Tiny Diggers – An iPad Construction Truck Game for Kids Age 2-5

Opinion coming: I mean, whatever.

There’s some nice write-ups at Kotaku, but the Move announcements smell like more motion-controlled crap mini-games. How is it that something like this can launch four years after the Wii came out, and the first batch of games are still goofy Wii 1.1 junk, with titles like “Move Party”? And could that photo be any more Wii-like?

Sure, the interior tech is improved over the stock Wii Remotes. It damn well better be, since it’s 2010. It also requires a PlayStation Eye camera, which almost no one owns, so get ready for expensive bundles this holiday season.

Sure, there’s no doubt one amazing upcoming game that will manage to combine HD graphics with motion controlled gameplay and not seem like a cheap Wii knockoff. Maybe it will be God of War Presents Kratos and Friends Brutal Olympiad Featuring Archery.

Sure, I haven’t touched it yet so what do I know about how fresh it feels.

But none of that changes the fact that this is a follow-the-leader reaction, issued primarily to remove a bullet point from Nintendo’s marketing plan. Sony’s new attack could be “We have this same crap now too, so you can stop buying that ugly standard-def unit with the bullshit online service.”

I’m all for video game systems evolving over time, but where’s the Move’s great leap forward? Depth perception? No tether cord? Like the Wii Remote+Nunchuk, the Move will be limited to certain types of games and certain types of control schemes… and if you do not enjoy those specific types, you simply won’t be buying a Move. Sounds like our highest hope for the Move is a high-def port of Madworld. The best part about the Move is, unlike the Wii, you at least have a kickass “traditional” controller available by default.

Don’t even tell me that shooter fans are going to get in line for this, since similar control schemes were tried on Wii and roundly ignored. Does anybody really think that the SOCOM audience is going to prefer to play the fourth installment with Move controls?

Thus far, I like the proposed LittleBigPlanet Move integration. And I’m waiting for the big REVISED EYEPET announcement where they add a bunch of Move controls to the delayed virtual pet. But Move Party? No thanks.