Wii third-parties nonplussed by surprise MotionPlus reveal

by Christopher Grant { Jul 23rd 2008 at 3:00PM }

We'll level with you: the game industry confuses us. For example: you'd think with games like Star Wars: The Force Unleashed and Clone Wars, not to mention the recently announced Sonic and the Black Knight, coming to the Wii that Nintendo would have been eager to get the MotionPlus into dev's hands as quickly as possible. Not so, as Game Informer learned when they asked several third-party developers about the peripheral.

Turns out the site uncovered a "general feeling ... of annoyance and betrayal" after Nintendo shared the existence of the device with third parties at the exact same time they shared it with us. Game Informer estimates it would take some six to nine months to incorporate MotionPlus functionality into games and that it's probably too late for games "deep in development." With Wii Sports Resort not due until Spring 2009, that might be just enough time to build some support into upcoming titles. So, let's recap: at Nintendo's E3 showing, the company managed to not only piss off every "core" gamer in existence but a good number of its third-party developers as well. Impressive?

[Via NWF]

Tags: Game-Informer, Wii-MotionPlus

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)

dabamf @ Jul 23rd 2008 3:05PM

Ouch! Is Nintendo in the midst of pride before the fall?

Lone Starr @ Jul 23rd 2008 3:36PM

I don't think Nintendo will fall anytime soon, but I think the Wii hype train may run out of steam if they don't deliver to the people who've made Nintendo what it is in the first place.

By catering to the casaul, they cater to the attention spans of the casual. Wii obviously still has potential, but why invest in this potential if the majority of your user base doesn't particularly care about or want "hardcore" games? The good thing is I think, over time, the returns to Nintendo for investing in hardcore games relative to the returns of casual games will go up.

At least that's what I hope.

AoE @ Jul 23rd 2008 3:48PM

@Lone Starr,

They ARE delivering to the people who put them in a position of success. Did you somehow forget the performance of the Gamecube? How about the N64? Nintendo's hardcore gamer fanbase is a small one, it was the causal market that's allowed them to succeed as much as they have this time around.

Shmil @ Jul 23rd 2008 3:51PM

i'm guessing nintendo will not die as a hero but rather live long enough to become a villain.

Curmeo 2.0 @ Jul 23rd 2008 4:11PM

and to think back, from all the promises and wonders of the black colored Nintendo Revolution to the present day reality of the joke called Wii.

Jack @ Jul 23rd 2008 4:15PM

Nintendo is the new Sony. There I said it.

Lone Starr @ Jul 23rd 2008 4:29PM

@ AoE,

But the thing is, the composition of casual gamers is changing -- there's a lot more females, a lot more older people, a lot of people who weren't playing the N64 and older systems.

I'm not disputing that casual gamers have put Wii where it is -- in fact that's what I'm arguing. What I'm saying is that Nintendo is making a new kind of casual game for a new kind of casual gamer, seemingly at the expense of quality IPs and the fanbase that grew up on Nintendo systems/games.

alxfbn @ Jul 23rd 2008 4:52PM

@ shmil:

have you seen the castle-vidcon webcomic...
Lord Wii is a bastard of a villain in that comic...but a very enjoyable villain...

rdj75 @ Jul 23rd 2008 5:27PM

@shmil

That right there is the best response of all time

Replica23 @ Jul 24th 2008 7:15PM

@AoE

One might argue that Nintendo's hardcore base is large enough to keep the company alive, unlike Sega. The casual gamer didn't get Nintendo through the Nintendo 64 or the Gamecube, the loyal "hardcore" did.

The hype from Nintendo about changing the way we play games never happened. What did happen is Nintendo changing what kind of games they want people to play, and if it wasn't obvious that is not sticking with non-casual gamers. Button mashing has been replaced by flailing your arms, something I would hardly suggest is innovative. Nor is it something I find appealing.

Most "core" games either use traditional controls, are better with traditional controls or have had motion control tacked on after the fact. We need to remember most of the "core" games Nintendo releasd on the Wii actually began life on GC.

tmacairjordan87 @ Jul 23rd 2008 7:51PM

Jack:

You're right, except they don't even have anywhere near the libraries of great games that the ps1 and 2 had.

BananaBoat @ Jul 23rd 2008 11:26PM

Don't forget that Nintendo never would have been in business this long without "core" gamers that continued to buy more and more games, and every single console that ever released. People like my parents and their parents come from a generation where you bought one stove, one fridge, one TV, etc. Does Nintendo think they would have bought each successive console had it not been for the core gamer of the family pushing them from behind?

The way I see it, all the moms and grand parents that bought a Wii for Wii Sports, are still playing Wii Sports, and they might not even buy the new Wii Sports period (Just like they haven't bought any other games but Wii Play yet for the extra controller). The third party developers are already pissed because of the lack of game sales on the wii (game sales that aren't first party that is) and now Nintendo has gone and segmented the market with 50 million peripherals. If some of the new, mature themed games coming down the pipe like Mad World etc, can't sell well on the Wii, we might see a massive exodus of third party developers. At the very least, all we're going to see is cheaply produced party games for the whole family, because that's all that seems to be selling.

Well, atleast I've still got Quake Wii to play. It's kinda fun with the motion controls.

DivineDart @ Jul 23rd 2008 3:06PM

didn't sega do this already?

McWeen @ Jul 23rd 2008 3:11PM

I don't know if the Motion Plus is comparable to 32x or Sega-CD add ons. But you may mean releasing the Saturn without warning to third parties.

If devs just ignore the peripheral that most people won't have anyway I think they will be fine.

DivineDart @ Jul 23rd 2008 3:14PM

Yeah I meant the Saturn.

xFenixKnightx @ Jul 23rd 2008 3:05PM

OMG it just keeps getting worse and worse...

Nintendo and Nintendo of America, the new Dumb and Dumber.

Kye - WiiDSixty DF @ Jul 23rd 2008 3:14PM

I agree.

Also, I hereby quit the NDF Joystiq branch.

Fernando immediately moves from being leader-in-absence to leader and head.
Here are the rings, badges, keys and jacket.

Killjebus @ Jul 23rd 2008 3:14PM

This just PROVES without a doubt the Nintendo does NOT CARE about the hardcore. They have been working on this for a long time I bet and they did not care enough to share this with their 3rd parties. Probably so that they can sell even MORE WiiSports whatever.

OF the big 3, Nintendo is by FAR the worst of the moneygrubers.

At least MS and Sony show REAL effort in making new exciting games and new experiences with online and whatnot.

xFenixKnightx @ Jul 23rd 2008 3:26PM

My question is,

Are these casualgamers/soccermoms/grandmas gonna buy your next console Nintendo? Thats what they are failing to see. Thats pretty much it for them. Why buy anything else? They dont play that much. In 4 or 5 years if theres a party then "hey, lets get the old Wii out" its still fun.

I dont see these casuals upgrading. Why would they? Unlike us "core gamers" (damn I hate that phrase) who are always going to look to eventually move on.

Killjebus @ Jul 23rd 2008 3:40PM

@Fenix

Nintendo cannot see past all the cash that is in front of them. They said it so themselves...Nintendo is looking at NOW, while Sony is looking at now AND 10 years down the road as is MS since they are squarely looking at Sony in trying to beat them.

Competition eeeeYEEEEESSSS!!!! (Hawk Harrelson)

Duke @ Jul 23rd 2008 3:55PM

Good for you Kye!

CTC XBL-supapaypamawio PSN-ctclaw @ Jul 23rd 2008 3:59PM

Killjebus aren't you krazy ken? If so, good to see you back.

samfish @ Jul 23rd 2008 4:02PM

"This just PROVES without a doubt the Nintendo does NOT CARE about the hardcore. They have been working on this for a long time I bet and they did not care enough to share this with their 3rd parties. Probably so that they can sell even MORE WiiSports whatever."

What the fuck? You post some stupid shit (and I eagerly await your next banning), but this takes the cake.
The MotionPlus device is being packaged WITH Wii Sports Resort. Not telling other developers isn't going to HELP WSR's sales, you halfwit. It's going to HURT it, if ANYTHING.

Killjebus @ Jul 23rd 2008 4:13PM

"What the fuck? You post some stupid shit (and I eagerly await your next banning),"

Keep waiting then. I am going to remain civil this time...still sarcastic at times...but civil.

@CTC, yes in the words of Michael #45...cue up fax machine

I'm BACK

Killjebus @ Jul 23rd 2008 4:21PM

"The MotionPlus device is being packaged WITH Wii Sports Resort"

Yes yes...I know this.

But do you think this will be the ONLY game Nintendo will have for the WM+ at launch? They will undoubtably have another "game" or 2 to tag along with it into Grandmas nursing home.

samfish @ Jul 23rd 2008 4:38PM

"But do you think this will be the ONLY game Nintendo will have for the WM+ at launch? They will undoubtably have another "game" or 2 to tag along with it into Grandmas nursing home."

I doubt it. Just like they had all those other games to go along with the Balance Board at Wii Fit's launch, right? There was We Ski, and that was made by Namco, I believe.
This isn't "arrogance" or "greed" or anything like that. It's classic, stupid Nintendo being classically, stupidly secretive.

Co @ Jul 23rd 2008 8:23PM

I'm gonna laugh when the next Nintendo is a Wii 2 with 1080p output and 10 GB of solid state memory. Then all you will think it's acceptable again because apparently the resolution type and processing power is all that seems to be needed to pass you guys QA checks for TEH HARDCOORZ game systems.

Stop bitching and whining and get back to your 360/PS3. You don't hear me crying about how the 360 isn't like the Wii. BTW, 1st place is great!

Xbox 360: The Ohio State University of gaming consoles.

Co @ Jul 23rd 2008 8:34PM

And another thing:

What do you guys want, the Gamecube 2? Yeah that really would ahve worked well for Nintendo. Provided they're in business to NOT make money.

Damned if they do damned if they don't.

Where am I the Player Hater's Ball? http://www.comedycentral.com/videos/index.jhtml?videoId=24419&title=playa-haters-ball

Questworld @ Jul 24th 2008 12:38AM

First of all, isn't this the whole point of E3 as a trade convention?

And secondly, who's to say they've had this under their sleeves for months. The new Wii Sports games aren't exactly that hard to make. In fact some would and have said that Wii Sports in itself is a "glorified tech demo." For all we know they've got his working and well tested a few weeks ago. It's probably the reason it's coming out next year.

Get a grip already.

Burnt Meatloaf @ Jul 24th 2008 5:25AM

I guess Nintendo of Europe wasn't just an isolated incident after all.

Kye - WiiDSixty DF @ Jul 23rd 2008 3:06PM

It seems that as long as their pockets are fat and getting fatter they don't need to try hard, or even attempt to please anyone.

Not to wish badly on them, but I hope they take a good few knocks. Maybe that will make them start working again.

Gronk @ Jul 23rd 2008 3:28PM

When Nintendo is successful they are an obnoxious, stubborn monster. It brings back memories of their early years. Particularly the 8-bit days.

Killjebus @ Jul 23rd 2008 3:43PM

"When Nintendo is successful they are an obnoxious, stubborn monster"

And people thought Sony was arrogant. At least Sony spent countless millions of the money they made off of gaming in the development of the PS3.

How much do you think Nintendo spent on developing the WiiCube?

J @ Jul 23rd 2008 4:49PM

Thanx killjebus. That's how I've been feeling, but never bothered to put into words.

Anti-Sony's have been making fun of Sony for investing so much money for its console and games that they can't even afford to buy exclusives from third-parties.

Now here we see that Nintendo is the complete opposite. Making so much money from customers, but giving back so little. Isn't THAT something that should be frowned upon?

Kye - Me_DF @ Jul 23rd 2008 5:56PM

In short;

Sony - Will try hard, but lie to you and tell you to expect more than you will get.

Nintendo - Will try `till they think they've done enough, then stop trying.

I am a machineee @ Jul 23rd 2008 3:09PM

Greaaat! Those are the only games in development we know about right now that are worth waiting for MotionPlus to work with and it's too late.

j.howlett @ Jul 23rd 2008 3:10PM

i ain't mad at ya

Mukky @ Jul 23rd 2008 3:19PM

itll take 6 to 9 months to incorporate functionality but the peripheral won't be released for at least 9 months anyway, so whats there to complain about??

And are these the same 3rd parties that haven't mastered the existing Wii motion controls?? What is there to feel betrayed about considering how nintendo has revealed most information concerning Wii, disappointe i can understand but betrayed?? thats a little overdramatic isnt it??

Dirty @ Jul 23rd 2008 3:27PM

NINTENDO MUST DIE!!!! I HATE THEM ALL!!! BACKSTABBERS!!!

what were we talking about again?

Korova of the highlands @ Jul 23rd 2008 4:26PM

You are kinda right, there Mukky. 1st and 3rd party devs have the same time to integrate it. It will take them 6-9 months (to March 2009) to release it as well. I dont know what is up with the collective hissie fit.

They developed new tech, they announced it. Everyone is equal.

Curmeo 2.0 @ Jul 23rd 2008 3:13PM

lol even devs and publishers are sick of Nintendonald's crap.

E308 the beginning of the end for Nintendonald's? with the way they're ruining the industry, i hope so...

Gonz @ Jul 23rd 2008 3:26PM

Ruining the industry? Don't blame the Nintendo philosophy for this flub. Bringing new generations into video gaming is a quality philosophy to protect against industrial stagnancy.

Killjebus @ Jul 23rd 2008 3:24PM

The thing is Curmeo is that Nintendo could have been the new Playstation if they actually tried to put out a system with some decent specs AND motion control.

They could have had the casual eating up Wii minigames whatever in glorious HD and the Hardcore experiencing Nintendo classics in HD. Can you imagine how big a Zelda or Mario would be if it looked as lifelike (in a pixar sense) as RaC TOD?

They went the super Kmart Wallmart cheapo special on the hardware AND saw so many $$ signs that they completely abandoned their loyal following AND pissing all over 3rd party developers AGAIN.

Nintendo must really enjoy shitting on 3rd party...they have been doing it for a loooooooong time.

My 1.5+ year old prediction of the Wii isnt looking so outlandish now isnt it.

Shadow El @ Jul 23rd 2008 3:28PM

If I have to read "Nintendonald's" one more time, I'll shoot someone.

Gamers come up with the worst phrases just so they can have a "cool" way to complain about stuff.

Mr Khan @ Jul 23rd 2008 3:33PM

No. You're just being opportunistic. Now that it's cool to hate again (remember that, kids!), you two both crawled out of the woodwork to proclaim some sort of victory.

The betrayal of Nintendo is limited to the fact that they promised core titles that maximized their franchises, and, in a hideous bait-and-switch, failed miserably after hyping their own show. Everyone is proclaiming "abandonment," but anyone who actually pays attention and isn't just some insecure, self-proclaimed "core gamer" capitalizing on their long-standing hate for the console, realizes that they haven't abandoned us at all. If they had, would they have done Voice Chat at all? Would they have revived classic 2D Wario Land? Would they have wooed Tecmo into making Fatal Frame IV Wii exclusive through a joint effort to promote the new FF?

It's not baseless hate anymore, it's hate from people who are cherry-picking the facts, and making the keynote address the be-all and end-all of what's happening on Nintendo platforms

Curmeo 2.0 @ Jul 23rd 2008 3:38PM

you're right Killjebis. seriously if Nintendonald's released the system you described, i would be an owner right now.

my main concern is the casual success of Wii is influencing 3rd party devs to shift focus from hardcore games to casual games. look at EA creating a whole seperate division for casual games. look at Ubisoft. sure right now the situation isnt dangerous but who knows how bad it will go if this Wii casual BS doesnt stop. i dont wanna have to see the day where a Final Fantasy game or something is postponed or put aside because Squeenix thought it was a better idea to make DollHouse for Wii and DS.

there's the "Nintendonald's Wii way" to do casual games and then there's the "proper way". look at Wii Sports and Wii music and then look at how Sony and MS are making casual games: LBP and Lips. i rest my case.

Shadow El @ Jul 23rd 2008 3:41PM

Curmeo, I hope you'll be satisfied when you find out the number of people I've killed not just because of your use of that absolutely moronic colloquialism, but also because of the sheer and abject stupidity and fanboyism found in your posts.

Killjebus @ Jul 23rd 2008 3:49PM

"you're right Killjebis. seriously if Nintendonald's released the system you described, i would be an owner right now."

I would too.

@Mr. Khan,

I am not crawling out of the woodwork, I was still coming to this site pretty much everyday just reading the posts. I decided to stay away for a while and now I decided to come back. The veil is being lifted and the Burqua is coming off and people and developers are seeing the Wii as she truely is...OLD, WEAK, and UGLY.

I said this would happen, as did Curmeo, as did Shiggy...then majority said we were KAYrazy but now it appears that in one week, Nintendo has pissed off CoreGamers AND developers. Those two combined can and probably will come back to bite Mario on his plumbers Kayrack REALLY hard.

No good real concerted efforts by 3rd party is BAAAAD news for Nintendo whether they know it or not.

Donald @ Jul 23rd 2008 4:12PM

Are we still whining about Nintendo? How fun.

I seriously hope that Curmeo and Killjebus get shot. They're the type of people that will decide they like Burger King so much more than McDonald's and just to show their dominance and how cool their selected greasy burger is, would fight to the death in Crusader-like fashion to defend it.

I really wish that all of the fanboys would go to the fanboy specific sub-sites and leave the main site to people that aren't assclowns.

Shaq-Fu @ Jul 23rd 2008 4:16PM

Really CuRedRobins? got anything other than Nintendonalds?

Also, LBP casual? Lips? Nobody is going to buy lips because you've already got SingStar, and LBP is NOT casual, its just not "hardcore" either.

Also, nobody seems to mind when Shane Kim showed off You're In the Movies or Viva Pinata or Banjoo Kazooie: Who Really Gives a Fuck Anymore.

If Nintendo(nalds) is ruining gaming, they sure as hell got Microsoft to hope aboard the bandwagon.

Also, STFU about "core gamers". Nintendos "core" (jesus I HATE that word) this generation IS the casual gamer. GameCube flopped, Nintendo knew that. Why? THEY TRIED TO FOCUS ON THE HARDCORE GAMER. And they realized there are only so many "1337" freeks out on this Earth, but there are an endless supply of Parents and people who just want to sit back and enjoy a game that may or may not have an objective to it.

Also, If Wii= 2 Gamecubes, then 360=2 XBOXs, DS=2 GBA, etc. Thats the natural progression of consoles. Sony PS4 is going to be a PS3 with new features (YELLO-RAY FTW!)