Games

Nintendo Unveils Taste Of E3 Briefing

By Eli Green
July 14, 2008 - 17:30

I received a rather short, email today from Nintendo of Canada today, telling me to go to Nintendo.ca and find out more about its new Wii MotionPlus accessory for, you guessed it, Wii. Heading over to the site lead me to a link with a single image showing a sleeved Wii Remote with the Wii MotionPlus attached and an sleeveless one with it on display just below the accessory port.

But where does the Nunchuck go?

Below the image, a paragraph explains the basic details of this new Wii Remote accessory and how it enhances the motion control functions of the Wii Remote. Nintendo says the Wii MotionPlus will again redefine game control, as it will more quickly and accurately reflect players' motions in 3D space. “ The Wii MotionPlus accessory attaches to the end of the Wii Remote and, combined with the accelerometer and the sensor bar, allows for more comprehensive tracking of a player’s arm position and orientation, providing players with an unmatched level of precision and immersion.”

The paragraph also states that the Wii MotionPlus will also render movements identically, in real time on the screen, providing a true 1:1 response during gameplay. Of course, this is all just a teaser for tomorrow morning's E3 media briefing, where Nintendo will reveal complete details about the Wii MotionPlus accessory, hopefully including information as to where the Nunchuck will attach now, and other topics.

It's not that I'm not thankful that Nintendo is finally introducing real 1:1 motion response to the Wii Remote. After all, it's what we've been expecting since before the system actually launched back in November of 2006. The only problem with all of this is that I find it somewhat insulting that Nintendo will be expecting Wii owners to go and buy another accessory that activates a function that should have been a part of the Wii Remote when Wii launched. Instead of getting sports and action games that had true-to-life controls, players were left performing wrist flicks. I would have loved to play The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess with the Wii Remote translating my ever swing, lunge and parry in true-to-life form. Instead, what I got was “push the control stick this way to slash, or this way to thrust”, and that was a bit disappointing.

What this new accessory sounds like to me is the Expansion Pak for the Wii generation. Since Nintendo plans to introduce the Wii MotionPlus, I certainly hope that it has enough of a developer following that games which actually implement the 1:1 functions will not be a rarity. The sad part is, I'm probably going to buy one anyway, and so will most Wii owners. We can only hope that it comes packed in a game or, at least, a game comes packaged with it. We'll just have to wait and see what the folks from Nintendo have to say about it tomorrow.

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12