Nintendo press conf. comments

[darkblu]

Okay, this goes out to you Nintendo. (yes, I know you are reading this! )

When doing first person perspective stuff, don't use fck'n RTS style "push the screen around" controls dammit!
That will suck for ANY game, no matter the genre.

Dedicate a button to a "mouse lift" function instead.
That is The Right Thing(tm) to do.

hmm, what game are you referring to? if RS, i thought they used the nunchaku attachment for navigation, no?

 

[DemoCoder]

He's talking about mouse look, not WASD Movement. The nunchuku controls forward/back/strafe. But how do you look behind yourself really quick? He seems to think you have to move the target reticle to the edge of the screen.

Almost all FPS fix the target reticle in the center of the screen and use mouse look to control where you are looking.

 

[StefanS]

finished translating.

EDIT: The japanese site's launch date is 4th quarter 2006. So chances are will see a nearly simultaneous world wide launch.

 

[NANOTEC]

He's talking about mouse look, not WASD Movement. The nunchuku controls forward/back/strafe. But how do you look behind yourself really quick? He seems to think you have to move the target reticle to the edge of the screen.

Almost all FPS fix the target reticle in the center of the screen and use mouse look to control where you are looking.

The nunchuck has a positiion sensor too.

Oh did anybody hear them say VoIP is used in Tony Hawk game for chatting?

 

[Squeak]

hmm, what game are you referring to? if RS, i thought they used the nunchaku attachment for navigation, no?

I refer of course to the way the FP camera is turned, in both the Metroid movie and Reed Steel, not like with a mouse where, when you run out of space for the mouse, you simply pick it up and put it down in a better position.
In the RS demonstration and Metroid movie, the cross-hair is independent of the camera when moving inside de screens borders and just pushes it when it reaches them, just like a mouse driven RTS.

That is the wrong way to do it!

Merge cross-hair and camera movement like a PC FPS, and when you reach the border of the screen, just push a (preferably the A) button to "stop" the motion tracking, and move the wiimote into the screen area again.

This will of course lose the direct connection between where you are pointing the controller and the cross-hairs position, but that's a small price to pay for a far far superior way of controlling.
And people got use the exact same thing when using a mouse, so why shouldn't they be able to do it again?

 

[NANOTEC]

I refer of course to the way the FP camera is turned, in both the Metroid movie and Reed Steel, not like with a mouse where, when you run out of space for the mouse, you simply pick it up and put it down in a better position.
In the RS demonstration and Metroid movie, the cross-hair is independent of the camera when moving inside de screens borders and just pushes it when it reaches them, just like a mouse driven RTS.

That is the wrong way to do it!

Merge cross-hair and camera movement like a PC FPS, and when you reach the border of the screen, just push a (preferably the A) button to "stop" the motion tracking, and move the wiimote into the screen area again.

This will of course lose the direct connection between where you are pointing the controller and the cross-hairs position, but that's a small price to pay for a far far superior way of controlling.
And people got use the exact same thing when using a mouse, so why shouldn't they be able to do it again?

Nah that sounds too sloppy. I'd rather free look with the nunchunck's postition sensor like in Zelda TP.

 

[pc999]

Pre Conf.videos here , just Zelda by now.

http://media.revolution.ign.com/articles/706/706227/vids_1.html

 

[DemoCoder]

Nah that sounds too sloppy. I'd rather free look with the nunchunck's postition sensor like in Zelda TP.

Well, if you could free look with it, why didn't it appear to work like that? Something about the movement in that video didn't look right.

 

[Squeak]

Nah that sounds too sloppy. I'd rather free look with the nunchunck's postition sensor like in Zelda TP.

Sloppy?! it's the other way around.
Using the nunchuck for controlling a camera is an absolutely horrible idea, esp. when you have the much more precise wiimote sensor.
The nunchuck with its mechanical motion sensors is only suited for short decisive movements.

 

[darkblu]

Merge cross-hair and camera movement like a PC FPS, and when you reach the border of the screen, just push a (preferably the A) button to "stop" the motion tracking, and move the wiimote into the screen area again.

i'm not sure that's a better scheme. i personally like the fact that you have some degree of 'detachment' of reticle and view direction. that's how things work in RL - you have your targetting and your view independent. so when you slightly but quickly adjust your aims it does not produce abrupt jitter of your whole line of sight, which is the majore cause of motion sickness caused by FPS'. that said, i may prefer better a totally independent orientation and aming controls (which could be possible if what NANO says is true and the nunchaku does have it's own inertial sensors).

 

[NANOTEC]

Well, if you could free look with it, why didn't it appear to work like that? Something about the movement in that video didn't look right.

Lots of things didn't look right to you. Does RS still not look right after i posted that link to the RS video? I watched the conference from beginning to end and the guy describing the Zelda control said you look with the nunchuck and aim with the Wiimote. You move with the thumbstick.

 

[thomase]

I refer of course to the way the FP camera is turned, in both the Metroid movie and Reed Steel, not like with a mouse where, when you run out of space for the mouse, you simply pick it up and put it down in a better position.
In the RS demonstration and Metroid movie, the cross-hair is independent of the camera when moving inside de screens borders and just pushes it when it reaches them, just like a mouse driven RTS.

That is the wrong way to do it!

Merge cross-hair and camera movement like a PC FPS, and when you reach the border of the screen, just push a (preferably the A) button to "stop" the motion tracking, and move the wiimote into the screen area again.

This will of course lose the direct connection between where you are pointing the controller and the cross-hairs position, but that's a small price to pay for a far far superior way of controlling.
And people got use the exact same thing when using a mouse, so why shouldn't they be able to do it again?

The camera view would be too jittery. Remember that unlike a mouse, you can't rest the pointing device on a surface to hold the view steady.

However, I do wonder how much different this is than using an analog stick in a similar fasion; map the absolute stick position to on-screen target reticule coordinates and "turn" when the reticule reaches the edge of the screen. There are existing console games with just such a control scheme. I always find that its tough to aim and keep my thumb steady with such a scheme. However, an important difference is that there is most definitely a larger ranger of discrete positions available with the wiimote vs. an "analog" stick. This may be what makes it work.

 

[pc999]

Sorry, in the IGN page there is the same videos from the conference.

 

[Squeak]

The camera view would be too jittery. Remember that unlike a mouse, you can't rest the pointing device on a surface to hold the view steady.

You don't imagine that Wii gaming session will imply that you have to hold you arm floating in mid air for hours on end?! You rest your arm in your lab, just like you rest your arm on the desk when using a mouse.

so when you slightly but quickly adjust your aims it does not produce abrupt jitter of your whole line of sight, which is the majore cause of motion sickness caused by FPS'.

There will be no jitter if the input signal is filtered properly. Otherwise you will almost always want to aim where you look.

 

[darkblu]

There will be no jitter if the input signal is filtered properly. Otherwise you will almost always want to aim where you look.

i did not mean the reticle jitter caused by sampling, i meant the the player adjusting his aims by, say 20-30-degr and the view-volume following that instant. you don't want to filter those jitters - you'd never be able to aim otherwise. and though it's true that generally you aim where you look, the issue with the rigid reticle-cam scheme is that human aiming motions (with a handgun, in quick action sequences) are way too frantic to hard-link your view to them - motion sickness ensues.

 

[Johnny Awesome]

Personally I think the Wii has great potential for new gameplay experiences, but will not work well with traditional games (FPS, 3rd person action etc...). I probably won't bother getting one until it is $150 US or less, but I could easily see myself picking one up for the party/family type games.

 

[Squeak]

i did not mean the reticle jitter caused by sampling, i meant the the player adjusting his aims by, say 20-30-degr and the view-volume following that instant. you don't want to filter those jitters - you'd never be able to aim otherwise. and though it's true that generally you aim where you look, the issue with the rigid reticle-cam scheme is that human aiming motions (with a handgun, in quick action sequences) are way too frantic to hard-link your view to them - motion sickness ensues.

Motion sickness is a problem to be reckoned with, especially among Asians, who seem to be more susceptible to it. But that doesn't change the fact that the aiming=looking method has proved itself on PCs for years and years, and anything else (within the economic boundaries of a home setup) that does not involve two equally dexterous mouse function like devices (for detached view and aiming) will be inferior to the PC FPS control method.

I find it that the better the game is (the more involved I am), the less susceptible to motion sickness I am.
Perfect Dark, which I absolutely hated, gave me strong nausea, even though it used the "push the screen" method of aiming.

 

[Refreshment]

Did anyone notice that in some pictures the the "sensor window" at the tip of the controller is wide (Nintendo.co site) and in other pictures (Rayman with the kids playing) is just a small circular hole?

Regarding the FPS, they should give you all the options. If you want to attach the camera movement to the remote, then let the guys that choose to do so get dizzie until they puke. I can understand the complains since finally you have a precise input method.

Teasy, i didnt see the conference, was the secret revealed or was it just that stupid low fidelity speaker? And IGN wasnt full of crap after all or what?

 

[NANOTEC]

Yeah that's been known. The devkit Wiimote has a round window and the consumer version has a cover like for IR remote controls.

Applications and data is stored in the 512MB of built-in flash memory
Opera Browser
the games of the Virtual Console, the browser etc. is stored in the flash memory to allow for high speed startup

Because of the silent low power standby without rotation of the fan is it possible to stay always connected to the internet (the power consumption is equivalent to a miniature light bulb)
Through the permanent connection to the Internet it is possible to receive messages of friends, push contents (new items, new levels, etc.) etc. even during action (trans note: probably means in-game)

The always on is a very cool idea. I also wonder if new versions of the Opera browser can be downloaded when available.

 

[thomase]

I wonder if we'll see any games using 2 wiimotes (i.e. one in each hand).