Wii MotionPlus co-developer demos tech in new video

by Randy Nelson { Jul 30th 2008 at 9:15PM }

Now that E3 is over and the secret's out, middleware maker and Wii MotionPlus co-developer AiLive is openly touting what its LiveMove 2 toolset is capable of when paired with Nintendo's upcoming add-on. The above video is meant to encourage developers to adopt LiveMove 2 for creating their MotionPlus-enabled games (they can use all the help they can get, considering they didn't find out about the Wii remote upgrade until we did) but, more than anything, it's encouraging us to dream of a 1:1 lightsaber fighting game.

We bring that up because a good chunk of the video is devoted to showing one of AiLive's staff playing around with a "laser sword," demonstrating how it captures every subtle movement of the remote – the footage even shows how an on-screen "dummy" can be clocked with the sword's hilt. Impressive stuff, and we desperately hope LucasArts is taking notice.

Tags: ailive, livemove-2, motionplus, nintendo

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

Gun Barrier (Gamer Tag) @ Jul 30th 2008 9:19PM

Awsome. This will be a great add on for games.

bigsofty @ Jul 30th 2008 11:00PM

As I've said all along, its a great controller on a very mediocre console...

Cody @ Jul 30th 2008 11:03PM

bigsofty everyone! He'll be here all week.

Tiptup300 @ Jul 30th 2008 11:14PM

I'd love to see the Euphoria engine running on the wii now.

The thing that gets me, is that the the Wii should already have had this functionality.

the_insider @ Jul 31st 2008 4:23AM

Unfortunately though the Wii probably lacks sufficient horsepower to really take advantage of Euphoria and still have a complex game on top of it all.

I don't think Nintendo necessarily would have had to match the 360 and PS3 in power since it runs in SD but a little more juice really would have made a difference...

Jack @ Jul 31st 2008 1:44PM

How is it that big softy was voted down when the insider said re-iterated what he/she was saying?

Saria the Cat @ Jul 30th 2008 9:22PM

I don't think he could have sucked the soul or fun out of that presentation more. He was showing really cool stuff but it didn't sound like it.

idiot @ Jul 30th 2008 9:30PM

*obligatory British bad teeth comment*

forestofdeath @ Jul 30th 2008 10:11PM

really? i got a kick out of hearing him say "sword fighting" a third of the way through the video.

xGeneral DEATHx @ Jul 31st 2008 9:46AM

ZZZZzzzzZZZZZzzzzzz**-Wha?!?!

Ben @ Jul 31st 2008 12:37PM

I liked his "whack" sound effect at 2:11. It really spruced up the video, made it overall more enjoyable, for me at least.

Fernando Rocker @ Jul 30th 2008 9:26PM

Looks very nice.

One Zelda Wii with MotionPlus please.

mr mobius @ Jul 30th 2008 10:21PM

Thats the one thing I took away from the mention that the Zelda team was hard at work and the announcement of the Wii MotionPlus. Lets face it, the Zelda team will make sure they have time with it before they actually release a Zelda as they are perfectionists. I know they will have had time already with it for a few months at least but you'll see Zelda trailer at the next E3 if not before that.

jitty @ Jul 30th 2008 9:27PM

I've been apathetic towards the wii for a long time but this actually seems pretty interesting. Still think Nintendo should have had this at the wii's launch. Maybe then I would have bought one by now...

Cody @ Jul 30th 2008 11:06PM

They've stated repeatedly that this technology was not feasible in this form for mass market production at the time of the Wii launch (late 2006) or else it would have been.

jitty @ Jul 31st 2008 12:26AM

@ Cody

I think what they were actually saying was "If we'd put it in at launch, the wii wouldn't have been so damn cheap to make"

Co @ Jul 31st 2008 12:28AM

Well something Nintendo is not is Sony. And we see how far putting the latest and greatest into your console at launch gets ya. Now for the rest of this generation they're playing catch up.

Noshino @ Jul 31st 2008 5:40AM

Cody,

Even though it isnt noticeable, Nintendo has been a profitable company through the Gamecube years, and their profits only increased with the release of the DS

They did have the means to make this happen from the getgo (but then again, wasn't the Wiimote supposed to be able to do this? lol)

"They've stated repeatedly that this technology was not feasible in this form for mass market production at the time of the Wii launch (late 2006) or else it would have been."

BS, best example of that? WiiSpeak

Ben @ Jul 31st 2008 1:01PM

Noshino
"'They've stated repeatedly that this technology was not feasible in this form for mass market production at the time of the Wii launch (late 2006) or else it would have been.'
BS, best example of that? WiiSpeak"
First of all, WiiSpeak is not what that quote was referring to. Obviously it's a reference to the Wii MotionPlus. Microphones, even wireless microphones have been available for cheap for years now, so why would they be talking about WiiSpeak.
Second of all, having worked with engineers at a medical tech company, I've had experience with motion sensors (not exactly the ones used in the MotionPlus, but more like the ones already used in the Wii Remote) and they're not exactly the cheapest things. The company manufacturing them has to make sure the finished product passes numerous tests before they can be shipped, and depending on how long they've been making the sensor, not all of them may pass inspection. So, just like products like CPUs and GPUs, the longer they've been manufacturing the product, the better the technology gets, and the higher the yield is of the final product. It could definitely be plausible that the sensor used in the MotionPlus could have been three or four times the price it is now in 2006, which would mean that the technology would have been too expensive to put in every Wii Remote

jitty @ Jul 31st 2008 3:15PM

@ Ben

You don't seem to get the point. Even if the motion plus would have cost $100 to manufacture alone at wii's launch, the wii would still cost less than $350 to make. And Nintendo could have priced it at $350 (cheaper than the 360) Or if they were willing to take a small hit for gamers, priced the wii at $300. But no, nintendo cares about making a profit as much if not more than how much they care about their gamers. At least that's what it seems to me.

Obie @ Jul 30th 2008 9:34PM

The Wii has the means to do some great stuff, now lets see developers push the envelope.

DEEZNUTZ @ Jul 30th 2008 9:34PM

Looks like they were able to print enough money for R&D to finally get the motion controls right.

SoulBlade @ Jul 30th 2008 9:34PM

I wouldn't want to see this be an integral part of a Zelda game. Could lead to some rather cool ideas, and hopefully some better gameplay mechanics... but I don't want it in Zelda... I fear they'd focus way too much on the WMP aspect instead of everything else that makes Zelda what it is.

And the star wars... well if unleashed sells, then maybe... but lucas arts won't do a lightsaber game if unleashed bombs.

mr mobius @ Jul 30th 2008 10:24PM

They did say that the next Zelda would be different. Maybe thats what they meant.

I just bought Okami for the Wii today to tide me over until I get Zelda news. I figure it's the nearest I'll get to a Zelda game on the Wii except for Twilight Princess which have already played over 40 hours of.

Cody @ Jul 30th 2008 11:18PM

mr mobious, it is DAMN CLOSE to Twilight Princess. A little lengthy, but a blast to play.

SoulBlade, I wonder how you switch in-game from 1:1 motion to IR control? Or even from 1:1 to no motion detection at all? I guess that's why I don't develop games.

SoulBlade @ Jul 31st 2008 9:37AM

Cody, I think the IR is strictly for the pointing. The motion sensing and pointer location is sent over bluetooth. At least that's what I think... could be wrong.

I think the easiest thing for the cases you brought up would be to ignore the input messages coming in from the Wiimote that you don't care about. All of that can be dealt with easily if the game code is structured properly.

j.howlett @ Jul 30th 2008 9:50PM

don't want to come off too crass but i was wanting him to hit the dummy in the nuts or something to see if it can be that precis. it was pretty cool though.

eldee @ Jul 30th 2008 9:48PM

FINALLY, my lame family-oriented games will have paralleled accuracy and performance. But I still won't play them!

jimmygotsmack @ Jul 30th 2008 10:20PM

Not another one of theses casual games trollings. Here I was thinking how fun dismembering things with a lightsaber could be now, but if you want family oriented games, go ahead.

Drago Dracini @ Jul 30th 2008 10:57PM

He has a point though. Nintendo is betraying it's loyal fans from all of 5 years ago and coming out with loads of family based entertainment. It's sad, I grew up on them. And I'll keep being synical of nintendo until they make it up to us.

Donald @ Jul 30th 2008 11:10PM

They don't need to make up anything to you. People are so self-centered aren't they?

jimmygotsmack @ Jul 31st 2008 12:55AM

Betrayed us by giving us family friendly entertainment? I'm sorry, I must have been somewhere else when they made the original Nintendo. 5 years? What the hell are you talking about? that would put us in the game cube era.

Now looking at the other comments, looks like others agree.

People are so over dramatic these days. Just look at the devil may cry 4 petition.

In anycase, heh, one star.

eldee @ Jul 31st 2008 1:00AM

The consumers drive the economy, jackass, not the corporations. As soon as grandma dies and mom and dad get tired of their hip new fad, the core gamers will still be here, and nintendo will have a lot of making up to do.

And to those who modded my parent post down- uh, I have a wii. I can personally speak from experience that the only time I've touched it in the past 6 months was to run a cloth over it to keep the dust from settling on it. You slam my post as trolling, yet you're reading joystiq so I assume you're keeping up with the latest news.. how can you say I'm trolling after the Nintendo's stellar showing at E3? You see anything that caters to the gaming core from their E3 announcements? Or more stupid casual shit? Personally I'm tired of bobsledding on my ass and playing the same three games over and over again. I want a new game that isn't aimed at either my 3 year old neice or my 90 year old grandmother.

Until that happens I (and every other wii owner) have a right to call out stupid shit like this.

best publisher indeed.. best publisher of shovelware and gimmicks.

The Fatass of Kickassness @ Jul 31st 2008 1:20AM

"Nintendo is betraying it's loyal fans from all of 5 years ago and coming out with loads of family based entertainment."

Uh, since when? Over the last two years Nintendo has pumped out it's core titles at an amazing rate... and they've more often than not been the best in their respective series. Yeah, it's disappointing that Nintendo devoted an entire conference to shit we won't be interested in, but to say that they haven't been giving the core gamer MORE than what should be expected from a single developer is kinda dumb.

Noshino @ Jul 31st 2008 6:29AM

Fatass,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_video_games_published_by_Nintendo#Wii

Is that an amazing rate? really?

During the Gamecube days they developed games at faster rates and with more quality, your argument is just pure bull.

Also, I don't really see where are those core games that you are claiming to have been released

For the GameCube

2004
Mario Power Tennis (Only Mario Sport series that still hardcore)
Metroid Prime 2: Echoes
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
Pikmin 2

2005
Battalion Wars
Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance
Geist
Star Fox: Assault

2006
Baten Kaitos Origins
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Odama

For the Wii

2006
Excite Truck
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

2007
Super Paper Mario
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
Battalion Wars 2
Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn
Super Mario Galaxy

2008
Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Mario Kart Wii
Wario Land: Shake It!

So 11 titles for the GameCube on its last years (by which the development of Wii titles should have started) compared to 10 titles for the Wii (and Im doing you a favor by even including Twilight Princess, and I was unsure about Wario Land since this is the first installment outside of the handhelds)

So please, enlighten me, what is that higher rate of core game pumping that you are talking about?

jimmygotsmack @ Jul 31st 2008 8:49AM

"The consumers drive the economy, jackass, not the corporations."

So now your saying you should sell to the masses, which right now, to you anyway, is grandma,grandpa, mom and dad.

"As soon as grandma dies and mom and dad get tired of their hip new fad, the core gamers will still be here, and nintendo will have a lot of making up to do."

Wouldn't mom become the the grandma. Even so, would the market change to adapt to this, as you said, it is consumer based. This is also saying that the wii is a fad, yes a two year old fad... Anyway.

"And to those who modded my parent post down- uh, I have a wii. I can personally speak from experience that the only time I've touched it in the past 6 months was to run a cloth over it to keep the dust from settling on it."

Blah blah blah, you know my wii has dust on it to, that's because its an electronic device you shouldn't be touching or moving around alot. In anycase, so your experience becomes law now? If thats the case my ps3 hardly ever gets turned on, the last time I did was when I beat mg4, the time before that was when I bought lair brand new.... Lets not talk about lair.

"You slam my post as trolling, yet you're reading joystiq so I assume you're keeping up with the latest news.. how can you say I'm trolling after the Nintendo's stellar showing at E3? You see anything that caters to the gaming core from their E3 announcements?"

Casual, core, these are terms made up by people who want to feel special, I just play games that are, you know, FUN, but no, video games need things like achievements, or 4d graphics, or HDTVs to be games, screw if there fun.

Btw, man that was a horribly funny presentation, wtf was with the drum solo, lol.

To be fair, all the presentations at e3 where horrible. Most of the games on display where games that had already been shown for years. Look are zero punctuation for more details, although he was just saying what everyone else was, saying.

"Personally I'm tired of bobsledding on my ass and playing the same three games over and over again. I want a new game that isn't aimed at either my 3 year old neice or my 90 year old grandmother."

Maybe you should try buying new games?

I don't know what your problem is, but I have an easy time finding a new game and enjoying it, generally what you would consider "core" gaming. Of course if you want games that only get 9 out of 10, and makes rainbows every time you turn on your system, you would be out of luck, no matter which platform, hell metacritic only shows 12 games for xbox360 that meets that criteria. Ironically, ps3 and the wii are tied for games in the 90s.

"Until that happens I (and every other wii owner) have a right to call out stupid shit like this."

and I and every wii owner have a right to call you a dumbass.

"best publisher indeed.. best publisher of shovelware and gimmicks."

Wouldn't the publisher for most of those be companies like Conspiracy Entertainment, who also made those games on the ps2.

jimmygotsmack @ Jul 31st 2008 9:22AM

@Noshio

They are still pumping faster then Microsoft and Sony. Are we counting sport games? Quality over Quantity?

xbox360

# 2007

* ShadowRun
* Viva Piñata
* Gears of War

# Announced for 2008

* Alan Wake

PS3
o Genji: Days of the Blade
o Resistance: Fall of Man
* 2007
o Folklore
o Formula One Championship Edition
o Gran Turismo 5 Prologue (Asia and Japan only)

o Heavenly Sword

o Lair

o MotorStorm

o Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction

o Uncharted: Drake's Fortune

o Warhawk

* 2008
o Buzz! Quiz TV
o Gran Turismo 5 Prologue
o Hot Shots Golf 5
o SingStar

Sony has about 10+ "core" games, some of which where horrible or obviously not finished "motor storm", and Microsoft even less. What ever happend to the days where people where impressed if a company made even one game a year. If that ever existed.

I'm losing track here, are sports game consider core, or casual. I know there is alot of madden football players that never play any other game besides madden. What are racing games consider now?

Noshino @ Jul 31st 2008 10:27AM

jimmygotsmack,

Selective reading huh?

Anyway, As for Sony, thing is, unlike Nintendo that completely dropped development of titles for the GameCube soon after the Wii was released, they kept development for both the PS2 and PS3.

So sure, let's count the amount of core titles of the last 3 years pre-PS3 just like I did for the GameCube

2004

The Getaway: Black Monday
Gran Turismo 4
Jak 3
Killzone
Sly 2: Band of Thieves
Ratchet and Clank: Up Your Arsenal
Syphon Filter: The Omega Strain

2005

God of War
Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves
Ratchet: Deadlocked
Rogue Galaxy
Shadow of the Colossus
SOCOM 3: U.S. Navy SEALs
Wild Arms 4

2006

Hot Shots Tennis
Siren 2
SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Combined Assault
Wild Arms 5

And then the titles released after PS3 launch for both PS2 and PS3

PS2:
2007

God of War II

PS3:
2006

Resistance: Fall of Man

2007
The Eye of Judgment
Folklore
Gran Turismo 5 Prologue (Asia and Japan only)
Heavenly Sword
Lair
Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune
Warhawk

2008

Gran Turismo 5 Prologue
Hot Shots Golf 5

Now, do you want to compare again? and hey, at least for Nintendo I added Excite Truck, I haven't added many of the sports games that are considered hardcore, also, I didn't add the PSN Sony developed games either. Yes, they did take a risk with Lair (if you don't have patience, don't get it!) and Heavenly Sword (good game, just a bit too short, perfect for people with ADD :D), but even without those 2 they come on top of Nintendo when it comes to core AND casual titles, to say otherwise is rather naive

fred @ Jul 31st 2008 10:36AM

oh lord these replies are like the berlin wall of text.

jimmygotsmack @ Jul 31st 2008 12:02PM

@noshino

Selective reading?
Oooo, if you scroll all the down on wiki it has more more games, my mistake.

xbox 360
# 2005

* Kameo: Elements of Power
* Perfect Dark Zero
* Project Gotham Racing 3
* Every Party (Japan Only)

# 2006

* Gears of War
* Ninety-Nine Nights
* Viva Piñata

# 2007

* Blue Dragon
* Crackdown
* Forza Motorsport 2
* Fuzion Frenzy 2
* Halo 3
* Project Gotham Racing 4
* Shadowrun
* Tenchu Z
* Vampire Rain
* Viva Piñata: Party Animals
* Scene It? Lights, Camera, Action
* Mass Effect
* Project Sylpheed (Co-published with Square Enix)

# 2008

* Kingdom Under Fire: Circle of Doom
* Lost Odyssey
* Ninja Gaiden 2

I should point out the fact that sony has a little less then 200k employees while Nintendo has about 4k "obviously not all of Sony's employees work on games, but they have resources" and yet Nintendo still manages to match some where even close to them.

"So sure, let's count the amount of core titles of the last 3 years pre-PS3 just like I did for the GameCube"

umm, ok, why?

I thought we where only doing from this era and on. At least, that what I was speaking about. Stop changing things :p. Next you'll want to pull out things from the super Nintendo and PlayStation eras.

O god there is a lot of text.

Noshino @ Jul 31st 2008 12:21PM

jimmygotsmack,

"umm, ok, why?

I thought we where only doing from this era and on. At least, that what I was speaking about. Stop changing things :p. Next you'll want to pull out things from the super Nintendo and PlayStation eras."

Oh nah, thing is the first list I showed was in reference to what The Fatass of Kickassness said:

"Over the last two years Nintendo has pumped out it's core titles at an amazing rate."

Which wasn't true, and then I just kept the 2 years basis

jimmygotsmack @ Jul 31st 2008 12:38PM

@noshino

ah, I see.

cBlack @ Jul 30th 2008 9:50PM

I'm not "proud of the result".. what am I supposed to do with the nuncharles? Isn't that kinda a step back?

Matthew @ Jul 30th 2008 9:51PM

Ill wait till the next-gen when Nintendo figures out how to make a system that doesn't require 400 add-ons just to do what it was supposed to do in the first place.

Rob Accomando @ Jul 30th 2008 9:53PM

that's awesome. But I see the downside of 1:1 motion. Someone swings the wiimote "very" fast left and right to swing a sword...faster that say, you can swing a real sword? Wouldn't this make the game too easy?

Saria the Cat @ Jul 30th 2008 10:30PM

I'm sure they could compensate for that by making the sword or weapon 5x weaker than a "real" sword would be.

Noshino @ Jul 31st 2008 6:36AM

Not really weaker, but they can compensate for that with the mechanics, let's say that if you swing too fast, they can make you more vulnerable to attacks, or another option could be to give you a stamina bar. There are many options available, its just up to developers

Shagittarius @ Jul 31st 2008 1:17PM

If you swingto fast the motion detection wont work. You can see how the guy only moves so fast when demonstarting this.

To much motion will break the 1:1.

This controller is still not 1:1 as most people are thinking of it. You still have to disconnect with the action your trying to take and think about how the game will see your action.

You'll see once you get it in your hands, if you can look at things objectively of course.