Wii Blaster isn't Nintendo product
by Alexander Sliwinski 
{ Apr 30th 2007 at 11:05PM }
At the beginning of the month we were quite excited to see on Gamestop's website what we thought would be Nintendo's 21st century answer to the Zapper -- the Wii Blaster. Well, apparently GameSpot spent the last month hitting the refresh button on that page and discovered that the Wii Blaster is actually another third-party peripheral in the same vein as Joytech's Sharp Shooter. So, back to wanting, wishing, hoping and praying for our first-party Nintendo Zapper to come.It looks like when Duck Hunt and Hogan's Alley are finally unleashed on the Virtual Console we'll have to use a third-party gun to play them. That just sounds thoroughly unappealing. If Nintendo is coming out with a gun, it still hasn't popped up on our radar and there are plenty of Zapper and Super Scope titles it could be used on, which we expect to see on the VC sometime in the future.
[Via Gamespot]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Steve Shickles @ Apr 30th 2007 11:20PM
A weapon would be nice for the Wii.
hvnlysoldr @ Apr 30th 2007 11:28PM
There should be Time Crisis-type light gun games on VC!
Shadow @ May 1st 2007 2:39AM
Call me crazy, but wouldn't we need a GCN peripheral to use on said games? The Wiimote works MUCH differently than the zapper used. They would have to change the ROM quite a bit to accommodate for the Wiimote, plus Duck Hunt is one game I want unchanged. I can get used to the Wii pointing and clicking as it's no big deal to me, but I want to actually be able to aim at ducks as they come flying overhead.
seantastic @ Apr 30th 2007 11:34PM
My guess is that when Duck Hunt and Hogan's Alley are released, you'll have to play them with the D-pad like they were on the original NES. If they didn't put the memory pack data into Mario Kart 64 or the rumble pack into Star Fox 64, I doubt they'll go through the trouble of getting the sensor bar to work with NES games.
Now if they're making shooting games for their so far theoretical original game channel, that's a different story...
LuigiHann @ Apr 30th 2007 11:53PM
When did people start doing so much crack? Why would you need to buy a third party peripheral when the Wii Remote has a perfectly good pointing function? And how would you play Duck Hunt with the D-pad?
kiwi @ Apr 30th 2007 11:59PM
Unfortunately, I think it will be tough to get Duck Hunt and other zapper games to work on the VC with any type of "zapper" functionality...
The way these games worked was very specific to the original zapper... you pull the trigger, the screen would flash black, then a white square would show up where the "hit" area was, and the gun would report if you were pointing there...
So there's two problems... one, the wiimote doesn't work like this... and two, if you're using a HDTV, this method won't work anymore either becuase of timing issues.
Trace @ May 1st 2007 12:22AM
It WOULD work, theoretically, with a (in)visible cursor on the screen, representing where the Wiimote is pointing, and where the lightgun would be pointing. When the trigger is pressed, the VC emulator would simply poll the pixel colour under the cursor, just as the NES would poll the sensor colour from the lightgun.
And, LuigiHann, you're missing the point COMPLETELY. This is not about a third party pointing device, its about a snap-in holder for the wiimote that feels like a lightgun. It simply holds the wiimote and gives you a comfortable gun-like handle. The only person smoking crack here is you.
Trace @ May 1st 2007 12:24AM
Just to add to my comment, the odds that Nintendo will actually implement this are extremely small. Personally, I don't think we'll see lightgun games on the VC at all.
Blizz4l9 @ May 1st 2007 12:33AM
there was no Dpad play on duck hunt, so someone is on crack and that is seantastic, Dpad duck hunt lol.
Nushio @ May 1st 2007 12:50AM
Actually Blizz419, here's a fun fact:
On duck hunt, you could plug a second pad, and move around a duck with the DPad :P
Blizz4l9 @ May 1st 2007 12:56AM
yes Nushio you are correct i remember that, but you could not actually play the game with the Dpad,you could mess with your buddy while he was playing, you couldn't target and shoot with a dpad. its pretty obvious that's not what seantastic meant considering there was no way to progress through the game in that manner.
LuigiHann @ May 1st 2007 1:32AM
If you missed it, I was referring to this quote:
"It looks like when Duck Hunt and Hogan's Alley are finally unleashed on the Virtual Console we'll have to use a third-party gun to play them."
Note the words "have to."
I do admit I was being hyperbolic.
Chris Putnam @ May 1st 2007 2:47AM
A snap-together lightgun like this won't really work for Wii, because aiming with a lightgun and aiming with the Wiimote are completely different concepts. With a gun you look down the barrel to find where you're pointing, while with the Wiimote you have to "shoot from the hip" using only the cursor on the screen, because the remote doesn't actually target where it's pointing (try it if you haven't already).
I guess you could use this if you really wanted a more realistic-feeling gun and the game you were playing didn't need any buttons but the trigger, but the Wiimote on its own really works pretty well for this, if you ask me.
Xian! @ May 1st 2007 4:01AM
I get the feeling that Nintendo will be really, really careful about making a virtual gun. They won't even make M rated games, after all. It would only be more ammunition for Jack Thompson and like-minded anti-everything enthusiasts. Nintendo's version of a Wii gun will probably look nothing like a gun, leaving the "murder simulators" to third parties.
My prediction: A wrist-strapped Wiimote holder, perfect for X-Men and Spiderman type games.
Gavin @ May 1st 2007 4:49AM
So far the ROMs have just been dumped onto the VC. If they didn't do anything about the ghost race thing, they probably don't give a shit about getting Duck Hunt and Hogan's Alley working unless they can slightly spruce up the graphics and sucker you into paying $50 bucks for it. That's the way they roll.
phantom42 @ May 1st 2007 7:43AM
@LuigiHann
how? the same way you played operation: wolf with the d-pad.
it sucked, but it was an option.
horngreen @ May 1st 2007 8:17AM
LOL it looks like a musket pistol.
Alex @ May 1st 2007 8:44AM
I'd buy that peripheral for Resident Evil
Konny @ May 1st 2007 9:16AM
Lame.. most people dont even understand that the wiimote is not even wiimotely close to a light gun. If you're expecting pixel perfect accuracy looking down the barrel of the wiimote, you're in for a big surprise.
hvnlysoldr @ May 1st 2007 9:17AM
Use the sight on the gun? I always shoot from the hip or the side and usually have 80% accuracy. Also maybe the zapper peripheral will be specially programmed to act as the light gun.
Almack64 @ May 1st 2007 9:39AM
Yes I just want to add my own comment concerning seantastic smoking crack either that or he's too young (or too lazy too look it up on wikipedia) to know that Duck Hunt used the lightgun not the nes pad. My first thought was WTH.
Please people try not to reveal your age, I like to think that I'm actually talking to other people who actually owned the orginal Nes when it first came out.
In any case I do have to give him credit for realizing that it would be very difficult to get the wiimote to work in the game in place of the lightgun since Nintendo doesn't seem too big own changing any aspect of the roms.
Joseph Villalobos @ May 1st 2007 10:07AM
Neither was the steering wheel, and how many of us have one or two? ;)
Crono @ May 1st 2007 10:46AM
What trace said in comment 6 is probably the easiest and most likely implementation for light gun BC. Additionally, they'd have to have a pre-game calibration screen that would calibrate the wiimote aiming for pixel perfect accuracy. Just look down the "scope" of the addon, aim as best you can at the 4 corners of the screen and at the center, viola, pixel perfect light gun.
The downside, of course, is that once calibrated, you can't move from your seat, or you'll screw up the calibration. But this was the same as it was for the SNES superscope.
Whether they'll take the time to do it or not is another matter entirely, though.
Keith Sheehan @ May 1st 2007 1:30PM
When was the last time a first-party gun controller was made? The 16-bit era?
The Big 3 won't ever release a first-party controller for their consoles. One would cause too much controversy in today's world and would make the companies an instant target of Congress, litigation, and other right-winged non-sense. And, yes, that is a sad thing.
Mr Khan @ May 1st 2007 4:55PM
@ Keith Sheehan
You forget what country we're in. We love guns here! If congress didn't bat an eye at how a mentally disturbed foreigner was able to purchase guns, allowed the assault weapons ban to expire.
Anyway, you people don't realize that the blaster you're seeing here has nothing to do with the blaster that was shown briefly at E3. That blaster was a peripheral (it had an analog stick on the back), this is just a glorified plastic case