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Sony offers Move.Me for researchers, academia

Sony launches a new software application at the Game Developers Conference allowing researchers and academics to bring PlayStation Move functionality to their PCs.

Don Reisinger
CNET contributor Don Reisinger is a technology columnist who has covered everything from HDTVs to computers to Flowbee Haircut Systems. Besides his work with CNET, Don's work has been featured in a variety of other publications including PC World and a host of Ziff-Davis publications.
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Don Reisinger
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Sony's depiction of how Move.Me works.
Sony's depiction of how Move.Me works. Sony Computer Entertainment

The PlayStation Move will soon be used for more than just gaming.

Sony announced a new software application at the Game Developers Conference today called Move.Me that uses its PlayStation Move motion-gaming controller with a PC. The program will be available via the PlayStation Network and act as a server application running on the PlayStation 3. When it's put into action, the program "sends the complete state of the PlayStation Move and navigation controllers to the PC, giving you the exact same data that licensed developers typically have access to," Sony said in a blog post announcing the project.

Sony's desire to bring Move functionality to the PC has been one of the worst-kept secrets in the gaming business. Last month, a schedule on the Web site for the Game Developers Conference revealed that the company would discuss "the new Move Server project that will make it possible for academics and hobbyists to develop software using the PlayStation Move controller on their own PCs."

But Sony's official announcement to bring its motion-control game technology to the PC lagged behind Microsoft's own effort to do the same.

Last month, the software giant announced the Kinect for Windows SDK, allowing third-party developers to create Windows applications that use the motion-gaming peripheral. Microsoft said at the time that opening Kinect up to PC developers is integral to its "vision of creating computers that are intuitive to use and able to do far more for us." It plans to launch the SDK in the spring.

For its part, Sony envisions Move.Me being used by those in the academic and research worlds to create new applications using the motion-gaming peripheral. It specifically cited the possibility of Move.Me being used to create "rehabilitation applications for patients undergoing physical therapy."