Wii Sports has control issues

*article: "The movement of these Mii-alike athletes is all done automatically by the game. You simply swing the Wii remote back and forth to make your on-screen character do the same thing."

We've all known this for a while. Given that the Wii is aimed at casual gamers and true 3D space cannot translate directly to a 2D screen, compromises have to be made, including:

* Automatic control and other assists
* Large handicap
* Large dead zone
* Accomodations for different play styles
* Additional handicaps for people with limited motion

...and of course:

* Scaling. Moving the controller a little or a lot has to achieve the same thing, yet, the console has to decide whether large or small movements are intentional or not. It's rediculous to suggest that a flick of the wrist and an arm swing will be interpreted the same way by a game.

There's too many problems, here. I suspect a lot of Wii games will try to play themselves, and people will be contantly struggling to overcome the assists and AI control. "Helpers" are not a good thing, and are extremely difficult to develop and fine-tune, as well.

It looks cool, but there are reasons why motion controls have not enjoyed much popularity in recent years. Most companies figured this out in the 1980's when VR experiments failed left and right.

The pointer is the Wii's main selling point. The motion sensor is not very practical or versitile.

Oh yeah, and people will be encouraged to by the Virtal Console controller. Some games will require it. If the Wiimote is so good, why do you have to buy yet another controller?

I'm not getting the Wii for Wii Sports. Sure I'll play it once just to feel the gameplay of the Wiimote, but this isn't going to be an amazing game. I'll use it as a demo, and then get to the real meat and potatoes of the system, like mario and zelda. If people really had such high hopes for this game, then too bad. Just suck it up, don't play it if you don't want to, or instead, save up 350 extra dollars, and buy a PS3 with no games. Sound good?

I'm very disappointed that the game play wasn't developed further. Or, considering that it was a first party release, does the wii have the capability to be developed beyond the basics? After hearing this, I'll wait a little before I get a wii. I don't like to through my money away even if it is the cheapest console.

and who is this Matt you speak of?

really now. like Mr. Casamassina has any influential power in anything, at all, whatsoever.

Crackjaw (#41), you're an idiot.

It's funny how everyone badmouthing the Wii is a 360 or Sony fanboy who is trying to get nintendo fans back for making them look like dumbasses over and over again.

Allow me to do it once more.

The Wii is coming packed with a traditional controller (similar to Sony's Dual Shock, but more "Nintendo-looking") and is compatable with Gamecube controllers. Not every game has to use the new method of control, games using the traditional control can be developed for it too. It's just more options. If you actually kept up a little bit you'd know that already and not make an ass out of yourself in an attempt to make the rival of your favorite system look bad. I believe the rest of the Wii-haters have been addressed already. Sony fans suck it (just like Sony sucks your wallets)

P.S. It kills me the way Sony gets so much credit for selling so many PS2s. How forgetful is everybody? How many of those 120 million are a 2nd or even third buy? I'd say most of them. They've "sold" 120 million, but out of that amount, only probably 50 or 60 million still work and are still used. Everyone I know who has one has already went through their first one and is using at least their second one, as am I. And you can easily find people who have bought 4 PS2s because they keep dying. That being said, has PS2 outsold the competition because it's better? No. Sony hustled the whole world and still has blind fans who just don't get it.

Now wait just a darn minute. Wii Sports is meant to be a very easy game to play for anyoen who is purchasing the Wii. Including the non-gamers that Nintendo is expecting to sell this for.

So this sort of thing should not be an issue with anyone. It's a simple way for someone to play a simple game. If you want more depth, you should go and buy games like Far Cry, Red Steel, Mario, Metroid Prime 3, etc.

"The Wii is coming packed with a traditional controller (similar to Sony's Dual Shock, but more "Nintendo-looking") and is compatable with Gamecube controllers." [TDub301]

no. no it isn't.

(1) Wii Remote
(1) Nunchuk

the Classic Controller is an extra purchase. not a pack-in.

#15
"so nintendo cant even get a tech demo to work well with its new machine. but wait its soooooooooo innovative.

who needs graphics when i have a game that will play itself for me. so the small flick of the wrist makes things work better than the full gestures? thats oodles of fun"

So you're saying that you'd rather play the oh-so-complicated button push games from Microsoft and Sony?