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Microsoft 'Wait and See' On Motion Controller
CVG is reporting that Microsoft has developed a 'wait and see' attitude toward the concept of incorporating motion controls into Xbox 360 games. Despite the popularity of the Wii, and the inclusion of the system in the PlayStation 3, Microsoft's Chris Satchell stated in an interview with the website that the company is still cool on the idea. Says Satchell, "There's no point building the hardware if nobody really wants it ... One thing I'm not certain of is that third-parties are super-excited about that motion control - or at least they're not showing it with the games that are hitting the shelves yet ... We're yet to see a really good game on Wii that really says 'OK that control kicked ass'." This is at odds with statements from Peter Moore from earlier this year, who stated that the company does have motion control plans in the works. CVG will have the complete interview up soon, which might give more context to his statements.
The 360 wasn't designed from the ground up to take advantage of that kind of control scheme. At best they'll make a controller that's useful for a small handful of games and completely worthless for every current title. Granted they may be able to work in some kind of update distribution with the use of X-Box Live so current games can take better advantage of a setup like that. Final Verdict: I wouldn't hold my breath for a better design then what the Wii is already pushing and at a considerably cheaper price.
~Vexed and loving it!
Yeah....
We all know Wii owners certainly AREN'T playing
Wario Ware
Rayman
Trauma Center
Excite Truck
Madden 07
Elebits
Cuz, you know, Wii Sports is the only game on the Wii that puts motion controls to great use. Yup. Keep telling yourself that.
Microsoft's classic business strategy has always been to copy what everyone else is doing and sell a buggy version of the idea to the masses which they promise to eventually improve.
Actually, this asshat saying that technology X is not desired by the public, when one of his main competitors is currently making a killing marketing technology X is disingenuous.
You're reading it completely wrong. Saying "there's no sense in building something if nobody would buy it" doesn't imply that Nintendo is selling something that "nobody buys." That wouldn't even make sense.
He probably said it to highlight that, at the time the Xbox 360 was conceived and designed, motion-sensing controllers were considered something that nobody would buy. And, honestly, you can't blame Microsoft for thinking that. Nintendo did a great job of creating a market for motion-sensing controllers that simply did not exist two years ago.
The other statement he makes about motion-sensing controllers is that third party developers aren't embracing it. And honestly, that also seems like an accurate statement to me... so far all the 'killer apps' on the Wii are made by Nintendo. Microsoft doesn't operate the way Nintendo does; while they make first-party games, the console requires third-party games to be successful.
I agree with the grandparent that, strategically, Microsoft's already in a pretty good position. It's been shown that the "killer Cell graphics" on the PS3 aren't much better than the Xbox 360 graphics have been the entire last year, and ditching the rumble-pack for a half-functional motion-sensor was a bad move on Sony's part (IMHO.) Microsoft can afford to bide their time right now and wait for the Xbox 3 (whatever it'll be called) to introduce whatever new controller model makes the most sense.
Comment of the year
Zelda and Red Steel. My memory of what Zelda was like is unreliable, but I still play RS regularly, so I'll answer there.
... a bit fraudulent. You don't swing the wiimote to block *and* swing as you would a real sword. The way it actually works is, it transforms your wiimote swing into horizontal, vertical, or diagonal pre-scripted attacks. It can also detect you raising, lowering, and turning the blade, but that's purely cosmetic.
First, the RS demo ads were
The part where it shines is blocking. Assuming you hold the nunchuck in your left hand, if you want to block, you just raise your left hand as if to shield yourself. It's a very instinctive reaction to someone swinging a sword at you, which allows them to tighten the required reaction time without making the game much harder. (There are sword combos too, but these are mostly unnecessary and take too long to master.) You can also swing the nunchuck down when the enemy is vulnerable to break his sword, which can win you faster than cutting him up.
What I don't understand is why they don't do more with the sword. As you can see in Wii Sports -- Baseball/boxing, it's very good at detecting vertical tilt. And when pointed in the general direction of the sensor bar, it's trivial to detect horizontal angle. Ditto for stabbing. So, there's quite a bit to work with, even without trying dead reckoning.
Apology to Ubuntu forum.
And thus you qualified for the new :
-1, overused not funny anymore joke
moderation.
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
Not to mention that you ignore the fact that the only killer app for the original Xbox when it was released was Halo - published by MS. They're not that different, you see?
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org