Microsoft boss Bill Gates believes that the motion-sensitive controllers for PS3 and Wii don't make for 'mainstream' gaming.
Speaking in response to Sony's recent announcement that the PS3 pad will join the Wii remote in being motion-sensitive, Gates said that "there's room for innovation here, but moving that controller around isn't something that's mainstream for most games".
This conflicts with what Nintendo believes, as the company sees the unique capabilities of Wii as a way of encouraging non-gamers to get involved with console gaming. However, Gates mentioned that Microsoft released a motion-sensitive PC controller in 2000 but it wasn't that popular as the movements required to use it were not particularly natural.
"It's tough because sometimes you move the controller and you don't mean to fly into the ground, you just want to put the controller down," said Gates. "People aren't that good at totally standing still: even pilots actually sit in a chair when they do their flying, so there's a lot to be learned about these controllers."
This somewhat matches how we felt when getting hands-on with the Wii-mote, as there was certainly a learning curve involved for some games, such as Ubisoft's shooter Red Steel. Whether this will be enough to put off gamers and have them running back to the security of the 360 pad remains to be seen.