The 2008 Toy Fair was held in New York this week, and some of the biggest and most most exciting announcements revolved around motion control.

Coming in at the low end of the price scale was JAKKS Pacific who announced their Ulti-Motion Game Sytems:

Ulti-Motion game systems are a new video game concept developed in conjunction with Disney Consumer Products which takes the fun and creativity of interactive play to the next level in a way only Disney can. The new Ulti-Motion™ video game line expands upon JAKKS Pacific’s award-winning Plug It In & Play TV Games technology by combining toys and role play with one of the most popular trends in video gaming: motion games. The Ulti-Motion game system plugs directly into the A/V jacks of any standard TV, and it contains a number of games or activities along with role play accessories. No additional cartridges are needed.

The Ulti-Motion™ Disney® line delivers on Disney’s preschool brand values including education, adventure, music, art and exploration and will feature hit Playhouse Disney™ properties. Titles especially developed for girls inspired by Disney Princess™ and Disney Fairies™ will also be introduced this Fall.

Also slated for launch this Fall is the JAKKS Ulti-Motion™ Swing Zone™ line, featuring an all star, multi-sport title including bowling, tennis, golf, baseball and football.

We saw early demos of this system at CES this year, and they certainly bring motion control down to an even lower entry point in the market.

Next up, and also at a low entry price ($74.99) was Tiger Electronics, who announced their U-DANCE system which forgoes the “dance mat” used by traditional dancing games and instead uses “wireless motion tags” which players attach to their ankles — enabling them to dance anywhere in the room, and to have their motions tracked for more elaborate dancing moves (rather than just measuring footfalls).

GesturTek, whose optical tracking we’ve covered in this space before, announced a new prototype “Wii-like” gaming stick that can be combined with any camera-equipped gaming console, PC or other device. GestureTek says the system will provide full 3-D tracking along with video of the user on screen, for less money than accelerometer based solutions.

Finally, Nintendo dropped a craftily timed announcement that the Wii Fit balance and exercise platform will be launched in both the U.S. and Europe this spring. You can find an interesting series of internal Nintendo interviews about the genesis of this system here.

The only real surprise here, in our minds, is that every toy and gaming manufacturer didn’t have a similar announcement this time around. If you’re in the toy business and haven’t got a strategy for motion yet — well it’s time to get onboard (give us a call!).