With the new offerings from Microsoft and Sony at E3, there's been an explosion from the gaming community in 3 directions, from each camp's gamer base.

As for me, I take no sides, though seeing is believing. When the new technologies hit the market,  we will discuss them. As for right now, we might as well be discussing how cool flying cars are, since we have VTOL craft and hovercraft. Yet, this is irrelevant for this post.

My thoughts on Sony and Microsoft offering this technology alongside traditional controllers is not so much about "taking down the Wii" from its high horse. The Wii has secured its place this generation, and MS and Sony have already conceeded that point to the public in press reports.

No, something more of the "trojan horse" variety is amiss. What I am referring to is the weening of the "core" gamer from a traditional controller. Sony and MS have undisputedly acquired the favor of the core gamer this generation. This audience has screamed bloody murder over the fact that they didn't want to give up their traditional controller for a "waggle stick".  Sony and MS noticed this, but feared for their future, as Nintendo was far surpassing them in innovation. They had to figure out how to keep up with Nintendo while not alienating their userbase.

Thus, the announcement of mid-life cycle motion controls. Gamers are being given the option of both traditional controllers and motion controls. As time passes, they will use this time as their "stress test" to see how much of the market is adopting their motion control systems. This makes perfect sense, as it gives them an idea of how willing gamers are to move to motion controls.

Should their test have positive results, it is probable that they will improve on their systems for their next-gen system, eliminating the use of the traditional controller outright. With no market for traditional controllers, the next gen offerings will all rely on motion controls of some sort. Long gone will be the thumbsticks that the core market swore they would never give up, farewell to shoulder buttons, goodbye "Nintendo Thumb",  hello pulled hamstring.

Am I being extremist in my thoughts on the future of consoles, I don't believe so. My point is of observation, not to be all "doom and gloom". It was expected for MS and Sony to fire back at the Wii with their own motion controls next gen, but them releasing it this gen leaves the question of "why?", which I've been pondering since E3. I feel that my explanation of MS and Sony weening gamers off of the traditional controllers makes a lot more sense than either one trying to lure the casual market away fron Nintendo, as casuals are not going to want 2 systems in their house. Additionally, with the economy still slumping, a 2nd console would be seen as an unneccessary expense in a time when money is tight. MS and Sony know this, so their reason has to be otherwise - taking steps to convert their userbase to motion controls and officially retiring traditional controllers from the console market.

Feedback encouraged, trolling is not.

It was univetable. And I think that's good.

I doubt that either the sony and MS efforts will be succesful though this gen. Wii has already won and the others just want to test their ideas for the next gen (that's why they will be separate peripherials) while Nintendo observes.

http://taiga-viejodani.blogspot.com/2009/06/motion-controls-hd-nightmare.html is an interesting opinion and not too far from reality.

....read my freaking topic for once

http://www.vgchartz.com/forum/thread.php?id=76723&page=1

@samuel - I dont get it. Are those supposed to be sharks? I can't tell because they're poorly drawn if they are. =)

@deathscape - I read it, I'm not sure what you want me to withdraw from that. It was a very long post and it talked about an opinion that they could make motion secondardy, amongst other things. It was a very long post, so if you'd care to summarize the point you're making, I'd be grateful.

@bob - What I do find interesting is that Sony and MS revealed their hands before the next gen, giving Nintendo ample time to see where they both are going with next gen. Nintendo drew the HD makers into showing their hand while Nintendo prepares for the next round. This is why I found it particularly odd for them to put out their motion sensing at this point in time. The last thing you want to do is give the market leader a heads up on your future plans.

the point I'm making is that it's quite difficult..near impossible
to make a profitable HD core game with motion controls

without HD sure, without motion controls sure..but both is a bit ..let's say..
challenging >_>''

so seeing it change..yeah..sure, but not because of Natal or purple wand
change is with the Wiimote

This "end of the controller" nonsense really is getting boring.

Does nobody realise that as well as motion the Wii-mote is a standard pad split into 2?

Analog and L1/L2 on the left, trigger and 10 buttons on the right. No need for 2nd analog due to IR. Glue them together and you have the traditional pad.

Any non-controller alternative will fail hard.

wich is why it allc omes down to the WIi remote..

it enhances..the control and makes it more intuitive..

the Wand and Natal ..especially Natal will feel too odd

besides..we got the Nintendo Classic controller..and  Pro too..In black!

I think sony will go the route with break apart controllers.

somthing like this V

I can see your logic from a "now" perspective. I'm sure even Nintendo fans were groaning about the Wii Remote when it was first announced, not seeing how Mario could possibly be improved with motion controls.  It's always hard to see the future, even Bill Gates suggested that no one would need more than 640 KB of memory, now we have games that take up gigabytes.

I'm not entirely disagreeing or throwing out your point, you could be right, and from a "now" perspective, I agree. After all, how will you run in Halo with Natal, or how will you crawl through a sewer in Assasin's Creed? Until it can be shown how is used, it's hard to comprehend. That said, it seems more like MS and Sony want to push things to be intensively motion control based, to keep up with Nintendo. Until they committ to it, they won't have the appeal to the casuals, as not all games would use the motion controls. Casual gamers want instant compatibility, they're not going to want to research if a game works with their control system or not.