Peripheral Vision

By contrast, Microsoft's Project Natal is unquestionably cutting edge. Incorporating a camera with a bespoke sensor designed to map the 3D position of people and objects in the room, it's undeniably impressive. Its applications will differ from those of the Sony peripheral - Natal doesn't seem suited to tracking small, precise movements, but its ability to follow the motions of an entire body are unrivalled. In fact, Natal seems likely to live up to the initial description of Wii games - "jumping around your living room" - to an extent greater than any Wii or PS3 game will.

Natal certainly feels more futuristic than Sony's technology. It's got a brand new 3D sensor, and its software needs to calculate what all the complex human bodies in front of it are doing from that sensor. At E3, Natal has been demonstrated in clear, uncluttered areas - in homes, it will have to contend with multiple bodies, furniture, pets and so on. The computational heavy lifting required is significant, especially compared to Sony's task - plotting the precise position of a couple of conveniently glowing orbs. The fact that it works even to the extent that it already does is a testament to the skill of the engineers involved, and it will be fascinating to watch the technology evolve in the coming months and years.

Based on the simple fact of their relative complexity, it's probably fair to say that Sony's system could - in theory - be on the market sooner and at a lower price point than Natal. It's also likely to suffer less early teething problems, which seem inevitable when Natal is confronted with the vast variety of complexity in normal consumers' living rooms.

However, this may be entirely an academic consideration. E3's demos of Sony's motion controller and Natal were only product announcements in the most broad of senses. These systems are far over the horizon - their announcements designed to placate industry-watchers and shareholders, to prove that these giants aren't about to let Nintendo run away with all of the family silver. In the short term, they amount to little more than FUD - something for fanboys to argue over, and perhaps to disrupt a little of the Wii's retail dominance, but not an important factor in console sales up to this Christmas and beyond.

Nintendo itself would retort that Wii MotionPlus offers solid performance compared to either system, and will be on the market next week - a point which holds a lot of water. However, it's not MotionPlus which should really worry Microsoft and Sony. It's Wii Sports Resort, and whatever else the firm may have in development for MotionPlus at the moment.

If Microsoft or Sony believes that Nintendo has sold 50 million Wiis off the back of motion controls, they are only partially right. The reality is that those consoles have been sold off the back of Wii Sports and Wii Fit - not to mention Mario Galaxy and Mario Kart for the more traditional audience. MotionPlus will sell not because of its technical capabilities, but because it'll be shoved in a box with Wii Sports Resort - which in turn will probably sell many more Wii consoles, especially in under-exploited territories like Europe.

Sony and Microsoft's motion control efforts are only one part of the puzzle. Each one is pointless without a killer application. People don't buy peripherals for their own sake - they buy games, and pick up the peripherals to play them. Nobody would buy a guitar controller if Guitar Hero didn't appeal to them, or drums if they didn't have a burning desire to play Rock Band. The criticism of Wii Vitality Monitor focuses on the fact that Nintendo didn't show any appealing way for it to work with software - criticism which could just as easily shift focus to Sony's motion controller or Project Natal if compelling software isn't forthcoming. Peripherals may be the story of E3, but without games, they're all just unappealing plastic.