According to a document sent to developers the PS3 motion tracking 'Wand' (as we're still calling it) will see the light of retail day in the next 12 months. In fact, Develop mag states that the document pencils in "Spring 2010" as the launch window.

Developers - and Sony wants to launch with first and third-party software support - are currently contending with the Software Development Kit (SDK) for the hardware. Apparently, the "Motion control tracking currently has a notable effect on the PS3’s performance, according to Sony, in that the "motion-tracking library has some SPU overhead and has an impact on memory as well, although these will be minimized."

The device will work with the current PlayStation Eye's voice input. Kotaku's look at the developers' handout also states that the wand has "face-tracking and head-tracking capability in the PS3 SDK” and that this will provide "developers with “powerful tools for new types of user interaction."

The race is well and truly on between Sony's Wand and Microsoft's Natal...

^{Sources:
develop mag
Kotaku}