When the Natal was announced, I originally agreed with Malstrom's theory, that it could be an overglorified techdemo, for self-advertisement purposes, not a serious design plan.Now that the PS3 motion controls are announced, this theory can't be applied to it, because Sony is clearly trying to imitate the Wiimote, probably because they expect to imitate their success too, not just showing something awesome and futuristic for the crowd.
But the big question stands for both companies: Why did they announce them so late, instead of either skipping to the next generation, or hurrying for e3 2008? Even if you believe in a 2012 beginning for next-gen (I think it will be earlier), it is very, very late for starting a new kind of lineup, in the last two years. And why there are no games for them at all, even though they are supposed to be released in early 2010, that is a few months away?
I have a new idea. It sounds like a conspiracy theory, but I think it makes sense:
What if they are actually planning to release their motion controls in the next generation? They just wanted to combine the advantages of having a cool E3, advertising their current machines, and releasing the product at a perfect time. later this year, the articles will start mentioning late 2010 as a release date, and at E3 2010, they will suddenly reveal their next-gen consoles, to be released in 2011. In that orgy of news, no one will really miss the motion controls for the remaining time of this gen.
This year, Microsoft's presentation was obviously well-planned, very professional. Even if they plan to support Natal sometimes in the future, honestly, it was a big advertisement. With a TV ad, Spielberg and Molyneoux speeches, and polished, cool looking tech demos.
But Sony's design seemed to be unfinished, with the prototype's dildo shape, the ugly graphics of the techdemo, and the overall design of the presentation. It seemed to me, that when Sony heard about the rumors of Microsoft motion controls, or even earlier, they prepared with this techdemo as a B plan. They were dragged into announcing an early 2009 release for the PS3, hoping that Microsoft is also bluffing.
(I'm not sure about Microsoft, it could be honestly what it seems to be, or vaporware, or also a next-gen device)
