While Nintendo has comfortable dominated the motion-controlled-gaming space for the past few years, that all changes this Fall. Both Sony and Microsoft will be stepping into the ring, with the motion control wand and Project Natal respectively.
But which solution, if any, will consumers flock to? Analyst Michael Pachter is giving the nod to Microsoft, saying that in the first year Natal will outsell the currently-unnamed Sony motion controller 5-to-1.
“I think that the Sony motion controller will have some problems gaining traction, since it is not an ‘in the box’ solution,” he told PS3Center, saying that would limited adoption to one or two million sold “at the outset.”
“A year of so after launch, there will be 10 million [Project Natal units] out there,” he predicts, “which will probably attract more third party support.”
Microsoft has been pushing Natal strong since its reveal at last E3, where as Sony — which will reveal the controller in more detail at GDC next month — has been relatively quiet, not yet even giving it a proper name. Many third-party developers have had Natal development kits for awhile now; we’ve heard rumblings of some rather high profile IPs that take advantage of the camera that are already deep in development.
This question is open to those who own both an Xbox 360 and a PlayStation 3 (loyalists, please sit this one out, if you can): Which motion controller are you most interested — Sony’s or Microsoft’s?
