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.

Comments

Ok, I was interested before but now....

[Iguru42]

I'm SOLD. I want this console! I want this console! I want this console! Check out the video for Red Steel. Finally a console where playing an FPS isn't stupid! Please excuse me, I have to go clean myself off.

Re:Ok, I was interested before but now....

[Yahweh Doesn't Exist]

the biggest FUD about the Wiimote is that people NEED to make big movements.

When people play the tennis game, for example, for the first time and are told to move as if it's real, that's because it's the simplest and most intuitive way of explaining the control mechanism to them. It doesn't mean you have to play with big realistic motions. They can play instantly, whereas if you start saying things like "to do a backhand with topspin make a curving motion with the controller tilted inwards" it just makes things sound complicated.

So don't worry: you can play the Wii sitting down and making small movements just as well as you can standing up and swinging your arms about.

Great, more confusion

[99luftballon]

First it was Bluetooth headsets that made it tough to decide if the person coming up behind you was on the phone or a schizophrenic. Now I'll be wondering if the kids on the underground are gamers or epileptics.

Re:Great, more confusion

[Anonymous Coward]

To quote Hobbes "I bet your natural charm has made you a great sprinter"

Picture it

[MrSquirrel]

To make Jack Thompson happy, someone should make a fighting game where you hold the wii-mote and physically smack the other person. "Ah ha, see, video games do cause real-world violence". That's what I call force feedback!

Total Revolution

[Pablo El Vagabundo]

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

Riiiight

[tickbox]

I think having to flick the mouse around is more than enough physical exertion for the average FPS gamer. What makes you think they'll take to this?

What about the traditional non-gamer crowd?

[Dark Paladin]

I've been seeing the DS/DS Lite make inroads with people I work with - especially when they see me playing "Brain Age" or "Big Brain Academy" - I had my DS Lite passed around the office for about an hour as people tried out the test from the latter game. At least one or two people - in their 40's, never played games before, but now are seriously thinking about picking up a DS for their kids and maybe the Brain Age for themselves.

So I wonder if Nintendo's "Blue Ocean" approach will work with the Wii. Iwata, as I understand it, has mentioned that he'd like for people to play the Wii every day - much like my wife and I play the DS (she digs the Brain Games and "Magnetica" - this from a women that for the last 12 years wouldn't touch a computer game unless it had the words "Tetris" or "Solitaire" on it).

Which is all they need - my wife plays Brain Age a little bit every day. I'm wondering if Nintendo can't leverage the Wii sports games with "Work out every day for 30 minutes - helps get you in shape!" Tie in some workouts, perhaps like the Brain Age games put in the competitive aspects (which has helped each of us play the DS every day to try and one-up each other - so far, I'm at a B+ in Academy.

Obviously we'll have to wait and see, but the other day a coworker asked me "Hey, that Nintendo thing coming out - that's the competor for the Xbox, isn't it?" I'm not sure which was more telling: that he knew that there was a Nintendo thing coming out - or that he thought that was the Xbox competitor, not the new Playstation.

Well, just another 4-5 months to go.

Re:What about the traditional non-gamer crowd?

[steveo777]

I've been trying to keep people educated about the new generation of systems vs. the old. Sometimes it's funny, other times I want to call it pathetic. I was exitedly talking about Red Steel and Warhawk. Both look amazing, but I can only afford one. One guy said to me, "That new Nintendo is supposed to be almost as powerful as the first XBox, it's going to be a piece of junk." I asked if he had a minute or two for a quick demo. We were in a coffee shop and I had my laptop.

I typically keep preview movies on my HDD for way too long. I loaded up something I had used to show the graphical difference between Spiderman 2 as it was made by the same dev house for all three "last-gen" systems. A friend of mine had spliced them together to run simultaneously. The scenes weren't the same, but the effect was there.

This guy isn't a gamer. He's played a lot of Halo, though. I achieved the desired effect, he was unable to distinguish between the XBox and GC versions, but pointed at the PS2 version saying that it was the worst looking. I didn't tell him why there were three screens. But clarified that the other two were the non-PS2 and showed him the XBox was a bit better as there was an increased draw distance. The guy was taken aback. He still isn't a gamer, but someone's gotta clear this stuff up!

Can't wait

[squison]

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.

Re:Wireless PS2 Remote

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, basically because a WiiMote wouldn't work on my PS2

My take on it...

[rAiNsT0rm]

I was lucky enough to get to try it out on Metroid Prime in NY on a modified GC, and I can honestly say the control is great. All the FPS fans who were bagging on the Wii in favor of their favorite console Sony or MS will be in for a real surprise.

I will say however, at E3, that there were no real standout games or "must haves" from what I have seen and played so far. Excitetruck is fun, but nothing new, and Mario Galaxy controls like a dream but is a bit too gimmicky. Red Steel is an ABSOLUTE DUD. Don't buy into the hype, it is pure crap. Zelda is a mess to control, the aiming and controls seriously need tweaked and made to be a shitload more forgiving especially aiming the bow and arrow. Wii Sports and Hudson's flying game are the two main games so far that have me interested.

These are just my opinions and based on unfinished and beta games/hardware. So are everyone elses, take them for what they are and realize that I'm being as fair and honest as possible.

Hot Coffee

[Eric Coleman]

Can you imagine the kind of movement you have to do for the Hot Coffee mod on this console?

And the speaker in the wiimote could make some noises as well. Squishy wet noises of... um... hot coffee, yeah!

Re:Total Revolution - flame on

[joshsisk]

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.

Re:Change is good

[amjacobs]

3 dimensions, 6 degrees of freedom. More than 3 dimensions would require the manipulation of time and/or some string theory dimensions.

Re:Total Revolution - flame on

[klausboop]

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...

Similarly, my family isn't planning on getting a Wii or any other home console during this round because each of us now has a Nintendo DS (the wife and I bought one when the Lite came out). We moved from playing multiplayer Mariokart on the TV where we each had our own section of the screen to playing multiplayer Mariokart where we all have our own handheld console.

I understand we're not getting the near photorealistic graphics that a modern console or good PC could deliver, nor the game depth that a disk- (vs. cartridge-) based game sometimes delivers. However, the DS delivers everything that our family DOES want out of a console, and is portable to boot. Once the web browser is released it'll have even more portable utility.

Re:Total Revolution - flame on

[thatguywhoiam]

We moved from playing multiplayer Mariokart on the TV where we each had our own section of the screen to playing multiplayer Mariokart where we all have our own handheld console...I understand we're not getting the near photorealistic graphics that a modern console or good PC could deliver, nor the game depth that a disk- (vs. cartridge-) based game sometimes delivers.

Now there is an *excellent* point. After all, the standard Nintendo creed is, Its Not About The Graphics, Its The Gameplay... right?

Re:Total Revolution - flame on

[lordmatthias215]

Dude, if you would read the next line of Pablo's post, you would realize that he's saying Nintendo has done well in the areas of development and marketing both to developers and to consumers. While I agree that this doesn't neccesarily mean that the Wii will be a good system, I myself plan to get a Wii on launch day, a few extra controllers, and some games. I've played every major (and some minor) game consoles since the NES, and I've always prefered Nintendo. I got the CameCube the Christmas it came out, and although my dad got a PS2 and Xbox for free shortly thereafter, I've been most satisfied with the Gamecube. So I'm willing to take the risk that Wii won't be that good, because the risk is slim. I see no reason to pay $600 (plus games & accessories) to play upgraded versions of the PS2 games that were more of the same even in the previous generation. Worse yet, $400 (plus yadda yadda) so I can play the crummy game that PDZ is (tried it at a friend's, hated it), or to get the opportunity to download zuma, which I can find online. And if it turns out that the Wii's new control scheme isn't as fun as I had hoped, there's still a good number of old games I missed out on availble on VC.

Realistic swordfights, technical solutions

[WillAffleckUW]

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.

Not really. It's fairly simple. Remember the Wii controller also has a speaker. What you do is have an audio "clang" when your sword hits another, or a "buzz" when your light saber touches another one.

Also, in the game mechanics, once your sword comes in contact with another, you just stop the forward motion of the displayed sword, and use any further forward motion as "push" motion against the opponent sword, used to simulate strength.

Now, it might take a bit of getting used to, especially if you had a true swords and sorcery game, where someone might be wearing heavy armor - in that a blow straight against someone with plate mail won't penetrate, but will glance off, but it's a fairly simple programming exercise to translate any motion after armor hit or after sword hit into the appropriate vector. The main thing is to use both audio feedback - both Wii controller and speakers - and force feedback (vibration on controllers if applicable) to indicate what's really happening. Most players will quickly adapt.

On the other hand, if you stick to fighting gelatinous blobs, your sword will literally chop straight through them. And a light saber - unless it meets a force field or another light saber (also force field) - will also keep going through the body it chops into. But there should be some audio and other feedback to represent the energy drain.