So I was venturing on Kotaku today and saw a story about Microsoft developing a motion sensing feature, using a remote that looks very similar to the Wii-mote. You can check out that story here. While it may not be true, I wanted to tackle my opinion and others’ opinions on it.
Some people, who I like to call, fanboys are this close to through riots. I realize that you can not see the measurement of closeness that I am trying to dictate, so we’ll say the length of a Kiwi close to going nuts. And its not just Xbox fanboys, its also Nintendo fanboys. Everyone seems to be outraged that Microsoft would DARE to copy someone else. The thing is, this is not unheard of. Any many of you students of game development and actual developers know, that copying good ideas happens all the time in this industry. I bet a lot of people would be surprised to realize how some of their games have very similar gameplay or story as others.
The thing is, I think that having a motion sensing Xbox remote would be VERY beneficial to the Xbox community. So I don’t think any big fanboys of Xbox should be upset at all. This is one of the best things that could happen to them. As extremely mainstream as the Xbox 360 is, it will bring in even more people if it had the capabilities that the Wii did. I know that my mother, for example, is soooo intimidated by the controllers of the PS3 and Xbox 360 that she’d rather go pick up the Wii-mote. So I think it’d be a great asset for the Xbox community to have. A casual gamer would have the option right there to play something more “hardcore” than just Puzzle Quest or something. Don’t get me wrong though, Puzzle Quest is hardcore, but I mean something like Call of Cuty 4 or Mass Effect. I think it would get them more interested and if they have the option to play something like that without having to a buy a whole new system, they’d be so happy to!
So Xbox players, don’t fret, for this could be not true, but if it is, accept it! It would be a good move for the company you love.
This would be very clever of microsoft, think of it this way, nintendo wii is out of stock. People will just buy the 360 one instead.
Good read.
If the Xbox 360 gets a remote like this plus good looking non-mini-game games, Nintendo will be in damage control from all the third parties jumping ship :p
If Microsoft did end up developing and releasing a motion-sensing controller they’d be the last to do so. Nintendo has the Wii Remote and Sony has the Sixaxis, so Microsoft would just be catching up. Even then there’s the Zcam and all the video capture devices that are around, including the one that Sony put out. I see alternate control devices, as in other than button and joypads, as where the mainstream industry will finally end up.
These things have been around for a while now, but consumers haven’t been ready for them. I think the time is nigh that they are, and I’m so glad for it.
I agree with your take on things, but I think Microsoft would/will need to introduce the product very carefully in order to make it successful. I don’t have much confidence in their ability to do such things right now, but they might surprise me.