Nintendo "rejected" camera controls

Company president says better results achieved with accelerometers

5 June 2009 8:21 GMT / By Duncan Geere

Satoru Iwata, president of Nintendo, has told the Financial Times that his company tried out similar technology to Microsoft and Sony's new camera controls, but that the results turned out better with the accelerometers that the Wii currently uses.

While the move is obviously intended to kick dirt in the faces of Microsoft and Sony, the proof is in the figures - the Wii has sold more than 50 million units worldwide, compared with 30 million for the Xbox 360 and 23 million for the PS3.

Iwata said he was "happy" that his console's innovations were now becoming industry standard, but reminded potential purchasers that “companies whose people said that motion-sensing wouldn’t work are now proposing motion sensors".

Microsoft's Project Natal has been one of the hits of E3, and combines a camera and depth sensor to track motion of the human body. Sony's technology, to be launched in early 2010, relies on a 'wand' for control.

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