Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft wage games war

ELECTRONICS hardware makers are showing off snazzy new devices enabling motion-sensing play and 3D effects, intensifying a battle to introduce video-gaming to a new generation of casual users.

Hot on the heels of Microsoft’s full-body motion-sensing Kinect, Nintendo took the wraps off a new version of its DS handheld device that can play games and show movies in 3D without glasses.

Meanwhile, Sony has introduced the Move – which like Nintendo’s popular Wii employs a wand-like controller to double as everything from a tennis racket to a baseball bat in games – and promised up to a score of 3D titles soon for its PlayStation 3 console.

The launches and demonstrations from the triumvirate of gaming hardware makers at this week’s E3 expo in Los Angeles – the $60 billion (€48.7bn) industry’s most important annual showcase – set the stage for a pitched battle to bring players beyond the hard-core fanbase into the fold.

Analysts said Microsoft made the biggest splash with a seemingly revolutionary platform that employs no controller, and a clear mandate to target casual players. And Nintendo’s move to add a third dimension to its market-leading DS mobile handled device will shore up its market position.

The triumvirate that rules the market for gaming devices is stepping up their battle just as the industry is beginning to recover from a two-year slump. Analysts say laggard Sony, the erstwhile consumer electronics leader that has seen Nintendo surge ahead with the Wii, has a potential winner in Move but that the jury was still out.

Sony’s Move appeared to mimic a gaming system that Nintendo pioneered with the Wii a couple years ago, but Sony argued the precision of its technology – which captures every twist of arm actions – and the ability to employ combinations of buttons will continue to please hard-core players.

Sony will launch its motion-controlled gaming system in Europe on September 15, getting to market weeks ahead of the rival platform from Microsoft.

Motion-based gaming is all the rage at this year’s expo. Sony said its Move system for the PlayStation 3 home console will go on sale on September 15 in Europe, and days later in the United States. It is expected to be on shelves in Japan on October 21. The basic system, which features a wand that resembles an ice cream cone, will start at $50 for the controller and $40 for a camera, but no prices are available yet for European customers.

Microsoft’s Kinectmotion-based platform for the Xbox 360 goes on sale on November 4.

Kaz Hirai, head of Sony Computer Entertainment and the company’s networked products and services group, said the technology in Move’s wand should allow the system to appeal more to hard-core gamers.