The one thing that makes the Nintendo Wii unique  among the other current-generation game consoles is its fun (but sometimes clunky) motion controls. It’s gotten everyone from Lil’ Suzy to Gran’ma to make spastic movements in front of their televisions as they backhand balls, box, and a myriad other activities. This special interaction is not quite as stand-out as it once was thanks to to Sony which has unveiled PlayStation Move.

Playstation Move requires both the new wand controller (which houses three-axis gyroscope, a three-axis accelerometer and a magnetic field sensor) and the Playstation Eye camera to work. Exact pricing hasn’t been detailed, but Sony’s confirmed that PlayStation Move will be available as a sub-$100 “starter kit”, which will include a controller, one Playstation Eye, and one game. Sony also plans to sell the PlayStation Move as a standalone product, and bundled with the Playstation 3 system itself. Sony also showed off a mini-controller that works very much liek the Wii nunchuk.

During an event at the Game Developer’s Conference in San Francisco, Sony demonstrated a handful of new games that support the motion-sensing controller including Sports Champions, Move Party and Motion Fighters. Sony also demonstrated how PlayStation Move works with already exisiting titles such as LittleBigPlanet.

PlayStation Move will prove a technological godsend to publishers such as SEGA which released the unusually-hardcore-for-the-Wii MadWorld (a title that pretty much flopped on Nintendo’s platform). While Aunt Betty isn’t ready to soak a black and white world in crimson, Joe PlayStation is and the PlayStation Move help facilitate that. Atlus, Capcom, Square, and over two dozen other companies have pledged allegiance to the new motion controller which will no enable cross-platform pollination of formerly Wii-only titles.

The motion-controller battle begins this fall.