An unnamed developer has been talking to MTV about Microsoft’s plans for a Wii-style motion sensitive remote for the Xbox 360, claiming that Rare have been working on such a device since last August. That’ll explain why Viva Pinata: Party Animals was palmed off to Krome Studios.
According to their source it looks a lot like the Wii Remote only with four face buttons and an analogue stick. So no cloned nunchuk attachment. It’s also said to come with a microphone built-in.
There are also plans for the controller to interact with the largely ignored Xbox Live Vision Camera, and Rare have apparently been working on a Mii-like character creation utility so players can make their own avatars. Presumably you’ll be able to put them on your GamerCard and such.
The source again: “[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.”
Red Steel on 360? No thanks. But from the sound of things we could be playing Banjo Kazooie on 360 with a waggle remote by the end of the year. It was only last week that Rare were saying to Eurogamer that “you’ll be pleasantly suprised with what we’ve cooked up.”