The secret to the Wii’s success likely doesn’t have anything
to do with impressive graphics, but rather its relatively low price point and
innovative controller scheme. While there’s little doubt that both Microsoft
and Sony have been busy cooking up answers to the Wii’s appeal, neither camp
has responded with anything other than price drops.
According to MTV,
citing anonymous sources, Microsoft has been developing its own version of the
Wii Remote controller since last summer, with hopes of a rollout later this
year. “[Microsoft] marketing just want it so they can match the Wii point for
point. The biggest parts of their marketing materials outline how easy it would
be for third parties to port their Wii games to the 360,” said the source.
The Microsoft-owned developer Rare, known for Viva Pinata,
Perfect Dark Zero and Kameo on Xbox 360, is supposedly working on a unified
interface and look for the new motion-sensitive controller. The source even supplied
a sketch of the proposed controller, which looks startlingly similar to the
Wii Remote.
Predictably, Microsoft officials refused to comment, saying,
“Microsoft does not comment on rumors and speculation.”
Microsoft isn’t alone in its potential efforts of
replicating the Wii Remote’s success. Sony filed a patent in May 2006 for a new
controller method, which is described as, “Detecting and tracking the
user's manipulations of a game controller body can be used to implement many
different types of games, simulations, etc., that allow the user to, for
example, engage in a sword or lightsaber fight, use a wand to trace the shape
of items, engage in many different types of sporting events, engage in
on-screen fights or other encounters, etc.”
It’s unlikely that the addition of a new controller or other
peripheral will be enough for Sony or Microsoft to douse Nintendo’s fire,
though only time will tell for sure.
