Ken Fisher at Ars Technica is seeking to clear the air on the Sony PlayStation 3's E3-announced controller technology, which features motion-sensing technology that at first blush seems to be similar to what Nintendo has introduced with Wii.
Fisher doesn't think this is the case. He notes that Sony's controller appears to only really support rotational control, omitting 3-D space tracking. In addition, the PS3's controller cannot support pointing like Wii's controller does, making many of the titles premiered at E3 for Wii simply impossible to replicate on Sony's system.
Fisher opines that the technology was almost reactionary, given Sony's rumored 10 day notification to Warhawk developers that the technology existed and they had to implement it for E3, as well as developers learning from the media and not from Sony's developer support program that force feedback was being dropped from the controller.
Time will tell if developers go on to create motion-controlled titles that support both Wii and PlayStation 3 — in our estimation, Sonic Wild Fire could be done on both systems, for example — but in the meantime, it seems that Sony's technology just isn't unique enough to support the wide range of applications that Wii does.
Update: According to Sony's E3 release on their controller, the controller can detect changes in x, y, and z position in space with its accelerometers — suggesting Fisher's conclusion about its capabilities is incomplete. However, the PlayStation 3 controller still does not seem to permit pointing due to the lack of a "sensor bar"; it can only detect relative changes in space, not absolute position like Wii's controller can.
Thanks go to forum member Cardinal for noting this problem.