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Miyamoto Talks Wii-mote Logic
Mr. Miyamoto, in an interview with Nintendo's .jp site, explains some of the logic behind the Wii-mote. From the Gamespot article: "In the process of contemplating how to make a controller that was not intimidating but still allowed for traditional game play, Miyamoto had this realization: 'There's no need to use both hands.' He added that the idea was to break the existing conventions a little, but not too much. 'If you go too far off the deep end, the product will be eccentric for the sake of being eccentric,' Miyamoto said."
Just so you all know, dramatic amounts of information about the Wii are going to be revealed in the next 24 hours, coinciding with September 14 as the fifth anniversiary of the release of the Gamecube. In about three and a half hours (5 PM pacific time or so) Nintendo of Japan will be holding a press conference, and in about fourteen and a half hours (6 AM pacific time or so) Nintendo of America will be holding another. Nintendo of Europe holds a press conference the next day. While all of this is going on, Nintendo has scheduled a bunch of "secret", by-invite-only parties in America and invited a bunch of bloggers and such, starting at the same time as the American press conference.
Something big is going down. We can expect that during all of this we'll be getting the release date and price of the Wii, and maybe some announcements about games and software.
Where are all of these 'innovative' games that are going to rock the console world?
Right now, they are on the Nintendo DS.
I have seen the future, and it is inconvenient.
Why yes if some company just released some silly wand controller and said "It will change the face of gameplay." Yes, Yes we would laugh.
If the same company released a silly wand controller and got some 40+ games from major studios signed up to use this controller you would be hearing a different story...
I like the Wii mote, its so bad.
God spoke to me.
Nintendo Wii - Finally servicing the demands of pr0n gamers.
Regardless...the more this guy talks, the more he makes sense. He really seems to understand what gamers (and people) in general WANT out of an entertainment device. I remember when the "Wii-Mote" was first announced back before "Wii" was ever heard...people thought it was ridiculous... Until, that is, developers started showing some of the things that could be done with it. He really brought game control from a veritable stone age to the 21st century. I'm impressed...and that's saying a lot from me concerning consoles...
Well let's see, first we have backwards compatibility with GameCube games. Not innovative, but it's a classic Nintendo move that is welcomed by me.
Next we have the online functionality. Again, XBox has got the N beat, but the Virtual Console is significantly different and possibly more expanded than the XBox Live download service (from what I understand at least.. I'm not an XBox user). That qualifies as innovative.
Next we have the software that goes and tries to hook all manners of people, from casual gamers, to hardcore gamers, to people who have never gamed before. THAT is most definitely innovative, or you can call it returning to our roots if you want. Although there's more to it than keeping a mix of harder and simpler games... new "gimmicks" as you call them are introduced and promise to keep gameplay fresh and exciting, I myself am looking forward to the first new and innovative control scheme I've used in a looong time.
And it's not just a pointing control. It can detect full ranges of movement. Tilt, yaw, roll, x, y, z. All six degrees of movement (at least, that's how I understand it). It has some sort of rumble or force feedback built into it, it's got the speaker, and the nunchuck attachment (or other attachment, there's pictures of a lightgun floating around). All these things seem pretty innovative to me, since they're built on a pretty innovative base to begin with, and I'm looking forward to gaming with them.
Not to mention Nintendo already has a strong software lineup which intends to make use of the new features. I'm not sure why you don't see these as innovative... A Metroid FPS which has the potential to actually have some decent aiming capabilities (something never before seen on a console, I don't care what you say, a mouse beats a traditional controller anyday for aiming. I consider the evidence that my FPS skills degrade dramatically switching from PC to console as proof enough for me). Zelda where you can swing the wiimote to swing your sword. Super Smash Bros (don't worry they're not trying wiimote controls with this, which is probably for the best). Excite Truck (hold the wiimote sideways and turn it like a steering wheel!). All seems pretty innovative to me. Then there's Mario plus a few other games I'm sure will sell like hotcakes and be fun. Because I trust Nintendo. They have earned my trust.
Ehhumm, remove the Games and Apple section from your front page? Problem solved? Games defaults to showing only a link to the article rather than the full blurb anyways; I'm sure no one forced you into clicking on this one.
"...but so far all they've shown is a whole bunch of stuff that is your everyday console game with some pointing control added."
That is not true. Look at Pilot Wings, ExciteTruck, Red Steel, Metroid, the sports pack, Wario Ware, etc. All of those games would be far different if they only used the pointer control.
"Every time I see people talking about the Wii controller I think of how the questions and commentary would be different if it was the exact same controller but made by a different company. The reactions would almost certainly be completely different and negative for a company trying to sell such a gimmick."
You're right, any other company would get poo poo'd. That, however, doesn't say a thing about the usefulness of the controller. What seperates a feature from a gimmick is how it is used. Nobody's calling a DS a gimmick anymore.
"I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
I think it would be an awesome easter egg if they released duck hunt from the NES built into the console, kinda like what sega did with the master system and the maze game. I would love to shoot some ducklings with my wii gun.
>> commentary would be different if it was the exact same controller but made by a different company
Are you kidding me? Until the last few months, all references to Nintendo were about its being a "dinosaur" and "out of the game". The fact that they've overcome the amount of bleh publicity from the Gamecube is impressive. Despite "losing" the last generation console war they've made themselves a possible frontrunner SPECIFICALLY because of their innovation.
* Making waffles just so I have something to Twitter *
"Wii're not interested in all these Wiivertisements..."
:P
I'm not interested in FireFox, but I don't bitch about FF stories. Wanna know what I do instead? If you click on the scrollbar and give it a little nudge downards, the Wii story will disappear.
On a side note: The Wii-mote could provide similar functionality.
"I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
That doesn't change the fact that people will have positive expectations for a company only because they associate that company with the "good old days" of gaming. That's the only reason I'm pulling for them.
The truth is, Nintendo is only a possible frontrunner; all prior indications would suggest that they will be in second place at best throughout this generation. We have to go with facts from the past and not speculation about the future, and in the past, Nintendo has been the company doing everything wrong, including their licensing practices (read: alienation of third parties), to their abandonment of the CD format (read: creation of the Playstation monster). Also, saying the Nintendo DS's success is an indication of rosy prospects for the Wii is akin to saying that the GBA's success would help move Gamecube to the top of the home console hill.
Actually let's assume this logic. Let's assume that for every PS2 sold, a PS3 would be purchased and that for every GBA, DS, and Gamecube sold, a Wii would be purchased. In this case, the PS3 would outsell the Wii.
All this muck is tough to sift through, and what's going to happen is far from known. Just look at what happened in the PS1/N64/Saturn generation. That's the generation that I had to turn to two different consoles to get what I got from my beloved Super Nintendo, the generation that Japan's once most profitable corporation took a backseat to the new guys without any indication that it was going to happen.
For one thing, it's not incredibly big and requires that I memorize long strings and remapped control sequences.
Secondly, it's intuitive and fun.
Thirdly, it's white. I mean, white is death in Japan, right?
OK, maybe they'll sell it in hot pink or pikachu electric yellow, but right now it's white.
So, give me those incredibly complicated controllers that I have to keep being told "No, the left button, not the left toggle!" by my son.
Oh, and don't throw me into that briar patch either!
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
Nitpick: how is backwards compatibility a "classic Nintendo move"? This is the first Nintendo console that will be backwards-compatible with the previous hardware generation. Nintendo's first flirtation with backwards compatibility was the Game Boy Color. They seemed uninterested in bringing backwards compatibility to consoles until Sony proved what a consumer incentive that was with the PS2. Unsurprisingly, backwards compatibility was heavily emphasized for the Game Boy Advance, which launched in Japan about a year after the PS2. They couldn't go with backwards compatibility with the GameCube because they desperately needed to get away from the N64's cartridge format, so the Wii is really their first shot at introducing it.