PlayStation Move to challenge Wii and Disabled Gamers

Wii is often used in rehabilitation situations to help wounded veterans and those with severe injuries to exercise in fun ways apart from the ordinary routine of everyday rehabilitation.  Conversely, those with severe motion impairment, motion sickness, and cognitive abilities have extreme difficulties in using their entire bodies to play a video game.

The PlayStation Move will operate in similar parameters.  Users will have the option of working with the PlayStation Eye, normal PlayStation controllers, motion controllers, and sub controllers.  Gyroscopes, 3-D positioning, normal input buttons, and many more options will be available.

One promising bit of information is that the PlayStation Move promises to pick up on subtle movements with increased accuracy over the competition.  However, Wii gamers can control entire games without clicking any buttons whatsoever but with PlayStation’s version there are going to be sometimes where you have to move and click.

For the average disabled gamer with motion impairments this will be yet another platform that is inaccessible to you. While that is unfortunate for some, other quadriplegics such as our own AbleGamer Tim are “looking forward to trying it out.”

This is because of the aforementioned subtle movements in combination with regular button pushing may add additional level of accessibility for some. Take for example if your set up includes the ability to use an analog stick and a couple of buttons.  It is entirely conceivable that you be able to continue using the assistive technology that you're using right now and add the movement of your head or upper body as switches.

There are currently 36 third-party developers and three publishers working to make titles available for the 2010 season. The entire system will be available by the end of the year.

Will it be a good thing for disabled gamers?

Unfortunately, this will be something that is more on a case-by-case basis but if you are severely motion impaired our current recommendation is to try the system through a friend or a rental before purchasing. There are some positive signs that the system has enough wiggle room that we will be able to work around it’s inherent accessibility issues.

For more information on the PlayStation motion controller please visit the PlayStation Move website.  And stay tuned to AbleGamers for further developments on how to play with your disability.

Comments (1)

Brian Joseph

March 25, 2010

Votes: +1

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In a lot of ways it'll be better than Wii (HD, standard camera/mic), but yeah accessibility-wise I'm sure Move will be a nightmare. About the only saving grace so far is that you can use a regular controller as the nunchuck, meaning for me at least, that I can stabilize it by resting it on my leg.

I hope Sony will be smart enough to standardize traditional control options where possible, or at the very least customizable options in Move titles in a way Nintendo has failed to do with the Wii.

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