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Wii MotionPlus: will it be worth it? First impressions forthcoming...
UncleSporky
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Registered User regular
In case anyone doesn't know, MotionPlus is an add-on for the Wii remote that plugs in the back where the nunchuck goes. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure it's just got more accelerometers for more accurate positional readings.
The first games to come out with MotionPlus support will be Wii Sports Resort, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 and EA Sports Grand Slam Tennis. Also announced to be using it is Red Steel 2. Interestingly there is no coinciding major Nintendo release aside from Resort. Clearly this technology has to be used in a Mario or Zelda at some point, right?
When it was first announced there was a lot of talk. What sort of new possibilities does it open up, would it really enhance the experience enough to be worthwhile, why wasn't the technology built in to begin with?
Well the ever-present IGN has recently put up some impressions of the EA sports games coming out that take advantage of it: Tiger Woods and Grand Slam Tennis. I'll reproduce the full text of each here since I find them interesting. The tennis one is much shorter and easier to read for a quick impression.
Matt Casamassina wrote:Hands-on with MotionPlus Grand Slam Tennis
We finally try the enhanced version of EA's forthcoming sports effort -- and it's amazing.
March 12, 2009 - I recently had the chance to play Grand Slam Tennis for Wii and I thought it was really fun. The only problem? Publisher EA demoed the title to me minus the MotionPlus peripheral and as a result I could not test out what is the single biggest and most coveted feature of the experience. Thankfully, I got to rectify that oversight this week at the company's Season Opener event in San Francisco, where a Wii MotionPlus-ready build of Grand Slam Tennis was on display and fully playable. And play it I did. So what's the verdict? Well, frankly, it's incredible, which makes EA two for two now because Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 equipped with MotionPlus is spectacular, too.
Before I jumped into Grand Slam Tennis with MotionPlus, I tried playing once more without it. I simply selected practice mode, started a rally and off I went, strafing back and forth while hitting tennis balls over the net time and time again. Although you can plug a nunchuk in and control your character with analog precision, EA has always demoed the title in its more accessible Wii remote-only configuration in which character movement is automatic; all you have to do is swing away. The setup works very well, of course.
Once you plug in the Wii MotionPlus dongle, the title auto-recognizes it and takes advantage of its added precision. Simple, no fuss. And all of a sudden you play Grand Slam Tennis very differently. Rallies become much less about timing and much more about the motion and positioning of your swing. The experience considerably more natural and intuitive than any tennis videogame I have ever played, Wii Sports included. And you'll notice this added control fidelity the moment you start playing. If you bend down with the controller in hand, your athletic superstar will do the same, positioning his racket in a lower formation. If you raise the controller above your head, so will he. If you hold it at mid-level, he will too. And you can play the match in these formations.
Forehands and backhands are legitimately read and translated, occasionally at your expense. If you anticipate shots and prepare a forehand or backhand correctly, you'll be golden, and your rallies will be intense and long. But if you misread a shot, go for a forehand and then correct to a backhand, your character will try to do the same, which takes a second, and you might actually flub the shot because of it. You don't have to do that, though, because you can play the way you want to. If you find, for example, that you just don't like your backhands, you can attack left-corner court returns with forehand swings. You simply position the Wii remote sideways as though you want to hit a forehand return and your character will go into the position and strafe over so that you can hit the ball. Works flawlessly and feels very dynamic.
Without Wii MotionPlus, rallies are all about timing. Based on when you swing, the ball will fly off in a certain direction -- very similar to Wii Sports Tennis. With MotionPlus, it's all about your form, power and followthrough, the latter of which is very important. You still use A and B-trigger as lob and dropshot modifiers, which just works. But less emphasis is placed on your timing. As your waiting for a serve or for a return, you twist the Wii remote about and your on-screen character will do the same. And when you finally hit it back, you'll need to consider whether to hit forehand or backhand, speed, and the positioning of the Wii remote at the end of your motion and arch. In my play test, every ball I returned shot exactly where I wanted it to go. Even better, if I cut my followthrough midway on a return, the ball would curve inward toward the middle court instead of outward toward a corner, which is amazing.
I can't wait to play a lot more of the game, but even now two truths are rapidly becoming evident. First, EA Grand Slam Tennis is better than Wii Sports Tennis even without MotionPlus support. But with it, the game is in another league entirely. Look out for more coverage of the extremely promising sports game soon.
Matt Casamassina wrote:Hands-on Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10
MotionPlus golf, anyone? We've played it and there's no going back now.
March 11, 2009 - The first time I picked up a Wii remote, I thought about its potential benefactors. Games with swordplay -- and then, Star Wars. Golf titles -- and then, Tiger Woods. In the years since, I've enthusiastically approached new entries into either genre, always hoping for that sensation of one-to-one control -- the ability to engage in realistic, intense battle against Sith using only the Wii remote or to swing away with the controller and send golf balls soaring with unbelievable precision. Unfortunately, those apparently lofty expectations of mine have never been entirely met -- not because developers aren't capable, but because the Wii remote itself isn't. The peripheral has all this time lacked the necessary functionality to accurately measure and translate pinpoint movements. Thankfully, Nintendo addressed this oversight last year with the unveiling of Wii MotionPlus, a tiny dongle / passthrough that plugs into the bottom of the innovative remote and adds a gyroscope that precisely measures rotational movements within the X, Y and Z axis. When jet skiing in Wii Sports resort, you're able to twist the remote like a throttle and that miniscule rotational movement is translated on-screen. And in the MotionPlus-enhanced Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10, you can finally add pinpoint draw and fade to all of your hits -- all within the motion of your swing.
If you played last year's Woods on Wii, you'll know that the single biggest issue with the still-good controls related directly to draw and fade. You had to contort curve your swing unrealistically and uncomfortably to add either to balls and even then, it was a crapshoot -- it might work, but then again, it might not. MotionPlus controls eliminate this problem altogether because the game reads the rotation and orientation of the Wii remote in 3D space much more reliably. "We now have a near perfect one-to-one ratio on both the backswing and the downswing," explains lead producer Jason Shenkman. "Hitting low power shots is easier than ever before. Draw / Fade is now 100% consistent and we can accurately read the amount of rotation on your swing to determine how much draw or fade to place on the ball."
He's not lying. I tested the new MotionPlus swing mechanics for myself and came away absolutely delighted because they simply work as promised, which is brilliantly. Although there is still a miniscule delay between the motion you make and what you see on screen -- and there always will be, in every game -- the coveted one-to-one sensation is finally there in full. Tiger follows your every movement as you pull back the Wii remote, hold it, and then swing forward. You can make easy low-power shots by slowing your motion on the backswing, but also the downswing, a welcomed addition that adds another layer of realism to the mechanics. If you don't follow through with your swing, your power will suffer considerably -- a revelation I came by as I tried to play PGA Tour 10 like I did last year's version.
Meanwhile, adding draw / fade to swings is as simple and intuitive as could be. When you take your stance, a virtual club located in the bottom-right corner of the screen displays your rotational shifts. If you twist your wrist, the club pivots to the left or right, representing draw and fade and if you hold A+B, you can take practice shots that will actually display the arch of the ball. When you're ready, you merely pull back, swing and twist the Wii remote comfortably in the direction you desire to add draw or fade -- and it works. Every single time. It even perfectly measures subtler draw and fade reliably. In fact, whenever I flubbed a shot, I always knew I'd done so right away based on the form or power of my swing and not because of a control misreading by the game.
Factor in the newly gained control precision via MotionPlus with the fact that EA has smartly dropped maximum-exceeding power shots -- the hardest you can hit a ball is now 100% and not, say, 110% -- and the end experience just feels right. Having played with the controls for just a little while -- too brief, in my opinion -- I can't imagine going back to the old setup or, even worse, analog sticks.
"The benefit to putting is also tremendous. It feels much more realistic. You use a single putter and your power is determined by a combination of your backswing length and your downswing tempo. Hit it soft and it won't go far. Hit it hard and off it goes. A medium tempo swing should get you where you want to go. We've even added the ability to push or pull your shots when putting. The fidelity is that precise," says Shenkman. "The best part about it is that it's consistent so you can learn how to putt without even looking at the screen."
If you really liked last year's putting system, rest assured that EA has kept it as an option in PGA Tour 10. However, the new configuration plays altogether better, in my experience. A precision meter located on the bottom-left corner of the screen keeps the process simple. Several notches in the meter measure 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% power and you can do the math, taking into account the provided distance data and grid slants, and putt away. But you can also drop all that stuff entirely -- omit the grid, ignore the data, and try to do it yourself simply by looking at the distance from yourself to the hole and eying the slope of the course, which is great for golf purists. MotionPlus, meanwhile, allows you one excellent new control option, which is measured followthrough. You can take a big backswing to putt far, but you needn't do that because you can alternatively assemble a very short swing and then power it through on the downswing and followthrough, which will rocket the ball forward, too. You will really feel like you're in full control of the ball when putting.
One interesting note is that while PGA Tour 10 is set to ship this June, that doesn't necessarily mean the same is true of the MotionPlus peripheral. Now that I've played Tiger with all of this added control precision, I don't ever want to go back to the old Wii standard, but gamers who don't access to the MotionPlus add-on can still enjoy the title without it. "When the Wii MotionPlus is released, you can pick one up and it will work with your copy of Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10," says Shenkman. "Our game will ship with [MotionPlus] functionality regardless of when the Wii MotionPlus comes to market." Given that we still don't have a U.S. release date for Wii Sports Resort and the fact that there's no way Nintendo will ship the peripheral until its own software is ready, buyers might actually have to wait for the first-party to get with the program before they can fully experience the game as it really should be played.
Even if PGA Tour 10's only new feature was Wii MotionPlus, it'd be more than worth the price tag, but thankfully the developer has also readied a multitude of other enhancements for players to enjoy. "All of the major features that were in Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09 are still in Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10," says Shenkman. "In fact many of them have been improved. For example, the PGA Tour has been enhanced with a new tournament atmosphere. This introduces broadcast style music, live updates, spectators and different weather conditions to the game mode. We have removed some secondary features such as confidence and training events to make room for other features that were in high demand from our customers."
There are the general game engine improvements, of which there have been "quite a few," according to Shenkman. You can look forward to updated in-game graphics, a completely overhauled UI system that "feels much more alive than it was last year" because everything animates. And a hugely enhanced tournament atmosphere. "The first change you'll see when entering a tournament is our new broadcast-style animated introduction sequence. When you're down on the first tee you'll see galleries of animated spectators lining the tee box, landing area, and green," the EA producer explains. "Then to further differentiate tournaments from regular rounds of golf, we've also added live scoring updates to keep you informed of the other action happening out on the course. So if there's a change in the lead or someone makes a great shot, you'll get a pop-up message on the screen so that you know about it as it happens. All of this lends itself to giving you the feeling of playing in an actual tournament."
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 also utilizes the Wii's Forecast Channel for real-time weather changes to all of the courses in the game. "If you have the Forecast Channel set up in the Wii Home Menu, you can set the weather to use live forecasts in-game. So if it's raining in real life at a course, it will be raining there as well when you play it in Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10. We also read actual wind speeds into the game. It's even possible for the weather to update while you are playing a round if that is what happens to the actual live weather in that area," says Shenkman. "If you don't have the Forecast Channel, you can set the weather manually. We even have a variable weather option which simulates live weather. In that case, it could be sunny at the start of your round, but start raining later. Weather isn't just eye candy either. It affects gameplay. So, if it's raining, the greens and fairways soften up, and distances are reduced, etc. The weather adds an extra layer to the game."
Last year's Woods featured a fun four-player online mode in which gamers could compete against each other simultaneously -- all attacking holes without interfering with each other's play. It was great fun and EA says it has "some really exciting and innovative features coming [to the online mode] as it pertains to tournaments," but isn't quite ready to divulge details yet. What Shenkman will say, however, is while playing online, you will not be able to tell if your competitors are using MotionPlus or not. "We don't have any indicators telling users who's playing with the WMP online. Using the WMP allows for the truest golf experience possible, but rest assured each user can compete on equal footing no matter what hardware they're using."
I'm a full-blown believer now and can't wait to get my dirty hands on the final copy of Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10. Shenkman believes that while EA always strives to make the perfect Tiger Wii game, this year the developer has come closer than ever before. I'm inclined to agree. If you skipped last year's game so that you could swing your clubs with Wii MotionPlus, let me tell you, the wait has been worth it.
Let's be honest, Casamassina has his problems, but the preview sounds genuinely interesting. I am not a sports game fan but if these games can respectively simulate their sports better on a console than ever before, then sign me up.
What do you guys think of MotionPlus?
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UncleSporky on
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That being said, there's about a billion awesome games in my queue for the 360 and PC right now, I can't see me caring about the Wii till I see some successive good titles.
... oh, who am I kidding? Of course I'll buy one for each of my controllers, I'll play games using the feature and enjoy the hell out of them. That Tennis preview really got me excited.
Well there's no dearth of third party games coming, but not many have MotionPlus support announced for them. Nintendo themselves are going to have to announce some more games and hopefully another big one with MotionPlus.
If both the sport games end up being awesome for it, I will be more satisfied with MotionPlus than I have been with the balance board. And the board is not too bad either if you've got one of the snowboarding games.
Point is, if the Motion Plus latches on to that Madden crowd and the rest of the folks looking for a new Wii Sports, it could very well become a big thing. If it sells more, it will be developed for more, and so on and so forth.
Obligatory: I can't wait to brave the hurricane of Motion Plus minigames we're going to have.
Seriously though, Motion Plus WarioWare would rock.
And conversely, if developers are going to make their games unplayable, or just plain terrible to control, without it, "forcing" everyone to shell out for the Motion Plus.
That wouldn't really be in the interest of third parties. They want to reach a larger audience and couldn't care less if Nintendo sold another peripheral.
Not only for the obvious sword controls but any other interesting uses that they create for it as well.
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If MotionPlus can give me the tennis game I'm looking for, I'm all over it. Wii Sports Resort will likely be a day 1 purchase for me regardless.
Once again. Error-free* gyroscope that MotionPlus was very expensive piece of equipment back in 2004. In addition of costing more than 100 dollars per pop, it was also heavy and had very, very bad energy consumption. In practice, these gyroscopes were only used by scientific and industrial circles, and there was no mass produced version. Last year, company called InvenSense made rather drastic innovation in the field, and was able to cut gyroscopes production cost into tenth of the original, and reduce power consumption. MotionPlus is practically first mass marketed device of its kind, but it is believed InvenSense has caused revolution in motion detection by being higher level technology cheap enough to be used. We can except interfaces meant for special crowds, like engineers and handicapped.
* As you move gyroscope around, it starts to lose its precision as errors cumulate. When this happens, gyroscope needs to be recalibrated. In normal gyroscope, this happens in 2 seconds or less (a.k.a completely worthless for gaming). The gyroscope that MotionPlus uses can last even two minutes without re-calibration.
PSN: Threeve703
Cassamina has got to play Grand Slam Tennis with MotionPlus, and says it works like promised. Extremely sharp and precise. I don't really have reason to believe that he is hyping for nothing after seeing his gameplay video of Tiger Woods 10.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gujaf2pGU10
I'm all over the tennis game... Looking forward to using some MotionPlus on Ana Ivanovic.
holy balls
EA is the bestest this generation.
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games
I don't know. Nintendo's nickel-and-diming seems very tame to me in comparison to selling gamerpics and fucking cheat codes on Live. Oh, and Capcom's MM9 and SFIV costume bullshit annoys me. Also, what's with the LBP costumes for like 2 bucks a shirt? What a rip-off. And don't even get me started on Home...
So yeah, Nintendo's milking the gamers, but not any worse as the other companies, I find. Maybe even less, in fact.
But I do not need gamertag pics or new costumes for SFIV for my game to work properly. I've been under the impression that MotionPlus will make the remote not a piece of crap, so it seems like kind of a necessity.
Halo 3 works exactly the same, with or without my leet gamer pic. When Nintendo releases the awesome swordfighting game I'm looking for, how well is it gonna work without MotionPlus?
PSN: Threeve703
Nintendo has said it will be aggressive with prolifirating this, so we can except it as a pack in several games.
None of that stuff is necessary to play the game... this is technology that should've been in the controller to start.
This. And why doesn't EA pick up the B.A.S.S. license and make a good fishing game with this MotionPlus thing?
Now that I hadn't heard. It somewhat depends on what the games are, but if I can get Red Steel 2 + MotionPlus, then I'm game.
Separately, the purchase is way more dubious.
PSN: Threeve703
A lof of the stuff you're making examples with are things done by third parties. Kind of like what Squaresoft did with My Life as a King, or Taito(?) did with the Space Invaders Wiiware game. Then there's also Monster Hunter with its subscription fees too. I would say they're all about even.
Let me tell you about Demon's Souls....
Dual Shock? COME ON! Why didn't they just release that in the first place!
rumble
Tech inside Motionplus literally did not exist in the form factor until very recently.
Even on consoles that do allow patching, Guitar Hero 2 still doesn't work with the RB controller.
I'm going with "worked too perfectly."
Not only did he make the putt, but he also made par on the hole.
I'm not sure what your point is, Activision are a bunch of money grubbing whores, this was proven when Harmonix tried to relase the RB1 ps3 patch that allowed GH3 controlelrs to work in their game. What I was saying is that the games that are most interesting to me on the Wii are nintendo made games, and my point is Nintendo has a penchant for re-releasing titles so I doubt they would offer free patches that improved functionality without charging for it somehow.
Let me tell you about Demon's Souls....
My point was, the consoles that can patch still have games that don't work with newer add-ons.
There seems to be a lot of excitement about trying to make the device perfectly model real life situations when those situations can just be enjoyed in real life. Games, to me, have always been an opportunity to do that which I am unable or unwilling to do in real life.
I enjoyed Wii Tennis a great deal, but it was fun because we could pick it up and play it and then go on to something else. It's intuitiveness of control but on the whole unrealism is what made it great. If you get to the point where it's literally "This works exactly like it does in real life. Whatever imperfections exist in your play are modeled in the game." then I'd rather just go play actual Tennis (which is something I enjoy a great deal).
The same would ring true in a Zelda game, where whatever you do with the wiimote up to and including chopping your leg off are modeled in the game, then it's not the same game to me anymore. It's now DVG somehow got ahold of a sword, and despite his inexperience is going to try and rescue a princess, instead of the Heroic, well-trained Hero of Destiny Link doing so.
I guess maybe I don't get it, but I still want there to be that fantastical element to the game, where I'm cool with the control being easy to understand and use (Swing remote, Link swings sword), but it seems to be an inversion of what should happen when it's 1:1 (Swing remote, Link swings sword the exact same way, arc, and distance) because, at that point, I'm not playing as Link, Link is playing as me, and I think I would find myself unequal to beating most villains in a sword fight.
Also, what if the tennis game also has superpowers and fireballs and shit? Then it will be like your Zelda example where the technology is realistic but the gameplay is fantasy. I don't think that mechanics being true to life is a bad thing, myself. It's how you use it afterwards.
EDIT - RE: MotionPlus being necessary for some games, I believe that Nintendo will make many games+motionplus packs to have it firmly implemented in the userbase. Also, necessary or not, nickel-and-diming annoys me. I don't care if I don't need the costumes, I still got the incomplete version of the game now.
Oh, captain retard came here.