Half a Controller
The PlayStation Move’s primary controller has always been the stick with a ball on and it was great for capturing one type of motion, typically pointing at different parts of the screen whilst capturing the motion.
But it quickly became clear that if you wanted to play a more conventional game where your character moved through space as well as pointed at things we would need something else.
This should not have been a surprise as this is how all dual analog controllers work and even Nintendo had already worked this out with their Nunchuck complementing the primary Wii controller through the slightly awkward connecting cable.
Some games got around this by offering your left hand the use of the left side of the PlayStation 3 controller. This would let you use the thumbstick, L1, L2 and perhaps if you were dexterous enough, the directional pad, but that was awkward so some genius decided, what if we made that but as a controller of its own and unlike the Wii’s nunchuck, we made it wireless.
I am a big fan of this little gadget. Its use is limited, but I have to say there isn’t much else like it. In fact I feel like a lot of modern day VR games could do with a similar device as so many of them rely on teleporting to get around the limitation that VR controllers suck for directional movement.
My first and possibly best experience with the controller was with Heavy Rain. A while after the game’s release, a patch was delivered providing full PS Move support and a new PS Move version of the game was released too. The whole game could be played with the Move Controller and the PS3 Controller or instead the far superior navigation controller.
The controller also improved all first person shooters. You can comfortably navigate a world with this and use the Move Controller solely for aiming and shooting, it even clips into some of the accessories like the SharpShooter to allow you to move and aim whilst holding it.
Whilst the PlayStation Move found a second wind with its use in PS VR on the PS4, the PlayStation Navigation Controller didn’t get proper support, with only a handful of titles supporting it, but I have never utilized it on there myself.
It’s just a nicely made, ergonomic little controller and I always enjoy using it as part of the Move. My only criticism is the battery life!