Pre-E3 there was no shortage of rumour about what Microsoft would do:

Drop price - Check (clearance sale though)

Introduce Avatars - Check

Change the dashboard - Check

Beg casuals to buy 360 - Check

Show known games - Check

Get FFXIII - Whoa! What?! Okay no rumour on that one. Good job MS on keeping one secret.

Of course the biggest and most pervasive rumour was the introduction of a 360 motion controller to go with Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts. A rumour seemingly confirmed in a video where they apparently shake the controller to shake an item free on screen.

All the other rumours were right but the 'Newton' motion controller was a no-show (except some motion control in Lips in a minor way).

Could it be that Nintendo's surprise announcement of MotionPlus add-on that gives Wii-motes true 1:1 control made the Newton seem so inferior MS decided to pull it at the last second?? Maybe to introduce it later? Or modify it first?

Or was this one rumour that had no substance to begin with?

i dont think they ready to show it yet

Maybe the Newton was the Lips mic?
Who knows, they could incorporate the Newton later on at a different media briefing

I was following until we got here.

There was no motion controller.  That video you reference was some comment to the effect of "shake the thing" meaning press "x" to shake.  Just like when they say "Now kill the guy," they don't mean to kill the guy literally just press a button to kill the guy.

Next, on to your question.  No.

MS would not invest millions into R&D and bring it as far along as those stupid rumors were saying it was and pull it the day before.

^yeah maybe that german convention one?

Yeah, I don't think Microsoft would yank a product last minute just because they thought it was shoddy hardware :P. I jest, I jest. I don't think there was ever a motion controller as per the Wii remote. I'll assume that speculation got the best of everyone and the motion sensing device was all along the Lips microphone. Afterall, the most recent fervor over the x-mote rumor occurred around the same time that "Lips" was being rumored was it not? Seriously, someone probably overheard "motion sensing device" from a Microsoft employee when they were actually talking about the Lips microphone.

No. I don't think they(or Sony) are actively trying to make a Wiimote knockoff for this gen. That type of complete controller change just won't be financially sound mid through the life cycle. It has to be part of the original plan to work.

A theory of mine.

motion controller is real and will be packaged with all 360's come this fall with the new motherboard. So MS does not want to slow sales of the Falcon based 360's. They will make the announcement in say October when they announce price cuts/holiday bundles with the Jasper 360's.

thx1139,

That's a terrible theory. If the motion controller was real. Microsoft needed to show it early. Gears of war 2 will not use the controller for sure nor will any of Square's RPGs. If they were then the first thing that MS would have done for their conference is show the new controller and reveal the games that it would be used for.

The conference was dominated by casual gaming. This would have been the most opportune time to reveal a motion sensing controller to complement MS' casual focus and legitimately go after casual gamers. They did not and therefore the motion controller does not exist. It was only a rumor which got out of hand.

Why don't they make a stick where 2 wiimotes are snapped on at each end and turn it into a quarter staff.
You'll get to spin the wiistaff like you would a quarter staff.

Okay, scratch that. Too realistic and surely will break many flower pots.