If price wasn’t a factor, what would Sony have done with the PlayStation Move? If these patents are clues, it seems like a lot more. The PlayStation Move that we know of now comes in two parts: the Move Controller and the Navigation Stick. The Move side of things is meant to, well, help you move, via the sphere tip at the end of the device. By having your position tracked in 3D, Sony has been able to deliver pin point accuracy, something not seen on other motion controlling devices out there. But Sony also knew that many games simply couldn’t rely on just motion tracking, hence the mess the Kinect is with games that are slightly more complicated and the reason the PlayStation Move can work with games like Socom 4 and Killzone 3. The Navigation stick that the user can hold in their other hand gives the user not only more buttons, in order to control additional game functionalities and not rely on gimmicky hand gestures, but also gives users an analog stick as well. This can be extremely helpful in games like Killzone or Resident Evil 5 where the user needs to move their character around with accuracy that they are used to from the Dualshock 3. But if we look back at earlier Move patents, it seemed like Sony had something different in mind.

The original Move indeed seems to be a combination of the Move and Navigation controller married into one device. There’s a trackball on the bottom of the thing, giving it some mouse-like control, and an analog stick on the actual Move controller as well. This marriage of controllers might have lead to an even greater depth of immersion for the user but the stumble blocks are clear as well. Had Sony put everything they wanted in the Move, they might have had another PlayStation 3 situation on their hands in which they offered the most cutting edge technology but at a higher price than the market was ready for, thus leading to slow initial sales. The fact that Microsoft was also set to release the Kinect in the following month was probably the final nail in the coffin of this idea, leading the way to two separate units which brings not only the price down for Sony to make and sell, but also gives consumers a much lower entry fee. This is actually very apparent with the PlayStation Move being priced at $49 while the Kinect sits at $149. Another angle at all of this is probably ease of use. Currently, anybody can pickup a Move controller and, within a minute, understand the basic concept of it. Had the original version gone into production with more buttons and tracking balls, this might have created a hurdle for those who are looking for a simpler experience. But alas, the tech guru in me always wishes for more and the original Move seems like one hell of a device.

[Via Patents Office]