Behind the scenes with Portal 2 In Motion

With the European release of Portal 2 In Motion today, I’d like to share a little more about how the project came about and why we believe that this is an important day for the PlayStation Move community.

At Sixense we focus exclusively on motion control, so for us the motion experience is the essence, not an afterthought. Our goal is to release a product only after extensive development and testing to demonstrate that the overall experience is enhanced with motion.

While developing Portal 2 In Motion, it was critical to have a partner like Valve, who holds the user experience sacred. Valve understood the value of Sixense’s expertise in motion gaming and gave us the incredible opportunity to innovate within the Portal 2 universe to create an experience for Move that does justice to the hardware’s advanced tracking capabilities.

People have asked why Portal 2 In Motion requires the Move motion controller and why the puzzles cannot be solved with a traditional controller. The answer is that Sixense designed the experience around the specific capabilities that the Move delivers, capabilities that are not possible with a dual analogue controller.

For example, an analogue stick is a fine tool for aiming in two dimensions, but only with Move can you reach out into the third dimension (or Z-axis). Only with the Move can you rotate an object on all three axes as if you were holding it in your hand. It was around these abilities that we designed the gameplay features that are required to solve the puzzles and progress through the test chambers in Portal 2 In Motion.

Check out the video below to see some of the features in action.

At Sixense, we see Portal 2 In Motion as just the beginning of what we can do for PlayStation Move. Portal 2 In Motion is built on our own core Sixense software technology, which we’ve been developing for all game genres, from first-person shooters to real-time strategy, which (believe it or not) could be great with Move.

We are planning to take the technology that we’ve established with Portal 2 In Motion and apply it to develop Move-required DLC for other major titles. We’ve got some great projects in the works. We also want to make a point of listening to the community, so please let us know what titles you would like to see with In Motion DLC in the future!

For those who missed our announcement post last week, Portal 2 In Motion is a DLC campaign developed by Sixense for Portal 2 releasing later today on the PlayStation Store (€9.99/£7.99). It requires PlayStation Move and a navigation controller is recommended but not required.

A free patch for Portal 2 also releases today to provide basic Move compatibility for the main single player and co-operative campaigns. The patch does not include all of the advanced PlayStation Move gameplay mechanics available in Portal 2 In Motion.