Hands-on: Wii Sports Resort's archery and canoeing

by JC Fletcher { Jun 4th 2009 at 10:00AM }

Last year, Nintendo only had three playable games from Wii Sports Resort: Disc Dog, Power Cruising, and Swordplay, all of which were used to show the precision of the Wii MotionPlus device. This time, twelve games are available for play, and we were able to get our hands on two of those, which we think do an even better job of displaying the difference between a MotionPlus-enabled Wiimote and a stock controller.

First, we tried the canoe game, in a two-player race. The goal in this game variant is to cross five checkpoints before the other player. In this game, the Wiimote is a surrogate for the canoe's oar, held vertically with both hands as if it were an actual oar.

Gallery: Wii Sports Resort

The best thing about describing games like this is that it's not really difficult to describe the controls. You hold the Wiimote like an oar and then row, just like you would with a real oar. You have to switch sides every couple of strokes to avoid going in a circle. The on-screen oar reacted absolutely identically to the movements of the Wiimote -- as close as the mythical "one-to-one" as we've ever seen in a motion-controlled game. The finer controls actually made the game harder, in our estimation -- while most games like this would kind of be "close enough" and point you forward, if you're not rowing in the exact right direction, you'll turn off course.

The next game we tried was archery, which was, again, pretty easy to explain. You hold the Wiimote vertically like a bow, hold Z on the nunchuk to simulate grabbing the strings, pull back, and let go of Z to shoot an arrow. It's slightly more complicated than that -- pushing A at the beginning locks your player's body direction so you can focus on aiming. As you pull back, your view of the target narrows and zooms in, as if you're focusing tightly on the target. After a few seconds of zoom, the game will snap you back out and make you aim again, simulating, we suppose, fatigue from holding the string out for too long.

You get three shots at each target, and then the next stage presents a more distant target. The Nintendo rep told us that there were secret items in the background that could be hit by arrows, but we never found any. Instead, we got closer and closer to (but not quite on) the bullseye.

Tags: e3-2009, wii-sports, wii-sports-resorts

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

kingheff1 @ Jun 4th 2009 10:08AM

I'm approaching this one with a very cautious optimism, Wii sports showed potential but was lacking in the long term, hopefully they can sprinkle some Nintendo magic and make this release really worthwhile.

Jimbotron @ Jun 4th 2009 2:55PM

What annoyed me about Wii Sports is the inability to skip over the tutorial parts at the beginning of each sport.

ben @ Jun 4th 2009 10:10AM

I'll probably get this, nothing's better at parties than Wii Sports.
These are kind of more obscure sports though

Wild Bill @ Jun 4th 2009 10:33AM

For future reference, drink and drugs and sex are better at parties than Wii Sports.

Captain Planet @ Jun 4th 2009 10:51AM

Rock Band > Wii Sports @ parties.

aristokrat @ Jun 4th 2009 10:53AM

And rock and roll!

Captain Planet @ Jun 4th 2009 10:54AM

The jet ski game looks lame. Bring back Wave Race Nintendo!

mr nimblewick @ Jun 4th 2009 10:54AM

@ the Captain

Except when it's a party of nongamers.

maduin @ Jun 4th 2009 10:19PM

actually, if you hit the minus button during the tutorials, it will skip right over them.

N-zero @ Jun 4th 2009 10:12AM

I wonder if the Wii remote with Wii Motion plus can do archery as good as the sony motion controller. I mean the Wii remote can do 1:1 motion now with the wii motion plus but the thing that the ps3 version has over it i think is that it can sense depth. Anyone see video of this game already? cause I wanna see how you do the archery.

NaeemTHM @ Jun 4th 2009 10:29AM

Can't the Wii-mote already sense depth? In Metroid Prime 3 you had to mush things forward and pull them back.

The PS3 will still have insane HD graphics though, so their motion control still has a lot going for it.

NaeemTHM @ Jun 4th 2009 10:29AM

mush=push

WREturns @ Jun 4th 2009 10:41AM

Well, here's the difference, the PS3 thing isn't out, isn't finished being designed and has no games that use it.

Greyseal @ Jun 4th 2009 10:42AM

The Wiimote can approximate sensing depth, but not very well. It has an accelerometer that can tell it when it's moving forward vs. backward, but it currently has no means of knowing its absolute position in 3D space. The push/pull mechanic in Metroid only required that the remote move in the proper direction, but it didn't much matter how far or fast you moved it.

In contrast, try the fishing game built into WiiPlay. You're supposed to be able to control your rod in 3D space by pushing and pulling the remote towards or away from you, but it didn't work well at all.

Yousty @ Jun 4th 2009 10:52AM

PS Eye CAN NOT sense depth. It's just a camera, that's it. So Sony's motion control has nothing over Wii Motion Plus except that it can show you on screen.

Natal on the other hand has a camera combined with IR so it CAN sense depth.

Mr Khan @ Jun 4th 2009 11:23AM

It can sense depth through IR, but what MP3 used to push things were the accelerometers

Killjebus...PSN Killjebus @ Jun 4th 2009 11:47AM

Actually if you look at the patent the PS3 controller uses ultrasonic waves to detect where it is in 3D space NOT the camera, so you can play in the dark if you want.

Sonic detection is obviously very accurate otherwise Bats would be running into themselves and walls constantly.

Crono (NDF - Knight of the Old School) @ Jun 4th 2009 12:26PM

Actually. Since the sensor bar has two sets of lights on it, the wiimote senses depth by the apparent distance the two light sources are apart. WiiPlays pool game senses motion in this way, because if you don't have the wiimote pointed at the sensor bar, you can't shoot.

chaosrain @ Jun 4th 2009 10:12AM

Sorry to be so nitpicky, but in a Canoe it's a Paddle. In a rowboat, it's an oar. An oar has a fixed pivot point. A Paddle is a free-motion propulsion device.

DBuck_Eye @ Jun 4th 2009 10:16AM

Aw, why did you have to tell me that useless information? Now I forget who won Super Bowl XXIV.

JerseyFrank @ Jun 5th 2009 8:06AM

I was about to post the same thing, nitpicking and all.

SKI @ Jun 4th 2009 10:15AM

The sword fighting, bowling (again), and archery are the reasons I'm buying this, the other games could just disappear for all I care

time @ Jun 4th 2009 10:15AM

The mind cannot fathom how many units this will sell. I guarantee everyone who actually uses their Wii (even if it's just for Wii Sports) will have Wii Motion Plus once this is out.

Storm Eagle @ Jun 4th 2009 10:19AM

I thought the Basketball that they demonstrated looked like a lot of fun. But the archery's targeting left something to be desired. The Wii Motion Plus hasn't sold me so far. Especially with the way Red Steel 2 demoed it.

Highlar @ Jun 4th 2009 11:07AM

So how were you not impressed by Red Steel 2's use of WM+? I think it looks pretty damn good, being able to switch out between sword/gun on the fly, and it would slash where he slashed. What more would be desired in a fast paced game like that?

Storm Eagle @ Jun 4th 2009 11:25AM

Well switching between weapons has nothing to do with WM+, you just press a button. So that rules that argument out. And if you looked closely, there were a lot of times when he would swing one way, and the character on screen would swing a different way or not swing at all - he would have to input the swing twice. And it's just my opinion, so whatever, but none of the games seemed any easier to control with the use of the Wii Motion Plus....Atleast in the live demos. Of course those video trailers made it look hella-easy.

SidearmS @ Jun 4th 2009 10:20AM

Between this and the ListenUp impressions, I think the big difference between this and the archery in Deca Sports is that there is no target cursor in Wii Sports Resort to help you aim; instead, you have that "narrow vision" effect of aiming.

I enjoyed the archery in Deca Sports, so I am hoping that being slightly different from it does not destroy the aesthetic of archery.

GFWL - And there is no Robin Hood game on the Wii yet because?

WREturns @ Jun 4th 2009 10:27AM

I thought basketball looked rad and I'm hoping it'll be a nice addition.

MaRRODkez @ Jun 4th 2009 10:45AM

WHOA WHOA WHOA

People might have fun with this game, can't you see the problem with that? It's going to ruin gaming.

WREturns @ Jun 4th 2009 11:07AM

Yeah, you're right, what the fuck was I thinking?!

uncle jesse @ Jun 4th 2009 12:58PM

Another use for my Wii bowling ball!

Soren the Cat @ Jun 4th 2009 10:52AM

Does anyone know if the wii motion plus increases the accuracy of where you are aiming your wiimote at your TV when you point the wiimote at the TV? I realize that it produces a better 1 to 1 simulation in space, but what about putting the cursor exactly on the TV where you are aiming the wiimote?