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Nintendo announces new Wii peripheral
Author: Joe MartinPublished: 15th July 2008
The WiiMotion Plus will clip on to the bottom of the Wii Remote and provide more precise motion control.
The WiiMotion Plus is a new plug-in attachment for the existing Wii controller, the Wiimote, and will function as a new and more precise accelerometer.
Nintendo is hoping that the WiiMotion Plus will allow more precise translation of physical movements to actual gameplay thanks to the presence of another accelerometer.
"The Wii MotionPlus accessory attaches to the end of the Wii Remote and, combined with the accelerometer and the sensor bar, allows for more comprehensive tracking of a player’s arm position and orientation, providing players with an unmatched level of precision and immersion," says Nintendo on the launch site for the new device.
"Every slight movement players make with their wrist or arm is rendered identically in real time on the screen, providing a true 1:1 response in their game play."
More information is expected to be revealed over the course of the E3 show, but right now Nintendo has not offered any information about when the WiiMotion Plus will be available or how much it will cost.
The WiiMotion Plus certainly sounds like a good idea to us, though it may be flawed by the fact that games will still have to offer support for those who don't have it. What are your thoughts though? Let us know in the forums.
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Comments (39)Stats: 0.065 seconds
Great going, nintendo...
The only people who still play the Wii with full gestures are OAPs, Kids, and Women.
We have already seen games where motion is core to the input method resulting in low quality graphics.
Gameplay can only go so far when your characters/interactive world looks like its being rendered on a Commodore 64 !
Who honestly thinks that the Wiimote provides a more immersive experience?
My brother and I spent most of Sunday playing Lego Starwars, Wii Sports and Worms, and we had a blast. We chilled, talked about stuff, drank tea and later on, beer.
I think people who don't get the point of the Wii, who complain bitterly and at great length about it, are also the same people who don't have friends.
On topic, a more precise controller would be nice, but I haven't played anything yet they requires it. Perhaps when Force Unleashed come around it'll be or more use.
Was that a dig at me? Because I can assure you that I have friends. And I can assure you that I get the Wii.
I own a Wii.. I just don't use it, because it is a party console... and I don't really have many parties. Playing the Wii alone is just boring, end of.
What I don't get is how changing the flick of a thumb to the flick of a wrist is adding immersion.. It's the same, basically, just a slightly different form of input.
about the graphics going bad because of physics... the wii has a cpu and a gpu, so i very much doubt this accessory will affect its graphics.... plus, the wii has about double the power the game cube had, and it had very nice graphics in certain games....
fun does not come exclusively from graphics, a game could have the most insane and lifelike graphics but still be utter crap and unfun.
Well then, you don't get the wii, do you? :(
I do. It is a social console, for playing with friends and family at parties.
Immersion is nothing to do with it.
Gimmick is everything to do with it.
It wasn't a dig at you, rather people who write off the Wii out of hand.
Immersion is a tricky one, before it was available we sold on the idea of waving swords around dungeons with 1:1 accuracy, blocking with our shield nunchuck... but this never quite happened. What we ended up with is a system which approximates our gestures no matter how large or small.
Immersion is up to us. If you play Wii Sports, (tennis for example) I and the people I play with find it's not only more natural to use full gestures, but more satisfying. Button mashing imo is the sole domain of other consoles such as the Xbox and Playstation.
True...
Only the Wii can caim the arm flailing domain. :P
Very well put.
The Wii was not made to be a gimmick. When it sold so many units because of it's abilities, people decided to call it a gimmick to explain it's success.
Andy
Whether intended or not.. The whole think reeks of gimmickery.
One of the biggest pitfalls of the wii controls it seems to me is when poor developers make use of the motion control to set actions on fuzzy gestures when they really would be better on a button (swinging the sword in zelda comes right to mind - I got a tiny bit annoyed and ended up with a sore wrist after working through that, even though it makes little to no difference to the end result)
One of the biggest advantages though is the pointing - I'd take a well programmed game using that (metroid prime corruption, resident evil 4 for instance) over a gamepad any time. And when used both well and sparingly the motion control can add a bit to immersion (activating manual door locks in metroid prime, dodging traps in resident evil 4 come to mind)
I do! Just play Metroid Prime Corruption, and you will NEVER use a keyboard and mouse, nor a 6-axis controller EVER again.
unless you wish to play a different game
LOL
I never liked FPSs on the Wii... It seemed like the perfect console for them.. but it failed with dodgy control implementation. CoD3 was a bitch to control at times.. it all seemed over sensitive... if I have a 10kg rifle in my hands.. I don't expect to move it around like it's a feather...
Having said all this, I still love my Wii, and I'll never get rid of it... SMG was great.. and I'm a real Zelda Fanboy.. so any new Zelda games will be on my shopping list...
The few times I've had an issue with the cursor, its usually come down to the sensor bar not being quite positioned right, or the distance being a bit off, thus interfering with the detection .. though there was that one time I left a curtain a bit too open and it started picking up the sun instead ;).
Bladestorm is correct, check your Wii settings and your configurations.
Very few games on the Wii have perfect controllers.
CoD3 is part of the bad list.
Newer games, tend not to have the issue as game companies are taking their time to learn and perfect the controls, and not do more vaporware.
I must say, I thought they did a pretty good job of making a motion sensitive controller. There were a thousand things which could have gone horribly wrong, but really, if we pick anything wrong out, we're just nit-picking. I found the shaky cross-hair problem could be solved by sitting down and playing...
And I don't think the Wii is for the sort of person who takes note of its FPS. Its meant to be plug and play fun. If you want state of the art graphics, framerates, anti aliasing and 3040284028 DPi controls, stick to PC (its what I do when I'm in that sort of mood :p)
Consumers a fools as they think its a clever idea and are happy to pay for it. I like to have a complete controller thanks.
Then you have the retro controller for the games the Wii mote dont work for.
Nintendo are pushing out the peripherals, shame about the games.
Funny how people still perceive that it is Ninty's fault for all the bad games. Big name publishers/devs who make crappy ports, shovelware and lame waggle fest games run around scot free.
Regarding the new gyroscope, I'd hazard a guess that it disables the old one, and then takes over and runs the show. If this is the case, then it should work with old games too. :)
Just played once (never had the opportunity again), Sports olympics and lego star wars.
Sports olympics: archery had a pretty good aim, was surprised about it really.
Lego star wars i just used the buttons, would have been fun on any platform, I'll probably get it for PC.
Xir
I've seen no Nintendo hate here...
Criticism doesn't equate to hate...
I'm just gonna assume you direct that at me because I was criticising the Wii, and I have to say you are wrong. I LOVE my Wii.. but it's not without its faults.. And it is especially not a Hardcore Gaming machine.. Which is a problem..
Only if you expected it to be
Like a World Gaming League section reserved for whole families! hehe