At E3 2009 we saw both Microsoft and Sony announce their own version of motion controls. While Microsoft’s Project Natal and Sony’s Wand look impressive with both companies presenting demos of their product, this all feels like just another “me too” strategy. Given the popularity and success of the Wii, it was bound to happen sooner or later.  The reason Nintendo Wii turned out to be such a huge hit was the sole fact that there was nothing quite like it in the market. On top of that Nintendo is selling it at a very low price point of $249 comparing to the $400 and $450 PlayStation 3 and the $399 and $299 Xbox 360. Not to mention the insane amount of models introduced by both companies, while Nintendo only having one basic model.

Both Sony and Microsoft failed to recognize the potential of the casual market and Nintendo, already taking a beating from both Microsoft and Sony in the previous generation, took the risk and the result is known. Sure, its nice to have a competing motion control but what kind of message it delivers?  How many games will actually take advantage of it? Both Sony and Microsoft showed some nice demos with much higher accuracy than Nintendo’s but devices like these needs to be properly marketed.

There is no doubt that Project natal is very impressive and Microsoft already demonstrated the device with some really nice games like Ricochet and Burnout Paradise, but whether the core audience of Xbox 360 embraces it is yet to be seen.

Both Sony and Microsoft needs to bundle their motion controls with the console, for if these controls will be sold as an accessory they would never gain a massive market share from Nintendo.  Imagine what would happen if Sony started to include their wireless headset and its keypad with every console – how much it would entice gamers to go online and play some multiplayer.Sony and Microsoft will also have to market the hell out of this controls. Eye of Judgment was a very neat idea but the lack of marketing and support killed what could have been big money maker for Sony.

Now that both companies have revealed their motion sensing technology,  they better back it with some serious efforts, otherwise it would just be another failed attempt to capture the Wii audience.