Last week, during the Game Developers Conference, Sony officially named, priced and unveiled the PlayStation Move. At the press event, IndustryGamers had a chance to play around with the new motion controller and then we sat down to chat with Sony Worldwide Studios VP Scott Rohde to get a clearer picture of how Sony envisions its motion plans taking shape. In the Q&A below Rohde tells us why he thinks PlayStation Move will have the edge over Wii and will attract existing Wii owners to come to PS3.

IndustryGamers: Is it a bad signal that we didn't see any third-party product for Move?

Scott Rohde: I don't think so. All the publishers are very excited about what the PlayStation Move can do. You've seen some announcements this week with Tiger Woods, but they're all engaged and that's a big win for us.

IG: Can you tell us how you arrived at this branding? We wanted to know what it would be called for so many months, and now Sony's decided to call it Move. What went into that?

SR: It's great – everyone's so interested in how our company names products. It's like at any other company; everyone dumps in their ideas and you've got agencies out there coming up with names. At the end of the day, we really felt that Move conveyed what the controller is all about. It's a word that the smallest kid understands, and it's a really good name. I'm happy with it.

The PlayStation Move along with the horribly named "sub-controller"

IG: I was just chatting with Michael Pachter, and he thinks Natal has an advantage because Microsoft will be packing it in with every Xbox 360. I know you talked about bundling in Move with PS3 hardware, but that comes at an additional cost to the consumer I would think. Could you talk about bundling strategy?

SR: There will likely be an uber-bundle, where you get that first pack (Move, PlayStation Eye, and a game) along with a PS3. No pricing has been announced for that yet.

IG: From what the third parties have been saying over the past few months, and from what I've seen here today, the experiences are very reminiscent of the types of things you'd see on the Wii. Are you concerned about this being too much like a Wii experience? Are you concerned that the games will be basically HD ports of Wii games? How do you separate yourself from the pack?

SR: It's a good question, but it's not something that concerns us honestly. We're really excited about Move. We researched a lot of different technologies before we settled on the one we did. It's a homegrown technology and we chose it for a number of reasons – chiefly because of the precision that we knew we could get. When you're talking about a game that was demoed like Table Tennis out there, you might be able to play that on another system, but I think we showed very well that you can get that top spin or slice in there and it really feels like you're playing a Table Tennis game. Also, because of the camera, the PS Eye, we add that whole element of augmented reality. And I think that's a big advantage we have over what the Wii has done to date.

Move's fighting game packs a punch (excuse the lame pun...)

IG: When you look at this platform as a motion controller system, are you targeting the casual or hardcore? And I know you're going to say the answer's both, but my thinking is that when you're saying SOCOM 4 is suddenly going to be played by casual folk because it now has motion controls, I mean c'mon, that's not happening.

SR: We didn't say it's going to be a casual game. The casual player's not going to play M [rated] games. But we did want to broaden that reach a bit. One of the things we're offering, and Pete [Dille] spoke to this a bit, is that SOCOM 4 is not just a motion control game. You can buy the game and play it with the DualShock you've always loved. But now with Move you can also play the game in a totally different way for a new experience; we think that caters to the hardcore, and of course we also showed a bunch of games that do target casual audiences as well. I think what you're seeing today is just the tip of the iceberg for both first and third party. You're going to see a lot of variation in the months to come.

IG: Do you literally anticipate that people who are Wii owners right now will say, 'Hey, here's another motion control system similar to Wii. I want to upgrade.' Do you believe you'll see a lot of that?

SR: I think so, sure. That's definitely an audience that we're targeting. One of the beauties of the PS3 with the whole ad campaign, “It Only Does Everything,” there's a lot to that. It could mean that a lot of families bring it into the house because it's a Blu-ray player, and [Move] is just another reason for them to bring it into the house. Maybe someone is sitting on the fence about whether or not to upgrade [to PS3] and this could lead them to do it.

IG: Have you determined what game will be packed in with the $100 Move bundle?

SR: We have some ideas, but we haven't decided which one yet.

IG: Well, from a marketing standpoint, you're going to want to pick the one that best showcases what Move can do and generates that appeal for the device, similar to what Wii Sports did for the Wii.

SR: Right, and between marketing and Peter Dille, that decision will be made in the upcoming months, but absolutely, that's the goal – what shows off the system the best.

IG: So if you had to sum up Move vs. the Wii, what is the primary differentiator? What gives you the advantage over the Wii? 

SR: There's a lot of different things. I think the precision is number one. We researched this technology for a long time, and we're very happy with how it came out, especially in terms of the Z-space. It's a true 3D motion controller. I'm not sure how evident that was on stage, but it's not just a 2D space. You really move back and forth. Also, the augmented reality opportunities [give us a leg up]. Move Party is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of what you're going to see. When you're holding a tennis racket, for example, and flipping it around, it really feels like you're holding it and that's a new experience that the competition does not have. 

Table Tennis plays like... table tennis

IG: Is Move going to be integrated into MLB The Show? When I spoke with Rob Dyer he hinted at that, but didn't confirm anything. 

SR: Every team is looking into if it makes sense for their projects. I think it's an obvious answer that MLB's going to make sense. The team is actively looking into how that's going to work. 

IG: Is that the kind of thing where you could retrofit Move into a game already out there with a patch? Is it conceivable that we'd get a patch to integrate Move into this year's The Show?

SR: Is it conceivable? Yes. Are we going to do it? Probably not, to tell you the truth. Because sports are annualized products, there's very little time to work on these titles to get them out for the next year. We want to do it right and make a big splash when we do it.

IG: So in terms of how Move ties into PSN, I'm imagining that we'll see a bunch of new motion control games for download too? 

SR: PSN is just a big part of everything we do, so yes there will be some integration with PSN and the types of titles you'll see, but I can't say anything specific right now. But PSN is just a distribution medium for us; it's a way to get things into the hands of our consumers quickly via download... so you'll probably see some things for Move.

IG: So last question: What is your opinion of Natal and how you think Move stacks up?

SR: All I'm going to say is I have a lot of confidence in what we're bringing, and I personally know that holding something in your hand, interacting with it and seeing that result on the screen is a very tangible and positive feeling. So I'm very confident that what we're bringing to the market is a great gaming experience and I'll leave it at that.

IG: A very safe answer! Ok, thanks Scott.

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