Rumour: Wii Remote style control for PS3

According to some online reports, Sony has been trialling a Wii-remote style motion-sensitive controller for PlayStation 3 with focus groups trying out mini-games including tennis, fencing and badminton.

Sony is refusing to officially comment or respond to the rumours, which emerged from a blog called Playstation Lifestyle, an entry which now seems to have been taken offline.

The site claimed that the focus groups were shown an "incredibly responsive and accurate" Wii-style device featuring motion-control and being demoed with tennis, fencing, and paintball mini-games.

"Officially, Sony are saying nothing - and we've heard no industry rumours, as we did pre-DualShock 3 - but this makes clear commercial sense," said Dan Dawkins, editor of PSM3 magazine.

"PS3's, technically, superior to Wii, and marrying actually intuitive, accessible motion control (as opposed to Sixaxis) to true HD visuals will broaden its mass-market appeal, while appealing to the more hardcore audience. A Sony motion-sensing controller patent did the rounds on the net a few years ago, so a wii-style system makes sense.

Dawkins continued: "As ever, the key is making dedicated motion control games, rather than bolting on functionality like most Sixaxis-compatible games - and this'll be the real challenge for Sony, not the hardware. Before we get excited, mind - we're still waiting for the rumble-enabled DualShock 3 in the UK, so any *new* controller surely wouldn't hit until Xmas 2008, if not next year."

Stay tuned for more on this as we get it. For now, it's filed in the 'rumours to keep an eye on' file...