The industry’s move to embrace motion control does not mean the end of the traditional joypad, Microsoft has asserted.

E3 was defined by both Sony and Microsoft’s demonstrations of their new motion-based control options, but neither firm looks set to follow the Wii and ditch the joypad as their primary gaming interface.

“I think we’ve got the best thumb-based controller ever created,” Microsoft’s senior VP of interactive entertainment Don Mattrick told Edge. “We’re not going to take anything away. There will be controller-based games.

“What we’re really doing is adding to our platform; when I think about Natal, I think of it like a Guitar Hero controller – it fits the experience better. There will still be games that use the controller, games that use only Natal, and games that use a combination.

“Think, you could be playing a game with a controller and have your character react when you instinctively duck out of the way of an explosion, or the ability to throw a grenade with a gesture. I don’t think of Natal as taking anything away, I see it as adding more.

“As a creator, I love the potential to do more; I think it’s going to net out a renaissance of new ideas. We haven’t figured it all out, but I see it as additive.”