News & Analysis
Teardown: Sony's 'Move' into motion gaming
Dylan McGrath
10/18/2010 12:42 PM EDT
SAN FRANCISCO—Sony Corp.'s attempt to play catch up with Nintendo Co.'s Wii in motion-based gaming hinges on a $99 bundle for its PlayStation 3 that is powered by devices from STMicroelectronics NV, Kionx Inc., CSR Inc., AKM Semiconductor Inc. and OmniVision Technologies Inc., among others, according to a teardown analysis conducted by UBM TechInsights.
Taking a page from Nintendo's handbook, Sony is selling a bundled motion-sensing gaming wand, PlayStation Move, along with a camera system called PlayStation Eye. The firm has reportedly sold about 1.5 million bundles in Europe, but sales in the U.S. are believed to be much lighter.
The Move wand employs 6-axis motion sensing, with a 3-axis accelerometer from Kionix and a pair of gyrometers from STMico, according to Nathan Taylor, a product analyst at UBM TechInsights. The gyros divide the axis sensing across two packages, one for yaw and a second for pitch and roll, Taylor said.
"Interestingly, none of the sensors can be found in their exact form on either vendor's websites but part markings are consistent with the full part numbers shown, and suggestive of custom parts for Sony," Taylor said.
Taylor said the Move uses separate gyros to cover all three rotational axes, despite the fact that STMicro is now shipping an all-in-one, 3-axis gyro.
"The choices here suggest Sony's Move wand development preceded availability of the more integrated gyro solution," Taylor said.
For additional orientation, the Move uses an electronic compass chip from AKM while CSR supplies the wand's Bluetooth wireless connectivity in an ALPS-manufactured module, according to the UBM TechInsights teardown analysis.
The teardown also revealed that the design of the PlayStation Eye camera system is based around a full 60fps VGA sensor from Omnivision with additional off-chip image processing supported by a companion processor from the same vendor. An array of four microphones is used for audio pickup in the Eye, with amplification and digitizing handled in an AKM part, according to Taylor.
While arguably playing catch-up to Nintendo's Wii, Sony now has brought the PS3 into the interactive gaming era with the $99 bundle of the 'Move' wand and 'Eye' camera system. Once Microsoft's pending Kinect system is brought to market later this year, all three of the platform heavyweights will be in the running with motion-sensing gameplay offerings."
Microsoft is preparing to introduce a similar product, Kinect, for its Xbox 360 gaming system. The company has reportedly said there may be delays in filling some orders for the product because of demand.
"Once Microsoft's pending Kinect system is brought to market later this year, all three of the platform heavyweights will be in the running with motion-sensing gameplay offerings," Taylor said.
UBM TechInsights is a division of United Business Media, the parent company of EE Times.
Taking a page from Nintendo's handbook, Sony is selling a bundled motion-sensing gaming wand, PlayStation Move, along with a camera system called PlayStation Eye. The firm has reportedly sold about 1.5 million bundles in Europe, but sales in the U.S. are believed to be much lighter.
 Sony Move controller and camera bundle. Source: UBM TechInsights.(Click on image to enlarge). |
The Move wand employs 6-axis motion sensing, with a 3-axis accelerometer from Kionix and a pair of gyrometers from STMico, according to Nathan Taylor, a product analyst at UBM TechInsights. The gyros divide the axis sensing across two packages, one for yaw and a second for pitch and roll, Taylor said.
 Main board- side 1 IC identification. Source: UBM TechInsights. (Click on image to enlarge). |
"Interestingly, none of the sensors can be found in their exact form on either vendor's websites but part markings are consistent with the full part numbers shown, and suggestive of custom parts for Sony," Taylor said.
Taylor said the Move uses separate gyros to cover all three rotational axes, despite the fact that STMicro is now shipping an all-in-one, 3-axis gyro.
 Main board- side 2 IC identification. Source: UBM TechInsights. (Click on image to enlarge). |
"The choices here suggest Sony's Move wand development preceded availability of the more integrated gyro solution," Taylor said.
For additional orientation, the Move uses an electronic compass chip from AKM while CSR supplies the wand's Bluetooth wireless connectivity in an ALPS-manufactured module, according to the UBM TechInsights teardown analysis.
 Bluetooth module. Source: UBM TechInsights. (Click on image to enlarge). |
While arguably playing catch-up to Nintendo's Wii, Sony now has brought the PS3 into the interactive gaming era with the $99 bundle of the 'Move' wand and 'Eye' camera system. Once Microsoft's pending Kinect system is brought to market later this year, all three of the platform heavyweights will be in the running with motion-sensing gameplay offerings."
 Camera board. Source: UBM TechInsights. (Click on image to enlarge). |
Microsoft is preparing to introduce a similar product, Kinect, for its Xbox 360 gaming system. The company has reportedly said there may be delays in filling some orders for the product because of demand.
"Once Microsoft's pending Kinect system is brought to market later this year, all three of the platform heavyweights will be in the running with motion-sensing gameplay offerings," Taylor said.
UBM TechInsights is a division of United Business Media, the parent company of EE Times.
Camera board- side 2. Source: UBM TechInsights. (Click on image to enlarge). |
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selinz
10/18/2010 3:13 PM EDT
This is a welcome addition to the PS3. I had a chance to play a bit with included gamepack. I did archery and was confused about how to make it work. My daughter said "Dad, you have a real bow.. pretend like you're shooting that." Well, that did the trick. I also watched my son do the volleyball and table tennis with satisfaction (his as well as mine).
By the way, he also hooked up the "eye" to his desktop, downloaded drivers, and had the camera/microphone working on XP.
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chanj
10/18/2010 8:03 PM EDT
With the camera, Playstation move works amazingly well. PS3 actually learns the orientation of the wand with all the sensors working together. The competition will likely drive more innovation in this area. Will this technology become the next generation remote control for smart TV?
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yalanand
10/19/2010 4:30 AM EDT
It wont be too long before we will see videogames using which we can learn cardriving, learning music etc. Hence forth no need to join any classes :), learn from home.
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elctrnx_lyf
10/19/2010 2:48 PM EDT
That is really cool. I've been wondering why no one is trying to enter into this sort of games other than Nintendo? I will definitely wait till the Kinect to be in the market and decide which one to buy. I think this wand can be used in games other than the fitness and sports games.
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sharps_eng
10/20/2010 3:57 PM EDT
The teardown says some components are not the latest but that may not be a problem, performance would be the same, cost may be less even. High volume design is about heartbreaking compromises in every area along the way but with a result that still satisfies.
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