Although the Wii MotionPlus accessory has been delayed EA will support the device with Tiger Woods PGA Tour '10 and Grand Slam Tennis. From MTV Multiplayer.
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It’s possible that MotionPlus will be out by then, with or without “Wii Sports Resort,” but Nintendo isn’t saying. The company has been unable to provide MTV Multiplayer with any clarity about the release plans of the peripheral or the game. The game had been listed as a “spring 2009″ release but is now listed on Nintendo’s press site simply as a “2009″ game.
I reached out to EA yesterday to find out what they know about MotionPlus’ release date and whether their games may be coming to market before the peripheral does. Here’s the response I got from EA Sports pr chief David Tinson: “‘Tiger’ and ‘Tennis’ will be compatible, but not dependent, on WMP. They will ship with the functionality, regardless of when WMP comes to market.”
I wouldn't say the hardware is disappointing. If you put it into context of the other systems, then yes, the technology is behind the curve, but I think the overarching fault with Nintendo's platform is the lack of third party support in certain genres (ie. anything that's not a party game). It's not really their fault, though, it's a symptom of the industry. They just don't want to think outside the box. Games must be shinier and simpler, not more colorful and complex.
It will fail. No game can implement it as a necessary feature, because doing so will alienate 95% of the Wii buying public (even though probably 50% of those people will never buy another game outside of WiiPlay). They cannot force the adoption of it, and with the market for games that use it being so small it will fade into obscurity, just like the power glove.
Now that the obligatory Mary Jane reference is outta the way, I agree with Virt. This sounds like another Sega Activator in the making, especially with the repeated delays.
I dunno. If one is packed in with Wii Sports Resort then people will buy another.
Your right about third-party stuff though. Even further alienation.
Wii 2 - The only console with 100% first-party games!
Even still, they they obviously won't have 100% market penetration, leaving third parties in the unenviable position of choosing to either a)alienate most of the Wii owners or b) not utilize this cool and more accurate technology.
It's of course easy enough to throw out failed products of the past as some sort of indicator of the future, but it's short-sighted at best. There is no way the Power Glove, a 3rd party product with virtually no software support, compares to a 1st party augmentation that seems to have plenty without even being released yet. Wii Fit has sold over 16M units, you realize that makes it's hardware arguably a much more viable platform for exclusive products than the Dreamcast was at it's height of popularity (might beat XBox and GC when it's done), and it was a console system, not a peripheral. Few games would require the accessory, nor should they (technically, the light gun games in past systems often did not require a light gun, but the light guns were virtually always used). Nintendo clearly understands the importance of shipping a peripheral with at least one strong software product, I’d love to hear examples of peripherals failing when featuring strong support, especially right out of the gate.
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Originally Posted by Virtuoso
Even still, they they obviously won't have 100% market penetration, leaving third parties in the unenviable position of choosing to either a)alienate most of the Wii owners or b) not utilize this cool and more accurate technology.
It sucks to be a Wii developer.
You mean like supporting a racing wheel or flight stick? Clearly you have no idea how little effort it takes, in the grand scheme of things, to support additional controllers. The Wii is not remotely unique with respect to offering peripherals, only major difference here is that Nintendo is supporting/endorsing the peripherals more than most. Developer's decisions about level of support for the peripheral is no different than a flight stick or racing wheel (or technically, dance mats or musical instruments, if Nintendo allows bundling). But, this is a Nintendo thread on EA, guess mindless bashing of some level is required.
You mean like supporting a racing wheel or flight stick? Clearly you have no idea how little effort it takes, in the grand scheme of things, to support additional controllers. The Wii is not remotely unique with respect to offering peripherals, only major difference here is that Nintendo is supporting/endorsing the peripherals more than most. Developer's decisions about level of support for the peripheral is no different than a flight stick or racing wheel (or technically, dance mats or musical instruments, if Nintendo allows bundling). But, this is a Nintendo thread on EA, guess mindless bashing of some level is required.
This isn't just an alternate method of control though, it increases the sensitivity of the controller to an obscene level, and cannot be made a required part of any game. This means that there cannot be features that depend on its use if they plan to sell a substantial numbers of games.
This isn't just an alternate method of control though, it increases the sensitivity of the controller to an obscene level, and cannot be made a required part of any game. This means that there cannot be features that depend on its use if they plan to sell a substantial numbers of games.
This is what a flight stick and a racing wheel do as well, they increase the level of accuracy, they're just more streamlined for a particular game type. A developer can rely on a wheel, and not tweak out the analog stick control, or do the same thing with a flight stick. The only differences between these things and motion plus is that motion plus isn't out yet, and it's more general purpose than a flight stick or racing wheel.
I'm not sure why the idea of games requiring the peripheral rather than supporting it seems to be such a strong idea for you, especially since the thread is clearly about a game supporting it, not requiring it. Your prediction of it's failure seems based on 3rd party developers not pushing it by requiring it, and that's clearly not the way Nintendo does things. The balance board for Wii Fit seems to be outselling the 360 and the PS3, what makes you think the motion plus will require 3rd party support to get off the ground?
I think Nintendo has learned a big lesson in recent years, and that's that you don't rely on 3rd parties to ensure your product's success.
