De Blob dev cautious about WiiMotion Plus

by Justin McElroy { Sep 24th 2008 at 10:25AM }

We've called Wii MotionPlus "the thing that makes the WiiMote work the way it always should have" but there's at least one developer who doesn't care for that alternate history time line. Nick Hagger, the producer of Wii's de Blob, said he's worried the addition will overcomplicate things for the Wii's base, as developers move towards more gestural control schemes.

"While it's definitely intellectually stimulating from a development perspective to play with those ideas - and I think it does appeal to a set of gamers out there - I think the majority of people that play on the Wii want something very simple that they can just immediately get their heads around," Hagger said.

We'd like to think that there's room for both gamers who want more gestural controls and those who want to keep flicking their wrists to pretend they're tipping cows, or whatever's going on over in Wiiville these days. What about you?

Tags: de-blog, wii, wii-motionplus

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

gameplayFanBoy @ Sep 24th 2008 10:32AM

I think nintendo is going to make a lot of money no matter what people think, as has been the trend of late...

SKI @ Sep 24th 2008 10:36AM

WM+ is a gift to the hardcore. It main uses will be sword-fighting, some FPS, and possibly driving. Unless it sells very well, few casual games will utilize it.

Ihar `Philips` Filipau @ Sep 25th 2008 4:28AM

That would be so, unless somebody would bundle it with some of its games.

After some critical mass of users would get their hands on WM+ (or new WiiMotes with WM+ embedded), then it would also hit casual market too.

But yes, for first year or so it would surely remain in hardcore domain.

Honestly, I hope that WM+ would kill the "gestural control schemes" (a.k.a. waggle) and replace with what actually was promised on day one: one to one mapping of controller motions to game motions.

Dirty @ Sep 24th 2008 10:39AM

Waggle will never die!

FOXHOUND @ Sep 24th 2008 10:42AM

"GAMEPADS HAVE BEEN DEFEATED, BUT THE SOUL STILL BURNS!"

mocax @ Sep 24th 2008 10:39AM

the simplest things to an end-user is the most horrendously complex piece of logical conundrum to implement.

Be thankful they provide a simple to use API for the motion plus.

FOXHOUND @ Sep 24th 2008 10:41AM

I don't think it'll be implemented nearly as much as people would be led to believe, much like a lot of peripherals, not just on the Wii.

Haggard (Mr.ESC resurrection force) @ Sep 24th 2008 11:22AM

Indeed, I like the way that Nintendo didn't bother to tell anybody about WM+, even third-party developers, until E3.

We could have seen some great third-party titles utilizing it.

P.S. The guy's surname is awesome

CJLopez @ Sep 24th 2008 11:47AM

@Haggard: Wait for E3 2009 or this fall Nintendo Press Conference

Jack of No Trades 85 @ Sep 24th 2008 10:42AM

Thats pretty sad if updating the motion controls to act more realistic will stress people out because of complexity.

Screw gestures

Ghen @ Sep 24th 2008 10:43AM

Without nunchuck support the WM+ seems relegated to on-rails sword fights to me. You can't even make a decent 2D fighter without a d-pad or analog stick. The one on the Wiimote won't work and you know it.

Mr Khan @ Sep 24th 2008 10:58AM

We're pretty sure that it has peripheral support, if you look at the butt of the Motion Plus dongle, you can sort of see a place where a Nunchuk could go

Slaziman @ Sep 24th 2008 11:28AM

if you can't use a nunchuck with it, whats the fucking point?

do you have any source for the statement that it's not nunchuck compatible?

Slaziman @ Sep 24th 2008 11:31AM

i just googled and peripherals work with motionplus (most importantly, the nunchuck)

Ghen @ Sep 24th 2008 1:10PM

Oops, I thought I read back at the press conference that it didn't have the hole. carry on.

McBrick @ Sep 24th 2008 10:43AM

Like any gaming innovation, regardless of the technical merits what it comes down to is "can I do anything fun with it that I couldn't do without it?" I'll have to wait and see how it's utilized, but my guess is the Wii's (primary) market won't notice and/or care.

blkalleykat @ Sep 24th 2008 10:47AM

what he says does make sense, but not everyone has to make use of the wii motion plus in their games.

I mean who wants arthritis in the long run from swinging the wii remote all the time

meist3r @ Sep 24th 2008 10:59AM

"I think the majority of people that play on the Wii want something very simple that they can just immediately get their heads around..."

What's more simple than a thing that works just as I expect it to work? With the Wiimote right now there are some really quirky compromises when it comes to movement recognition. I think the Motion+ will be a nice step further but the next generation will all have that type of technology in one way or another.

Mr Khan @ Sep 24th 2008 11:00AM

It's just another option, which is how it will be used in the end. There will be the odd game that will require it (like its flagship Wii Sports Resort, or certain action games that could be made more epic with it), but it'll just be another scheme at the end of the day, sitting next to Wiimote solo, Wiimote n' Nunchuk, Classic Controller, GameCube controller

It might "complicate" things in that sense, but the issue of how much it sells will be negligible.

daddycool @ Sep 24th 2008 11:34AM

He's right. The people who would appreciate something like this are in a small minority of the Wii target audience. If this was a PS360 peripheral it would be a different story. The next (non-duct tape) Wii will probably get a lot out of this.

Mr Khan @ Sep 24th 2008 1:11PM

Again: That's what Wii Sports Resort is for, to get that target audience in on it too

Ryan P. @ Sep 24th 2008 12:37PM

I was expecting a type of 1:1 virtual arm game where you could reach forward with the Wiimote and gripping A+B would make your in-game hand grip an object. Am I the only one who thought that was a given? Does that sound lame?

That was after i saw that very first trailer unveiling the Wiimote , with all the pantomiming players. The dentist, the fishing, the fly-swatting. That was in 2006. It's going to be THREE years since the trailer before that promise gets delivered on.

If anyone even thinks of my arm game. :(

M @ Sep 24th 2008 1:34PM

I just want a really well done, 1st person perspective sword fighting game. Come on Nintendo...

TC81190 @ Sep 24th 2008 2:21PM

Translation: We're worried that we'll have to actually put effort into making games rather than spewing out cheap crap for morons to buy.

BigD145 @ Sep 24th 2008 2:33PM

Is De Blob being made in Texas? That's one of the few places on earth where people are easily confused and enraged.

gh0st @ Sep 24th 2008 3:27PM

I am torn...I have found that I don't really like the Wii. Not because its "kiddie" or any of that nonsense. But because I always have this nagging tick at the back of my mind that it is not interpretting my input correctly.

When I play a golf game with a gamepad, after maybe 6-12 swings I get the feeling of it and can from there on do what I want without too much worrying about the power guage.

With the Wii, after a full year, every single golf swing feels like a random affair and I have never, ever "gotten the feel". Maybe that's just me, but the prompt asked for my opinon so...

I think the WM+ will just heighten this psychological hichup. Now I will be caught in the mental conundrum, "Really? But I did the swing exaclty the same as last time...or I thought I did...is it reading my actions right...and now I have the WM+, am I just unable to swing my arm in a regular fasion...CRAP! I swung that exactly the same as last time!...or I thought I did...and I have the WM+..."

Yah, re-reading that I have to move closer to "probably just me."

Foetoid @ Sep 24th 2008 6:27PM

Yeah it's definatly just you. Within a month of owning the Wii, i finished Downhill Jam 4 times, finished Zelda, AND had my Golf score down to -5. It's the Baseball i find to be completely random. I've gotten like 4 hole-in-ones on golf on my way to Pro, but only hit the same amount of home-runs lol.

Superstar90 @ Sep 24th 2008 4:43PM

You guys who say that it won't be used by devs have seem to forgotten that it comes packaged in with Wii Sports Resort... AKA the sequel to the 1 Wii game EVERYBODY owns. For sure it will sell, WSR will probably do WiiPlay-like numbers, well maybe not THAT high, but it will still sell enough to be used by most devs.