On Fine-Tuning Wii Controls

MTV Games has a great article looking at how developers are refining Wii controls, now that they've had most of a year to work on them. The game cited is the Wii version of Marvel: Ultimate Alliance; the Wiimote is used to represent Thor's Hammer, Spidey's webshooters, and Wolverine's claws, among other things. From the article: "'Now in some cases people will do something that's not going to work right, and in that case they're probably going to have to adjust the way they do it,' said Chrzanowski, a black Wii development controller in hand. 'But that's a rare case.' He wasn't talking idly. He said a system developed by a Vicarious colleague, Jesse Raymond, a few weeks ago has been crunching the data of dozens of players who have tested the game on the Wii, analyzing the results of requests for players to do 10 swipes in a row or 10 stabs in a row, recognizing which moves the current version of the game fails to recognize as the intended gesture, tweaking the code, checking the pool of data from the gesture trials again for any new misunderstandings, repeat and recode, again and again."

Comments

I am in heaven

[UbuntuDupe]

Not only are they going to have lightsabers, but now:

Spidey's webshooters, and Wolverine's claws

Seems there's no limit to the possibilities. You can act out whatever superhero or whatnot fantasy you've had. Hack up zombies with chainsaws holstered to your arms? Have a Wiimote strapped to the back of your wrist to operate like Boba Fett's cord launcher? "Punch enemies" realistically? Have a Wiimote on each limb for a more complex version of DDR that can detect 3D body motions? Why not!

I'm really interested to see what developers will put on the market. (of what they'll let hobbyists do...)

Re:I am in heaven

[fotbr]

I dunno....look at how DDR did.

Your typical lives-on-mcdonalds-takeout-200lb-10-year-old-gamer , maybe. "Most" video game people? Don't think so.

It's like the DS.

[Lave]

Initially, with it's relatively weak graphics, and the difficulty for developers to craft new games that utilised the touch screen the DS looked to flaunder next to the much stronger graphical power of the PSP. However the unoriginal content and expensive disk medium that was crippled with bad load times (let alone battery life issues) held the PSP back.

To me that sounds prophetic. I think the Wii will get a bad reception - based on the graphical inequality of the software and the (percieved) difficulties 3rd parties will have utilising the Remote. But as that experience grows believe developers will be able to create a catalogue of games that can't be acquired anywhere else - and the Wii will really shine.

Re:It's like the DS.

[Klowner]

And they're already talking 20+ titles available at launch, and I'm pretty sure all of them are using the Wiimote in interesting ways. Plus I won't have to sell my car to get one.

Re:It's like the DS.

[poot_rootbeer]

However the unoriginal content and expensive disk medium that was crippled with bad load times (let alone battery life issues) held the PSP back.

I don't think I agree that a primary reason for the DS's phenomenal success has been the relative disappointment that the PSP has been. I think it's perfectly valid to measure the DS on its own merits.

I wonder -- if Sony had not developed the PSP, would Nintendo have bothered releasing the DS at all? Or would they have been content to eke a few more years of life out of the Gameboy Advance platform? In that regard, perhaps Sony does deserve some of the credit for the DS.

Re:It's like the DS.

[MuNansen]

I disagree it won't be for "hardcore" gamers. I think it's just for smart gamers. I've played half a dozen games at the competitive level, played almost every MMOG in existence, and been playing most my life. I'm tired-as-hell of the arms race of graphics > gameplay getting all the press. I don't think it's actually made games worse, as there was never a time where the majority of games were worth buying, it's just shifted the attention.

I could care less about the PS3. They obviously don't understand gamers, nor respect them. There will be some good games, but I can get 10x as many good games on my DS and PC, and the Wii is the only console that really excites me (though since I'm joining BioWare, might have to get an Xbox and play Mass Effect...not like that's a bad thing).

PS3 isn't for the "true" or "hardcore" gamers, it's for the sucker gamers. A good Madden game or two, or the next Final Fantasy, isn't worth $700 when you can have just as much fun for a lot less money. The only people that NEED the PS3 are the ones that NEED to follow MTV-inspired franchises. Wannabe-gangsta teens are NOT the true "gaming crowd." They didn't start the gaming craze, and they're not the heart of it. They're just the deep pockets that Sony can manipulate with marketing.

Zelda: TLP & Red Steel

[ShadowsHawk]

It will be interesting to see the difference between a Nintendo game and an Ubisoft game. I expect that it will shed a bit of light on how well the 3rd party studios handle a new style of development.

If the release games are good, I can't wait...

[dividedsky319]

If the release games for the Wii are good and use the Wii-mote fairly well, I can't wait to play the games that come out one or two years down the line.

Of course with new technology there's a period where the developers are learning how to fully utilize the new features... look at the DS.

Take Castlevania, for example. Dawn of Sorrow's annoying "seal" you had to draw after killing a boss was pointless and just a way to say "hey, we used the touch screen!" But once they learned that for their particular style of game, the advantage of the DS is in its two screens and not its touch screen, they did away with the seal system for the sequel.

It's definitely possible that games at release may go overboard with the Wii-mote, but as time goes on developers will learn how to best utilize the Wii's features.