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Wii sports -> Is it just blind luck?

cliffskicliffski Registered User regular
edited March 2008 in Games and Technology
Am I taking wii-sports too seriously? I cant work out how to get balls to go faster in bowling, and aiming my shots in tennis is more luck than judgement. Has anyone managed to 'get' wii sports? or is it just a drunk after the beers game and winning is just more luck than judgement?
Specifically, why is it sometimes easy to curve the ball in bowling, and sometimes it just totally ignores your attempts to curve the controller?
help!

cliffski on

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    Clint EastwoodClint Eastwood My baby's in there someplace She crawled right inRegistered User regular
    edited March 2008
    I haven't played it for a few months but I was pretty obsessed with Bowling for a while. I could never really get myself to curve the ball so I just worked around it and adjusted my starting point to compensate, which I felt was a better strategy then busting my ass trying to learn how to curve a bowling shot in a video game.

    Clint Eastwood on
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    JerikTelorianJerikTelorian Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    cliffski wrote: »
    Am I taking wii-sports too seriously? I cant work out how to get balls to go faster in bowling, and aiming my shots in tennis is more luck than judgement. Has anyone managed to 'get' wii sports? or is it just a drunk after the beers game and winning is just more luck than judgement?
    Specifically, why is it sometimes easy to curve the ball in bowling, and sometimes it just totally ignores your attempts to curve the controller?
    help!

    I've found it to be rather consistent, actually. I use my real bowling approach and get similar results as I would at the lanes.

    I don't know how you're playing it, but if you're sitting, stand up and take full swings, twisting your wrist throughout. If you're trying to quick-wrist-snap, it might be that you're making small mistakes that are amplified by the shorter, faster snap and therefore getting erratic roll.

    JerikTelorian on
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    Anyone notice how some things (mattresses and the copy machines in Highrise) are totally impenetrable? A steel wall, yeah that makes sense, but bullets should obliterate copy machines.

    I don't know about you, but I always buy a bullet proof printer. Its a lot more expensive, but I think the advantages are apparent.
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    BlueDestinyBlueDestiny Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    cliffski wrote: »
    Am I taking wii-sports too seriously? I cant work out how to get balls to go faster in bowling, and aiming my shots in tennis is more luck than judgement. Has anyone managed to 'get' wii sports? or is it just a drunk after the beers game and winning is just more luck than judgement?
    Specifically, why is it sometimes easy to curve the ball in bowling, and sometimes it just totally ignores your attempts to curve the controller?
    help!

    Not to brag, but I can do all those things pretty easily. With bowling, twisting your wrist and/or swinging at an angle will spin the ball, while in tennis you can put forward or backward spin by angling your wrist also. Aiming left and right in tennis mostly depends on when you hit it and which direction you're facing.

    BlueDestiny on
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    cliffskicliffski Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    I'm standing, and tend to end up running at the screen like a dork. TBH I didn't think you could play any of the games sitting!

    cliffski on
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    urahonkyurahonky Resident FF7R hater Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    If you let go of B too early it goes slower it seems. Try waiting a second later after you normally do, and then release B.

    urahonky on
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    cliffskicliffski Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    Aiming left and right in tennis mostly depends on when you hit it and which direction you're facing.

    so the direction of the controller is combined with the timing to choose the ball direction?

    cliffski on
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    ZackSchillingZackSchilling Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    cliffski wrote: »
    Am I taking wii-sports too seriously? I cant work out how to get balls to go faster in bowling, and aiming my shots in tennis is more luck than judgement. Has anyone managed to 'get' wii sports? or is it just a drunk after the beers game and winning is just more luck than judgement?
    Specifically, why is it sometimes easy to curve the ball in bowling, and sometimes it just totally ignores your attempts to curve the controller?
    help!

    Tennis is entirely about timing, nothing more. If you're good, you can make the ball land where you want.

    Bowling is all about the overall motion. Whipping the Wii remote will only confuse the game. A smooth, deliberate movement that moves along at a decent speed without going overboard works best. The timing of your release of the B button is key to making the ball land properly and keep its velocity. The spin is determined by the shape of the overall arc that your arm makes in the air. Most people have a natural spin, so it's good to just embrace/correct for that rather than try to improvise, though it is possible.

    ZackSchilling on
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    LunkerLunker Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    There's definite skill to aiming shots in Wii Tennis. General aiming is based on how early or late you swing the racket, and it depends on whether it's forehand or backhand. It's a game of angles—Say you're standing in the middle of the court, it's a forehand shot coming to your right (assuming you're a righty) and the ball is heading straight at you.
    o
    |_
    
    Swing "normal," and the ball connects when the racket is perfectly straight (3:00). It'll head straight back.
    o
    |/
    
    Swing early, and the ball connects when the racket is angled (1:00). It'll aim to the left.
    o
    |
     \
    
    Swing late, and the ball connects when the racket is angled (5:00). It'll aim to the right.

    There's also topspin and backspin, which is trickier but definitely possible. Get good enough and you can typically return a serve with enough topspin and at a sharp enough angle that it's impossible for the other player to return it. Our group of friends have dubbed that the Lightning Round, because we shout out "LIGHTNING ROUND" and then all drink.

    Lunker on
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    Lave IILave II Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    Talking about Wii Sports on an internation forum often makes me think of Douglas Adams comparison of European and American attitudes to things.

    Wii Spots has incredible, depth and it takes a lot of skill to master. So it's interesting to watch people assume the game is junk. rather than the fact they haven't mastered it yet.

    Tennis: The timing of your hit determines it's position. The flick of you wrist as you swing will add spin to the left of right. Both of those together give you lots of options of how to play the ball. Play it to the left but then get it to spin to the right etc. A perfect serve requires a perfect return (which is possible, but harder than a perfect serve) and recreates a 'break their serve' style of game. it's brilliant.

    Bowling: Spin on the ball is incredibly precise. I had a natural cross on my swing that it took me a long time to remove. Now I can bowl straight (and my real score has increased too). It's very controllable if you take the time to learn.

    Lave II on
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    LewiePLewieP Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    My only problem with Tennis is that there are some shots that are impossible to return.

    Regardless, Wii Sports is genius for being one of the most accessible pieces of software ever made, and a large chunk of the Wii's success is down to Wii Sports.

    LewieP on
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    ThrustinJThrustinJ Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    Bowling, as far as I can tell, is affected by three things: speed of swing, timing, wrist twist.

    I noticed that letting go of the ball high in the swing makes it go very straight because it's going down the lane faster. It helps me get rid of the spin when I don't want it. Letting go earlier gives you much more spin because it has more lane to grip. Good for splits.

    I have successfully spun the ball to the right (I'm right handed) by seriously twisting the Wiimote to the right, but I think there is more or less to it than that. Either having it twisted before letting go low or high instead of the actually movement of twisting. I have no idea.

    It's hard to figure out games like this because they aren't programmed for real physics.

    EDIT: I'm sure there are so many opinions on this, I hate to even try to explain this game because I'm probably wrong.

    ThrustinJ on
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    Lave IILave II Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    The thing with spin in bowling is that it needs to be applied milliseconds before release or it won't be any good.

    You twist and let go.

    Not trying to sound like an arrogant "I'm best at games spod" by the way. It's just that I lived in a house of 6 (with 3 regular partners visiting making 9) who between us put maybe 12 hours a week into Wii Sports for 12 months. So I've a lot of opnions from very experienced players.

    I was one of the worst players by far.

    The massive, massive misinterpretation of Wii Sports in "our" media frustrates me no end.

    It's without a doubt truely a 10/10 game. And easily the most important game since Space War*.

    * Or what ever you consider the first ever game to be.

    Lave II on
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    slash000slash000 Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    I'm pretty good at Wii Tennis.

    I can aim my shots perfectly.

    I can get them to be low, over-the-net bullet shots, or I can lob them to the right place. I sometimes will put spin on the ball to trick their back player's expectation. I often set up shots by placing the opponents' position with one shot, then aiming in to the forthcoming open areas on the court right after.

    There's a lot of good stuff going on in Wii Tennis that people don't know about.

    Mostly how to do lobs rather than straight shots and how to put spin on the ball (to get a curved shot). The aim is all about timing. The Power Serves are all about hitting the ball at the peak of the toss.

    slash000 on
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    bongibongi regular
    edited March 2008
    i remember in baseball i found some odd movement of the remote that got a strike with every throw and my friend seemed to be completely incapable of hitting it

    bongi on
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    Drunk_caterpillarDrunk_caterpillar Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    I still think that Tennis is broken. Some returns are simply impossible to hit back.

    Drunk_caterpillar on
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    ZackSchillingZackSchilling Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    Lave II wrote: »
    Talking about Wii Sports on an internation forum often makes me think of Douglas Adams comparison of European and American attitudes to things.

    I thought of that too, but OP basically said: "I'm having trouble with this game. Is is me or the game?", whereupon a mixture of Americans and Europeans (and maybe others?) all came together to unanimously declare: "It's you."

    ZackSchilling on
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    ZackSchillingZackSchilling Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    I still think that Tennis is broken. Some returns are simply impossible to hit back.

    True, but it takes so much skill to win using them that I wouldn't exactly call it broken. It would be like calling chess broken because there are game states you cannot come back from.

    ZackSchilling on
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    Torso BoyTorso Boy Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    I still maintain that boxing is broken.

    Torso Boy on
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    Baka_ShadeBaka_Shade Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    I still think that Tennis is broken. Some returns are simply impossible to hit back.

    True, but it takes so much skill to win using them that I wouldn't exactly call it broken. It would be like calling chess broken because there are game states you cannot come back from.

    Or actual tennis, for that matter.

    Baka_Shade on
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    Smug DucklingSmug Duckling Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    I still think that Tennis is broken. Some returns are simply impossible to hit back.

    True, but it takes so much skill to win using them that I wouldn't exactly call it broken. It would be like calling chess broken because there are game states you cannot come back from.

    It's way worse than you think. I've had games with my brother where we've both made perfect returns on nearly all serves (including the fast serves), and it's really lame that who wins the game is determined by who screws up the perfect return the most. We had very, very few actual volleys.

    Smug Duckling on
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    The Dude With HerpesThe Dude With Herpes Lehi, UTRegistered User regular
    edited March 2008
    Yeah, but that's no fun.

    I'd rather just not do the crazy serves/returns if it means it's going to be more fun with whoever I'm playing with (usually my wife).

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    Smug DucklingSmug Duckling Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    Yeah, but that's no fun.

    I'd rather just not do the crazy serves/returns if it means it's going to be more fun with whoever I'm playing with (usually my wife).

    Yeah, totally agree. We stopped playing that way after a few games because it was dead boring. :P

    But I still feel the game is a little broken because of it. Still fun though.

    Smug Duckling on
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    slash000slash000 Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    I'm crossing my fingers that either:

    Sega Superstars Tennis


    or


    Top Spin 3


    Turn out to be really great Wii tennis games, to finally topple Wii Sports Tennis as the best and most addicting tennis game on the system.

    slash000 on
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    troublebrewingtroublebrewing Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    Just wanted to second the notion that the later you release the ball in bowling makes it go much straighter while as releasing it lower gives you a lot more curve.

    My wife has perfected a technique which I call "The Hamburgler" where she just wails it straight and high down the middle for good results.

    troublebrewing on
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    JihadJesusJihadJesus Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    My wife has perfected a technique which I call "The Hamburgler" where she just wails it straight and high down the middle for good results.
    I would just like to say that the fact that this game has entived our wives to invent and name techniques for use in a videogame is enough to make my Wii worth its purchase price ten times over, even if they'd never released another game for it.

    JihadJesus on
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    JragghenJragghen Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
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    troublebrewingtroublebrewing Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    JihadJesus wrote: »
    My wife has perfected a technique which I call "The Hamburgler" where she just wails it straight and high down the middle for good results.
    I would just like to say that the fact that this game has entived our wives to invent and name techniques for use in a videogame is enough to make my Wii worth its purchase price ten times over, even if they'd never released another game for it.


    hey hey.. don't give her too much credit, while it is her technique I'm the one who named it (to her annoyance). She's also known to rock out on some Rockband as well. but yes bless the wii for getting wives into games!!

    and that robot is awesome.

    troublebrewing on
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    cliffskicliffski Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    slash000 wrote: »
    The Power Serves are all about hitting the ball at the peak of the toss.

    AHA. I shall investigate this :D Cheers!

    cliffski on
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    DeadlySherpaDeadlySherpa Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    Torso Boy wrote: »
    I still maintain that boxing is broken.

    I agree. The boxing is so far removed from real boxing there almost no comparison.

    DeadlySherpa on
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    SzechuanosaurusSzechuanosaurus Registered User, ClubPA regular
    edited March 2008
    What's wrong with the boxing? I've hardly ever played it.

    Szechuanosaurus on
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    PemulisPemulis Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    Pemulis on
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    TheSonicRetardTheSonicRetard Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    Once you figure out how wii bowling works, it's almost impossible not to get 300 just by going straight up and down with the wiimote. Me and my friends have banned non-curved shots because of how easy it is. We have a rule where you have to be at least 3 hashes either left or right before you can take your shot.

    Even then, once you figure out how to curve, it's still retardedly easy.

    TheSonicRetard on
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    Vladimir7Vladimir7 Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    Yes bowling is extremely easy once you figure out how to throw it.
    I actually never do it straight, I always go over to almost the far right, and put a curve on it and I get a strike almost every time (spare if I dont)

    Boxing is cool, but the hooks and what not seems really borked.

    I cannot seem to do the baseball at all, but I am pretty sure it is just me and not the game.

    Golf is easy, and my dad is a master at tennis with 2800 rating I think

    Vladimir7 on
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    ThrustinJThrustinJ Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    My mom has figured that out. She's gotten two 300 games so far.

    ThrustinJ on
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