Xbox 360 to embrace motion controls? Probably not.

by Blake Snow { Feb 27th 2007 at 12:52PM }

Our ninja comrades over at 360 Fanboy speculate on recent comments made by Microsoft's Peter Moore in an interview with Game Informer discussing the future of the 360. The crux of the discussion centers around Moore's attempt to expand his primary hardcore audience to include casual gamers, perhaps Wii-style.

When asked how Microsoft plans to attract the larger casual group, Moore replied that his company's efforts go beyond that of just E-rated games. "It's more experiential than that," he said. Vision Camera? Something new altogether? Maybe. But just know the company can never fully embrace motion controls on 360 a la Wii or PS3 without alienating its current 10 million users with their default old school controllers. Moore says we can expect casual-esque game announcements within the next couple of months.

[via 360 Fanboy]

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

Jack of No Trades @ Feb 27th 2007 1:00PM

Motion controls would be a stupid move! Bring something new to the mix. Virtual visor.

James @ Feb 27th 2007 1:02PM

No, things the Xbox 360 doesn't have are lame! Wireless connections are stupid, motion controls are stupid, HDMI is stupid...

Now watch as the Xbox slowly incorporates all this over the next hardware revision...

kinshadow @ Feb 27th 2007 1:10PM

"If" they wanted to add motions controls, they don't need a new controller. A $5 accessory clipped onto the back would work just fine. Accelerometers are both cheap and small (many single chip 3+ axis soluions).

That said, I hate motions controls. They are really just a gimic no matter how you slice it. I rather see something new on the feedback/haptics side.

Vidikron @ Feb 27th 2007 1:08PM

They licensed a new motion technology that can be used via a camera a long while back. Nothing has been announced regarding its use, but they have it available.

Intentless @ Feb 27th 2007 1:12PM

3. I read an article that says Rayman for the 360 uses the camera for optional controls. Is this not true?

ackmondual @ Feb 27th 2007 1:14PM

visor or camera attachment? Who would want to look at that after investing so much $$ into a HD TV or projector?

apoc06 @ Feb 27th 2007 1:22PM

about time MS got wise and realized that they will never win any race when their game library is 90% shooters and sports games.

i love shooters [probably the main reason i bought a x360 in the first place], but unless they break their niche the playstation will stomp all over them once the PS exclusive library goes into full swing.

REUYL @ Feb 27th 2007 1:24PM

"Casual gamer" games? More Viva Pinata, please!

Jack of No Trades @ Feb 27th 2007 1:26PM

"about time MS got wise and realized that they will never win any race when their game library is 90% shooters and sports games."

Thats better than 95% mini games.

Steve @ Feb 27th 2007 1:27PM

All the 360 needs is a good boxing game where you actually throw punches (like the one on the arcade). If the motion tracking features of the camera actually exist then this should be easy. Get your ass in gear MS.

ackmondual @ Feb 27th 2007 1:27PM

Now THAT is a neat looking controller. Not that bland "plastic white" color and texture that many electronics use.

JJC @ Feb 27th 2007 1:28PM

MS cant put motion controls as a standard, unless they sent everyone that owns a 360 an upgrade. the devs wouldnt bother putting it in the game otherwise because people wouldnt even have it. the reason why they wouldnt have it is.... they are STUPID! its gimmicky on the wii and extremely gimmicky on the ps3. i see this as an announcement that there are going to be a lot of E games with emphasis on online community (viva pinata), because xbox live is microsofts biggest strength.

LongshotX @ Feb 27th 2007 1:34PM

Man I've said it before and I'll say it again the 360 should have not only had the whole standalone console thing but should have also been fully integrated in many of the newer PCs today. That way you could games for windows, 360 games, and do everything else that PCs do. If they pulled this off it'd be incredible. Oh and motion controls are OK but I like the standard controller the best with good rumble. Yess! I played the Wii and Wii Sports. Nothing to go crazy over. And PS3 motion controller is abysmal. It sucks.

Digi Smalls @ Feb 27th 2007 1:35PM

they should. Nintendo proved that the missing link with motion control so far has been the ABSENCE of feedback (involving your body without feedback is unnatural), and 360 has rumble too. it would certainly silence another PS3 bullet point, along with the upcomingf loss of full backward compatibility.

and James,
if not having having wireless networking, hdmi, and motion meant i could be playing HD games in november 2005 for $400, then i'm super glad they decided to omit it.

i still can't do nearly as much online OR off with my PS3, $600 and almost year and a half later WITH all those things.

.

serg @ Feb 27th 2007 1:38PM

please do name these games you speak of "Jack of NO Trades"

Nino @ Feb 27th 2007 1:39PM

Jack of no trades, it's pretty lame how you have to put a Wii-hating comment into every thread. We get it, you don't like it. But you don't need to hate on all the time. You're not going to convince us Nintendo-supporters to not like it by insulting it, but you will convince us not to like you.

Clearly MS sees the success of the console and wants to appeal to those gamers the Wii is getting -- it's a "duh" thing really. More appeal = more gamers = more money.

And I do agree that they need more than shooters, though I'd prefer some serious RPGs/action games/platformers(i.e. Jak 2) to casual puzzle or party games. I already have enough of those on my Wii and DS.

LR @ Feb 27th 2007 1:40PM

Has there been a great game on the PS3 that uses motion controls yet? Blast Factor is the only one that sorta comes to mind.

Outside of the Wii, I'm not really hearing about anything being better with motion controls.

JJC @ Feb 27th 2007 1:44PM

LOL serg i dont think you have a leg to stand on here. i think it would be easier to list the games for the wii that dont involve mini or even micro games (warioware?).

tony @ Mar 4th 2007 6:28AM

you suck ps3 is the best console in the world it has better online then the 360 sales figures don't matter it how good the console is and you only show pictures no them saying tht stuff it could be anyone saying that vive le ps3 tonza_16_2006@hotmail.co.uk

Shmil @ Feb 27th 2007 1:48PM

ooooo shiny!

serg @ Feb 27th 2007 1:48PM

The point of the Wii controller since you all forget is to ADD ability. I will not be losing any function should they release a traditional game. You speak of motion controls like they take away from the experience.

Besides that, I've not gone a generation where I didn't own all of the systems. Safari Hunt was superior to Duck Hunt, but TECMO bowl kicked ass. I bought both.

Nothing changed this time around. I wanted the boomerang controller from sony but the sixaxis is great. The new L2 and R2 buttons are great and it's effectively a wireless first party controller from Sony which I would have bought in a heart beat for PS2.

XBox360 has the greatest "standard" controller yet in terms of comfort, but the directional pad sucks. The online service is great. The faceplates are a good feature. It's a great machine.

This generation unlike any before brought REAL innovation to the table. I'm happy with all three and sure to become more satisfied as time passes.

Jack of No Trades @ Feb 27th 2007 1:49PM

Hey don't get mad at me because I defend the PS3/360 on threads.

Why is it that when someone says something bad about the 360/PS3 its ok but if someone says something slightly negative about the Wii they get cussed out?

Is that buyers remorse kicking in?

NintendoFanbot @ Feb 27th 2007 1:50PM

"Then, coming into this holiday, we realized we needed to build an approachability story that was going to be important as we were attracting a different consumer in holiday 2007 and on to 2008. This is even before the Wii—the Wii was still the Revolution, and nobody knew anything about it. We recognized that both our strengths with Xbox became our Achilles’ heel with Xbox 360 in that we had built a very legitimate gaming device that had been taken to heart by the hardcore guys who when Microsoft announced the Xbox were very skeptical about our ability to deliver real gaming experiences on the console. I think we put all of that to rest very, very effectively and repositioned the brand. We went from black to white—it’s brighter and more optimistic brand. We’ve done an incredible amount of work with the third-party development community to make sure we’re well positioned to have all of the right content, the E and T content that’s going to be important in the out years in our platform. From a first-party point of view, it’s not just about E-rated games, it’s going to be about the experience that, quite frankly, Nintendo has done a tremendous job in capturing, in bringing back fun—if you will—to the gaming platforms. But we’ve got a few tricks up our sleeve as well to be able to do that. It’s not something that we’re going to be shy about, and it’s not something that we’re not painfully aware of that needs to be changed by this holiday. That has been the strategy all along, and we’ll be making some more announcements in the coming month or two. I think you’ll see how serious we are about that."

My favorite part of the interview. Moore basically states that while Nintendo is good and successful with Wii with their unique strengths, Xbox is working and trying to strengthen their own brand to make it more positive.

Peter Moore really sounds like he's on task. Hokey E3 tattoos aside, the man's alright.

Wii60!

EyeToy for PS2 requires a WELL-lit environment and was said to use a huge percentage of the PS2's processing power. I don't know if the latter is true but Wii doesn't have to deal with the former.

serg @ Feb 27th 2007 1:56PM

Come on now JJC. Name them. I'm not saying the releases are great cause they aren't (more than half suck balls) but the mini game shit is old. Is bowling a mini game? How bout tennis? So far this tech demo crap Wii Sports gets is just crap. Is DDR a tech demo?

Some games are supposed to be shallow. Anyone calling Tetris repetitive? Far Cry is garbage and I don't use my Wii to "Vote". I get it, friend codes suck but Zelda was great as was a couple of others. At launch that's all I ask of all my systems.

LaughingTarget @ Feb 27th 2007 2:04PM

Motion controls need to be part of the overall strategy to properly function. They cannot be included as an optional add-on feature or accessory (what Xbox 360 needs) or as a late-commer shoehorn solution (PS3). The only system that can make motion sensing work this generation is the Wii.

What the next round of consoles need to do is integrate the traditional controller with full motion sensing capabilities to allow either style of game to properly work.

gtpunch @ Feb 27th 2007 2:09PM

Motion control is just another alternative input device. Each game has an appropriate input method. Use a pad for DDR, a guitar for GH, a Racing wheel for racing games, and a motion controller for tennis & golf. I don't see why it couldn't be released as an add-on for the 360, only used in certain games.

I think that the SIXAXIS went about motion sensing in the wrong way- there's not much point in motion sensors when both hands have to stay clamped to the same controller. I didn't really like the 'nunchuck' idea either, why not just have a Wiimote in each hand (with an analogue stick on both)? Wait for the killer Wii fighting game that uses 4 Wiimotes, tucked in pockets at your wrists and ankles- you heard it here first...

If MS do Wii-style direction sensing, maybe they can get rid of that pointless 'sensor bar', and use the MASSIVE BRIGHT RECTANGULAR THING right in front of the controller instead. With proper calibration it should be possible to determine distance from the screen and orientation much more accuately that with a sensor.

Vidikron @ Feb 27th 2007 2:07PM

@23

Yeah, Wii Sports really is a tech demo. I'd say bowling is the most complete game. All the other games aren't even close to their actual real life counterparts. They are just mini versions. It's a nice pack-in, but I personally would never buy it as a game. It main purpose is to give you a preview of what the motion controls can do and it does that very well.

F1ghter @ Feb 27th 2007 2:08PM

I usually don't enter into this kind of thing, but I really want to know why JJC and Jack of no trades won't just post a list of the "95% mini games" they claim the Wii has. Here is the list I came up with:

WarioWare: Smooth Moves
Rayman Raving Rabids
Super Monkey Ball

If you're being really liberal, Wii Sports and Wii Play would probably fall in there. Ok, 5 games out of what, 30 so far? Far from 95%, or even a majority. Oh, and by the way, Nintendo announced their Wii lineup for 2007 (and these are just the Nintendo-published titles):

* Dairantou Smash Brothers X (Super Smash Bros. Brawl)
* Disaster: Day of Crisis
* Donkey Kong Taru Jet Race (DK Bongo Blast)
* Doubutsu no Mori [Animal Crossing]
* Forever Blue
* Hoshi no Kirby (Kirby Adventure)
* Mario Party 8
* Mario Strikers Charged
* Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
* Project H.A.M.M.E.R.
* Super Mario Galaxy
* Totsugeki Famicom Wars (Battalion Wars II)
* Wii Health Pack
* Wii Music

Source: http://wii.ign.com/articles/766/766803p1.html

Wow, look at that. I'm amazed at how terrible that lineup is, and how many mini-games are on it.

Leobebes @ Feb 27th 2007 2:20PM

"about time MS got wise and realized that they will never win any race when their game library is 90% shooters and sports games."

I hear this quite often. We all know the Wii is an entirely different animal. They have the nintendo licensed games that are franchises that appeal to kids and adults kind of like the Disneyland of gaming, but what the hell does PS3 have that appeals to gamers other than shooters, "sworders", racing and sports games? The PS3 is still stuck in the same niche.

Jack of No Trades @ Feb 27th 2007 2:15PM

@ F1ghter

LOL...do you really think they will release Metroid, Mario, SSB and Kirby all in one year?

Thats their lineup for the Wii's console life.

MysteryGoat @ Mar 6th 2007 3:00PM

Seriously, how do I get a shiny controller like that?

gtpunch @ Feb 27th 2007 2:22PM

"what the hell does PS3 have that appeals to gamers other than shooters, "sworders", racing and sports games?"

Err, it doesn't really have those either.

F1ghter @ Feb 27th 2007 2:27PM

Well, we'll see, JonT. That is their claim, for what it's worth.

And I like how you didn't defend yourself against my mini games analysis.

Aex @ Feb 27th 2007 2:29PM

I agree, I don't think the Xbox 360 needs a gimmick. They could just use a wider selection of games in thier library. I wouldn't go as far as to say that 90% of the library is shooters, it may be a little more accurate to say that 75% of the best games on the xbox 360 are shooters. I personally would like a few more good non-shooter genre games. Crackdown was great fun, Gears was great fun, Lost planet was great fun... But all similar in the fact they were mainly focused around shooting elements.

I'd like some great platformers like God of War, DMC, or SotC. A couple hack and slash midieval type games like Fable 2. Maybe some space fliers, or more good rpgs. The quirky game genre in which viva pinata fell could ALWAYS use some more love. I am REALLY excited for that monster madness game, it looks to be a great addition to the library. Definately a large leap into the action/adventure genre would be a great benefit to the system. The addition of rythym games is going to prove a great assest in grabbing the attention of casual players, but since ddr and guitar hero are soon to be on all consoles, they will have to keep an eye out for the next "big" rythym game to come along and make it at least a timed exclusive to really benefit from it. Castle crashers is easily going to be the first XBLA game I'm willing to put money on, but a few games in the other genres is not going to be enough, the 360 needs to embrace other genres as well as it embraces the shooter genre. When that is the case, the 360 will be magnificent.

JJC @ Feb 27th 2007 2:35PM

Fighter-- that lineup is so shitty i cant believe anyone would brag about it. seriously mario party 8??? how many times can they sell you the SAME mini games rehashed with an updated number.

next game-- mario strikers charged. why dont they just say playground soccer with MARIO! i can almost hear all of the sub 10 year olds collectively yelling 'YAY' right now. BORING.

next game-- donkey kong jet race? so like mario kart with flying cars? pretty sweet considering they have rehashed that game with different titles atleast four times now (diddy kong racing ds, mario kart ds, mario kart, mario kart 64, im sure there is a wii version coming soon). atleast they fly now. whoopie.

or is this donkey kong beat on the drums 2? because that game was so good the first time everyone wanted a second go with it. so then they could have 2 sets of kongo drums collecting dust. good stuff.

next game-- smash brothers. NOW i realize that the previous game was insanely popular. I STILL DONT KNOW WHY. it was probably one of the most boring games ever that was so lame that a copy of all of the same ideas could be released with better graphics on the 360 as an arcade title (and that sucked too). so what if solid snake is a character? that would just piss me off more knowing that ill never play a good game like that on the wii.

next game-- animal crossing. anyone that can read this site and understand it should not have any interest in this game. otherwise go at it pre schoolers.

next game-- kirby adventure. i think they stopped making these games for a while hoping that the age demographic that used to play them would grow up and nintendo could hook a new group of people to play this pathetic series. waste of time, there is a far better platformer on the console already.

having said that mario is still the best platform game around only being closely rivaled by rachet and clank.

and to address my earlier claim that 95% are mini games, you are right, i was wrong. i guess its hard to remember the rest. it seems like besides zelda, warioware and rayman are getting all of the attention, and that is 66.6% which is still off. i am truly sorry for saying that all the wii has is mini games. they also have a lot (close to 95%?) of shitty games with more to come.

samfish @ Feb 27th 2007 2:42PM

"Why is it that when someone says something bad about the 360/PS3 its ok but if someone says something slightly negative about the Wii they get cussed out?"

No, you troll. It's because
EVERY.
FUCKING.
TIME.
YOU.
POST. you say something bad about the Wii.
It's obnoxious. It's irritating. It's like right-wing comedy – it's not funny, it's not clever, it's not insightful or ironic. You're just trying to be a bully.
And for the record, I don't see too many people just blindly ripping on Sony or MS unless the thread is related to something they did.

Anyhow...
I don't think it's too late for MS to embrace motion controls. Bear in mind that Sony was quick to add dual analog sticks after they saw the huge success of the N64's controller. Prior to that, we were trying to play Tomb Raider with a D-Pad.
I'd bet that if MS acted NOW, they could still implement motion controls without a problem. They still have a very small install base.
...although they'd pretty much be limited to the kind of controls Sony implemented, which pretty much suck, anyway...especially if it's to appeal to "casuals".
Similarly, Nintendo could get smart and package the Classic Controller with the Wii, still.

The thing is, though, when I hear MS recently talking about appealing to "casual gamers" more, I almost feel like they're either talking about a totally different audience than what the Wii is after. It's like they don't get it.
It's not the Wii's motion sensing that appeals to casual gamers. It's the simplicity. Microsoft and Sony are NEVER going to get people like my mother to play their systems with their relatively complex controllers.

No, it sounds more like MS has embraced the definition of "hardcore gamers" as people who like violent, mostly FPS type games; And now they're going to try and reach out to people like...me, quite frankly.
I don't like the games that so-called "hardcore gamers" like. I read this more as Microsfot is going to appeal to "casual" gamers by releasing a slew of puzzle games and Nintendo franchise rip offs, most likely.

Jack of No Trades @ Feb 27th 2007 2:45PM

Wii
* Dairantou Smash Brothers X (Super Smash Bros. Brawl)
* Disaster: Day of Crisis
* Donkey Kong Taru Jet Race (DK Bongo Blast)
* Doubutsu no Mori [Animal Crossing]
* Forever Blue
* Hoshi no Kirby (Kirby Adventure)
* Mario Party 8
* Mario Strikers Charged
* Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
* Project H.A.M.M.E.R.
* Super Mario Galaxy
* Totsugeki Famicom Wars (Battalion Wars II)
* Wii Health Pack
* Wii Music

360/PS3

*Mass Effect
*Blue Dragon
*Motorstorm
*Halo3
*MGS
*FF
*Cypher Complex
*Heavenly Sword
*The Darkness
*Forza2
*Def Jam Icon
*Command & Conquer
*Two Worlds
*BioShock
*Dark Sector
******Turok******
*GTA
******Eternal Sonata******
*Tekken
*Amored Core4
*Entchanted Arms
*Dirt-Collins
*Unreal Tourn3
*Burnout 5

Don't try to compare the wii shitty line up to PS3/360. Idiots

JJC @ Feb 27th 2007 2:51PM

#35 read post #1. Jack posted and yet nothing bad about the wii.
IT.
ISNT.
EVERY.
FUCKING.
TIME.
HE.
POSTS.

if you dont like it, dont read it. if you dont want it to continue, dont fuel the fire. its not like your hurting his feelings by posting that, just like he shouldnt be hurting anyone elses feelings by posting what he posts. I think his opinion is funny and similar to mine. im not sure if he bought a wii, but i did and i feel ripped off and instead of defending my purchase i am speading the word that it sucks and i wasted my money. im sure im not the only one.

Ren @ Feb 27th 2007 2:53PM

"they also have a lot (close to 95%?) of shitty games with more to come."

Shitty games or not, consoles are moving and selling out. There are plenty of people say the Wii will die out in popularity in about a year because that's how nintendo consoles are after launches. I've only seen that in the last two Nintendo consoles (which means a lot of ignorant people against Nintendo are pretty young and haven't gamed a long time). The NES and SNES were popular for a long while during their lifecycle. If the upcoming games and current line up are crap, why are people snatching consoles and lining up in stores during Sunday mornings?

Jack of No Trades @ Feb 27th 2007 2:59PM

"If the upcoming games and current line up are crap, why are people snatching consoles and lining up in stores during Sunday mornings?"

Well lets see how do I put it.........its the hype! Just like Furby and Tickle Me Elmo was.

Digi Smalls @ Feb 27th 2007 3:00PM

i think it's safe to say that the Wii and PS360 have very different markets and essentially different uses, don't you agree?

anybody who wanted a PS3 or 360 did not get a Wii INSTEAD. rather if they wanted a Wii, they got a Wii also. conversely, if all they wanted was a Wii, then a PS3 or 360 would have made absolutely no sense.

you guys are arguing over your personal tastes in games, there's no winner. back to the topic at hand. more importantly, if you're going to make comparisons make them oranges vs. oranges. it's clear to everybody that last minute motion sensitivity does not a Wii make.

.

JJC @ Feb 27th 2007 3:00PM

@Ren

Because they are mostly likely caught up in the hype of motion controls/cheap price/franchises they can relate to from their childhood.

i had people play wii sports and swear they were going to go buy it asap. then they played it a little more and they said maybe sometime down the line. then they a little more and said they didnt understand why their arm movements werent exactly the same on the screen. then they started fiddling with different motions to see if it would still work. it did. they realized it was a gimmick and then all of the excitement went away. i think this is common with people that use a wii for more than an hour. then again it is also probable that people only play a little and buy it only to be disappointed like me.

Kizzle @ Feb 27th 2007 3:04PM

"F1ghter," copying and pasting EB's upcoming release list doesn't mean shit. Most of those games don't even have a release sdate, so they are irrelevant to this topic. Right now, and for the forseeable future, there is a pretty slim amount of titles to pick through.

It's "stretching it" to say Wii Sports and Wii Play are just minigames? Have you PLAYED either one of them? That's all they are!

The games you, by process of elimination, don't list and claim are "not minigames"...Call of Duty 3, Red Steel, et al, are terrible - either compared to their 360/PS3 counterparts, or just terrible in general. Zelda is nice but nothing that isn't just as playable on the Gamecube. They needed a high profile title to justify the Wii's control for launch, so they shoehorned it into Zelda. If you think that's not the case, you're wrong. Tony Hawk (and maybe SSX Blur, haven't played it yet) are two of the few that are built FOR motion control and are not just collections of minigames. Tony Hawk was ok but it's not going to set any trends. I hope the quality level picks up soon for the Wii, because I'm seriously starting to wonder why I bought one. The Virtual Console isn't THAT great.

Nintendo is certainly on to something here, but they've got a long way to go before they're really taking advantage of it.

JJC @ Feb 27th 2007 3:04PM

ah we are back to taking my name and posting random garbage. wonderful, you lack an intelligent arguement so you resort to this shit. whatever there is a difference between what i post and what these morons post. have fun. its just a message board.

Jack of No Trades @ Feb 27th 2007 3:05PM

@Digi Smells

What the fuck man?!?! You haven't had a PS3 for a year and a half you fucking asshole.

F1ghter @ Feb 27th 2007 3:05PM

I agree with Digi Smalls. It is quite obvious that my personal tastes are almost opposite of JJC and Jack of no Trades. It would be ridiculous to continue this argument.

More on-topic, I don't think the Xbox360 should try to do motion controls. It doesn't need it; MS would be better off focusing on game diversity. Besides that, if they tried to tack on motion controls I don't think they'd be able to pull it off well enough for it to be worth the effort.