Moore hints at controller plans

Xbox boss Peter Moore has hinted that Microsoft could be working on a new Xbox 360 controller which is simple enough for even simple children to use.

At a recent EA Community Event, Moore said the company is looking at "Any way that we can play and make games easier and more intuitive, that takes the intimidation factor away from what is a pretty complex device now when you look at the controller.

"Shoulder buttons, triggers, analog sticks, d-pads - I mean, there's a lot going on there."

Compare it to the old Atari 2600 joystick, Moore suggested, which "everybody could pick up and have some fun with. Clearly I think the Wii is trying to get back to those days, although when I picked it up I was surprised how much stuff is on there, and it took me a little while even then to get going on those things."

But get going he did, and as he's previously stated many times before, Moore is well up for the Wii: "I'm a huge fan of any innovation you can try and do that will make it a broader reach for games, because as an industry we've got to do that - we've got to bring more people in."

Moore went on to explain that his 14 year-old daughter loves racing games, particularly Project Gotham Racing, but "she's frustrated because the button configurations, the use of triggers... She just doesn't like it".

So is Microsoft looking for a solution to the problem of overly-complex controllers? Well, "We're doing a lot of stuff there", Moore said - but "nothing that we're ready to talk about".

What you can be sure of, though, is that Microsoft is "not going to force anything that is not going to be intuitive and innovative". Perhaps we shouldn't be expecting a motion-sensing controller for the Xbox 360 as well as the Wii and PS3, then.

You can listen to the full Q&A over on GamerTag radio, providing you're willing to sit through the rap at the beginning ("Irie", indeed) and the flirting between Moore and Major Nelson ("Are you working out?").