Nintendo announces new Wiimote development framework [update 1]

by Blake Snow { Oct 12th 2006 at 12:15PM }

Nintendo and AiLive announced a new Wiimote development tool today called LiveMove that might allow Wii developers to more easily program motion-sensing controls in a "matter of minutes." In essence, the development framework aims to help the Wiimote "learn" movement patterns "to move away from indirect digital control to more natural analog control."

We expect that Nintendo, especially from the first-party games we've previewed, knows how to apply motion-controls in a workable manner. But this is good news for hopeful third-party platform developers as they have been viewed as an Achilles' heel to the console's potential success.

LiveMove is currently available to Wii developers at a cost of $2,500 per seat. Should be interesting to see what effect, if any, AiLive's Wiimote framework will have on games.

[Update 1: Added additional skepticism]

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

DojoRacoon @ Oct 12th 2006 12:28PM

I'd wondered if the motion sensing actually negated the ease to produce for the system a little. This sounds like more help for the 3rd parties. hopefully it leads to some great games.

Franky Digital @ Oct 12th 2006 12:39PM

This is going to be a fantastic tool for shrinking down the costs of newer and smaller developers, but I'm almost positive most of the big-boys will want their own proprietary (in-house) motion-capturing-and-interpreting code. By making a development tool "codeless", you eliminate the majority of the fine-tuning possible with proprietary code.

Plus, I forsee some issues with this. From what the white-paper says, you can only define a maximum of 40 movements. While 40 seems like a heck of a lot, when you take into account something like Trauma Center or Red Steel having many different "angles" of a single motion, the number of overall moves can add quickly. Additionally, any 1:1 or 1:~1 gameplay is impossible with this tool, as it requires an exact, predefined motion.

Conclusion: cool software to bring more independant, smaller and ported games to the console without raising costs, but not necessarily a revolutionary software development that will act as the base of all dev's Wii-work.

dantebk @ Oct 12th 2006 12:47PM

I don't understand the complaint that the only good games for Nintendo titles are first-party.

Isn't that almost enough? Maybe I don't have as much time for gaming as the people complaining, but I'm pretty sure I could play only first-party Nintendo games and be both happy and busy.

Proud to be a Wiitard @ Oct 12th 2006 12:57PM

dantebk...nobody complained in this post, unless you mean in general. If you mean in general, I agree with you that I could be perfectly happy with playing just first-party nintendo consoles, but I think that n64 proved that a console can't get by in the mass market relying solely on first party titles.
As for me, out of the 5 wii games I want right now (zelda, wario ware, mario galaxy, super smash bros, and metal slug anthology) only one (metal slug) is not first party.

I love nintendo games, what can I say

Gnac @ Oct 12th 2006 12:58PM

YAY! More darryl crap!

Proud to be a Wiitard @ Oct 12th 2006 12:58PM

as for the original post, I find it funny that this piece of software costs more than the wii development kit itself.

chuck @ Oct 12th 2006 1:03PM

hey guys.. this is mildly related to this post..i was browsing craigslist this morning..and ran across a story of gamestop screwing over three brothers. keep in mind that all three brothers had different addresses.

http://kansascity.craigslist.org/sys/219448492.html

Proud to be a Wiitard @ Oct 12th 2006 1:16PM

chuck, you lie! it is not anything related to this post, other than it involves video games.

still a good read though, I hope they can get that taken care of, thats some bullhockey on gamestops behalf.

fush @ Oct 12th 2006 1:16PM

I've been saying for a while now that Nintendo needs to release an API to allow developers to do just this. This will make things much easier for devs. I'm sure the programming is a bitch to track 3 different accelerometers and a IR sensor AND account for various ways to make the motions.

Dr Love @ Oct 12th 2006 1:15PM

Hmm....
Seems like a really good move by Nintendo to me...
This could potentially eliminate (or at least help eliminate) Nintendo's third-pary game problems.

On another note, someone please kill darryl. His ever-idiotic and meaningless posts are grating on my nerves.

Josh @ Oct 12th 2006 1:34PM

Crap! This is so cool! This very very cheap middleware will make game development so freaking easy for the Wii. Imagine not having to manually code in all the motion detection! This makes me want to develop for Wii so badly!

I can't wait until games start showing up that use this! This is huge!

OtakuCODE @ Oct 12th 2006 1:48PM

WTF? $2500? The entire Wii development kit is under $1900! And a tool just to make dealing with the wiimote a bit easier is $2500?

chuck @ Oct 12th 2006 1:48PM

oh hey.. sorry guys.. i mean to post #8 in the wii gamestop article.

> @ Oct 12th 2006 1:49PM

"I don't understand the complaint that the only good games for Nintendo titles are first-party."

This isnt a problem for gamers; its a problem for developers. If the Wii demographic is predisposed to buying Nintendo franchise games ... then its no good for third party franchises and games.

Also, what this means is more convoluted gesture based input. If you think this is good check out games like 3 on 3 hoops or StarFox for DS...gesture based input for the sake of gesture based input..it f*cked up the games alltogether.

And, whatever happened to the freestyle one-to-one mapping of the Wiimote to onscreen movements? Its now just a pointer and gesture input device.

crono141 @ Oct 12th 2006 1:55PM

Uh, yeah. Thats not that outrageous a price (per seat, aka single license, per year. Yep, its a subscription).

Its a highly advanced motion captureing API that probably takes care of every axis on the wiimote, plus pointing capabilities as well.

To put that price in perspective:

I use Pro/Engineer software for 3D solid modeling at work. Its a powerful tool that allows me to build complex machinery in models and work out all the kinks before we even start building anything. The absolute cheapest seat for it goes for around $5000 per year (for 1 license). There are scalable modules that cover CNC programming, Finite Element Analysis, and motion that can scale a single seat up to $15,000 per year.

So in short, for simplifying a controller that exists in TRUE 3D space, 2500 per seat is chump change. I would expect it to be far more.

32_Footsteps @ Oct 12th 2006 1:56PM

Man, what ever happened to darryl? Used to get some really classic fanbot posts out of him. But it's like he's not even trying anymore. At least azn_1080p is still on top of his game.

Well, admittedly, the extra $2500 for a basic development tool for the Wii is a bit disappointing, on top of the $1900 for the basic dev kit. However, it's still dramatically cheaper than any of the dev kits for current gen consoles (though you could develop for the GBA cheaper). I still think it's a good deal for publishers.

Besides, it's not like you have to include motion sensing in every game. I can think of several DS games that you don't really need to use the touch screen for at all - Advance Wars DS is quite fine without the touch screen, and you could easily have remapped New Super Mario Bros. to work without it for the few instances where it's used. I imagine there can be quite a few good Wii games that just use standard controls.

gman @ Oct 12th 2006 2:13PM

Remember, it's NOT 2500 on top of the 1900 dev kit. It's not like nintendo inflated any prices, it only exists to help those who can't otherwise seem to help themselves. The coding for the wii remote is obviously going to be a hell of a task, so for the complete wads that cant seem to get it under control on their own, or dont want/have the time to do so, this is a great alternative built by the motherfuckers who built the hardware. A really good move for those who would rather pay than learn for themselves because of time or other contstraints.

Silver @ Oct 12th 2006 2:27PM

"Man, what ever happened to darryl? Used to get some really classic fanbot posts out of him."

PS3 delay-related depression, methinks.

Todd @ Oct 12th 2006 2:44PM

"freestyle one-to-one mapping of the Wiimote to onscreen movements? Its now just a pointer and gesture input device."

No definately not. It may be now and with launch games, but with middleware like this you'll see more accurate and precise movements in upcoming games. I work in the CADD business and agree with crono141, this type of software is not cheap. Imagine how hard it is to program the Bob Ross painting game where the remote actually replicates the action of a brush as it is pressed harder to a canvis. Software like this will allow someone to strap a brush to the remote and paint a picture and have that information accurately captured. You want more realistic movements for a character then you could probably use it for that too.

John Lucas @ Oct 12th 2006 8:21PM

All going according to plan.

Excellent. *Mr. Burns finger tent*

John Lucas

Bunderant @ Oct 13th 2006 6:16AM

Does no one else see a problem with this middleware? Basically all it does is allow an easy way for developers to create simulated button presses based on motion. I understand that fun games can still be made this way, but if this middleware gets really popular and begins to prevent developers from creating unique gameplay styles by streaming movement to the console, then I'll be a little bit pissed.