Rare Denies X-Waggle Rumor, Chastises Kotaku Comments

Rare is denying that Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts is a motion-controlled game, hoping to kill the rumors once and for all.

"There’s no truth to the Banjo motion control rumor," said Rare's George Kelion. "Banjo has been designed to be played using a game pad from the outset."

Microsoft yesterday denied that a suggestive comment made by Ken Lobb in a clip video referred to motion control.

Kelion admitted that while he's not privy to every design detail about the game, on having played the title, he played it with a normal controller and noted the absence of motion control input.

But is Rare doing something with the fabled X-waggle? "No idea," said Kelion. "And that's the truth."

"People shouldn’t take rumors that gestate in comments sections so seriously, even on respectable news sites like Kotaku. They can often turn out to be red herrings, as is the case with Banjo and motion controls," he said.

Rumor: Details On Sony's Motion Controls, No "Break-Apart"

An anonymous industry source has told Kotaku that reports of a "break-apart" motion controller for the PlayStation 3 that splits into two parts are not entirely accurate.

The control system, said the source, actually consists of a smaller-sized device that can attach to the body - and multiple devices are intended to be used in concert, such as wearing two on the hands to move a character's hands in-game, or four, on hands and feet at the same time to move a character's body.

Though the source admits the technology might have evolved since the last time it was seen, the source disputes the idea that any of these pieces merge to form a single controller. It is also unclear how the individual pieces will be packaged, whether individually or in sets.

Sony declined to comment on "speculation."

Rumors have abounded regarding an upcoming motion control device for the Xbox 360, purportedly codenamed "Newton" — first, a loquacious anonymous source told MTV that such a controller is in development with support from developer Rare, and next 8bitjoystick pegged patents from Gyration, the same company responsible for Nintendo's Wii remote technology, as the likely tech behind Microsoft's top-secret project.

Gyration, however, unequivocally denied yesterday that it has any such project in development with Microsoft. However, talking to Rare, Microsoft and a company called Motus revealed more items of interest regarding the "Newton" — the picture seen above is Motus' "Darwin" controller.

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"No Sacred Cows"

Obviously, we have about 99% Japanese men and women in our team, and sometimes it feels like 99 against one — since there are two control schemes. The whole process has been about re-looking at the game, and deciding what needs to stay, what needs to be revised. So, really there were no "sacred cows" as far as the control scheme was concerned.

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