Rare have stated – and hope you’ll believe – that the Microsoft “”Avatars”” were being developed before the Wii launched. It certainly sounds more than a little suspicious, considering the obvious similarities between the two and the reveal only recently, but nonetheless that’s their story. The Microsoft-owned company’s head of art, Lee Musgrave, claims the following; More inside “”It was an idea we had, even before Miis were part of the gaming scene, of putting these characters that you have an affinity with, not necessarily as part of the Xbox dash, but somewhere in the Xbox that you would play multiple games with, that you would have multiple experiences with that same character. Microsoft did not turn up one day in a speeding car and say, ‘They’ve got Miis – do something!’ It wasn’t like that at all; it was something that fell into place over a period of time.”” Yeah. Can’t help but feel that it happened exactly like that, can you?

Source: Nintendo Wii Fanboy