iWatch | MAG 2.0 PlayStation Move Analysis

Hello everyone.
So, MAG 2.0 is out and you might be wondering how it controls with the Move compared to the way the public Beta did.
Well, as you will see in this new video, MAG 2.0 shows massive improvements.
On-screen pointer is now a little bit more visible. The biggest improvement tho is how the pointer behaves.
It looks like Zipper rebuilt the whole sensitivity algorithm from the ground up
Because the pointer now feels much more stable.
They basically increased the dead zone so that unintentional movement when pulling the trigger doesn't register.
As you can see here, fairly small movements are still registered.
But not the tiniest ones.
Perhaps it's too big of a deadzone now, which makes it difficult to fine tune aim in some situations
but at least you can now pull the trigger with more confidence.
For those who haven't seen my MAG Beta video, here is a reminder.
And here is a side-by-side comparison between the jumpy pointer behavior of the Beta and the steady one in the 2.0 version.
Interestingly, there is no recoil when using the Move.
Which I guess makes sense, and also helps compensating the "unstable" nature pointing dynamics
against the rock solid steadiness of the DualShock aiming.
Iron sights were also improved.
Alongside the old and laggy set up that has the iron sights fixed in the middle of the screen,
we now have the option to detach it.
and move it around with the same accuracy, stability and responsiveness of the pointer.
You can even turn around as fast as you would in normal aiming mode.
This new implementation also means you are never going to lose your target when swapping aiming modes
because the iron sights show up exactly it, retaining the same control behavior.
Assumed you configured the controls properly.
About that, watch the following portion of the video closely
as you'll find it useful when tweaking your controls.
Each aiming mode has it own setting about Pitch area, Turning area and Pointer sensitivity.
So, here I have a Turning area value of 50, for Normal play
and a Turning area value of 15 for iron sights.
Now, since swapping aiming modes swaps those values as well
if those values are different, you get unintentional camera movement when swapping near the edge of the bounding box.
Notice how the camera rotates when I switch to iron sights.
That's because the iron sights bounding box is smaller than the normal aim one.
Reducing it further, increases camera rotation upon switching.
Same thing happens in the opposite scenario.
Here is what happens when the iron sights area is bigger than the normal aim one.
Swapping from normal aim to iron sights near the edge of the former's bounding box seems fine.
Not so when doing the same by pointing the iron sights at the edge of its bounding box.
See how the camera rotates when switching to normal aim.
Now, what this all means is that you want to have those turning values as close as possible to each other.
In fact, by matching them, you get no unintentional camera movement whatsoever.
Here I have them both set to 15.
As you can see I get no camera movement when swapping from normal aim to iron sights.
As well as when swapping from iron sights to normal aim.
Problem solved?
Not really.
There is in fact another aspect of the control system that affects the whole thing.
And that's the pointer sensitivity.
You might now believe this, but pointer sensitivity affects the size of the bounding box.
Check this configuration.
Turning area at minimum.
Pointer sensitivity at maximum.
Please pay attention at when the camera starts rotating as I move the pointer between the edges.
Now, the way the bounding box works in MAG is different than what you might believe.
Camera doesn't start rotating when the cursor reaches the edge of the bounding box.
It does when you rotate the Move to a given angle.
Since sensitivity affects the correspondence between rotation angle and pointer movement [speed]
the lower the pointer sensitivity is, the bigger the actual bounding box is.
And viceversa.
Here I am reducing the sensitivity, leaving the turning value to zero.
Notice how the bounding box area has been increased as a result
despite not having changed the rotation value at all
Bottom line: when tweaking the controls keep in mind that different pointer sensitivity settings
will ask for different camera rotation values if you want to avoid unintentional camera movement
when switching between the two near the edges of the respective bounding boxes.
My humble suggestion is to set the pointer sensitivity first
find what suits you the best with both normal and iron sights aiming
and if [sensitivity] values are different tweak the rotation area values accordingly by doing the "edge test" you have seen before.
WOW, was that boring...
Let's make things more interesting by showing you how this whole motion control thing translates into actual online combat.
As you walk into the battlefield for the first time, you will get owned.
Again...
... again...
... and again.
That's normal.
You can't expect to perform well at your first go with such a brand new way of controlling things.
Especially if you are relatively new to the game as I am.
It took me a day of full MAG immersion
skills and equipment upgrading
and constant controls tweaking
to start meaning something worthy for my teammates.
Until it eventually clicked and I began performing better
... and better
... and better.
Going back to the old DualShock 3 now feels just... wrong.
There is something intimately more rewarding about killing people with the Move
that I just can't live without it anymore
Perhaps it's the added effort it takes that makes the killing more rewarding
Not sure, but it does feel good.
How good?
Eventually, THIS good.
Before ending this video, I need to mention a couple of things.
As suggested in my previous videos, some degree of aim assist was indeed added sine the Beta.
It's subtle, but it's there, and it helps keeping your reticule over the target without feeling like you are cheating.
It works only in normal aim mode, by the way, and at relatively close distance.
The other thing is about the scoped aiming.
Sadly, and oddly, Zipper removed the option to set the relative bounding box from the Beta code
and simply left the sensitivity one in.
What this means is that scoping is as difficult as before
with the added extra issue related to the overlapping bounding boxes we have discussed before.
Which causes annoying camera movements whenever you switch to scoped aim.
Its fixed bounding box is so small you always loose your target, unless it's right behind the cursor in the middle of the screen.
Perhaps this is an intentional annoyance thought as a compensation for the lack of barrel wander
when using the Move. But still, it IS annoying.
These issues aside, in my opinion MAG clearly shows the high efficiency of the Move in a FPS environment.
It plays very, very well.
So well indeed that not adding Move support in future shooters (if not building them around the motion controller in the first place)
would be a crime.
There is so much more you can do with it besides changing the color of the sphere
which is something MAG does by the way
by having the sphere colored differently depending on your faction.
Which is pretty cool.
And this is it! Hope you enjoyed this overview and thanks for watching!
Passo e chiudo ("over and out" in Italian)