Dumbed-down Xbox 360 controller incoming?

A simplified, streamlined controller could be on its way to Microsoft's next-gen console.

Xbox 360 boss Peter Moore has suggested that the console could be in line for a new simplified controller.

In an interview with Gamertag radio, Moore said that he feels modern controllers and joypads to be a little over-complicated: "...Shoulder buttons, triggers, analog sticks, d-pads, I mean, there's a lot going on there when you compare it to the old Atari 2600 button-and-stick, which everybody could pick up and have some fun with."

Moore also mentioned that his 14-year old daughter finds the 360 controller somewhat confusing, but that Microsoft is "doing a lot of stuff there. Nothing that we're ready to talk about, and we're not going to force anything that is not going to be intuitive and innovative."

It seems that he could be talking about a stripped-down controller, possibly an alternative version designed to be used with old-school Xbox Live Arcade games - it certainly won't be pushing the current pad into obsolescence any time soon.