Wii Controller

[Teasy]

At least moving an analog stick or pressing buttons you tend to become absorbed in what's happening on screen.

Do you believe that if you played a game where all you had to do is move an analog stick up and down repeatedly then that would absorb you into the game? Your argument seems to be that if a monotonous task can be performed with the Wii controller then the Wii controller must therefore be monotonous, its like adding 2 and 2 and coming up with 15. You can do monotonous things on any controller. Moving a stick up and down over and over would be no better.

I'm afraid the Wii's controller is going to do the opposite of what it's intended purpose is- DECREASE immersion in the game. I think it will be hard to forget you are violently moving your arm around, here, in your living room, instead of the virtual world on the screen.

Well if that's your belief then don't play games that ask you to voilently move your arms around. You don't have to play Golf, Baseball, Tennis games ect. Play a FPS, or an RPG, or a RTS, or a driving game, or any of the other numerous genres that will not requires much more then a slight move of your wrist with the Wii controller.

I can also practically feel the lactic acid buildup he must be feeling in his arm. If gamers can go on marathon sessions with this controller they are going to have the physique of the incredible hulk- in their playing arm only, unfortunately.

Why do you have this strange idea that any game would ask you to do what that guy is doing? What game is going to require you to move your arm up and down for hours?

 

[NANOTEC]

Speaking of who wanted what in their controller. Nintendo wanted to add a tilt sensor into the DS but decided against it because of cost. The DS was released in 2004.

 

[Teasy]

Good grief, how many times has this got to be mentioned and argued?! According to Phil Harrison Sony wanted motion control back in 1994 but it wasn't possible then. A patent for the motion-aided controller was filed in 1997 and published in 1999 (might be slightly out with dates, but 1999 was the date on the patent for sure). They had a gyro-controller for PSP demo's December 2004, months before Revmote was announced.

Motion control was not something Sony only thought of only after seeing Revmote at E3 '05. It may well have encouraged them to add the tilt control where otherwise they may not have bothered. No-one knows other than the Sony execs in charge who made the decisions.

Obviously motion control wasn't something Sony only thought of once they saw Nintendo's controller. But what seems equally obvious is that Sony have included it in direct response to Nintendo. Otherwise why has it never been part of the PS3 dev kit until now?

 

[Ty]

Obviously motion control wasn't something Sony only thought of once they saw Nintendo's controller. But what seems equally obvious is that Sony have included it in direct response to Nintendo. Otherwise why has it never been part of the PS3 dev kit until now?

Well considering that Sony is actually pretty poor in passing along information to developers (and FWIW, we got the final controller just BEFORE E3 - so even ahead of the Warhawk team I believe), it's unfortunately, par for the course.

In other words, you could be right, or you could be wrong given history.

 

[RancidLunchmeat]

Anybody stop and think how the Wii is going to be presented in Kiosks at Walmart, Best Buy, Target (Insert name of UK or CA chain that us ego-centric Americans aren't aware of here)?

If the controller requires movement.. How is it going to be demonstrated? Or is the Wii at the kiosks going to be strapped with the other "standard" (cough.. cough... ) controller?

I'm wondering for two reasons.. 1) If you can't use the wiimote at the kiosks in order to see what it's like, you're obviously missing pretty much the largest selling point for the Wii. But then again.. 2) if you CAN actually go into a kiosk and play with the Wii for an hour or so, is that all the time consumers will need to think 'this is fun, but I've had enough"?

 

[OICAspork]

At least moving an analog stick or pressing buttons you tend to become absorbed in what's happening on screen. I'm afraid the Wii's controller is going to do the opposite of what it's intended purpose is- DECREASE immersion in the game. I think it will be hard to forget you are violently moving your arm around, here, in your living room, instead of the virtual world on the screen.

Watch Miyamoto play. He certainly looks like a spaz, but you can see how this would be more immersive than any conducting would be on a game pad. Have you ever played DDR with a PS controller? I have a friend that practices the rhythm that way, but I just can't stand it... there is no energy or joy there.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=ir-Y EA1yGFw&search=wii orchestra

I can also practically feel the lactic acid buildup he must be feeling in his arm. If gamers can go on marathon sessions with this controller they are going to have the physique of the incredible hulk- in their playing arm only, unfortunately.

Yes, there will be lots of games where you actually, gasp, get physical exercise while playing Wii, but it isn't required. You can sit down, rest your arm on an arm wrest and move your wrist about as much as you do while using a mouse, and control a game with mouse like precision... it all depends on the implementation.

 

[OICAspork]

Anybody stop and think how the Wii is going to be presented in Kiosks at Walmart, Best Buy, Target (Insert name of UK or CA chain that us ego-centric Americans aren't aware of here)?

If the controller requires movement.. How is it going to be demonstrated? Or is the Wii at the kiosks going to be strapped with the other "standard" (cough.. cough... ) controller?

I'm wondering for two reasons.. 1) If you can't use the wiimote at the kiosks in order to see what it's like, you're obviously missing pretty much the largest selling point for the Wii. But then again.. 2) if you CAN actually go into a kiosk and play with the Wii for an hour or so, is that all the time consumers will need to think 'this is fun, but I've had enough"?

I would definitely expect tethered wiimotes... and possibly extra durable ones, as when dropped by little kids they will swing down and hit the shelves below... I'll be really curious to see how much abuse these things can take... it is sort of like watching people play a DS with their keys or something in Walmart. It is pretty much a torture test.

 

[Soapmonkey]

Ah, you've drawn this lurker out...

I was at E3 and I played the Wii. I played Metroid and was impressed. I found playing my PS2 for long periods puts a cramp in my palm because of the way my hands have grip the control pad. The Wii felt more natural in a way, I was able to keep my hands apart. It was light too.

That guy in the video is an idiot, I moved through metroid with only small movements. What amazed me the most was there was no learning curve, people were able to pick up the controller and get right into the game, I saw this happen over and over, and I did it myself. I think the initial games will be focused too much on the novelty, but later games will take advantage of what it really is: a new kind of game pad.