PlayStation Move sharp shooter Origins – Part One

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PlayStation Move sharp shooter Origins – Part One

By now you’ve probably read a thing or two about the PlayStation Move sharp shooter – like the fact that it has a digital trigger, a pump-action grip, and an authentic form factor. But did you know that it originally started life as a side project for Killzone 3’s game director? In this two-part article, we look at the origins of the sharp shooter and the people behind it.

It all began with a Helghast soldier using a PlayStation Move controller.

“We were at a game convention where the PlayStation Move was being demonstrated,” Guerrilla Games Director Mathijs de Jonge recalls. “We had several Helghast performers walking the show floor, and one of them decided to have a go at the PlayStation Move demo booth.”

For Mathijs, the image of a big, intimidating Helghast soldier waving about an innocuous game peripheral just felt off. “I could scarcely imagine him playing a game like Killzone that way,” Mathijs says. “He looked like he should be holding something resembling a weapon – something with a little oomph to it. A peripheral that not only played well, but looked cool at the same time.”

The event got Mathijs thinking about an add-on for the PlayStation Move. “We’d toyed with the idea of designing a Killzone-themed gun peripheral before,” Mathijs says, “but with the introduction of the PlayStation Move, that idea suddenly seemed a lot more feasible. The timing was right as well, because development on Killzone 3 was still in its early stages.”

PlayStation Move sharp shooter (origins) for PS3

Early mockups consisted of kitbashed gun peripherals from other platforms.

Mathijs voiced his idea at a Director’s Panel, where Sony Product Design Manager Ennin Huang was also in attendance. Having worked with the SOCOM team on the first Bluetooth headset for PlayStation 3, Ennin was heavily involved with the development of PlayStation peripherals. “After the panel, Ennin approached us and said he very much liked the idea of a solid, realistic-looking Move add-on,” Mathijs says. “He advised us to put together an official proposal and submit it to the Product Design team.”

For his proposal, Mathijs enlisted the help of Guerrilla Lead Concept Designer (and resident weapons expert) Roy Postma. “Mathijs wanted to design a gun peripheral that could represent the majority of firearms in Killzone 3,” Roy says. “We chose the Helghast StA-11 SMG as our starting point: like most weapons in the game it requires two hands to operate, but at the same time it’s quite compact.”

PlayStation Move sharp shooter (origins) for PS3

The first mockup housed the navigation controller in the rear grip.

Using foam board, duct tape and pieces of gun peripherals from several different platforms, Mathijs and Roy then constructed a mockup roughly approximating the StA-11’s size and shape. The mockup housed the navigation controller in the rear grip and the Move controller in the barrel, while a trigger mechanism in the fore grip connected to the Move’s T-button. This setup, however, proved impractical.

“When you play Killzone 3 on a DualShock 3 controller, you move around with your left thumb and fire with your right index finger,” Roy explains. “Our first mockup had it the other way around, making the setup somewhat awkward for right-handed people. So I went back to the drawing board to design a clip/fore grip that could house the navigation controller. I also moved the firing trigger back to the rear grip, where it normally resides on an StA-11.”

PlayStation Move sharp shooter (origins) for PS3

Guerrilla CEO Hermen Hulst tries out the revised mockup.

Instead of relying on a complicated (and possibly error-prone) physical pass-through mechanism to bridge the distance to the Move’s T-button, the trigger could simply be wired up to the Move’s extension connector digitally. This solution allowed Roy to add additional buttons to the body of the peripheral, saving players from having to reach for the Move controller in the barrel whenever they wanted to reload or swap weapons.

In the meantime, Mathijs worked on the proposal document, outlining the type of user experience he had in mind for the gun peripheral. “I wanted players to experience a sense of joy as soon as they picked up the peripheral,” Mathijs says. “It not only had to look cool and authentic, I also wanted it to feel like a weapon. It had to enhance the overall experience of playing a shooter on the PlayStation 3.”

Check back next week for the second part of sharp shooter Origins, in which the Guerrilla team gets help from their friends at Zipper Interactive!

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136 Comments

  • @1 Lol you mad bro? Cool it man it will be back soon. didn’t anyone teach you patience is a virtue? We got our PSN back play some Call of Duty or Killzone or a great game like Demon’s Souls. But look at what Sony did to its self (effectively) there dropping the price of the PS3, PSP, and The kick ass Headphones that will give you surround sound and bluetooth headset built in all for a 100 bucks? come on Sony is hurting bad its bad enough they didn’t get a good start, 600 dolor PS3 anyone? So do you really think that there keeping the store down because they hate there customers? Lighten up people its just a few free games and a service that I probably not pay for.

  • Yet another update that says nothing about their platform still not being 100% operational.

  • It’s over a month and the PS Store is still down, way to go Sony. Keep up the good work

  • @Shadowkat1991 wtf is demon’s souls lol?and yeah sony probably wants the ps store back up ASAP,it makes them lose a lot of money.

  • The playstation move was alright and the sharp shooter addition made it that much better. I have used it on Killzone 3 but I would never play with it online. Reason being when sometimes you get over excited and aim the move to fast your courser wanders mostly to the left some times to the right and it is very frustrating when your trying to improve your accuracy. Just wanted to know if there is any planning to fix this in the future?

  • @NinjaNabs It was a game made by ATLUS back in 2009 it won most unique game play of the year and it is by far king of the hardest games of the nextgen systems. It is a good game check it out its not sequel Dark Souls is coming out later this year check it out if you like a challenge.

    @the people calling us Fan Boys or sheep. Look everyone has the right to speak there mind I uphold that right with every breath I take but by denouncing ones opinion as a defense of a system is just as bad you are not original you are simply fallowing a different flock. Listen the difference between what the people complaining and the people “defending” Sony is that the people lack a sense of forgiveness. Thats not to say they are bad people nor are they heartless in fact some people rely on these people to be firm and stand up for the little man. However Sony is a victim as are we in this attack. Just think about that I hope you people don’t take this the wrong way I don’t hate anyone and I wish this to be heard in a calming manor. Understand and be compassionate thats what we should do and just be patient well get our stuff.

  • Pretty awesome. Hey, think we can get another double XP weekend on KZ3 for those of us in Japan who only just now got our voices back?

  • The sharpshooter is the best and most immersive periphal on the market. It revolutionizes the way gamers can interact in an fps. It is perphaps a little lackluster in third person shooters, but I sincerely hope to see its appearence in many more fps. If the device saw half the marketing of kinect then I could not imagine more gamers not standing up in support of more third party titles incorporating this awesome periphal. My great hope is that E3 will have Sony announcing that all shooters offered on ps3 will support move & sharpshooter, its that good. Keep up the work!

  • Never exactly tried playing with the playstation move controller, but I bet it’ll be a great experience, especially for an FPS.

  • @#33: The trick is finding stores who will allow Killzone 3 to be demonstrated on their sales floor, where there are families with children shopping for things, etc.

    I like what this device does, but in a post-“Rock Band” / “Guitar Hero” world, if I let one more plastic gaming peripheral into my house, those folks from that “Hoarders” show are going to be banging on my door.

  • bought this controller and love it,a couple things,being 6’5” it is a little small,longer shoulder stock would be nice but after 100 hrs it wiggles very little fully extended,and if we had the option to adjust the button function so if you have big hands you can reach the mellee button,one last thing: be able to charge the controllers without removing them from the weapon,one for continual play when they run low and be able to just unplug and play
    love this game and controller halo sucks!

  • ya ya who cares you lazy bums get the ****** store up geez !!!!!

  • I don’t have the Move yet myself (can’t afford it), but this looks darn cool!

  • Yawn, big deal, Victor.

  • Well, it is a big deal. Seriously, props, Victor. This is a good story.

    It’s just not a good story NOW. It’s like that Cosby Show episode, with the nice dinner served on a trash can lid.

    Until the PS Store is back up, this blog is pure trash can lid.

    Don’t take it personally, Vic. :D

    (I still say Motion Controllers are dead in the water until they get light gun gaming right, however.)

  • Duct tape wins again! :)

  • Ops_soldier5590

    The most stupid dude ever is……………. midknight24! Calm down b**ch they said next month right or wrong you moron every1 is waiting calm while u talk s**t about it so calm yourself down or leave!!!!!!!!!!!

  • Ops_soldier5590

    oh the #1 is a troll and kinda grumpy XD

  • I love how #1 thinks there’s any kind of correlation between this blog post and the store going up. He also refers to Sony as if it’s a single entity hahah. As if since this guy here is posting something about the move controller that obviously no one is working anywhere else in the company on getting the Store back up. Just brilliant.

  • You would be pretty surprised at what some “original” designs specs.
    Personally, I find it interesting that Sony would talk about how such things are made and done. For every controller and device that is made, there is a “Frankenstein” counter part lurking some where in the dungeons .
    I am surprised Sony has not came up with a way to use “thought Control” to manipulate images on a screen as of yet. there are devices that really do make “you use your brain” to control things. Some control computers while other are devising aids that could help a person drive a car with a thought. You’d be very surprised at what is no longer science fiction. and the PS3 has the power to do it as well.
    Now as for the PS4, Sony, You really need to think Long and hard about what goes into that thing. I have heard rumors that you Don’t want to lose money on it, but remember the mistakes you made with the PS3. If you sell it with an intent and purpose as a computer and a console, you better well leave things alone because this time, I do not think your consumers will be very happy as well as your investors. You are very Lucky you are still afloat.

  • PS, remember the older Guns that used a light to shoot things ? they came out in the early 80’s . and so was born the Shooters that used such simple designs.. And so now the Move Controller Does the same and a tad bit more.
    I don’t think we all understand fully what this technology is suppose to teach us..let alone how and why it has been implemented.. We Techs understand full well the intent.it goes beyond gaming …muuuhahhaaaaa…So Who is controlling who heehehhh…*laughs an evil laugh*

  • Sony is fortunate that Blu-ray won the HD war against HD DVD, but we doubt that the company will take such bold and costly risks anytime soon again. Will the PS4 be a more conservative design for its time? No doubt about it.

    I Personally, I think the Move is very accurate even with out an “Accessory” I have it fined tuned. Also distance plays an important rolse in how accurate the device is.
    Also I find that using the Move controller to navigate the web is impressive to say the least, especially when I learned that one does not need the camera for Surfing the net. it totally relies on the motion of your hands .
    It is a tad touchy though. and When I tested the “Move” out on that Pop up targeting game” It was very accurate.
    I am not sure where you are getting issues of the thing not being very accurate.
    I don’t have a problem either with the Demo game that uses blocks and such to “stack” items either.

    Maybe you do not have it adjusted right?

  • Oh, absolutely, I am quite glad Blu-ray won the format war.

    For those of you who don’t know how Blu-ray works, the basics are this: a blue light wavelength is “smaller” than a red light wavelength (what DVD players and CD players use). This means that the data bits can be physically smaller on the disc, and that more data then can fit on the disc. That ultimately means far less image compression for movies and such and more code.

    HD wasn’t bad, it was just an unnecessary technological step to take. If HD had won, we’d still eventually see Blu-ray (after a number of years of consumers buying HD) as it was the more “forward” technology of the two.

  • @Ops_soldier5590 your the one who should calm down.

  • Well its the 29th and still no update on the store i know you guys are working hard on the stores you must be because the $$$ your losing is huge but not even a vage little update i really hope is not the 5th-10th and this is still going on. i just got my ps3 two days before the network went down and so far im really not sure if my money was well spent.

  • why the psn is down againg i cant play becous the error 80710099???????

  • I have the Move and played KZ3 demo with it. It ‘s cool but sometimes the camera goes wack and starts spinning out of control. I wonder if this helps that issue.

  • @Hooligantuan
    and there is a newer Technology that is proving rather interesting in the area of Compact Disks, There are rumors on line that Sony was working on a newer disk that can even hold more then a bue-ray disk. Also what people may not know is that Blue rays burn a lot hotter then the normal Lasers. They can ignite a match and pop a balloon.

    Actually any of then blue ray devices laser has the power to do that. Be thank full that when you run a rewritable disk the PS3 uses a “Normal” Red laser, other wise, one may wind up losing there data on the re-writable disk lol.
    You ask how do I know that blue lasers burn hotter? Simple, I tried it with a junked blue ray disk player.
    it is a very beautiful laser, it is also Hypnotic and mesmerizing. Ah….Yes BLUE thin beam…..Must have….Eh also must have and use wear proper protective goggles designed to filter and protect your eyes and they are not cheap lol.

  • Oh to clarify, the PS3 uses two lasers the red one for DVDs and CDs and PS1 games and the Blue for the blue ray disks.

  • Oh and one odd quirk, I have the HDR-XR520V and the original disk that came with it. ( I refuse to upgrade to the newer software as Sony removed its “AVCHD” recording option. The real Kicker, is I can record an AVCHD disk AKA Blue Ray Disk using a standard Recorder and the PS3 will read it in FULL 1080i ( in this case the cam is a 1080i). The PS3 will read but not the PC lol..Now that is some crazy formatting.

  • Oh And on a side note, I think the Cdrom and DVD rom Based disks will be soon on there way out. So far we can store games and software on a “Chip” we might be entering into a new era of Cartridge based games. this would be a great Idea and they couldn’t be hacked as easily. Yet these kinds of cartridges would last longer, be smaller and could hold 100x the data then the older cartridges could. Plus chip based technology would use less energy, create less heat, and would last a great deal longer. and the PS3 could easily have a special usb adapter that could be used for that kind of stuff.

  • wonder if videos work on mozilla firefox 4.0? Cuz they don’t seem to for me.

  • Given the original was stuck together with tape, I wonder if the fact that the move refuses to shoot straight, hold an aim or aim where you point it isn’t actually a ‘homebrew design feature’.

    @curiousecat – amazing isn’t it, thirty year old technology is still far more accurate and performs better than something which no doubt had millions of dollars of R&D thrown at it.

  • People who post stupid comments like #1 shouldnt get the welcome back package!!!

  • @thetruth8431
    Yes your money has been well spent, you unfortunatly just bought it at the wrong time

  • Might get it if Battlefield 3 supports it and bundles it at launch.

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