Who Doesn't Like Wii MotionPlus?
Game Developers, that's who. According to an article over at Game Informer, Nintendo's announcement of the new Wii MotionPlus add-on went over like a lead balloon with the developers they spoke to. Now, I have no doubt that the Wii MotionPlus does what Nintendo says, making the Wiimote much more accurate at sensing movement and motion, but I can totally see where people would get cheesed off. Personally, when I first heard about this thing, I wondered why it was even necessary. The Wiimote works fine for me, and I'm sure most of the bajillion other people who own Wiis feel the same way. Jack and Jill Smith from Anytown USA who play a lot of Wii Sports and Carnival Games probably don't think the Wiimote needs to be more accurate. Why fix what ain't broke in the first place?
But the real problem is that apparently a lot of third-party developers were taken by surprise by the Wii MotionPlus, and won't be able to incorporate it into their games right away. Which means it'll be a while before any other games besides Nintendo's Wii Sports Resort make use of the add-on. That could be trouble for the gizmo. Especially since, as I said, it seems unnecessary. I guess only time will tell.
Wii MotionPlus Took Developers By Surprise [Game Informer]
Wootini
Posted to Video Games on 23 July 2008
· Comments (5)
Other stuff like this: add-on, developers, motionplus, nintendo, wii
But it's a chance to give Nintendo more money to fix the thing they already sold you that was Broken by Design! I can't wait to buy 3, and the Wii-specific external hard drive that still doesn't let you play games from outside the Wii's internal memory, too!
Why, if Nintendo released a game that did nothing but brick my Wii so that I could slavishly give Nintendo still more money to buy a new one, I'd get 3 copies!
Now now, Nintendo have a history of flawed add ons and unnecessary additions to their consoles.
Why do Nintendo keep putting the boot to it's loyal fanbase, it is the Joseph Fritzl of the computer games industry at the minute.
I'll take 6.
@ Neo
Why? Because it works, makes them money and (as Wootini mentioned in the article) most of their fanbase won't mind.
Nintendo products (handhelds especially) have always had a very "Apple"ish approach to product design. Build prototype, remove three features, sell first version, one year later add one feature, two years later add another, etc. But just like Apple, it's hard to completely blame them when the fanbase supports the actions. Sony did the same with the DualShock3 (in hopes to escape a legal snafu). It sorta sucks, but that's how the formula works, and it works really, really well for Nintendo right now.
On the price of the Motion Plus, the price of hardware will probably be comparable to a 360 headset when sold separately and will most likely cost $50 when it comes bundled with WiiSports Resort. What Wii owner isn't going to buy that game?
"What Wii owner isn't going to buy that game?"
Here's one. I'll never own Wii Fit, either, for that matter.
Different folks, different strokes...
I think that game appeals to the majority of people that bought a Wii. And even if other games require use of Motion Plus (I can't be the only one that dreams of No More Heroes 2), it'll likely be available in some form by itself and reasonably priced.