Very good dipiction of the actual hardware, however, ignoring the most important part makes this thread fail.

Games. These devices weren't created to build new computing products and interfaces. They were created to play games.

Natal will be unable to play the greater majority of existing genres. No buttons or controller at all makes it useless to the mass amount of games. Adding a controller and using this as a enhancer of some sort won't really make the game better in potentially any case. That is not saying some games could really utilize this, I for one would love an RTS with this, but as a whole this could NEVER be a primary control device for any console.

Sony's wand tries to mitigate that but again, no nunchuk like controller. Again a very limited device for all the same reasons that Natal will fail.

WM+ w/ the nunchuk is the only motion controller that gives you precise movements in 3D space while still being able to play any genre effectively.

So, maybe in terms of pure tech its Natal, Sony, Wiimote; but in terms of actual usuage and viability as a game controller, Wiimote is WAY ahead of the other two.

MS and Sony's products won't be anything but a niche device on a handful of games.

By the time anyone announces software for the other two, Nintendo will have already launched and have software using it within this month.

While the other two are maybe for release next year.

Shipped sailed off, there too late. Hard to impress people when Nintendo will already seling it a year ahead.

Wait, I thought this thread was about comparing the technologies of the three motion controllers, not their impact on the gaming industry? Though, I admit it can create good debates and many discussions... just not here, I think. o_O

Thread title "In-depth comparison of the big three's motion controllers."

Sorry, don't see 'technologies' there. So, actual use as their intended use should be discussed as well.

Although I was just comparing the technologies by thesemselves, this pretty much sums it up how I feel. Sony and Microsoft are a few years too late. I'm sure there will be some nice software for it, but the selection will be very limited. 

For games microsoft is probably the worst one.
For one simple reason.

Not all video games are played alone

I don't know, I thought comparing the main technologies was the point of the thread. There is an OP in a thread, not just a title. The before last paragraph says everything you need to know, basically, which goes like this: "Ignoring all context and just comparing the technologies by themselves, the order of superiority is Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo."

I admitted that his ranking on tech only was right, but ignoring context defeats the purpose of comparing "in-depth" anything.

Plus, he quoted me and said I pretty much summed it all up. ;)

@jetril

As a comment to your OP, something I brought up in another thread though this seems more technically-oriented:

The 1:1 of the Wiimote and WM+ is orientation only (3 degrees of liberty).

The 1:1 of the Sony external camera+wand system is orientation plus positioning tracking (5 or 6 degrees of liberty, not sure about Z axis)

Yeah, I admit that he gave his view on the whole thing in the before last sentence of that paragraph, and he did say that the tech ranking wouldn't matter in the long run because of games anyways.

I just read the new reply, hehe! =P