Earlier in the year, it was rumored that Sony would open Move development to the public, and allow academics and hobbyists to tinker with the precise motion controller. Speaking at this year’s Games Developer’s Conference, John McCutchan, Senior Engineer of SCEA’s Developer Support team confirmed that the company would indeed be allowing aspiring developers to create Move applications.
PC based software application “Move.Me” will allow for anyone with the right skills to create Move applications for their PS3. McCutchan explained that researchers and academics expressed interest in the Move controller at events like Games for Health and SIGGRAPH, leading Sony to believe that Move can be used for things other than simply gaming, with the company embracing the home-development scene, rather than trying to suppress it.
On the PS Blog, McCutchan summarised Move.Me:
So, what exactly is Move.Me? In short, Move.Me is a server application that runs on the PS3 system. It allows anyone with a PS3 to experiment with motion controls and is officially sanctioned and supported by Sony Computer Entertainment. Move.Me sends the complete state of the PlayStation Move and navigation controllers to the PC, giving you the exact same data that licensed developers typically have access to.
What does this mean to you? We see Move.Me as an opportunity to satisfy the need for new, innovative interactive technology in fields like academia, healthcare, and more, as well as to support new developers and inspire applications that we could never have imagined. We hope it will be used to discover new ways of connecting individuals with information, and maybe even discovering a new healthcare application or two. We know that some of you out there are aspiring software developers yourselves and we’re eager to see what kinds of applications Move.Move inspires. Maybe an aspiring developer like you will create the next big thing with PlayStation Move!
Whether the Move.Me service will be commercialised and even lead to an app-like store for the PlayStation 3 remains to be seen. While we certainly welcome any advances in healthcare, we would love to try out developer’s creations in other recommended genres such as “Music and the creative arts”.
The Move.Me application will be available for download from the PlayStation Network this spring, but you can apply to be part of the early program here.
Will you be creating any projects for Move.Me? Let us know in the comments below.
