Features: What PlayStation Move Does and How

Here at Movemodo, we promise to guide you through the confusing labyrinth of PlayStation Move news, reviews and information. We'll even hold your hand if you want us to – this is a new age, after all.

Like us, you're just starting out on your PlayStation Move journey, so now's the best time to explain what PlayStation Move does, how it does it and why it matters.

What Move Does

Gaming has become more and more physically active these days, and so it's natural to want to get up and get involved with PlayStation 3 games. Using a combination of the PlayStation Eye camera and the Move Controller, PlayStation Move lets you control your games with a range of physical movements.

PlayStation Move offers 1:1 motion control, meaning that every small movement you make with the controller is replicated on-screen with absolute precision. Be it a fierce uppercut or a delicate lob, Move promises intuitive controls, with the ability to use two Move controllers in certain games for double fidelity.

Having a controller in your hands gives you access to action buttons, with a pressure-sensitive trigger (otherwise called the T Button) underneath and a special Move button on top, alongside the four classic PlayStation buttons.

Some games support the optional PlayStation Navigation Controller, which sits in your second hand and offers an analogue stick and range of buttons familiar to anyone who's picked up a joypad in the last fifteen years. It has no motion-sensing abilities, but is intended to be used by core gamers for genres such as platformers, first-person shooters and other games where character movement is essential.

The PlayStation Eye camera also features an in-built microphone, meaning some games may even offer voice recognition on top of the motion control, offering an all-round control method that, if properly implemented, could create the most intuitive and immersive control schemes yet.

How Move Does It

The glowing orb on top of the Move, officially called The Sphere, is crucial to the system. It allows the Eye camera to track your Move wherever it moves: unlike an infra-red pointer, it can be tracked with absolute precision whether it's pointing directly at the screen or not. The Sphere also changes colour automatically depending on your surroundings and the game you're playing, making playing in all lighting conditions a piece of cake.

Internal gyroscopes allow the Move to detect tiny rotations, and allows the Move to communicate its position to the PS3 even when it's out of the Eye camera's vision. If you're playing a first-person shooter and point away from the screen, your in-game character won't start spinning around like a whirling dervish: the gyroscopes continue to feed information to the PS3, so you won't miss a beat.

The combination of camera tracking and internal motion detectors mean that Move never loses where you are or what you're doing, paving the way for more intricate and realistic control methods than before. Reach behind you to pull an arrow from your quiver in archery, throw grenades and line up deadly headshots and use deft turns and twists to place your powerful serves exactly where you want them.

What Do I Need?

So PlayStation Move sounds like a train you want to get on and ride, right? There are naturally a few things you need in order to get set up, which is why we've produced two sparkling guides to help you get up and running. Here's The North American PlayStation Move Launch Extravaganza for folks in those parts, and The Motherlode of European PlayStation Move Launch Information for inhabitants of the European Union and around that area.

I Need More Information!

That's a natural and understandable reaction. It's also why we're committed to bringing you all the PlayStation Move news, reviews and community you need to help you get the most out of your accessory. You can bookmark us, follow our RSS feeds or just set a mental reminder to come back every day as we'll be bringing you new content every single day.

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