Rumour speculates that next week Microsoft will be showing off it's own wireless motion sensor controller similar to the Wii-mote.
While of-course it's no surprise Microsoft are attempting to make further inroads to the casual game market after such 'hits' as Scene-It, Live-Cam & Viva Pinata Party Animals (42k sold - ouch). It's much more likely it's decision was grounded in how much money a certain competitor still continues to rake in.
It begs belief however that as a company they'd consider this a profitable (or indeed desirable) move to achieve the desired market-share by cloning something that's made for purpose. Supermarkets offer takeaway Italian for example, but you'd be one seriously deluded individual to say that this is better than pizza from a dedicated pizzeria. This isn't even pointing out (pardon the pun) that anyone vaguely interested in motion sensor or casual games would already own a Wii at this point. It's been 2 years since it's release making this all seem an attempt to jump on a bandwagon after it's already steamrolled past breaking both your legs in the process.
They could (and will most likely) market this peripheral as a Wii with 'Next-Gen' hardware to back up it's credibility. True, fair to say the Wii's current games certainly look like utter crap. But the real reason the Wii was successful wasn't due to the systems capabilities. Nintendo's trusty stable of household name characters, imaginative game concepts and an impeccable Apple-esque promotion drive simply made a curious cat of everyone. Something that titles such as Rare's Banjo Kazooie just doesn't quite measure up against.
Perhaps Microsoft have given up trying to increase sales against it's Sony rival, having realised it's gaming divisions real chances of making a profit lay with converting more of the lucrative American casual market. In their defense there's only so many chart's you can ignore citing that the Japanese and mainland EU simply want nothing to do with your product. As a certain company would attest continuously throwing money at a dead horse doesn't mean people are going to believe that your product is something worth acquiring.
Everyone acknowledges that XBL is the best thing Microsoft has in it's favour. Rather than hemorrhage it's money on pointless peripherals, using that development money to perhaps strengthen it's rather lacking video marketplace would be a much more welcome proposition. It hasn't gone unnoticed that XBLA has also gone rather limp after a steady stream of good quality releases last year. Here's hoping that that sense prevails before the 360 sinks ever further into the quagmire of causality.
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