The future of the Xbox Controller
I recently came across a rumor reporting that the controller for the next Xbox (720?) will have a multitouch screen in it, along the lines of the Wii U controller. The article noted that the look of it may be more along the lines of what we see in the PS Vita and iPad. Specifically, noting it will be more sleek rather than the fun and cute feel of the Wii U.
I’m not sure what to make of this rumor. Part of me thinks this makes sense, seeing as technology seems to be trending towards multitouch devices. However, the other part of me remembers that Microsoft has put tons of time and money into developing and marketing the Kinect. Now apparently the sales of this have been pretty good. I can only assume then, that MSFT will will be ramping up their efforts of developing an even more advanced Kinect 2 for the next iteration of the Xbox.
My point here, is that those good folks over in Redmond, WA have focused on building a console and interface around that. Just look at the new Xbox Dashboard. While I don’t have a Kinect, I get the feeling that just talking to your Xbox is a pretty cool thing. Assuming Microsoft has, in fact, been working hard on developing the Kinect 2, we are sure to see some major improvements, which should reflect in future games, too. That said, why would Microsoft need another input such as multitouch when they have such a natural input like speech or movement?
Now don’t get me wrong, I do see the draw to multitouch (I do have an iPad, myself), and I can imagine how it would be implemented in a console, but I’m just not so sure it’s really what Microsoft needs, now that they are pushing the Kinect.
I suppose at this point all we can do is wait patiently. I expect that we will be hearing some more details by the time E3 rolls around this summer.
