Sony reports hot demand for PlayStation 3 motion

Sony reported that it sold more than a million Move devices in North and Latin America in the 30 days after it hit the market in September.

"Retail demand is incredibly strong and we're working hard to keep the product in stock," said SCEA chief executive Jack Tretton.

"We believe we are on target to meet our end of year goals and expect sales to increase as our publishers and developers continue to update popular titles and introduce new games."

Two dozen videogames tailored to Move play are available, with titles including shooters such as "Killzone" and "Resident Evil" as well as sports games including "Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11."

An additional 15 Move games planned for release in the coming year range from sports and shooter titles to puzzle and "family-friendly" fare aimed at capitalizing on the appeal of motion-sensing controllers to casual players.

Move wands are priced at 49.99 dollars. A smaller "sub controller" wand for use navigating characters in shooter games is priced at 29.99 dollars.

Sony combines Move controllers with Eye cameras and a videogame in bundles sold for 99.99 dollars. Adding a PS3 console to that bundle raises the price to 399.99 dollars.

PlayStation Eye cameras, which are needed to track movements of controller wands, sell separately for 39.99 dollars.

Move controllers, which are reminiscent of small black flashlights topped with brightly colored orbs, allow gamers to control PS3 play with swings, jabs and other natural movements instead of the toggle-and-button commands that have been trademarks of play on PS3 and rival Xbox 360 consoles by Microsoft.

Microsoft's rival Kinect devices are due out on November 4.

The firms are taking their battle for gamers' affections into terrain that had been ruled by Nintendo Wii consoles with innovative motion-sensing controls that became marketplace stars after the system was released in late 2006.

Microsoft's Kinect controllers for Xbox 360 consoles use 3-D cameras and gesture recognition software to let people play videogames using natural body movements and spoken commands instead of hand-held controllers.

Microsoft said a "Kinect for Xbox 360" that will sell for 149.99 dollars will include the Kinect Sensor and the videogame "Kinect Adventures," which features a river raft ride through an obstacle course.

The Kinect Sensor will work with the 42 million Xbox 360s already sold worldwide.

A four-gigabyte Xbox 360 console will include the Kinect Sensor and "Kinect Adventures" will sell for 299 dollars.

(c) 2010 AFP