A picture of the rumoured Newton controller that touches on the motion sensing capabilities of the Nintendo Wii (and to a lesser extent the PS3s Sixaxis) has surfaced.

Apparently plucked from the pages of Xbox World magazine by the ultimategamerspodcast site, the image (right) shows a left hand page with a big human right hand holding a device that could be the Newton - it could, of course, merely be a design model. It could even be a smashing piece of concept work by the magazine's art department.

Good spot from the chaps over at UG.

We have, of course, asked Microsoft to confirm or deny the reality of the situation. Apparently there is one person in the company who has never heard of the Newton though. That's corporate vice president, Microsoft Game Studios, Shane Kim, who has, "never heard of a motion sensing controller... I don't know what you are talking about...".

Microsoft has now returned serve with a polite, "We don't comment on rumour or speculation" with regard to our question, "Is it real?".

Once again, we await formal confirmation.