Qmotions bringing skate controllers to the 360

Qmotions has been hawking various specialty sports controllers for a while now, but it looks like the company is about to take the next-gen plunge with an upcoming skateboard controller called the Qmotions Big Air for the Xbox 360 -- and best of all, Microsoft is going to let the company build official wireless peripherals. That's an honor Microsoft is pretty hesitant to dole out, but it seems like the ability to wirelessly rip up some Tony Hawk swayed J Allard and co. (We hear Ballmer is a monster in the pipe.) No word on price or game compatibility other than "skateboard games currently on the market," but look for this one to ollie into your heart sometime later this year. Amazing 1992-style animated GIF of Qmotions' PS2 XBoard controller, pictured above, after the break.

[Via Engadget Spanish]

[Dharun @ May 1st 2008 10:10PM]

Looks pretty cool. Hopefully they'll have some nice simulators.

[KEROLiUKAS @ May 1st 2008 10:13PM]

Definately inspired by Wii/GH, but th is is the type of gaming we need if u want America to become even a lil' less fat.

[Striker @ May 1st 2008 10:46PM]

Wow, you obviously don't know what you are talking about. With your amazing reasoning skills, if you knew that this actually came out before the Les Paul for Wii was even conceived, then you would say that the tilt functionality was an idea taken from the XBoard. Seriously, all the Wii Les Paul's tilt does is activate Star Power, and that was something that was done in earlier controllers by probably a gravity-powered microswitch that would simply fall when it was tilted up. Oh, and another fact that I will tell you is that there are NO gyroscopes in this controller, it simply takes pressure readings from each side and translates them into analog stick movements. I don't think that you Wii fanbois yet realize how unrevolutionary the Wii is. Less powerful than the original Xbox, only enough graphics power to render 480p when maxed out, and a controller with a system reliant on an ages-old technology we call IR, and I will not forget the lack of an internal hard drive or a reasonable amount of internal memory, and that Nintendo is always a step behind in storage technology. Last-generation, they used half-sized DVDs, while everyone else used DVDs, and now they use single-layer DVDs (except for Brawl) while the competition uses Blu-Ray (only really has an effective storage space of about 5GB on a single layer) and Double-Layer DVDs.

You can relax now, I'm done with my Wii-bashing for the day.

[Ridgecity @ May 1st 2008 11:00PM]

You know Striker, your comment has opened my eyes to the lie Nintendo has been all this time. I'm going Sunday to Best Buy earlier and tell all those people waiting in line to buy a Wii about what you said and how we have been played all this time...

If they ask me why I believe in your words, I'm gonna tell them you are a Chuck Norris fan, and all those guys are really smart people...

[Striker @ May 1st 2008 11:30PM]

@Ridgecity

I lol'd. Chuck Norris is actually a devout Xbox 360 FanChuck, so maybe you could suggest getting a 360 to all those people waiting in line. Wow that was funny, though.

[Niraj @ May 2nd 2008 1:23AM]

@Striker: Pressure readings from each side? Sounds just like the Wii Fit board that's been talked about for a long time now (which includes a snowboarding and skiing game and is out in 2.5 weeks). And a controller reliant on IR? Apparently you're not aware the controller includes Bluetooth and doesn't use the IR for many games. Nice try though.

[Andrew @ May 1st 2008 10:19PM]

Meh.. waste of time.

[tekdroid @ May 1st 2008 10:29PM]

www.qmotion.com
Their 'video' is the same that engadget have above. pretty lame.

A better one demonstrating the ps2 (wired) version:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PC_NyQ58QYY

Oddly the guy goes you can do everything you normally can do on a traditional games controller on the thing but it still requires a games controller in the hand :)

[tekdroid @ May 1st 2008 10:32PM]

sorry the correct link is http://www.qmotions.com

[luke @ May 1st 2008 11:39PM]

dont want your crappy apple camping website address, thank you. its completely irrelevant and a pretty lame site to boot. how about i post up random websites of uselessness? (2girls comes to mind)

as for the board, that gif makes my heart pound! I NEEED ONE!

[Quix @ May 2nd 2008 12:36AM]

So much for unconventional Wii controllers being a "gimmick," eh "hardcore" gamers?

Microsoft: The Freedom To Innovate (tm)

Or follow the real innovators. Whichever is easier.

[601210 @ May 2nd 2008 1:18AM]

Right.
How the heck am I supposed to Ollie with that thing?

[Jonathan Badger @ May 2nd 2008 2:38AM]

We hear Ballmer is a monster in the pipe

Nah, but if anyone were to make a chair-throwing peripheral, he'd be set.

[theletterj @ May 2nd 2008 11:45AM]

This thing would kill if it had the ability to provide some kind of haptic feedback. Especially for snowboarding, so you can feel your carves.

The ability to mount your own decks on it would be awesome as well. This has potential, but not quite there yet...