Living Room Upgrades: the PSMove and 3-D TV

Gamers, feast your eyes on the new PlayStation Move. Does it remind you of anything? Just kidding -- the PSmove was bound to look a bit like a Wii-mote and nunchuck. The main difference is the lack of a wire connecting the two pieces (nice!). The PSMove works with the PlayStation Eye camera, and it'll be released in late 2010.

Most answers you need about how it'll work can be found here -- except for the answer to the most obvious question, which is: how well will this thing actually work? Those of us who bought a Wii on Day 1 (or as close to Day 1 as we could get) remember how glitchy the Wii-mote felt on the first few titles. Developers weren't used to incorporating the motion controls yet, and it showed. The road has been rocky, and even now, the Wii-mote is far from perfect.

Luckily, the PSMove is not not that expensive. The starter pack (a PSMove, a PSEye, and a game) costs $100. PSMoves will also be sold individually (for an undisclosed price), and we're guessing they won't cost more than, say, a wireless XBox 360 controller.

Unfortunately, upgrading to 3-D TV will cost you significantly more, and buyers have realized this. And hesitated. Admittedly, there's not much 3-D content available right now, so there's little motivation for anyone to upgrade. Probably for the best -- it seems a little heart-breaking that the main draw keeping movie theaters in business will soon come into our homes. Let's let the theaters have a longer hurrah with 3-D films, shall we?

According to the article, more than half of consumers identified the 3-D glasses as their biggest problem. How many should one buy? A pair for each family member? But what if friends come over? Oh, and by the way, the glasses cost $150 a pair. Ouch.

That same article claims companies are banking on "sports fans, hardcore gamers, movie buffs and the not-so-price-sensitive technology fans" to adopt 3-D TVs first. A brief glance at my living room would be enough for most to peg me as a "hardcore gamer" (whatever that even means), but I personally find the glasses uncomfortable to wear for longer than an hour or so ... far from ideal for an hours-long session of, say, Mass Effect 2. But, who knows -- maybe 3-D games will become the norm and I'll be tempted to make the switch. After all, it's probably the closest thing to virtual reality that I'll get in my lifetime, and goodness knows I hate having to live in the real world.