The PlayStation Move Debut In Japan

The author with daughter Journey in Japan

Move over Nintendo Wii, Sony’s PlayStation Move is bringing motion-based gaming to the PlayStation 3 (PS3) in full 1080p glory. The Move came out in the U.S. in September, and coincidentally I happened to be in the Tech Mecca (Akihabara, Japan) the very day it debuted a couple of weeks ago.

The PlayStation Move’s controller consists of a main controller and a secondary sub-controller, similar to the Wii’s nunchuk but a little more advanced. The Move maintains the familiarity of a controller but integrates the PlayStation Eye camera (sold separately for $39.99) to integrate full body tracking and augmenting reality applications.

The PlayStation Eye has a maximum resolution of 640×480 pixels, and can be a bit sensitive to light. Your best bet to make it work for you is in a well-lit room. The 3D tracking relies on being able to clearly identify the glowing orb on the controller. The illuminated orb is the key to the Move’s precision, as the camera uses the orb to determine the distance between the Move and your screen.

In addition to the Eye, the PlayStation Move has a Shooting Attachment that allows you to hold the motion controller as you would a gun to easily aim at an in-game target. The trigger is interlocked with the motion controller T button, and enables you to intuitively play the game. Not only can you use this with shooting games, it’s useful with other games that require precise button input and control. It is sold separately for $19.99.

About 20 game titles will be dedicated to, or support the PlayStation Move by March 2011. Some of these titles include Resident Evil 5, Time Crises: Razing Storm, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11, Lord of the Rings: Aragorn’s Quest, EyePet, Sports Champions and Kung Fu Rider. Support from third-party developers and publishers will continue to further enhance the software title lineup to offer a high-definition motion-based gaming experience only available on the PS3 platform.

5-0 Radio Police Scanner

At the moment, the games offered to work with the Move don’t really do it justice, but the Move might be a good way for Sony to draw in more inexperienced or casual gamers. Find the PlayStation Move for $49.99 at your nearest GameSpot (gamespot.com) or Walmart (walmart.com). For more information, visit: https://us.playstation.com/ps3/playstation-move.

Click Chick’s Mobile App of the Week: 5-0 Radio Police Scanner

The 5-0 Radio Police Scanner lets you tap into the largest collection of live police, firefighters, aircraft, marine, emergency and ham radios. If you’re one who enjoys listening to these transmissions, it will help you stay in the know about what’s going on.

This app allows you to listen to feeds in the background with other apps running (just e-mail a link to yourself and tap it so you can listen in the background). For the beginners, there are police/EMS/fire codes built in so you can interpret what is being said.

When I downloaded the free version (5-0 Radio Police Scanner Lite), I could only see a feed from the Big Island. I didn’t try the paid version ($4.99 w/HD Radio included), but it supposedly adds 33,000 more feeds to listen to. The Lite version is free and available on the iTunes App Store or the Android Store.