Microsoft or Sony Which Wii Remote Will Get There First?

Rumours of a PlayStation 3 Wii Remote copycat have set the stones of the games rumour mill grinding again.

This time, GamesIndustry.biz has said that it "understands" such a device to be in the works. According to the site, the peripheral will be able to break apart into two separate modules, each with its own accelerometer that allows it to work as an individual motion-sensing controller. Apparently the device is already in the hands of certain developers.

Of course, SPOnG told you that such a device may exist two weeks ago as reports leaked from a testing session.

Microsoft is also supposedly working on just such a device. We're left to wonder - who will make it to market first with a Wii Remote-alike, Sony or Microsoft?

If reports are to be believed, Sony and Microsoft are at roughly the same stage in the development of their respective devices. As we stated above, Sony is supposedly at the stage of handing out prototypes of the device to developers. If, as the Seattle Post Intelligencer suggested, Microsoft's device is tracking for a winter 2008 release, it will also have sent its peripheral off to developers so it can, y'know, have some games to go with it...

Frankly, the 360mote rumour looks like the more legitimate of the two. Sony already built motion-sensitivity into the Sixaxis and has seen limited use made of it. The company investing more money into R&D on such a project seems unlikely, especially when it has already/will shortly ask(ed) consumers to shell out more cash on the Dual Shock 3.

Microsoft, meanwhile, has openly pined for the casual gamer but seemingly had no success in winning them over. A Wii Remote copycat could certainly help.

One thing that could work for both Sony and Microsoft, however, is the fact that third-party developers do not seem to be reaping the rewards that the massive sales of Wii should provide. For a long time now the complaint has been that the only software publisher to be making any money from the platform is Nintendo itself.

The chances are that both Sony and Microsoft's Wii Remote-a-likes, should they ever make it to market, will be seen as fancy add-ons like EyeToy in any case, as millions of gamers already own PS3s and 360s without a whiff of wand-like activity.

Anyway, with all that in mind, SPOnG is dubious about both rumours, but should they indeed exist, SPOnG expects to see the 360 device first.

Of course, Nintendo might just sue the pants off them both, as it is attempting to do Nyko right now for violating its patents...

^{Source: GamesIndustry.biz}