PlayStation Move

PlayStation Move (プレイステーションムーヴ, PureiSutēshon Mūvu) is a motion game controller developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Initially released in 2010 for use with the PlayStation 3 home video game console, its compatibility was later expanded to its successor, the PlayStation 4, its PlayStation VR platform and the PlayStation 5. A revised model of the controller (with a microUSB terminal) is not backwards-compatible with PS3.

Conceptually similar to Nintendo's Wii Remote, its function is based around controller input in games stemming from the actual physical movement of the player. The Move uses inertial sensors in the wand to detect motion while the wand's position is tracked using a PlayStation Eye or PlayStation Camera. The device was generally well received by critics, but has not quite met Sony's goals for integration into the market.

As with the standard PlayStation 3 wireless controllers (Sixaxis, DualShock 3), both the main PlayStation Move motion controller and the PlayStation Move navigation controller use Bluetooth 2.0 and an internal lithium-ion battery charged via a USB Mini-B port on the controller. On the PlayStation 3, up to four Move controllers can be used at once (four Move motion controllers, or two Move motion controllers and two Move navigation controllers).

The primary component of PlayStation Move, the PlayStation Move motion controller, is a wand controller which allows the user to interact with the console through motion and position in front of a PlayStation camera. It functions similarly to the Wii Remote.

The PlayStation Move motion controller features an orb at the head which can glow in any of a full range of colors using RGB light-emitting diodes (LEDs). Based on the colors in the user environment captured by the camera, the system dynamically selects an orb color that can be distinguished from the rest of the scene. The colored light serves as an active marker, the position of which can be tracked along the image plane by the camera. The uniform spherical shape and known size of the light also allows the system to simply determine the controller's distance from the camera through the light's image size, thus enabling the controller's position to be tracked in three dimensions with high precision and accuracy. The simple sphere-based distance calculation allows the controller to operate with minimal processing latency, as opposed to other camera-based control techniques on the PlayStation 3.

A pair of inertial sensors inside the controller, a three-axis linear accelerometer and a three-axis angular rate sensor, are used to track rotation as well as overall motion. An internal magnetometer is also used for calibrating the controller's orientation against the Earth's magnetic field to help correct against cumulative error (drift) by the inertial sensors. In addition, an internal temperature sensor is used to adjust the inertial sensor readings against temperature effects. The inertial sensors can be used for dead reckoning in cases which the camera tracking is insufficient, such as when the controller is obscured behind the player's back.

The controller face features a large oblong primary button (Move), surrounded by small action buttons (, , , ), and with a regular-sized PS button beneath, arranged in a similar configuration as on the Blu-ray Disc Remote Control. On the left and right side of the controller is a Select and Start button, respectively. On the underside is an analog trigger (T). On the tail end of the controller is the wrist strap, USB port, and extension port.

The motion controller features vibration-based haptic technology. In addition to providing a tracking reference, the controller's orb light can be used to provide visual feedback, simulating aesthetic effects such as the muzzle flash of a gun or the paint on a brush.