Motus wireless controller set to follow Wii’s success
‘Darwin’ device nears end of long road to game use
BY CHRIS NELSON
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Satayan Mahajan, founder and chairman of Motus Corp., first came up with the idea for a motion-based wireless video game controller while a student at MIT. The original prototype was fashioned after the fictional Star Wars “lightsaber.” The Cambridge, Mass.-based company is eyeing a market charged by the Wii. Photo courtesy of Motus Corp. |
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In 2001, Mahajan, who graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a degree in materials engineering and a focus on semiconductors, and several of his MIT colleagues developed a new type of motion-based video game controller. The team built a prototype of the device from a “lightsaber” (the fictional weapon that plays a key role in the movies, games and novels that comprise the Star Wars universe) and presented it to a handful of video game publishers. The response wasn’t exactly what Mahajan and his colleagues were looking for.
“We started out by creating a prototype of a lightsaber,” Mahajan, Motus’ founder and current chairman, said. “We went to KB Toys, scooped a bunch of them up and turned them into this prototype. We knew we were on to something – I thought, ‘Oh my God, nirvana!’ – but when we presented our idea to these people, they said, ‘No one is going to get off the couch to play video games.’”
Rather than let this setback derail his vision, Mahajan waited until the video game market was ready for his invention, which he christened “Darwin.” That happened in late 2007, when Kyoto, Japan-based Nintendo Co. Ltd. introduced its Wii video game console to the market. The Wii system, which features the wireless, motion-based Wiimote controller, was an immediate hit: it sold more than 1 million units last December, according to the NPD Group Inc., a Port Washington, N.Y.-based market-research firm.
The success of the Wii convinced Mahajan – and the very companies that once rejected the Darwin as a fantasy – that the market was ready for it. “There was a huge market validation with the Wii that, yes, people will get of their couches to play video games, and yes, they are involved in motion,” Mahajan said. “So, about a year ago, a large video game publisher came to us and said, ‘We have a problem: We’re building [motion-based] games for the Wii, however, the games we’re developing for the Wii don’t always play as well on other consoles. So we need a motion-based controller for the other consoles – we need Motus to build this for us.’ We told them, ‘OK, we’ll build a video game controller for you based on our prototype.”
The Cambridge-based company hopes to introduce the Darwin to consumers sometime by the end of 2008. The controller, which is shaped like a Samurai sword but is larger than the Wiimote, will be compatible with existing video games, personal computers and popular gaming consoles like Microsoft Corp.’s Xbox 360 and Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.’s PlayStation 3. It is expected to retail in the range of $80 to $100 – about $40 to $50 more than the Wiimote.
Mahajan said the Darwin’s unique design should appeal to both casual and serious gamers, and that the controller features a sturdier construction than the Wiimote.
“The Darwin’s shape was created by our head of design, who is a martial artist. He was studying sword forms when we were approached by the video game publisher to make this controller for them,” Mahajan said. “He produced a design that not only looks attractive, but it can also take heavier use than the Wii, which looks like a remote control.
“The Wiimote is a nice device, but if you want something that’s suitable for heavy action, then you need a different design,” Mahajan added. At the same time, you want it to appeal to casual and serious gamers alike. That’s what the Darwin does.”
According to Mahajan, the Darwin provides the most realistic playing experience of any wireless, motion-based controller on the market – better than even the Wiimote. “The Wii really is a good system, but the Darwin is better,” he said. “We’ve been focusing on our sports base and in the medical area, which allows us to understand the minute details involved in human motion.”
Indeed, after the Darwin prototype failed to generate enthusiasm among the video game publishers that Mahajan pitched it to back in 2001, he steered Motus in a different direction to help pay the bills. The company, which he co-founded in 2000 and now employs about 45 people, developed the iClub, a specialized piece of equipment designed to help hardcore golfers improve their swings by sensing and analyzing minute details of the motion. It has been on the market for two years and has drawn rave reviews from golf publications like Golf Digest.
In January 2007, Motus announced a new version of the iClub Body Motion System, which enables the golfer to control his or her swing motion consistently. The updated Body Motion System offers a new, customizable audio-visual interface that provides immediate feedback to the golfer the swing motion. The golfer can set swing parameter targets such as hip rotation or shoulder rotation, and determine immediately whether they are reaching their targets. The golfer can also work on one aspect of their swing, or target several parameters to be monitored at the same time.
Motus has also forayed into developing motion sensors for physical therapy uses and other medical applications. This, along with the success of the iClub, prompted the company to divide its medical, golf and video game products into three divisions: Motus Medical, iClub and Motus Games. “That was an easy decision,” Mahajan said. “Dividing the company into three divisions made it easier for us to focus on what we do.”
The Motus Darwin differs from the Wiimote in how it functions. Whereas the Wiimote calculates its position with an infrared sensor, the Darwin uses gyroscopes and accelerometers to track its position with respect to the Earth itself. It orients itself to the magnetic north and then determines the position that it is pointing.
Motus isn’t the first company to develop a motion-based video game controller to compete with the Wii; Sony Computer Entertainment offered the Sixaxis controller for sale as an accessory to the PlayStation 3 when it introduced the system to the U.S. market in November 2006. But the Sixaxis, which takes its name from the words “six” and “axis,” for the directional movements, didn’t last long – Sony announced in early April that it was discontinuing it.
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They aren't new to the motion controller scene.
