The future of Motionplus

[welsh_gamer]

Now that a greater majority of us have played a game that use's the Motionplus add-on, and experienced Wii Sports Resort which offers more in-sight into what the device can actually do than what was shown in EA's games (not that it wasn't good there!), how would you like to see the device used and in what kind of games?

 

I defintley think we should see Project H.A.M.M.E.R revived, seeing as we can smash things in true 1:1 now

[Serebii]

Seeing the 1:1 Swordplay Showdown in Wii Sports Resort has made me want to see Zelda similar to this

[LostOverThere]

I want a Star Wars Lightsaber game now, seriously. That would be perfect for MotionPlus.

[lostmario]

I want a Star Wars Lightsaber game now, seriously. That would be perfect for MotionPlus.

 

Its obvious to everyone but Nintendo & Lucasarts that we need an exclusive 1:1 Star Wars Lightsabre game.

 

It wouldn't surprise me if this ends up being one of the PS3 Motion controller launch titles instead.

[david.dakota]

Despite it being a phenomenal piece of kit, I fear that MotionPlus has a limited future. Wii MotionPlus needs a big install base and it needs it fast, something which isn't going to happen when the game bundles and standalone kit is so prohibitively expensive- perhaps Nintendo need to take a hit on this hardware and sell it at a loss.

 

EA, SEGA and Ubisoft have provided early titles, but little else has materialised which utilises the device- and that needs to change. It will only change if the install base grows- and fast.

 

Why publish a game- which would cost more to develop with MP- to an install base a fraction of that of a standard Wii? It makes for a poor business case, the more units available the less risk attached to a project.

 

Take a look at every peripheral launched on Wii - the wheel (14m+ in existence, WiiSpeak (2m+), Balance Board (15m+). How have these been supported by third parties- poorly.

 

We need to see Nintendo take MotionPlus seriously, get as many units out there are possible- giveaways, reduced price, multiple unit bundles. If they fail to get people behind MotionPlus, we'll see very little else for the peripheral.

 

Moan aside, MotionPlus has some great potential-

 

• Tetris Motion. Turn your blocks as they fall.
  
• The Grinder/other FPS. Give the ability to track your turning when not pointing at the sensor bar; couch, hide behind walls just by shifting the Remote down, right, left
  
• Super Mario Galaxy 2. Camera control by shifting the Remote?
  

 

Just a few ideas.

[blender]

its all a training ground for sony and 360 platforms... then we will see some serious games like halo i hope... Looking forward to zelda but motion plus has not future UNLESS... there is a Wii SP or Wii HD where it is standard. I do think the latter is likely

[david.dakota]

It wouldn't surprise me if this ends up being one of the PS3 Motion controller launch titles instead.

 

This is why Nintendo needs to get crazy amounts of Wii MotionPlus in peoples hands- if Nintendo has a huge install base by the PS3 and Natal launches, it'll be harder to find a strong growth market for them, and publishers could shy away from the risk.

 

It probably wouldn't hurt Nintendo to co-finance an exclusive Star Wars game, perhaps Lord of the Rings, some big names that'll attract both core and casuals.

 

its all a training ground for sony and 360 platforms... then we will see some serious games like halo i hope... Looking forward to zelda but motion plus has not future UNLESS... there is a Wii SP or Wii HD where it is standard. I do think the latter is likely

 

Have you just posted a reasonably well thought out comment?

[sumo73]

I've only just got Wii Sports Resort and I'm so glad that it has a left handed option in it. I'll stand alone in this but it just shows that with a bit of effort other companies can do the same with Wii motion plus and include this option as well. Sadly most don't.

[Dyson]

Have you just posted a reasonably well thought out comment?

 

This happens every now and again and is to be taken very, very seriously.

[S.C.G]

its all a training ground for sony and 360 platforms... then we will see some serious games like halo i hope... Looking forward to zelda but motion plus has not future UNLESS... there is a Wii SP or Wii HD where it is standard. I do think the latter is likely

 

Agree partially... don't care much for the Halo part, but I am looking forward to seeing Wii Motion Plus used more as 'standard' in future games, basically if enough games start to support it then people will buy it but as it becomes more standard then the price should drop and / or it should start being bundled with Wii remotes.

 

There is no advantage to Nintendo manufacturing a Wii SP / HD as this will just confuse the market; however their next console will need to incorporate a controller that not only retains the capabilities of the Wii remote with motion plus in one unit but it will also need to do something more on top of this, either way it needs to be fully compatible with Wii software.

 

Wii Motion Plus' future looks good, it's just persuading enough people to buy it initially that's the problem, granted sales of Wii Sports Resort are / will continue to be good but it will take games like Red Steel 2 to truely convince some people that it is indeed the future and a necessary peripheral.

[Shino]

Despite it being a phenomenal piece of kit, I fear that MotionPlus has a limited future. Wii MotionPlus needs a big install base and it needs it fast, something which isn't going to happen when the game bundles and standalone kit is so prohibitively expensive- perhaps Nintendo need to take a hit on this hardware and sell it at a loss.

 

EA, SEGA and Ubisoft have provided early titles, but little else has materialised which utilises the device- and that needs to change. It will only change if the install base grows- and fast.

 

Why publish a game- which would cost more to develop with MP- to an install base a fraction of that of a standard Wii? It makes for a poor business case, the more units available the less risk attached to a project.

 

Take a look at every peripheral launched on Wii - the wheel (14m+ in existence, WiiSpeak (2m+), Balance Board (15m+). How have these been supported by third parties- poorly.

 

We need to see Nintendo take MotionPlus seriously, get as many units out there are possible- giveaways, reduced price, multiple unit bundles. If they fail to get people behind MotionPlus, we'll see very little else for the peripheral.

 

Moan aside, MotionPlus has some great potential-

 

• Tetris Motion. Turn your blocks as they fall.
  
• The Grinder/other FPS. Give the ability to track your turning when not pointing at the sensor bar; couch, hide behind walls just by shifting the Remote down, right, left
  
• Super Mario Galaxy 2. Camera control by shifting the Remote?
  

 

Just a few ideas.

 

I don't think anyone would complaing about the price, seems quite good the way it is, and bundling it with all those games and Wii Sports Resort is quite frankly a genius move.

There's around 20 Million balance boards right? I think wm+ is well under way to become even more ubiquitous.

[Ganepark32]

The problem with the Motionplus' future is that Nintendo basically see it as a peripheral, in the same vain as the Wii Wheel and the Balance Board. As a result, they aren't going to push the attachment as much as they should do because as they see it, a small percentage of titles will utilise the device. It's such an obscure position to take on something that is arguably going to be needed to push the Wii and it's contorller forward in the face of what Microsoft and Sony are going to bring to the table. Nintendo have said that they are constantly working on the next step in the chain for advancement of the controller and who knows, we may end up seeing another attachment or a new controller entirely that gives even better detection with minimal recalibration somewhere down the line, making the Motionplus almost void.

 

Nintendo really should be pushing the device. It's proven to provide more immersion than any other controller on the market and the small collection of titles that use it at the moment are using it well, if in a somewhat basic way but that's to be expected this early on. They need to prove that they are willing to support the device, if not heavily, significantly otherwise third party developers may just say 'Well, if they aren't using it and don't think they need to, then why should we.'

 

At the moment, I think the only announced title that is confirmed to be using Motionplus is Red Steel 2. The current outlook isn't great but I think that now that the device is out there and has garnered some significant sales, developers will surely take note and I wouldn't put it passed Nintendo to show off some more Motionplus compatible titles come their October conference.

[Pit-Jr]

Ive yet to try the WM+ but i do think Nintendo will take this particular peripheral more seriously due to Natal and the Eyetoy wand. I also fully expect a new hardware SKU with WM+ and WSR replacing Wii Sports before the Natal launch

[Emasher]

The thing is though, it would be very against Nintendo's current strategy to go head to head against the PS3 Wand, and Natal. Whatever market MS and Sony go for, Nintendo will be going for a different one. They've already said that soon they're going to stop making fitness games because its becoming a red ocean. While I'm sure Nintendo will stick with Motion Controls, I don't think it will be the main focus of their next console though. There will be something else to attract a new market. There's a good chance Motion Controls will be one of the main focuses of Sony and MS's next consoles. While Motion Plus is great, I don't think Nintendo is going to push it (for very long anyway). I think they'll be pushing something more important, when the time comes.

[Tellyn]

As I explained when Miyamoto didn't seem to understand whether or not Wii MotionPlus would be used in Zelda or not, let alone pushing it with exclusive support, I'm very worried for the future of MotionPlus. Now the Wii Remote can do all these fantastical things that we all dreamt of when it was announced four years ago, and one of the greatest minds in the games industry doesn't seem to know what to do with it beyond Wii Sports Resort?

 

Zelda sells consoles. Next to Mario, it is one of Nintendo's most powerful brand names and could force MotionPlus on to millions more users, and create a massive dent in the market, a good step to seeing it become commonplace. After playing Wii Sports Resort, I really would love for the next Zelda to have the same freedom of control that we have in WSR.

 

Current titles supporting Wii MotionPlus include Grand Slam Tennis, Tiger Woods, Virtua Tennis, and of course Wii Sports Resort. Only seven more games are currently known to be supporting it. With Natal and the PS3's wand closing in fast, Nintendo really need to pull their finger out and actually try. I mean, none of their E3 games supported MotionPlus apart from Wii Sports Resort, which was shown a year ago.

[Mokong]

Really all Nintendo need to do is bundle a MotionPlus in new Wii console packages sold (without increasing the price) maybe even switch WiiSports for WiiSports Resort. And bundle it with new Wiimotes (without increasing the price) OR make a new Wiimote with the MotionPlus built-in.

 

Either or all of these options would certainly force the expansion of the userbase, especially if bundled in with new consoles. ANd given how they urn a fair profit on each console sold I'm sure they could afford to put in the MotionPlus without increasing the Console package cost

[Gizmo]

[quote name='david.dakota;1035108

 

• Tetris Motion. Turn your blocks as they fall.
  
• The Grinder/other FPS. Give the ability to track your turning when not pointing at the sensor bar; couch' date=' hide behind walls just by shifting the Remote down, right, left
  [*']Super Mario Galaxy 2. Camera control by shifting the Remote?
  

 

Just a few ideas.

 

No.

Why?

No.

[Pookiablo]

Really all Nintendo need to do is bundle a MotionPlus in new Wii console packages sold (without increasing the price) maybe even switch WiiSports for WiiSports Resort. And bundle it with new Wiimotes (without increasing the price) OR make a new Wiimote with the MotionPlus built-in.

 

Either or all of these options would certainly force the expansion of the userbase, especially if bundled in with new consoles. ANd given how they urn a fair profit on each console sold I'm sure they could afford to put in the MotionPlus without increasing the Console package cost

 

This is a very clever post and I fully agree. Nintendo is too concerned with profit for my liking - everytime something sells poorly, they always hammer on about how despite poor sales (I'm looking at you Gamecube), that they always made a profit on it. Sure, it's good business practice, but it's hardly risky.

 

WM+ really needs to take off if we're to see any truly innovative games come our way. Wii games are getting a little stale (how many party games do we honestly need?) and something to revive the hardcore and yet still appeal to the casual is more than ideal. I think WM+ does this. The only problem is as many of you have said, Nintendo simply aren't pushing it enough.

 

By all means, bundle it with software, it's guaranteed that this strategy worked for Wii Fit and the Wii Wheel with Mario Kart but we're still looking at roughly a 30% install base of Balance boards of all Wii users - considering all the hype and advertising, it doesn't seem like very much. I can't see WM+ doing better/much better than Wii Fit.

 

Of course, then you look back to the N64 era and the ill-fated Expansion Pak. It was and still is an excellent piece of tech and as a result led to the creation of many brilliant games (Perfect Dark anyone?) but was poorly supported by the consumer base. It was supported even less so by developers as a result of this. Just look back to Conker's Bad Fur Day - a game which looks like it should have used the RAM pak and was a game released when the pak itself was available, yet doesn't, probably because Rare/Nintendo were so concerned with achieving the maximum sales possible (This could just be because the game was being developed very early in the N64's life, seeing as it was originally meant to be Twelve Tales or whatever it was).

 

If Ninty up their game and start getting Motionplus out to its users (just give em out for free for Pete's sake, it's only doing what the Wii was supposed to do in the first place!), then I can see Motionplus or at the very least, optional-Motionplus games, taking a frontline in Nintendo's repetoire of software.

[tapedeck]

Ignore the style/genre here but when games like Z&W which use the wii controller in sublime, unique ways hardly sells - I can't see how M+ will ever truly "take off" unless there is a multitude of support behind it.

 

Couple this with the obvious statement that most western games designers/companies have NEVER been about control but about graphics and tech and it becomes painfully obvious that only a handful of games are going to be using M+ in the future.

 

Yet for all this doom and gloom, when I see a company like EA pushing their M+ support through traditional sports titles I can't help but feel like their is hope.

[Pookiablo]

Yet for all this doom and gloom, when I see a company like EA pushing their M+ support through traditional sports titles I can't help but feel like their is hope.

 

EA, doing something right. Who'da thunk it?

[Mike]

Like everyone, I'd really like to see lots more games using M+, but having played Showdown on Wii Sports Resort last night, where I had to re-centre the remote every 30 seconds or so, I don't know whether I'd want it for Zelda or not now.. Nintendo needs to announce some more games for this quick, otherwise it's just going to go the same way as every other peripheral for the Wii.

[Tellyn]

Like everyone, I'd really like to see lots more games using M+, but having played Showdown on Wii Sports Resort last night, where I had to re-centre the remote every 30 seconds or so, I don't know whether I'd want it for Zelda or not now.. Nintendo needs to announce some more games for this quick, otherwise it's just going to go the same way as every other peripheral for the Wii.

 

For the first week or so I was having this problem, then when I gave Hellfire some tips before he went to the Portuguese launch, he suggested that it recalibrates if it comes into the line of sight of the sensor bar. If sensor assist is on, and you occasionally swing so that your pointer just catches the sensor bar, you should have no problems.

[blender]

wii motion++ will have autocalibration and be an all-in-one remote. It will also have a microphoone.

 

wi motion+++ will have something extra special

 

there will be also a range of colours for everbody's body

[Tellyn]

its all a training ground for sony and 360 platforms... then we will see some serious games like halo i hope... Looking forward to zelda but motion plus has not future UNLESS... there is a Wii SP or Wii HD where it is standard. I do think the latter is likely

 

wii motion++ will have autocalibration and be an all-in-one remote. It will also have a microphoone.

 

wi motion+++ will have something extra special

 

there will be also a range of colours for everbody's body

 

Just restoring balance, I see.

[ReZourceman]

So now we all seem to have played Wii Motion Plus, what are your hopes for the device?

 

I posted this in the Wii Sports Resort thread but it Winnie The Pooh, Winnie The Pooh (bares repeating), I would love to see a Star Fox game controlled like the Plane portions of WSR. I really think that would be totally awesome, with lasers, lock on missiles, and all the manooveering and dodging would be controlled by you and your skill saves you.

 

*Drools*