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Wii-mote In Action
Jack Lancer writes "Gameworld Network (which is either a network of gameworlds or a gameworld of networks) has
posted an epic collection of streaming E3 videos which clearly depicts each and every playable Wii game and how exactly one has to swing, wave, shake, point, wiggle and/or jostle the Wiimote in order to play." And once again this poses the question — is this the future of gaming UI? Sure seems like a great idea for a FPS.
I expect the Wii to be a huge success, but even if it isn't, at least Nintendo is introducing some change into the stalling industry. Combine with the Virtual Console for an easy delivery system for Indie developers, and you have an interesting setup that separates itself from other gaming systems.
Nintendo have done well this round.
They put together something different, marketed it well, kept up interest, got developers interested, got public interested, created news news news...
There overall plan is very well thought out with lots of subtle nooks and crannies. I really hope it all works out and people buy these things in droves. This kind of think deserves results.
I'm buying three at or near launch. (one for me, me bro and me mam) And at least 6 to 8 games between the homes.
Pablo
I can't wait for this system. Games are boring the hell out of me lately with the same thing churned out over and over again. If the E3 videos are any indication of how fun and new the Wii games are, it's going to be awesome. I'm looking forward to some sword fighting in Red Steel, Wii Sports for Tennis and Golf, the new Metriod and of course.. Smash Bros Brawl (even if it doesn't use the Wiimote like the other games, they did exactly what they needed to do to Smash Bros -- smooth out the gameplay, give it Internet capabilities and that's it.) This'll be the first system I'll buy on day 1 since my SNES.
You're missing the point. The Wii is targeted at all users, not just hardcore gamers. That's why I'm getting one. I like having fun without having to make fake computer rendered gore left and right.
why have these two things never been combined? Seems like a no brainer.
Probably because there's never really been a mass marketed system released that came with a light gun (or equivalent) standard (and I don't mean just in 'deluxe' packages). Since the Wii now has a light gun equivalent packed in with it, you'll actually see more than a handful of games that use the feature.
This is one of the reasons I might actually be able to finally get the wife interested in console gaming - she likes playing light gun games in the arcade, and always nagged me to get one for the ps2. Lack of really good ps2 light gun games kept me from wasting money on it (no, I didn't care for the Time Crisis games).
I'm betting that the console, as well as individual games, will have adjustable sensitivity. They wouldn't be able to offer that at e3 because it would take time away from the actual game demo, but it would be almost unthinkable not to have adjustable sensitivity.
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Since the very first mention of the wiimote at TGS it has been explained by Nintendo staff and verified by the press that you can simply rest the controller on your knee and get most of the aiming capabilities with just minor wrist movements. So if you are really so lazy that you can't bother to play the game the FUN way, you can be a lazy couch-urchin just as easily.
Mirrordot does not solve the inaccessible video problem, does it?
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Click on any of the videos in this mirrordotted article, does it work?
http://mirrordot.org/stories/2fc0c7271ed2324f769f
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The Wii is really designed to interest the non-gamers. The point of the controller is basically to let games have people make movements that they actually make in real life, rather than traditional gaming, where the player is actually sitting still holding a small box and moving their fingers slightly. It lets them have a ping-pong game where, instead of using a bunch of knobs and buttons to play ping-pong, you play ping-pong to play ping-pong. This is obviously likely to be more popular with non-gamer ping-pong players.
I think Brain Age reflects this shift in thinking; you say things by saying things, and write by writing. When you're reading aloud, it's just like you're holding a small hardcover book and reading it. I think the goal of the Wii is to expand the concept of having the player action match the character action beyond fingertips and voice.
Another hint that it's not targetted at gamers: there's little hardware difference between the Gamecube and the Wii aside from the controller, especially compared to the difference between the Xbox and 360 or PS2 and PS3. The Gamecube is therefore already essentially sufficient for what they want the hardware to do, aside from the limited interaction with the controller.
as it stands, red steel is shaping up to be a disaster (and im a raging nintendo fanboy)(. here's why:
% 20steel%20e3 (incredibly flawed).
- the sword fighting isnt in real-time. it's not like you control the sword, you make gestures which aren't very responsive. personally, id rather just push a button if thats how theyre going to implement the wiimote.
- in the e3 demo they didnt implement the pointer functionality correctly. in mp3 and mario galaxy, you point on screen to calibrate the remote. it needs to be positioned in 3d space, otherwise it uses the sensor bar as a point of origin (like it is now).
- i agfree with nintendo's mantra. graphics dont mean anything, but right now red steel is just bulky, and ugly.
- control scheme aside, im not to confident in the gameplay itself.
this is only a rough demo, and ill pray ubisoft fixes the game, but check out this hands on footage from e3. http://youtube.com/watch?v=gXG0fQRbRaI&search=red
Why go fast when you can go anywhere? O|||||||O
Then you are a huge sucker.
I'm sorry, its time to burn some karma. Repeat after me: The Wii has not shipped. You barely know anything about it aside from press releases and E3 demos.
Seriously, what happened to waiting until we actually can get our hands on these things before deciding which console to go with? I mean, I'm happy for you and all, with this remarkable rescient clarity for who has 'done well in the round that has yet to happen...' But I, for one, will actually wait to play each console.
I've tried one new console, X360, and I liked it. But I haven't bought anything yet because there are two more in the pipe. Right now I see each of these boxes as having a significant strike against it: The PS3 is going to (probably) cost too much; the X360 relies heavily on Live! for value and has no standard HD; and the Wii can't do HD.
Sorry for the rant, just sick of all these kneejerk reactionary posts. As far as I'm concerned, I don't take Nintendo's amazing eyepopping demos with any less salt than Sony's and Microsoft's amazing eyepopping demos. Give me the games, then we shall see.
If Jesus wants me it knows where to find me.
I imagine you couldn't play this game without taking frequent breaks (which might be good for RSI but aren't very good for immersion).
Depends on what definition of 'immersion' you're using.
The old idea about immersive gaming is kind of like being in a hot tub -- you ease yourself in, but once you're comfortable you can stay there for hours.
Nintendo's new idea of immersion is like a diving board -- you climb up, leap off, in an instant you're enveloped by the water, and then quickly you're at the side of the pool again, ready to take another dive.
The fact that guys in Iraq do it every day doesn't change the fact that our bodies weren't meant to. They go through a lot of training in order to hold an M16 in front of them all day --- your average gamer doesn't.
A deep unwavering belief is a sure sign you're missing something...
Right now I see each of these boxes as having a significant strike against it: The PS3 is going to (probably) cost too much; the X360 relies heavily on Live! for value and has no standard HD; and the Wii can't do HD.
If that's the ONLY strike against the Wii, then why is he a sucker to want to buy it? Perhaps he simply doesn't care about HD. I know that I, personally, will likely not have an HDTV for the next several years... I think most people are also in the same boat, planning to upgrade to HDTV in a few years but not yet.
I personally will not buy the Wii until i've had a chance to play an in-store unit, but as long as it's pretty fun, I'll be getting one. At $250-$300 including Zelda, that's not an outlandish purchase.
Well, to be fair, not all of the people raving here about how the Wii is the answer to all of life's problems (before it's even shipped, as you point out) are mindless fanboys, suckered into believing marketing hype.
In fact, I'd say only about half of the people heaping praise on Nintendo and the Wii are fanboys.
The other half are almost certainly astroturfers.
I expect light guns might actually be quite popular on the Wii. Since games can be released without worrying about the light guns there should be lots of games as you said. With so many games specialised light guns will be a popular option (but not oblgatory) for fans of such games.
the more they over-think the plumbing the easier it is to stop up the pipe
Hate to be going for that backhand shot, have the thing slip out of my fingers, and go right through my (hypothetical) $3000 TV.
They say the first thing to go is your penis. Well, it's either that or your brain. I forget which...
But that it makes a lot of non-FPS games really fun to play.
Not every stick you see on the ground is a gun. Some can become swords. Some can become walking sticks, or pitons to use as you climb Mount Everest without the use of your left leg. Some can become claws as you become a crab beneath the waves. Some can become fishing rods, as you wait patiently for the slippery silvery salmon to go by.
The attraction of the Wii is that many things become fun - not just one.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
Thats not what I'm most concerned about...my big concern is how can you have realistic sword fights when there is nothing to forcibly stop the controller from moving past a certain point if your character makes contact in the game.
I especially see this as a problem for multiplayer swordfighting (think a multiplayer Star Wars game) where two people might be waving their swords, but if they cross blades, the controller keeps moving past the contact point, thus screwing up the positioning of the players hands with the remote.
Buy Steampunk Clothing Online!
Often when I go over to someone's house and play video games, it gets really boring really fast, because some of the new games require so much time to learn. This is with games that are meant to be played with others, like sports, driving, and fighting games. It gets even worse for FPSs and games that are mostly played with 1 player, or over a network. I have a gamecube, and I like that there's a lot of games available that don't require weeks of play before someone is good. Games like Bomberman, MarioKart, MarioParty, really stand out as games that anybody can pick up and play.
Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
The action of waving my arms around or shaking hands or even swaying back and forth just appears to be as another style of button mashing to me.
The act of writing a great book is button mashing as well. Writing a book isn't mindless and neither is using the Wii controller. You don't just randomly shake it around, you point where you want it to point, you swing the way you want it to swing, etc. If you think all this will do is to replace button presses with gestures then you're thinking too much about how to adapt current gameplay to a different controller rather than designing gameplay for that controller.
Free movement of an object in the player's hand would allow us to get rid of the use button, instead of selecting a stick from your inventory, going close to the lever base and pressing use to use the stick as a lever would be replaced with selecting the stick from your inventory, going to the lever base and sticking it in there yourself, subsequently using it as the lever. This would also require the player to solve a puzzzle by thinking rather than going to each hotspot and trying to use each item in his inventory. Did you never have a moment in a game where you think you've got the solution, pull out the item, press use and the character does something entirely different from what you had in mind?
Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
Keep in mind that at least some of the ravers are probably astroturfers and maybe sock puppets also.
You can buy fraudulent "stealth marketing" at places like this.
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Marketing talk is not just cheap, it has negative value. Free speech can be compromised just as much by too much noise as too little signal.
Now there is an *excellent* point. After all, the standard Nintendo creed is, Its Not About The Graphics, Its The Gameplay... right?
If Jesus wants me it knows where to find me.
a lightsaber title is already in the works, and that is what would really kill..
Are you kidding? If that's true and the game is any good, then I think the next-gen war is probably already over. Who could resist the draw of a console where you can fight lightsaber battles? The controller even has a built-in speaker to make the humming and parrying noises.
i'm sure it'll be just like driving for the first time. you don't expect to be an expert right away, but once you get the feel of the accelerator, brake, & steering, its comfortable and second nature.
Retard.
It could also be that after years of screaming for something different, something that doesn't just make the graphics nicer, one of the manufactorers is listening. If Sony or MS were taking this route you'd hear the same comments. I'm not syaing that 'turfers don't exist on the dot, just that I know I'm going to be getting one, too.
If brevity is the soul of wit, then how does one explain Twitter?
Yes, I only got 5 minutes with the thing, so I'm hoping it will feel a lot better once you get use to it. But it didn't feel like I was shooting from the remote, but from the screen (if that makes any sense).
Oh, and before the Nintendo fanboi rip me a new one, I love the system! I'm just not sold on it be the best FPS system ever.
Spell cheek you've failed me four the last thyme!
I'm nearly as sold on the Wii as the original poster. I spent over four hours playing games on it at E3 and enjoyed the heck out of the experience. Overall, I was more impressed with the 360 and PS3, but the Wii was fun, and it will be cheap. More importantly, it will be a system my daughter will love and that we will be able to play together. The chance of the PS3 or 360 having a good lineup of games a four-year old can enjoy seems very slim. I haven't decided yet between the 360 and PS3 (lots will depend on if I get a free system for reviews), but the Wii is a definite buy. Now, as far as the games so far...Excite Truck is awesome, Red Steel was great in the FPS portions and not-so-great in the swordplay, Tony Hawk sucked, Mario was okay, Metroid was good, but didn't benefit much from the wii-mote controls, I loved the horse racing game (name's escaping me at the moment), the sports titles were a blast (especially tennis), Madden was blah (and I sucked at it). I guess Excite Truck was the biggest surprise. The controller worked great for that one.
The better way to think of it is this: your virtual character, who is constrained by the physics of the game, is the one swinging the sword. You, with your controller, are more like a ghost that the virtual character tries to imitate. Your job is to guide the character, not to *be* the character.
If the virtual sword fails to penetrate something, then you have to deal with that - you can't just expect it to be wherever your "ghost" sword is. Same with trying to waggle your two-handed broadsword back and forth at a high rate -- your character can't keep up, so you'll have to slow down to compensate.
Anybody who is disappointed that it's not exactly like using a real sword simply has unrealistic expectations. That said, though, which would you rather have -- "ghost imitation" control, or "choose from 4 swings and a block" (pushbutton) control?
[javac] 100 errors
I thought I'd point out that while they're both impressive by today's standards, HDDVD and Blue Ray are two entirely different formats. A device that plays one will not necessarily play the other, and in fact, probably won't until the formats become more common. And that's assuming that one format doesn't drive the other out of existence entirely, which, historically, is exactly what happens.
The PS3 supports Blue Ray, but not HDDVD. This means that if HDDVD is the format that wins out between itself and Blue Ray, PS3 owners will find themselves having to shill out another couple of hundred dollars for a separate player, on top of the PS3's already hefty price tag. Paying that hefty price tag now, before the outcome of the latest format wars is known, for the sake of the PS3's extra media support, is a big gamble.
And another thing in SONY's disfavor: While they by far have the most impressive graphical capabilites out of the three major systems, they also require that developers use a significant portion of those capabilites. This means that any developer wanting to make simpler games that focus more on content or gameplay and less on graphics are probably going to be pushed towards supporting the Wii or 360 rather than the PS3.