E3 2008: Nintendo Steals Microsoft's Thunder

[Susan Arendt]

E3 2008: Nintendo Steals Microsoft's Thunder

Shortly before Microsoft's press conference was set to kick off E3 2008, Nintendo announced Wii MotionPlus, an accessory that allows the Wii Remote to recognize 3-D space.

The Wii Motion Plus snaps into the bottom of the Wii Remote and provides a 1:1 response in the controller's motion control. What this means in practical terms is that the Remote will now recognize not only movement, but height and relative orientation, allowing far more precise control.

Nintendo offered no further information about the MotionPlus, presumably saving information about games and the like for its own press conference tomorrow morning. Given the widely-held belief that Microsoft was planning to announce a motion-sensitive 360 controller during its press conference, Nintendo's early announcement seems like a blatant attempt to steal the show.

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[Lvl 64 Klutz]

Oh yay. More crap to buy. The joy never ends.

 

[Lt. Sera]

More precise control is always nice. The controller seems a bit picky at times as to which movement relates to which action in the game.

 

[Gildedtongue]

Oh yay. More crap to buy. The joy never ends.

Meh, one kinda had to expect, Klutz, that Nintendo has gone the "Macintosh Apple" route with their Wii, from presentation to "Oh yeah, here are all the proprietary attachments to add on it." On the other hand, the only items really needed are the Wiimote, the Nunchuk, and a Gamecube controller/Classic Controller. The zapper et all are just moulded bits of plastic.

This attachment should be interesting for, say, swordfighting games, though.

 

[Affinity]

I'd like to play a star wars game now.

 

[tendo82]

I think it's going to be difficult to convince the mainstream public as to why this device is needed. Even though it has more value than say a steering wheel peripheral, I think its value proposition is far more abstract for the mainstream consumer who is less than discriminating about Wii controls.

Hopefully this device is offered as a pack in with whatever game it was created for.

 

[BallPtPenTheif]

it's about time that the Wiimote was fixed

 

[Virgil]

Isn't this something that Nintendo was implying as something that existed already? I know the instructions for some games in Wii Sports, like bowling, seem to imply that this was being done. In any case, I've been very underwhelmed by the whole motion sensing thing. While the touchscreen on the DS has worked out well as an actual interface improvement, motion sensing seems to be much more gimicky or poorly implemented in most cases.

The good thing is that Nintendo is likely to pack this in with a game developed specifically for it, so hopefully that pack-in will be deserving.

 

[mathias53]

Microsoft had thunder?

hahahahahahahahaha thats good, thats really good

 

[Susan Arendt]

Sorry, a new motion controller? I think the rest of the gaming world was a little pre-occupied with Microsoft nabbing FF13.

Which we didn't know about until Microsoft's press conference. Nintendo's announcement came much earlier.

 

[N-Sef]

Well at least now we'll get better accuracy with the Wii-mote, I see this only as a good thing. Did anyone actually think that Nintendo weren't going to upgrade the controller?

 

[smallharmlesskitten]

Thanks man, just...... thanks

 

[the monopoly guy]

......
......
..am I the only one who can see the possibilities here?

no...yes...no...yes? You don't have to be pointing at the damn screen the whole time, now you can chuck the Wiimote into the wall instead of your new tv.

 

[smallharmlesskitten]

Sorry, a new motion controller? I think the rest of the gaming world was a little pre-occupied with Microsoft nabbing FF13.

That's it! Microsoft is going down.
All we need is Purple Rain and a case of C4.

Seriously. Microsuck is fucking stupid. And they will fuck up Final Fantasy. Ooooh have an achievement for killing 500 of this kind of monster. LIKE EVERYONE WHO OWNS THE PS3 VERSION.

I'm sorry but my blood is boiling.

 

[the monopoly guy]

I don't give a rat's ass about FF anyway, I care more about Fallout 3....I was drooling. Screw the Wii we have post apacoliptic killings with teddy bears!

More about it actually being able to tell exactly where in the room it is. Seeing it now?

so you won't loose it? Sorry I need more sleep, I blinked and thought the power went off again.