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hbgator

Thu 11 May, 2006


Game controllers steal next-gen console spotlight

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Once considered an after-thought to eye-popping video game graphics,<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b> console hand controllers commanded center stage this week at the game industry's annual expo and opened the door for a new age of interactive gaming.<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b>
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Nintendo Co.<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b> Ltd.<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b>'s <b style="color:#FFA34F"></b> Wii console and Sony Corp.<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b>'s PlayStation 3 will come to market later this year with new motion-sensitive controllers,<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b> allowing a player to swing and tilt a controller to trigger on-screen action.<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b>
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<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b>"The innovation in controllers is what I would view as one of the most important changes in the video game industry,<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b>"<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b> said Robert Kotick,<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b> chief executive of U.S.<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b> video game publisher Activision Inc.<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b>
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Microsoft Corp.<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b>'s <b style="color:#FFA34F"></b> Xbox 360 game console came to market last November,<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b> delivering high-definition graphics and online game play but without a motion-sensing controller.<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b>
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Nintendo's Wii controller,<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b> shaped like a TV remote control,<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b> allows a player to smash serves and hit topspin forehands in a virtual tennis match with a built-in speaker in the controller to offer both the vibration and sound of hitting the ball.<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b>
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A player can use one controller or two in order to fend off an enemy with nunchucks or act like a symphony conductor by waving the controller to alter the pace of music.<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b>
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Sony's PS3 controller,<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b> similar in size and shape to that of the PlayStation 2,<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b> employs a six-way sensing system to capture motion,<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b> but some analysts said the sensor technology did not appear as sophisticated as that of the Wii.<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b>
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<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b>"It was a bit of a knee-jerk reaction in response to Nintendo's controller,<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b>"<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b> said Michael Goodman,<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b> analyst at the Yankee Group.<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b>
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The new controllers could unleash the creativity of game developers and provide Nintendo and Sony with the ammunition to cut into the early advantage of Microsoft Corp's <b style="color:#FFA34F"></b> Xbox 360 game console,<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b> industry watchers said.<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b>
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<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b>"Many developers will opt to make games for the PS3 and the Wii and will not make the same game for the Xbox 360,<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b> giving Sony and Nintendo a content advantage over Microsoft,<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b>"<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b> Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Michael Pachter wrote in a note to clients.<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b>
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Microsoft,<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b> which aims to have 10 million Xbox 360 consoles in the market before Sony and Nintendo debuts,<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b> offers a wireless Xbox 360 controller that is lighter than the one for the original Xbox.<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b>
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Company executives said it sold a similar motion-sensing controller in the past,<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b> but there were not many software titles to support it.<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b>
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<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b>"If somebody is telling me that they won't develop for a 10 million installed base <b style="color:#FFA34F"></b>.<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b>.<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b>.<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b> then they don't understand the business economics of this industry,<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b>"<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b> said Peter Moore,<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b> the head of Microsoft's game business.<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b>
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Activision's Kotick said the new controllers may spur someone who owns more than one console to buy the same game for different machines,<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b> because the game play for each platform will be so unique.<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b>