With the crazy success of the Wii™ due to it’s groundbreaking motion controller, it didn’t take long for Sony to jump in with a motion controller of their own just before launch of the PS3. This only leaves the Xbox™ 360 without a motion controller of their own.

While the Nintendo® Wii™ has had great success with a new crowd of casual and older gamers, it has left the core gamers feeling completely alone with their trivial online service and lack of next-gen graphics. Lack of voice chat, downloadable content for games, and unfriendly Friend Codes are among the major drawbacks.

It could only be a matter of time before Microsoft® would realize the potential being missed here and consider marrying a Wiimote with their powerful HD powerhouse and near-perfect Xbox Live™ service. First there was talk from IGN of Codename Fusion coming to PC and next-gen consoles. Next came word from EGM Mag’s Rumor Mill stating that another Halo™ game was in the works (not Halo Wars™, though an RTS would be a perfect fit), and that it may use a motion controller that Microsoft® originally wanted used on Halo 3™. Then more recently Next-Gen reported that the company responsible for the prototype designs of the Nintendo® Wii-mote, Gyration®, was now working on a Wiimote for the 360 due by the end of the year.

And as if all of that rumor was not enough, now MTV.com is backing all of this speculation with exclusive word that Microsoft has indeed been working on their motion controller since last summer, and that it will in fact be released by the end of this year! Wiimote control + HD Graphics with Live = no compromise, true next-gen gaming…sounds good to us! Full details after the jump.

Wii360 Lives!

One source is also claiming that the code name of the project is “Newton” (as in Newtonian Physics relating to gravity, inertia and acceleration), though there is no way to verify this.

No, this is not an April Fool’s joke.  This came directly from a X Gaming Newsletter.