Delicious LiveJournal Links for 7-16-2008

[andrewducker]

• Nintendo's Wii MotionPlus add-on makes the Wii Remote a true 1:1 motion controller
  Which is, y'know, what we thought it was in the first place. But still - great news!
  (tags: gaming nintendo wii)
• "Give up tea? I'd rather suffer the mid-afternoon slump"
  A paean to addiction.
  (tags: tea addiction work)

Comments

[call-waiting.livejournal.com]

The wiimote is based on accelerometers, so it has several aspects that mean it's not precisely 1:1 spatially. The initial orientation and position of the wiimote relative to the wii can't be established precisely, and because the current positions and orientations are calculated as the path integral of the physical quantity that's *actually* being measured, errors will accumulate and so the calculated position will drift over time. I'm sure the wii probably uses heuristics of some sort to account for this in the current wiimote.

Certain other forthcoming 3d controllers are 1:1 from the get-go.

[pennski.livejournal.com]

More tea now please!

[johnbobshaun.livejournal.com]

I don't think MotionPlus is great news. I think its potentially extremely problematic for both developers and Wii owners.

1) How many games are going to support it?
2) Is it going to be the new standard Wii controller?
3) If yes, is there going to be a point where every Wii owner will have been forced to buy it to play new games?
4) Will third party developers be able to make good use of it (since many still haven't done a great job with the standard controller)?
4) Will developers have to take into account that a user may or may not have MotionPlus, developing two different control systems with two different levels of interactivity with the game?
5) Will developers have to take into account that a user may or may not also have a balance board?
6) If no, are these expensive perepherals going to be used in just a handful of games before gathering dust in the attic?