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

[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?

[andrewducker]

So far as I understand so far it's not going to be standard - it's going to be an addon, with a new API and everything. Some games may use it, but they'll just say "requires MotionPlus", just like games that use the lightgun or the WiiFit. If it doesn't take off, nobody will support it, if it does, everyone will, much like with every peripheral.

Similarly, developers can choose to support multiple input options.

The balance board is expensive, but the costs I've seen floated for the MotionPlus are quite cheap at the moment - about $15. If that's the case I expect it to be quite successful, and thus used a lot. If not, then it'll get used in the few games that do support it, and for $15 I'll live with that.

I don't see it as extremely problematic - no more than when any peripheral comes out for a game system.

[johnbobshaun.livejournal.com]

"So far as I understand so far it's not going to be standard - it's going to be an addon"

http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=190125

"Apparently Nintendo can't decide if MotionPlus should be integral to Wii remotes, or if "it might be good to keep it as an attachment we only use for certain software".

Aside from that, yeah you're probably right. I'd be surprised if it's used in more than a handful of first party titles though.

[andrewducker]

Ooh, that's interesting.

Well, if they do build them into the "next-gen" remotes then they'll be used a lot more - especially if the addon is cheap.

I hope they do - I'd like to have more accurate wiimotes for some far-flung-future day when we get to actually play a Wii game with lightsabers :->