The Wiimote As Yoda Intended - A Lightsaber

An anonymous reader writes "So what if the Wii can't handle the awesome 'next-generation' physics engine the other consoles will enjoy when Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is released? LucasArts announced today that Krome Studios is developing a version of the game for the Nintendo console, and players will finally get to use the Wiimote for its intended purpose — as a lightsaber. 'The sword-swinging action will be exclusive to the Wii version, and even then, it will only be available in an exclusive "duel mode." The description in the release says that this duel mode will be a multiplayer affair.'"

Comments

let me be the first

[cyphercell]

to welcome our wiimote toting sith overlords.

Re:let me be the first

[kevin.fowler]

Don't welcome them...

It's a trap!

Re:let me be the first

[dyslexicbunny]

I for one welcome our lightsaber-dueling-related injury treating emergency room doctor overlords.

Avast!

[ackthpt]

players will finally get to use the Wiimote for its intended purpose -- as a lightsaber. 'The sword-swinging action will be exclusive to the Wii version, and even then, it will only be available in an exclusive "duel mode." The description in the release says that this duel mode will be a multiplayer affair.'"

Arrr! I be thinking it be more fun to have an actual lightsabre, be it plastic I don't be carin', with the Wii controller attached some way, so ye be hackin' and slashin' (and no small bit o' swashbucklin'!) to the dulcet tones of sommon bellowin' 'Hey, you could poke an eye out with that thing!'

We be needing cutlasses and some fing piratin' adventures, too. oX|P-)

Waggle?

[nutznboltz2003]

So will the rest of the game rely on poorly coded waggle controls to get by? I like the concept, but this has got to be hard to code, and if it is not handled correctly, we are only going to end up with another crappy Star Wars game. Instead of giving us Wii owners bad ports with waggle controls added, I think LucasArts has two options. 1) Make sure the controls work, and work well. 2) Stop the bad ports, and give us updated versions of classic LucasArts games, like Monkey Island, Maniac Mansion, and others.

force feedback

[redcaboodle]

How do you get force feedback on those things?
You'll never know if you hit something. I'm a sword fencer (2 kg bastard sword) and the experience is much more tactile then visual. Even if you consider that light sabres are much lighter than a real sword and don't have bars to protect your hand I doubt if fencing with a light sabre wii control will live up tu the experience of real fencing - even if it's just for show.

Re:force feedback

[eln]

A Jedi can slice through a person with a light saber with no perceptible change to the momentum of the saber, so it seems likely that there is not a whole lot of tactile feedback in a "real" light saber either. I think the tactile feedback would probably be little more than it would be if one were slicing a hot knife through butter. So, fencing with a light saber in any context would not "live up to" the experience of real fencing because the weapons involved are too different.

Having said that, they could provide some sort of little vibration plus a sound coming from the Wiimote's speaker to simulate impact. Even in a simple game like Wii Sports, the baseball game provides some feedback (a noise coming from the Wiimote itself) to simulate when the bat makes contact with the ball, and that actually is enough to make it feel at least somewhat real if you're absorbed in the game. It really is amazing how much more "real" it feels when the sound from the strike is actually coming from the implement in your hand rather than from the speaker on your TV.

I think they can make this work. The Wiimote has surprising heft for something of its size, and that plus the speaker and the vibrations make it feel far more realistic than you might expect by looking at it.

Re:force feedback

[CheeseTroll]

How do you get force feedback on those things?

You feel the force through The Force, young padawan!

Re:force feedback

[jollyreaper]

A Jedi can slice through a person with a light saber with no perceptible change to the momentum of the saber, so it seems likely that there is not a whole lot of tactile feedback in a "real" light saber either. I think the tactile feedback would probably be little more than it would be if one were slicing a hot knife through butter. So, fencing with a light saber in any context would not "live up to" the experience of real fencing because the weapons involved are too different. There's also zero weight in the blade. If we did have such things as lightsabers, I think experienced fencers would have a lot of unlearning to do in order to get a feel for them. With no blade weight, a lightsaber would move faster than your fastest lightest swords, rapiers would be pokey in comparison. Additionally, the lightsaber is exceptional for stabbing and slashing whereas real life swords tend to have to pick one or the other as a compromise. The lack of a crossguard should also be a huge problem since I can't imagine there would be much friction with two blades sliding against each other, one would think that a downward strike could slide down a lightsaber right into the defender's hands.

I thought the "dropping the lightsaber through the floor" gag on Robot Chicken was hysterical because I had that same debate with other kids in elementary school.

But back to the topic at hand, I can't imagine trying to do lightsaber combat in a video game with anything other than a motion-sensitive controller like the Wii has. I've never encountered any sort of video game swordfighting system that properly simulated what it would be like to realistically cross swords. My only question is how they're going to simulate the footwork. You're not just standing in one spot beating at the other guy with a lightsaber, you would be moving around and trying not to get boxed in.

Obligatory

[hellfire]

"I have something here for you. Your father wanted you to have this when you were old enough, but your uncle wouldn't allow it. He feared you might follow old Obi-Wan on some damn fool idealistic computer adventure like your father did. It's your father's WiiMote. This is the weapon of a Wii Knight. Not as clumsy or as random as a Joystick, but an elegant weapon for a more civilized age. For over a thousand generations, the Wii Knights were the guardians of peace and justice in the Old Republic. Before the dark times, before the PS3."

Re:Lightsabre dueling

[MyLongNickName]

You realize it was just a movie, right?

As a Swordsman...

[SwordsmanLuke]

I wonder how they've approached making this work. Physics of swordplay aside, sword fighting is not easy. (Hint, *real* swordfighting doesn't look like the movies, and you can't pick it up in a couple afternoons swinging sticks at your friends.) If their simulation of sword movements is true to how each player is swinging their Wiimote, I think people may get frustrated very quickly by the fact that they're going to suck. On the other hand, if the controls are simplified to allow a preset handful of attacks, I wonder how much depth they can provide to the game.