it's even a better reason not to expect framerate
Just like upgrading your computer with similar-architecture, faster-clocked parts with more bandwidth doesn't improve framerate, right?
Wii impression thread
- Thread starter PiNkY
- Start date
Just like upgrading your computer with similar-architecture, faster-clocked parts with more bandwidth doesn't improve framerate, right?
I'm surprised how many people are blaming the user for this. I don't think it's Nintendo's fault exactly but if they're encouraging movement to control the game, they should ensure that the controller either has better grip or a stronger cord. I really don't think anyone is letting go of their controller, it's slipping out their hands and in some cases, breaking the strap. The thing is you can't say there is any such thing as a 'normal way', Nintendo have said both big and small movements should work the same, but how big is big?
Just like upgrading your computer with similar-architecture, faster-clocked parts with more bandwidth doesn't improve framerate, right?
did you read the post i was answering to ?
it was about the Wii having an gamecube inside and 99,9 % perfect emulation
the fact is you can't expect both 99,9 % perfect emulation and improved framerate.
perfect emulation = same framerate, same graphics etc..
Over/Under for the first wii accident lawsuit is probably 1-2 months.
We all know it's going to happen, and happen in the US.
http://www.nintendo.com/consumer/wiiplay.jsp
We all know it's going to happen, and happen in the US.
http://www.nintendo.com/consumer/wiiplay.jsp
davepermen
Regular
I got it all today.. My Wii, My Zelda, My Sports Games, a second Controller, and of course some points to buy old games.
Went straight into our bar, met there with some friends in front of the huge TV, and couldn't stop for .. (17:00 - 02:00 ...) 9 hours. Now all our arms and necks and everything hurt. But one can simply not stop.. The sports games are great, especially golfing is done really great (bowling, too).
Now today, I have a day free, for myself, to play Zelda. Interested how that'll come out.
All in all, it's definitely worth the money. It's a great and amazing experience. Definitely the right thing for all those nerdies that never move anything except the left fingers and the right hand.
With such a start, I'm really looking forward to a future with very innovative, and well gameplay. (Resident Evil for Wii, anyone? And some more sport-games, the ones now are not enough... .
Oh, and graphics do actually look nice, even on a hdtv. Well, I didn't expect much, so I did not got disappointed. And Zelda right now feels like another masterpiece. It's one of those games with all the detail. Taking the small dog into your arms, moving around with him... reaaaally cute. It's those little things that matter to me (correct foot-movement f.e., too) much more than "high fidelity graphics". The whole thing has to fit well together. Gears of War has nice hd graphics and characters, but sometimes terrible foot-sliding, and the levels aren't consistent in quality, and sometimes repetitive.
Anyways, that's it with my status report. A friend of mine wants to get COD. Lets see how that works out
Went straight into our bar, met there with some friends in front of the huge TV, and couldn't stop for .. (17:00 - 02:00 ...) 9 hours. Now all our arms and necks and everything hurt. But one can simply not stop.. The sports games are great, especially golfing is done really great (bowling, too).
Now today, I have a day free, for myself, to play Zelda. Interested how that'll come out.
All in all, it's definitely worth the money. It's a great and amazing experience. Definitely the right thing for all those nerdies that never move anything except the left fingers and the right hand.
With such a start, I'm really looking forward to a future with very innovative, and well gameplay. (Resident Evil for Wii, anyone?
And some more sport-games, the ones now are not enough... .Oh, and graphics do actually look nice, even on a hdtv. Well, I didn't expect much, so I did not got disappointed. And Zelda right now feels like another masterpiece. It's one of those games with all the detail. Taking the small dog into your arms, moving around with him... reaaaally cute
. It's those little things that matter to me (correct foot-movement f.e., too) much more than "high fidelity graphics". The whole thing has to fit well together. Gears of War has nice hd graphics and characters, but sometimes terrible foot-sliding, and the levels aren't consistent in quality, and sometimes repetitive.Anyways, that's it with my status report. A friend of mine wants to get COD. Lets see how that works out
JacksBleedingEyes
Regular
Just wondering, does anyone in the States or other regions of the world have the ability to use to Weather or News channel. I am here in Australia and they tell me that for the time being there are no updates. I feel like I bought an incomplete product.
I am having a lot of fun with Wii Sports and Zelda, but I just wished the online capabilites were stronger.
One thing that eminates from the console as soon as you turn it on is quality. Graphics might be subpar but it has that polish that the 360 just doesn't have. Not that the 360 is bad in anyway, but the Wii feels solid.
I am having a lot of fun with Wii Sports and Zelda, but I just wished the online capabilites were stronger.
One thing that eminates from the console as soon as you turn it on is quality. Graphics might be subpar but it has that polish that the 360 just doesn't have. Not that the 360 is bad in anyway, but the Wii feels solid.
I can't access either the forecast or news channel either, I am in the US. The first thing I did when I got the thing home was DL the newest firmware, so I dunno what's up with those channels.
My general impressions thus far are very good. Girls that play get totally involved in the games, unfortunetly I can't find any controllers anywhere in San Diego due to greedy scum e-bayers buying out the entire inventory of each store. I can only imagine the wii sports games are at least twice as fun with two people going at the same time.
Zelda is deserving of its own paragraph. This game is simply amazing, I'm not even very far into the game yet and the story has me completely hooked already. Possibly the best Zelda ever, we'll see how it pans out. Using the wiimote to control is awesome, and I haven't even gotten a shield yet.
I also purchased Redsteel, which is nice, pretty novel, but I can't really get into the whole control setup used with an FPS. If where you pointed the controller matched out to the placement of the cursor on the tv i think I could. The way it works now is its just a relative type of pointing system as opposed to an absolute version. My little brother (17) picked it up extremely quickly and was getting pretty into the game before I kicked him off to play Zelda. I think it's more of a personal taste issue.
I'm running the thing through composite(ugh) cables into a Mitsubishi 65" 1080p HDTV, and it looks awesome. I am having the same issue finding component cables as I am with finding the extra wiimotes. I wasn't going into the experience with overly high expectations, so ymmv.
The console itself is unbelieveably tiny, and everything seems to be well thought out and polished all the way down to the packing of the box. Before release I wouldn't have imagined myself buying a wii in a million years, fast forward to seeing a redsteel commercial on TV and here I am. Wii has completely converted my thinking of the lower quality tech, more polish type approach.
If anyone has any specific questions I'd be more then glad to answer them.
My general impressions thus far are very good. Girls that play get totally involved in the games, unfortunetly I can't find any controllers anywhere in San Diego due to greedy scum e-bayers buying out the entire inventory of each store. I can only imagine the wii sports games are at least twice as fun with two people going at the same time.
Zelda is deserving of its own paragraph. This game is simply amazing, I'm not even very far into the game yet and the story has me completely hooked already. Possibly the best Zelda ever, we'll see how it pans out. Using the wiimote to control is awesome, and I haven't even gotten a shield yet.
I also purchased Redsteel, which is nice, pretty novel, but I can't really get into the whole control setup used with an FPS. If where you pointed the controller matched out to the placement of the cursor on the tv i think I could. The way it works now is its just a relative type of pointing system as opposed to an absolute version. My little brother (17) picked it up extremely quickly and was getting pretty into the game before I kicked him off to play Zelda. I think it's more of a personal taste issue.
I'm running the thing through composite(ugh) cables into a Mitsubishi 65" 1080p HDTV, and it looks awesome. I am having the same issue finding component cables as I am with finding the extra wiimotes. I wasn't going into the experience with overly high expectations, so ymmv.
The console itself is unbelieveably tiny, and everything seems to be well thought out and polished all the way down to the packing of the box. Before release I wouldn't have imagined myself buying a wii in a million years, fast forward to seeing a redsteel commercial on TV and here I am. Wii has completely converted my thinking of the lower quality tech, more polish type approach.
If anyone has any specific questions I'd be more then glad to answer them.
thatdude90210
Regular
According to the official Wii website, forecast channel is supposed to go live Dec 20, and news channel is Jan 27. Internet channel just says "coming soon." Those are from the USA site, not sure about other territories.
It was sold out everywhere here in France in a matter of hours/minutes depending on the shop. I got mine without problem (preordered back in July), with Red Steel, Wii Play, Rayman and Zelda.
Two major negatives with the launch : first, cables. It's ridiculous that neither RGB SCART nor component cables are available. Second, extra remotes are nowhere to be found except bundled with Wii Play for a quick extra buck. I intended to get Wii Play and two additional remotes for 4 players tennis, but there's no way I'm paying an extra 20€ for two extra copies of Wii Play.
That being out of the way, the system is very neat. I have only played Wii Sports and a bit of Red Steel (does not look very good, but is very fun once you get accustomed to aiming), but so far I'm very impressed. I don't want to try Zelda until I get some better video cables, though.
Two major negatives with the launch : first, cables. It's ridiculous that neither RGB SCART nor component cables are available. Second, extra remotes are nowhere to be found except bundled with Wii Play for a quick extra buck. I intended to get Wii Play and two additional remotes for 4 players tennis, but there's no way I'm paying an extra 20€ for two extra copies of Wii Play.
That being out of the way, the system is very neat. I have only played Wii Sports and a bit of Red Steel (does not look very good, but is very fun once you get accustomed to aiming), but so far I'm very impressed. I don't want to try Zelda until I get some better video cables, though.
Tried looking for a Wii test unit in here Finland (It launched today) with no luck. I was hoping for some stores to have them because some of the employees were wearing some seriously ugly Wii shirts, whoever designed that...
I went down to the Wii section and noticed the Wii boxes there, I mean literally boxes. They were empty inside, put there just to use the space? You get your console when you take the box to the clerk? I have no idea. Was kinda tempted by that Zelda + Wii bundle though.
I went down to the Wii section and noticed the Wii boxes there, I mean literally boxes. They were empty inside, put there just to use the space? You get your console when you take the box to the clerk? I have no idea. Was kinda tempted by that Zelda + Wii bundle though.
Oh god what a disapointment. There are no component or even rgb cables available in Europe and the 480i quality is really subpar (definitly worse then the GC, just hooked mine up to check). As of now zelda is a blury mess on my HDTV and looks worse then the average last gen game. Next up what's the point of the blue light on the unit. It blinks for a quarter of a second on startup only then to never be seen again. I was so looking forward to this
Next up what's the point of the blue light on the unit. It blinks for a quarter of a second on startup only then to never be seen again. I was so looking forward to this
It blinks on start-up and everytime you receive a message from a friend or somebody has left you a note.
No score for me today. Me and my brother have gone on a three-hour trek through eight stores in four cities. No luck. We should probably have done them in a different order. In the last one before we gave up we were told there would have been five units at 11am. The first one, where we actually lined up 30 mins before the store opened, had zero, even though it's a pretty big store (they did say they could only service the preorders but it still seemed fishy).
We have the games we want (2xZelda, Red Steel for me, he seemed to be interested in Rayman but skimped out), I also have snatched up a classic controller and some Wii points. We have not seen or heard of any component or RGB cables. Wiimotes were in good supply in some places, not to be found in other places.
I have bought a number of PS2 and PC games today though, so it definitely wasn't a waste of time
We have the games we want (2xZelda, Red Steel for me, he seemed to be interested in Rayman but skimped out), I also have snatched up a classic controller and some Wii points. We have not seen or heard of any component or RGB cables. Wiimotes were in good supply in some places, not to be found in other places.
I have bought a number of PS2 and PC games today though, so it definitely wasn't a waste of time
I picked up my preordered Wii with Zelda from Karstadt this morning. I also have Super Monkey Ball, whose control system will take some getting used to after years of SMB1 + SMB2 training. The system itself is very nice (and quiet — a nice change from my 360), but my box was missing Wii Sports. I called the store and they managed to obtain a copy for me somehow, which I've now picked up.
It's so nice to be able to separate your hands from each other while playing Zelda for example...
It's so nice to be able to separate your hands from each other while playing Zelda for example...
I started lining up at 6 am today, was the first there (Mediamarkt). The "line" - more like mob - swelled to about 200 people before they opened. Then it was a mad dash for the stack of 50 unreserved Wiis. I was the second to get there and hugged a Wii very tightly. The stack was decimated in about a minute.
I also got all the other stuff I wanted (Zelda, Wii Play, Nunchuck) except for the classic controller. I've since played multiplayer in all Wii sports and Wii play games. I have to say that while the play games are very mini-gameish on the whole, the tank game gets surprisingly difficult, interesting and even strategic in the later stages (11+). Also, Bowling and Golf rock.
The line-up was an interesting experience, very diverse people there. The no-holds-bared all-out mad dash when the doors opened reminded me of the cultural gap between here and Japan
I have never with any console experienced anything like this in my part of central Europe. It may just be a sign of the times, but it may also be a sign that Nintendo does indeed have a winner at their hands.
I also got all the other stuff I wanted (Zelda, Wii Play, Nunchuck) except for the classic controller. I've since played multiplayer in all Wii sports and Wii play games. I have to say that while the play games are very mini-gameish on the whole, the tank game gets surprisingly difficult, interesting and even strategic in the later stages (11+). Also, Bowling and Golf rock.
The line-up was an interesting experience, very diverse people there. The no-holds-bared all-out mad dash when the doors opened reminded me of the cultural gap between here and Japan
I have never with any console experienced anything like this in my part of central Europe. It may just be a sign of the times, but it may also be a sign that Nintendo does indeed have a winner at their hands.
As of last night I had my first hours of Wii-experience at a friend's house. This is what I felt about the system.
The Hardware -
The Wii console itself didn't really register. It's a white box. Not intrusive, and not exciting either. Fair enough, it's not entering any beauty pageants. The Wiimote and sensor bar and Nunchuck were smaller in real life then I was expecting. The Wiimote was pretty nifty in size and design, except the D-pad is out of reach from the usual grip, at least for me and friend. To use the D-pad meant a fiddly shift of the thumb forwards which means using DPad simultaneously with motion is awkward. The Nunchuck fit quite nicely, but I can't report on ergonomics of use for that as it was only used for Boxing. The connection process was a bit fiddly when you wanted to switch +/- Nunchuck, if you did it properly with threading the connector over the wrist-strap. The Wiimote construction felt solid, and by all accounts (violent impacts) it is!
The OS -
The Wii interface was pretty slick. Quite minimalist but well animated and laid out. I think the Mii's are a great idea. That's what we started with - creating Mii's for ourselves. Watching them mill about was entertaining, and picking them up was fun (Nintendo need some rag-doll physics in there, if you know what I mean...). We had by the end of the night 4 Mii's, who tended to walk away from each other rather then interact. Hopefully they become more sociable when you find more online. Editing was easy, and seeing the Mii's in game as a uniform avatar is a great idea for a party-centric platform. I have one complaint though, and that's that the Mii's could quickly look very similar. The three of us have short dark hair and glasses, and the Mii's for each looked too similar. I created a bogus Mii just to look different. If you have to use Mii appearance to select players, it'll become like 'Where's Walter (Waldo)' with all the characters wearing red and white striped tops! I think the Avatars should either go with photo-heads, or far more diverse so people can be aliens, dogs, robots, etc.
The Controls -
The all important question : how well does the Wiimote idea work? I think the idea's there, but so far it hasn't really worked out. In the OS, the pointer shakes a great deal. You also have to be reasonably straight on to the TV. Sat to the side, perhaps 25-30 degrees from centre, the Wiimote was far more shaky. Thinking about it now, that's going to be a problem with multiplayer. Four people aren't going to be able to stand side-by-side in front of the TV. Some are going to be on the edge, and thus have dodgier controls. The range was also pretty poor. Sat back as far as we use PS2 wired controllers, about 4 metres, the Wiimote kept disappearing. I had to lean forwards to get the pointer to appear on screen. Because of pointer shake, a couple of times when entering text I hit the wrong button. Intuitively the B button would be backspace, but that wasn't the case. I found that the Mobile type text entry was much faster then QWERTY. Nintendo seriously need some jiggle dampening.
As for viability of motion control, we only had Zelda and Wii-Sports to try. Zelda doesn't much count as it's not a true Wii title. Wii-Sports, the 'showcase' title to demo motion control, was unfortunately disappointing n the whole, IMHO. The relationship between movement and game control was totally alien and counter-intuitive in some games. You could box low with the Wiimote, and that'd result with a high punch. Or jab, and end up doing a sweeping punch. In Tennis you could smash down right and the ball would be hit to the left. For me, the lack of control was a bit frustrating. When you have sent the opposition to the left of the court, and want to smash the ball right into open space, and instead no matter what you do with the controller it smashes straight back at them, that's taking the control away from the player and making the challenge redundant. I'm left feeling what's the difference between a wave of the Wiimote to get a smash, and hitting a Smash button on a conventional controller, when neither lets you choose where to direct the ball?
A lot depends on future games and their implementation. At the moment, the motion control isn't delivering what I was hoping for. If the response in game was much more like my actions, I'd think it a great interface.
The Games -
Zelda first. My friend showed the beginning of the game as far as he had got to. Knowing this was an adventure game, we readied ourselves for the 'nothing happens in the first hours of tutorial areas' principle, and...nothing much happened. Aiming with the Wiimote was intuitive when used. Fishing seemed a nice enough idea, and with more variety of the Wiimote, like lassoing, throwing spears, etc., it could be a good addition to the gameplay. I'm not sure there's much in that department though, as this is a GC game too. I have to say though, the art choice was terrible IMO. Everyone looked like ugly mutant folk. There was a dark, twisted air to what's supposed to be an idyllic rural community. I haven't played any other Zelda games in my life, so this isn't a complaint about the change of style! They've just managed to create deformed NPCs that you're happy not to see when you're reading the speech text. We didn't see much of the game, and I can't say I'm eager to see more. To me, it looked like a rather conventional adventure, and with dodgy 3D platforming which I despise. I've played enough adventure games in my time that I'm not interested in more of the same. As I wrote above, if the Wiimote is used well to aid immersion, with lots of variety in the controls, it might be worth it for that. As a standalone adventure though, I can't at this point see what sets Zelda apart from other games in this genre.
Which brings me finally to Wii-sports. As a collection of games, it's a good introduction. The interface is slick and polished; it demo's Miis effectively; it showcases a variety of movement based control options. Graphically it was okay. There was some interesting lighting/shading in there if you looked for it, such as the bowling pins getting knocked back into shade. Texture detail was pretty good too on the terrain, though there wasn't much call for textures and the trees were simple facsimiles. Everything ran at a smooth framerate, 60 fps I think, though interlaced due to the connector and we couldn't use progressive. It was certainly smooth which is what all console games should be. It had that slick feeling.
Control of the games was mostly frustrating as explained above. In the boxing training, trying to hit the gloves become impossible. No matter what motions and positions I used on the Wiimote, I kept pounding the trainer's face. The game could be *way* better then that if the controls matched more accurately the player's motions. I shouldn't have to learn certain ways to swing the controller. That's no different to learning which button to press. Motion control should work naturally and remove that need to learn how to play games. Boxing did have a big plus though. At least the Wii can handle 3D crowds, unlike a certain vastly more expensive console!
I was impressed with the physics in Bowling. It wasn't hugely complex, but they seemed to have proper bounding volumes on the pins, rather then a bounding cylinder. Bowling was the most fun game IMO. It was more intuitive, working pretty much as I'd expect. Though the balls sometime curved left no matter what I did with the controller. Swing it out right with some right wrist spin, and the ball could still curve left. I don't know if that's my play that's wrong, or the controls being inaccurate, but given my real-life bowling skills I wouldn't be surprised if the former!
Baseball was too simple. Hitting the ball was hit-and-miss when you've no 3D depth perception or ability to position your batter. I got a few Home Runs, but lost my match when the fielders were inept and the opposition won with 3 points in the last bat of the match. What bothered me most with Baseball was the control of the bat. It wiggled around quite a bit, and didn't have proper matching to my positioning. Trying to find the right way to hold the Wiimote to get the bat properly readied was awkward.
Golf looked quite intuitive too. I didn't get to play that one, but it seemed an excellent demo of hitting virtual objects. Tennis was the best 'action' game. Mostly it played well. Fix the control scheme so the player can affect the direction of the hit properly and it'd be fantastic.
Misc observations -
The Wiimote rumbled with virtually every movement in the OS. Friends said they didn't notice, but it was definitely there. I found that a distraction and surely it's a waste of batteries. Unfortunately I couldn't find a menu option to switch it off.
The speaker in the Wiimote could be good or bad, like many things. It depends what the developer does with it. In Wii-sports, the sound of the racket swooshing, it was excellent. In Zelda, it'd pling-a-ling like a mobile-phone text-message in response to an action, taking attention away from the screen. The game's normal sound communicated all that info. Moving some notifications to the controller had no purpose but to fill a checkbox. I fear the Wiimote speaker will end up ore a gimmick, as devs use it because it's there, rather then only using it when it's relevant.
The IR camera seems to work much faster the 15 fps as seemed possible in another thread. There's a sensitivity setting in the Wii options that shows the two IR points in the camera image, and they were updated very smoothly. Unless they were sampling at 15 Hz and interpolating, I think it safe to say the camera is better tech then the other options from that company. I'm doubtful still that this was the best solution to the motion control.
There's lots of room for Wii channels...and yet I wonder what exactly Nintendo intend to do with them? Are they going to have 50+ channels to pick from, or just a first screen's worth?
Waving the controller wasn't as hot and bothersome as I worried it might be. We played all evening without breaking into a sweat and without much arm-aching.
Overall, I think the platform has potential. I'd have to see some much better motion control to decide, but at this point in time I'm not entirely convinced better motion control is technically possible. Graphics are fine for most people who are still used to PS2s and don't have HD sets. The novelty of the controller's form-factor is bound to attract pundits. I do worry that it'll become mostly a party-game platform. It needs deeper games that also benefit from motion control. Something like a very good SW game with proper lightsabring would be ideal. For party games, I can see Wii's appeal, but I have to say EyeToy was offering the same sort of experience a couple of years ago and Wii's nothing new in that respect. In fact if Sony were to release a PS2 bundle with EyeToy, a couple of EyeToy compilations and maybe Nike Sports training for 'fitness' and promote the console as a healthy pastime, and advertise the package effectively, I think they could compete very well with Wii. The original KungFu game for EyeToy remains the best motion game I've ever played by a long chalk, not least because it benefits from 1:1 motion mapping. I commend Nintendo's strategy and think they could do very well, but certain key areas need to be ironed out before I'll buy into Wii.
The Hardware -
The Wii console itself didn't really register. It's a white box. Not intrusive, and not exciting either. Fair enough, it's not entering any beauty pageants. The Wiimote and sensor bar and Nunchuck were smaller in real life then I was expecting. The Wiimote was pretty nifty in size and design, except the D-pad is out of reach from the usual grip, at least for me and friend. To use the D-pad meant a fiddly shift of the thumb forwards which means using DPad simultaneously with motion is awkward. The Nunchuck fit quite nicely, but I can't report on ergonomics of use for that as it was only used for Boxing. The connection process was a bit fiddly when you wanted to switch +/- Nunchuck, if you did it properly with threading the connector over the wrist-strap. The Wiimote construction felt solid, and by all accounts (violent impacts) it is!
The OS -
The Wii interface was pretty slick. Quite minimalist but well animated and laid out. I think the Mii's are a great idea. That's what we started with - creating Mii's for ourselves. Watching them mill about was entertaining, and picking them up was fun (Nintendo need some rag-doll physics in there, if you know what I mean...). We had by the end of the night 4 Mii's, who tended to walk away from each other rather then interact. Hopefully they become more sociable when you find more online. Editing was easy, and seeing the Mii's in game as a uniform avatar is a great idea for a party-centric platform. I have one complaint though, and that's that the Mii's could quickly look very similar. The three of us have short dark hair and glasses, and the Mii's for each looked too similar. I created a bogus Mii just to look different. If you have to use Mii appearance to select players, it'll become like 'Where's Walter (Waldo)' with all the characters wearing red and white striped tops! I think the Avatars should either go with photo-heads, or far more diverse so people can be aliens, dogs, robots, etc.
The Controls -
The all important question : how well does the Wiimote idea work? I think the idea's there, but so far it hasn't really worked out. In the OS, the pointer shakes a great deal. You also have to be reasonably straight on to the TV. Sat to the side, perhaps 25-30 degrees from centre, the Wiimote was far more shaky. Thinking about it now, that's going to be a problem with multiplayer. Four people aren't going to be able to stand side-by-side in front of the TV. Some are going to be on the edge, and thus have dodgier controls. The range was also pretty poor. Sat back as far as we use PS2 wired controllers, about 4 metres, the Wiimote kept disappearing. I had to lean forwards to get the pointer to appear on screen. Because of pointer shake, a couple of times when entering text I hit the wrong button. Intuitively the B button would be backspace, but that wasn't the case. I found that the Mobile type text entry was much faster then QWERTY. Nintendo seriously need some jiggle dampening.
As for viability of motion control, we only had Zelda and Wii-Sports to try. Zelda doesn't much count as it's not a true Wii title. Wii-Sports, the 'showcase' title to demo motion control, was unfortunately disappointing n the whole, IMHO. The relationship between movement and game control was totally alien and counter-intuitive in some games. You could box low with the Wiimote, and that'd result with a high punch. Or jab, and end up doing a sweeping punch. In Tennis you could smash down right and the ball would be hit to the left. For me, the lack of control was a bit frustrating. When you have sent the opposition to the left of the court, and want to smash the ball right into open space, and instead no matter what you do with the controller it smashes straight back at them, that's taking the control away from the player and making the challenge redundant. I'm left feeling what's the difference between a wave of the Wiimote to get a smash, and hitting a Smash button on a conventional controller, when neither lets you choose where to direct the ball?
A lot depends on future games and their implementation. At the moment, the motion control isn't delivering what I was hoping for. If the response in game was much more like my actions, I'd think it a great interface.
The Games -
Zelda first. My friend showed the beginning of the game as far as he had got to. Knowing this was an adventure game, we readied ourselves for the 'nothing happens in the first hours of tutorial areas' principle, and...nothing much happened. Aiming with the Wiimote was intuitive when used. Fishing seemed a nice enough idea, and with more variety of the Wiimote, like lassoing, throwing spears, etc., it could be a good addition to the gameplay. I'm not sure there's much in that department though, as this is a GC game too. I have to say though, the art choice was terrible IMO. Everyone looked like ugly mutant folk. There was a dark, twisted air to what's supposed to be an idyllic rural community. I haven't played any other Zelda games in my life, so this isn't a complaint about the change of style! They've just managed to create deformed NPCs that you're happy not to see when you're reading the speech text. We didn't see much of the game, and I can't say I'm eager to see more. To me, it looked like a rather conventional adventure, and with dodgy 3D platforming which I despise. I've played enough adventure games in my time that I'm not interested in more of the same. As I wrote above, if the Wiimote is used well to aid immersion, with lots of variety in the controls, it might be worth it for that. As a standalone adventure though, I can't at this point see what sets Zelda apart from other games in this genre.
Which brings me finally to Wii-sports. As a collection of games, it's a good introduction. The interface is slick and polished; it demo's Miis effectively; it showcases a variety of movement based control options. Graphically it was okay. There was some interesting lighting/shading in there if you looked for it, such as the bowling pins getting knocked back into shade. Texture detail was pretty good too on the terrain, though there wasn't much call for textures and the trees were simple facsimiles. Everything ran at a smooth framerate, 60 fps I think, though interlaced due to the connector and we couldn't use progressive. It was certainly smooth which is what all console games should be. It had that slick feeling.
Control of the games was mostly frustrating as explained above. In the boxing training, trying to hit the gloves become impossible. No matter what motions and positions I used on the Wiimote, I kept pounding the trainer's face. The game could be *way* better then that if the controls matched more accurately the player's motions. I shouldn't have to learn certain ways to swing the controller. That's no different to learning which button to press. Motion control should work naturally and remove that need to learn how to play games. Boxing did have a big plus though. At least the Wii can handle 3D crowds, unlike a certain vastly more expensive console!
I was impressed with the physics in Bowling. It wasn't hugely complex, but they seemed to have proper bounding volumes on the pins, rather then a bounding cylinder. Bowling was the most fun game IMO. It was more intuitive, working pretty much as I'd expect. Though the balls sometime curved left no matter what I did with the controller. Swing it out right with some right wrist spin, and the ball could still curve left. I don't know if that's my play that's wrong, or the controls being inaccurate, but given my real-life bowling skills I wouldn't be surprised if the former!
Baseball was too simple. Hitting the ball was hit-and-miss when you've no 3D depth perception or ability to position your batter. I got a few Home Runs, but lost my match when the fielders were inept and the opposition won with 3 points in the last bat of the match. What bothered me most with Baseball was the control of the bat. It wiggled around quite a bit, and didn't have proper matching to my positioning. Trying to find the right way to hold the Wiimote to get the bat properly readied was awkward.
Golf looked quite intuitive too. I didn't get to play that one, but it seemed an excellent demo of hitting virtual objects. Tennis was the best 'action' game. Mostly it played well. Fix the control scheme so the player can affect the direction of the hit properly and it'd be fantastic.
Misc observations -
The Wiimote rumbled with virtually every movement in the OS. Friends said they didn't notice, but it was definitely there. I found that a distraction and surely it's a waste of batteries. Unfortunately I couldn't find a menu option to switch it off.
The speaker in the Wiimote could be good or bad, like many things. It depends what the developer does with it. In Wii-sports, the sound of the racket swooshing, it was excellent. In Zelda, it'd pling-a-ling like a mobile-phone text-message in response to an action, taking attention away from the screen. The game's normal sound communicated all that info. Moving some notifications to the controller had no purpose but to fill a checkbox. I fear the Wiimote speaker will end up ore a gimmick, as devs use it because it's there, rather then only using it when it's relevant.
The IR camera seems to work much faster the 15 fps as seemed possible in another thread. There's a sensitivity setting in the Wii options that shows the two IR points in the camera image, and they were updated very smoothly. Unless they were sampling at 15 Hz and interpolating, I think it safe to say the camera is better tech then the other options from that company. I'm doubtful still that this was the best solution to the motion control.
There's lots of room for Wii channels...and yet I wonder what exactly Nintendo intend to do with them? Are they going to have 50+ channels to pick from, or just a first screen's worth?
Waving the controller wasn't as hot and bothersome as I worried it might be. We played all evening without breaking into a sweat and without much arm-aching.
Overall, I think the platform has potential. I'd have to see some much better motion control to decide, but at this point in time I'm not entirely convinced better motion control is technically possible. Graphics are fine for most people who are still used to PS2s and don't have HD sets. The novelty of the controller's form-factor is bound to attract pundits. I do worry that it'll become mostly a party-game platform. It needs deeper games that also benefit from motion control. Something like a very good SW game with proper lightsabring would be ideal. For party games, I can see Wii's appeal, but I have to say EyeToy was offering the same sort of experience a couple of years ago and Wii's nothing new in that respect. In fact if Sony were to release a PS2 bundle with EyeToy, a couple of EyeToy compilations and maybe Nike Sports training for 'fitness' and promote the console as a healthy pastime, and advertise the package effectively, I think they could compete very well with Wii. The original KungFu game for EyeToy remains the best motion game I've ever played by a long chalk, not least because it benefits from 1:1 motion mapping. I commend Nintendo's strategy and think they could do very well, but certain key areas need to be ironed out before I'll buy into Wii.
