The propensity for Nintendo to release bolt-on hardware peripherals for Wii shows no sign of abating; with the recently released MotionPlus dongle allowing true 1:1 motion mapping for the first time on the system. Is it enough for you to consider an upgrade? Let us know in the comments.
BIGsheep - Whilst Nintendo’s Motion Plus (WMP) does seem like a cracking idea with increased fidelity, is it really what we want? Part of the fun of the original Wii-mote was that you could do some quite rough motions and the game would interpret that into something suitable on screen. At one extreme there was Twilight Princess, where a flick of the controller would translate into a swipe of the sword, and at the other was Wii Sports, which would turn subtle wrist twists into unique bowling actions or cross-court slices.
My fear with the WMP is that it is too accurate. With a whole host of games you only want an approximation of the action rather than a recreation. Two cases in point are sword fighting and golf. Are you an Olympic-standard swordsman or up to Tiger Woods’ standard in driving? I’m quite content in only slicing the ball on the golf course and not in my living room.
Manuel – But Nintendo initially marketed the Wii as being quite a bit more responsive than it actually turned out to be, and it’s time for them to deliver on that. They’ve crafted some decent experiences around imprecise controls thus far, but is there any reason they couldn’t do the same with increased motion fidelity? They’ve excelled at getting the best out of the hardware they’ve designed, but the Wii has taken a necessarily casual focus due to the lack of 1:1 analogue mapping that you get with a traditional stick or something like MotionPlus. Sometimes it’s the hardware that drives the experience more than anything else.
My argument would be that MotionPlus simply opens up a new avenue for developers to work with. Titles like Grand Slam Tennis will offer up a middle-ground control scheme to begin with, but I fully expect games like Wii Sports Resort to be both accessible for people migrating from the original and able to offer a decent level of challenge for more experienced players. That sounds very appealing to me, and there is no reason for them to have to dumb down the control input to make it happen. After all, isn’t it largely a feedback/design issue? Nintendo games tend to constantly praise players no matter how badly or well they do, so if they get the balance of positive reinforcement right for those with less co-ordination, it’ll still be enjoyable.
And I, for one, drive like Arnold Palmer and swing my sword like Sonny Chiba; so I’m quite happy to have that represented in-game
BIGsheep - Fair enough, but do you think that the Wii would have been half as successful if they had gone for more realistic mapping in the first place? Was it a necessary stepping stone for WMP or was it just a case of the best they could do at the time?
Manuel – That’s the thing isn’t it, no-one really knows whether they’d had this planned at the beginning. The cynical side of me says they’d probably have known this was coming down the line and the Wii was a mass-market test with cheap hardware. You get the base unit into homes, and then hit people with an upgrade they really can’t refuse. Nothing wrong with that of course, it isn’t as if people have had bad value by purchasing a Wii thus far. Which system do you think they had in mind at the beginning? And would developers have known at the time?
BIGsheep - I know for a fact several developers were quite annoyed about the sudden unveiling of WMP last year. I remember reading the comments of the guys behind the Star Wars titles who said they would have loved to have known about the extra control. They were gutted they had to ship their lightsabre battles but with a seemingly “inferior” mechanic, so it’s safe to say that very few, if any, third-party developers knew about what they had planned.
My other concern is that Nintendo are going to split their user base. What you’re going to have is a portion of the market that have access to the extended functionality and a portion that will still be there waggling approximations to their heart’s content. I’m sure the wagglers out there won’t mind as most Wii owners only seem to have Wii Sports, Fit and Mario Kart, if that, but for those who are actually embracing the system, will they be tempted into spending £30 per controller to update to WMP?
Manuel – It’ll turn out to be just that, a subset of the userbase; much in the same way that the balance board was marketed. I’m sure Nintendo envisaged more than a Shawn White game and a couple of other fitness simulators making use of the board, but that’s the way it’s turned out. Given the history of peripherals on the Wii thus far, I have no doubt that people will upgrade, but it’ll take the marketing push behind Wii Sports Resort to do it. Quite frankly, I expect a lot of people just to buy ‘Wii Sports 2’ without actually knowing what they’ve got bundled in the box; that’s the magic of the Wii userbase from a publishing standpoint. Given you’re a former Wii Fit convert, doesn’t it tempt you on any level? Or is the endless peripheral list getting a bit too much?
BIGsheep - Looking at the amount of plastic littering my house, from balance boards to bongos, drum kits to steering wheel, it is getting to a critical mass but at least with WMP it’s not only small but it’s multipurpose. So many peripherals have a limited existence and barely stretch to a handful of titles, if that. The genius of both Wii Sports titles is that they show that first the Wii-mote and now WMP are no one-trick-ponies; they have flexibility and the ability to be adapted to a range of tasks, this at least bodes well for the longevity of the add-on.
Even so, Nintendo definitely do have a history tweaks like this. Looking at the feature creep of the DS over its three iterations makes me wonder where they’re going next with the Wii.
Manuel – Wii HD with MotionPlus included in the box, Summer 2010. I’d bet my house on it.
I make my living as a programmer at a British games developer. In my spare time I try and spread myself between writing, gaming, goalkeeping, rolling dice and keeping my hair blue. Somewhere around that my wife and rabbits fit in.
Disclaimer: the views expressed are my own and do not neccessarily reflect those of my employer
Hold that bet Manuel. I think you could be onto something.
I’ll end up buying it if it does come out. Idiot that I am.