When the Wiimote debuted, it had little effect in Redmond. After all, the Xbox 360 had a year lead, and besides who needed another novelty gamepad? Now, with Nintendo's surprise success, Microsoft is rethinking the concept. MTV reports that a Wii-style remote controller has been in development for the Xbox 360 since last summer.

According to the rumor, this new motion-controller could be available before the end of this year. The controller was supposedly in development at Rare, the Microsoft-owned studio that created Perfect Dark Zero, and is working on the next Banjo-Kazooie game. Would the latter title be one that incorporates the controller? Could be.

And let's not forget that Microsoft had developed a motion-sensing controller-the Microsoft FreeStyle Pro-for the PC. about a decade ago. The controller used a gyroscope and let players lean and pull back on the device, which it did very well with Motorcross Madness game. With any other game, the FreeStyle Pro deserved to go back to the amateur league. Let's hope the new motion-controller works better--and with more games.

Post by Peter Suciu