Wii-MotionPlus posts (Subscribe to this feed)

Call to mind Wii Sports' tennis, and you don't have to stretch your imagination too much further to arrive at Ubisoft's Racquet Sports. If you own a Wii, you already own this experience, to which Ubisoft has added some variety, including ping-pong, badminton, squash, and beach tennis, and a more fleshed-out art direction than Nintendo's pack-in or even its sequel, Wii Sports Resort. There's no Mii support, but Racquet Sports offers its own dollish avatars, customized with unlockable trinkets. There's a derivative multicultural vibe, too, as the characters and playing courts span the globe in classic and fantastic scenarios. Grandma vs. dashiki-clad boy in an aquarium squash court? Yes.

Of course, the experience you don't own is "tennis" played with a motion-tracking camera. No, not Natal -- not at all. Ubisoft's USB camera, first bundled with scarcely-reviewed Your Shape (featuring Jenny McCarthy), might be on the cutting edge of a revived and revamped gaming tech trend, but its implementation in Racquet Sports is painfully dull.

Nintendo's resident legend, Shigeru Miyamoto, has revealed that the next installment in the Legend of Zelda series on Wii will make use of Wii MotionPlus for more realistic sword combat and targeting. "In this (installment of the series), we're using MotionPlus to make you feel much more like you're actually fighting while holding a sword in your hand," Miyamoto disclosed during an October 30 Q&A session, as translated by GameLife.

"In the previous game, you aimed at things by pointing at the screen, but this time we'll use MotionPlus to create a much more convenient targeting system and a more pleasurable playing experience," Miyamoto added.

Despite these revelations, Nintendo has yet to officially state whether Wii MotionPlus will be an option or a requirement for playing the game. When this next Zelda was announced during E3 2009, Miyamoto could only say that MotionPlus-exclusivity was "possible." These gameplay elements -- especially the swordplay -- only make it seem more likely.

[Via GameLife]

Most of the doubt surrounding Red Steel 2 has to do with the swordplay -- and it's for good reason. The bandana'd thug-slashing permeating the entirety of its predecessor just flat out didn't work, most of us can surely agree. But this latest video diary shows how the addition of Wii MotionPlus has really changed the experience in the sequel, at least from a slashing and stabbing perspective. See for yourself in the footage above.

Update: Thanks for playing, folks! The giveaway has come to a close and we'll be selecting our winner via email, so keep an eye on your inbox!

That's right, folks! Joyswag coming your way again, this time with some Wuhu Island action. One lucky winner will walk away with Wii Sports Resort (including MotionPlus) ($50 ARV) and one additional MotionPlus controller ($30ARV). So, let's get down to it!

• Leave a comment telling us where your best vacation was and why
  
• You must be 18 years or older and a resident of the US or Canada (excluding Quebec)
  
• Limit 1 entry per person per calendar day
  
• This entry period ends at 11:59 am ET on Wednesday, August 5
  
• At that time, we'll randomly select one grand-prize winner to receive Wii Sports Resort (including MotionPlus) ($50 ARV) and one additional MotionPlus controller ($30ARV)
• For a list of complete rules, click here

Good luck!

Last week, we visited Nintendo's impressive display at Times Square. The company gathered a few tons of sand and recreated a tropical getaway in the middle of NYC's busiest intersection. We caught up with Nintendo of America's Bill Trinen to chat about Wii MotionPlus, Wii Sports Resort, Pikmin 3, Wii Speak, and a few other things. Trinen explained Nintendo's future plans for MotionPlus, and explained why Nintendo isn't afraid of Sony and Microsoft's upcoming plans to add motion controls to their systems.

Catch the full video interview above.

Now that Nintendo has finally started chartering some flights to lovely Wuhu Island, folks have been eager to snap up Wii Sports Resort for their very own ticket. In the UK, Chart Track data shows the follow-up to 2006's console pack-in is quite the popular little piece of software, as the sequel earned the top spot on last week's All Formats chart. Strong start, but will it have the staying power of Wii Fit?

Last week's winner, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, has thus been bumped down to the second spot, with EA's other darling, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10, snagging bronze.

Nintendo converted Times Square into a tropical island getaway for a day to celebrate this coming Sunday's launch of Wii Sports Resort, the first sequel to Nintendo's flagship Wii title. We had a chance to chat with Bill Trinen, product marketing manager for Nintendo of America, while overlooking the festivities below. He told us that in spite of the advances made by Wii MotionPlus, he doesn't see Nintendo enforcing it as a new standard. "I don't think that we would or that we would necessarily require other developers to do so either," Trinen said. "Something like Wii MotionPlus and whether or not you want to incorporate that is more of a creative decision that's up to each individual developer."

"I think it certainly suits specific types of games, but it may not make sense to include Wii MotionPlus in every game," Trinen continued. "For example, if you look at the motion controls of New Super Mario Bros. for Wii that's coming out this holiday, it's not the kind of control that requires or would really benefit from more precise movements. So it doesn't make sense for a development team to spend time implementing something that's going to enhance the end experience. I do think over time, we're going to see a lot of developers taking a look at it and finding things they can do that they couldn't do with the standard Wii Remote and we're going to see those experiences come to life."

When asked if Nintendo had any plans to revise the standard Wii Remote to include Wii MotionPlus tech, Trinen replied, "those are all good ideas. We've thought about all that as well. At this point, we're really just focused on launching Wii Sports Resort and obviously getting Wii MotionPlus off to a good start and getting it to the hands of as many of the Wii consumers as we can. And from there, once it becomes time, we may look at what other options are available."

Check back tomorrow for our full video interview with Bill Trinen and VP of corporate communications, Denise Kaiger, as they talk about Sony and Microsoft's motion efforts, the Wii Vitality Sensor and if Pikmin 3 is still happening.

Upon my initial skydive into Wii Sports Resort, I expected the game wouldn't wow me much. I'd seen it during various stages of its life and played it many times. Now that I had the final product, I expected it would hold little in the way of surprise.

But as I started unlocking games and playing more, I found myself losing track of time. Many of us know that a great game can just suck you in and you can easily lose hours mining it for all of its glorious, fun riches. Wii Sports Resort was no different for me.

Don't even start weaving conspiracies about how Nintendo's recently released Wii MotionPlus peripheral was supposed to be incorporated in the initial Wiimote design. According to Shigeru Miyamoto, such a nickel-and-dime plot is absolutely impossible -- and as we all know, Miyamoto never lies. Look at him, with those pinchable cheeks! Those are not the cheeks of a liar.

In an interview with The Telegraph, Shiggy explained the MotionPlus was only possible due to technological innovations "which took place after Wii launched." Actually, he says the technology was around, but it would have been impossible to use at such a "compact" size and low price. So, did you want Wiimotes to cost $200 and weigh as much as toddlers? No? We didn't think so.

[Via IGN]

We stopped by Ubisoft's San Francisco offices late last week to spend more time with its upcoming Nintendo platform lineup. Although we'd played many of the same games -- at the same stage of development -- during E3, now was the time to really focus on details. So, first up was Red Steel 2, a game that initially had us smitten with its manga-esque East-meets-West visual style, but failed to impress once we took hold of its controls.

So, once again, we were faced with the extremely short demo / gameplay primer Ubisoft had created for last month's trade show. This second look didn't leave us any more enamored with the mix of sword slashing and pistol shooting, but we were able to get a better idea of exactly what didn't feel right. At the same time, we came away even more impressed by the game from a visual standpoint than when we'd first seen it in action.

Like trying to watch a foreign language film on a tiny TV, it seems that our buddies at Engadget can't figure out if they've got problems with the Wii MotionPlus technology, or just the way it's being used. The site recently did an exhaustive hands-on with Nintendo's new add-on, the fruits of which you can see here.

The best implementation/demonstration for the super-sensitive tech seems to be manipulating an e-frisbee in 3D space, which is almost too precious and appropriate for our brains to comprehend.

With the release of the Wii MotionPlus, Nintendo has apparently placed how-to videos with applicable games to instruct its customer base on how to attach the accessory. Destructoid took the opportunity to upload the video, which walks a fine line between airplane emergency video and a tape that would be played in "health" class.

Dtoid notes that the real horror is that once the three-minute video starts ... there's no way to exit (not even the glorious Wiimote's Home button will save you). So, if you really need to know how to shove, slide and thread your components inside the Wii prophylactic, please feel free to watch the video after the break.

Now that the whirlwind of E3 is over, Nintendo is getting back into the swing of updating the Nintendo Channel with less exciting content than last week's big reveals. This week, it's all about the release of MotionPlus and The Legendary Starfy, with plenty of video content for both. Sadly, we don't have a demo of the latter, which we were really hoping for. But, hey, you can at least play Ant Nation. That's something, right? Right?