Playstation 1 was a massively popular console being the first console to reach the 100 million mark in sales. And is also the fourth best selling console of all time. The first concepts for the Playstation date back to the later 1980s, it was the first console to use the disk technology, moving the decade from the age of cartridges.
Their second home console, the Playstation 2, was announced in 1999; later released in 2000 in Japan and then later in the same year, was released to North America and Europe. This is the most popular console of all time; it was pretty much considered an instant classic. Even after the release of the Playstation 3, this system was still running strong after a few years. Within the first week of the PS2's release it reached over 900 000 sales. The PS2 had backwards compatibility with Playstation 1 games; controllers and memory cards, CDs and also DVDs worked on the system. The move Sony made to allow this backwards compatibility massively helped the sales for the console, and allowed a larger library of games for the PS2 to develop; it also enhanced the PS1 games on the PS2
A couple of years into its release, the Dreamcast by Sega started to use online play with their consoles, Sony didn't play much focus on this until the Xbox was released, taking note that online was the future for gaming. An online adapter was released to allow this. In the late 2004 Sony brought out a smaller ps2 model, they stopped production of the older model to empty the stock. There are over 1300 titles in North America and well over double that in Asia.
The successor of the Playstation 2, which is still currently active in the market is the Playstation 3. It was announced in 2006, and released later that year; having 60GB of memory. This was the first backwards compatible version of the console that could play Playstation 2 games, they later released 2 other versions of the console the 20GB, 40GB and the 80GB. Both of the 40GB and 80GB, however were not backwards compatible with the PS2, but they were cheaper; which was an initial flaw with the release of the PS3. The 20GB PS3 was the cheaper alternative to the 60GB, still retaining its backwards compatibility; this was discontinued in North America. The more recent models of the Playstation 3, the 'slim' version, was released in 2009; it features a more compact, lightweight size and also runs more quietly in comparison to its earlier models. Variants of the PS3 models is quite broad, the original had 5 different versions: 20, 40, 60, 80 and 160. The 'slim' version having: 120, 160, 250 and 320GB. The PS3 can also connect to Sony's first portable console, the Playstation Portable; otherwise known as 'PSP'. Because of this connection, users can access their PS3 where ever they are, if they have a PSP. It shares a lot of similarities to the PSP, with the way it updates frequently and its layout. The Playstation 3 is the only console to use Blu-ray discs for their games, also working in their favour in the market as the console doubles as a working Blu-ray player.
The Move and its competitors
The Move is Sony's first motion controller on the market, prior to this they had released the eye toy which was only a camera that responded to movement. The Move was released in 2010, coming equipped with motion sensing and location tracking; it picks up movements almost impeccably. It's competitors in this market being Microsoft's 'Kinect' and Nintendo's 'Wii motion plus'; each platform has features that set them apart from each other. The reception for the Move is somewhat mixed, it undeniably has the technology and hardware down to a 't' which it has been praised for; conversely, the market for motion detected games is almost niche to an extent; the variety available to the move is limited and doesn't reach out to much of the hardcore gaming community.
Ideas for the Move Me.
The Move.me is a Sony program that is essentially giving the public the opportunity to create what they want with the Move program. It doesn't have much to offer in the way of examples as to what could be done with it, however the potential that this program is, is massive. Initially the most it has to offer at the moment is a virtual version of the move controller, the other controller for the program is a virtual sword; both of which detects distance, movement and angle pretty much perfectly. After thinking over the potential ideas that the Move me would work into, this report will elaborate how its uses could be put into practice. Initially the first thing that can be considered is small indie companies getting their hands on it, making cheap games for it, that become available for the Playstation store; on the other hand this doesn't explore much of the possible paths that a program like this has.
Playing with the Move, it can be seen that it's motion detection system is amazing; picking up small details of movements. The first thought was that it could be placed in a simulation environment; thinking of the Wii and DS series 'Trauma Centre' by Atlus. 2005-present. The game play is a surgery simulator, it was originally for the DS, the later games being released for the Wii; utilising the motion detection. If this was put together with the Move, it could work as a teaching aid for medical students; as the movements are so precise. Running along the same theme of simulations, it can also be applied to teaching; for example manoeuvring the controls for military machinery, like helicopters, jets etc.
Playing with the Move, it can be seen that it's motion detection system is amazing; picking up small details of movements. The first thought was that it could be placed in a simulation environment; thinking of the Wii and DS series 'Trauma Centre' by Atlus. 2005-present. The game play is a surgery simulator, it was originally for the DS, the later games being released for the Wii; utilising the motion detection. If this was put together with the Move, it could work as a teaching aid for medical students; as the movements are so precise. Running along the same theme of simulations, it can also be applied to teaching; for example manoeuvring the controls for military machinery, like helicopters, jets etc.
Referring back to medical uses for the Move.me, this could be massively beneficial in this feild; a program like this can be to help with things like physiotherapy (Physical therapy). Particularly with younger children, the concept of having to continually go over the same tasks for an extended period of time can appear to be pointless or too much work; if this were applied to a game however, it could make it a more exciting experience and actually make them want to carry on with it. Or it can work alongside with the therapists, when they are unavailable to help with their progression, there will always be the Move to aid them. The Move can potentially help with many varieties of therapies to improve daily life for patients and rehabilitate themselves.
The focus of therapies using games is how it could be applied with paediatrics, if the idea of the therapy being like a game is put into children's minds it makes it sound all the more appealing to them. Generally most children tend to get bored easily; which can be a major hassle went paired up with therapy; if they don't find it entertaining it becomes much more of a challenge for the therapists, family and the child themselves. So if their treatment was paired up with using the move, and games that helped with the therapy were used; it could possibly make life so much easier when working with children. Considering how well the Move picks up movements, not only would it be fun, but accurate. Goals for children can also be set easier, through the games; if they achieve a set amount of points on one of the games or win a trophy on it. Along the same level, sports and orthopaedic therapies focus on the body and muscles so it could be applied similar to fitness games, with a more focused aim at a rehabilitation aspect.
It is clear how much the Move program can benefit in therapy physically, conversely it is possible that it can be applied to Neurological treatment, it could massively help with hand eye coordination; recognising colours; balance and so forth. The controllers are simple and don't require an excessive amount to remember, also having to memorise the controls would benefit for neurological therapy. Repeated play of games can help with memory, again applying games into the mix with therapy gives it the appeal that it's not just hard work.
It is clear how much the Move program can benefit in therapy physically, conversely it is possible that it can be applied to Neurological treatment, it could massively help with hand eye coordination; recognising colours; balance and so forth. The controllers are simple and don't require an excessive amount to remember, also having to memorise the controls would benefit for neurological therapy. Repeated play of games can help with memory, again applying games into the mix with therapy gives it the appeal that it's not just hard work.
The second idea for the potential for the Move me, was how well simulators would work on it. As previously stated, the motion detection for the program is almost impeccable; that it could be applied to simulator games. Along the same theme as the previous post with hospital based aids, I thought that it could work on a similar basis of the 'Trauma Center' games. Noticeably, the 'Trauma Center' games are glorified and considerably censored of too much detail when it comes to the surgery; in addition fictional diseases are used in the game. The idea behind it, using motion controllers makes it realistic, the player has to keep their own hand steady as it's the patient's life at stake. If this idea were placed into a more believable aspect and teamed up with the Move, would make a potentially useful advancement to teaching prospective doctors, surgeons and nurses methods of treatments, without putting the patients lives at risk. Obviously there will always be this barrier of game and real life situations, but for teaching purposes it could work as an aid in the subject.
Branching off from the medical field, simulation games with the Move me could expand to a vast variety of areas. Another example of this can be in the military; learning to operate the varieties of machinery, or even something like bomb disposal. The bonus of utilising the Move Me program is that the simulations won't run any of the risks that could arise, again I'll stress that it can't compare to actually being in the situation, but for practice it can possibly give a world of help. Bomb disposal in particular for practice removes the obvious danger present in a job such as that; also, in an interview with the Move Me being used, a small robot was being controlled via the Move. An idea could be, if the program was further advanced, to use the Move Me, connecting to a bomb disposal robot; though there would be the problem of the Playstation 3 not being portable enough for situations such as that, of course these are just ideas for possibilities for the Move Me to do.
Branching off from the medical field, simulation games with the Move me could expand to a vast variety of areas. Another example of this can be in the military; learning to operate the varieties of machinery, or even something like bomb disposal. The bonus of utilising the Move Me program is that the simulations won't run any of the risks that could arise, again I'll stress that it can't compare to actually being in the situation, but for practice it can possibly give a world of help. Bomb disposal in particular for practice removes the obvious danger present in a job such as that; also, in an interview with the Move Me being used, a small robot was being controlled via the Move. An idea could be, if the program was further advanced, to use the Move Me, connecting to a bomb disposal robot; though there would be the problem of the Playstation 3 not being portable enough for situations such as that, of course these are just ideas for possibilities for the Move Me to do.
http://www.sony.co.uk/article/id/1060176719725 - accessed 3rd February 2012
http://www.gameconsolesedu.info/PS1.php - accessed 9th February 2012
http://www.gameconsolesedu.info/PS2.php - accessed 9th February 2012
http://www.gameconsolesedu.info/PS3.php - accessed 9th February 2012
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trauma_Ce nter_(series) - accessed 15th February 2012
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_therapy - accessed 15th February 2012
