Blizzard's Rob Pardo confirmed that Blizzard has been in talks with Microsoft about the next Xbox console.
While he wouldn't give away any information on what the discussions have been about, he confirmed Blizzard is actively talking to the Xbox giant.
Pardo did, however, say he believes controls are a big problem when it comes to porting games over to the consoles.
"There are so many games like we make at Blizzard that we don't take to consoles because they don't support the input device and you end up with crappy ports. That's why RTS games never do well on consoles," he said. "If I was them, I'd be sitting around trying to figure out what's a cool new input device that supports all types of new kinds of games."
Historically, MMOs haven't been a big thing on consoles, with Final Fantasy XI the only real one to speak of - but WoW has done spectacularly on PC. With Blizzard in continuing talks with Microsoft, we think it's safe to assume Microsoft want them in on the ground floor, and want Blizzard's input on how to make an MMO on consoles.
If Pardo's comments are indicative of what he's been talking to Microsoft about, the next Xbox - which is presumably in the design stage already, considering these discussions - will perhaps have an unusual controller that can cope with both MMOs and RTS games.
All speculation, of course.
User comments
Why does no game daveloper use those options ? the new red alert 3 for PS3 is played by gamepad, must be a joke.. i can chat with my usb-keyboard, surf in the www with mouse and keyboard.. no idea why all say the problem are still the input devices.