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Resident Evil, Game On With Wii 264

Posted by Zonk from the wiiiiiiiiiii dept.
oneils writes "Chris Morris of CNN.com outlines some interesting gameplay impressions of Nintendo's Wii. He explains that the new controller works well with first person shooter games like Metroid Prime, but, currently, falls short in the Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. Morris' impression is that this setback can be rectified by 'optimization.'" From the article: "Imagine holding your TV remote control by its ends and pretending it's a steering wheel. Substitute the Wii controller and you've got an idea of how to control 'Excite Truck'. Driving's pretty easy. The real fun comes when you hit a hill and go sailing into the air. The object is to land with all four wheels on the ground. To do that you'll have to tilt the controller back and forth away from you to stabilize the truck. It's frenetic and fast-paced - and seemed to be everyone's favorite game. I agreed." Several readers also wrote in to mention that Resident Evil will be coming to the Wii. No word on if it's RE5, or a spin-off/remake. Lots of related links below, please Read More. Update: 05/10 20:41 GMT by Z : Joystiq has pictures of a Zapper attachment for the Wiimote.
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Resident Evil, Game On With Wii More

Resident Evil, Game On With Wii

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  • Retro Controller (Score:4, Interesting)

    by AKAImBatman ( 238306 ) * <akaimbatman AT gmail DOT com> on Wednesday May 10, 2006 @02:34PM (#15302836) Homepage Journal
    What the retro controller [eurogamer.net] article seems to be missing, is that the controller pictured probably isn't for Wii games. Nintendo has already stated that the Wii will play all the old Nintendo titles, including GameCube.

    I'd like to see how people plan to play these games with a motion sensor controller. (Hint: It's very doubtful they can.) Ergo, the "retro" controller. Designed to allow classic gameplay on the Wii.

    Of course, classic, classic (NES) is fully supported by the Wii-little design. :-P
    • They previously showed that "shell" that looked exactly like a wave-bird that the Wii-mote slipped in like the DC memory cards slipped into the DC controller.

      As excited as I am for the Wii and it's games, I'm even more interested in the virtual console because they say they will open it up to 3rd party developers, and more importantly indie developers who "have more imagination than money" (or something like that, that was a paraphrase). Sounds like it might be possible to buy a developer license. I can't

      • ### They previously showed that "shell" that looked exactly like a wave-bird that the Wii-mote slipped in like the DC memory cards slipped into the DC controller.

        Wrong, they never showed the shell, that was just a Photoshop job from IGN (or whoever did it). There is so far no official shell, only rumors.

        • I was never quite clear on that. Thanks.

          I thought it was a good idea though.

        • Re:Retro Controller (Score:3, Insightful)

          by Erioll ( 229536 )
          It was IGN (I think) that put together that mock-up photo, and said it was such, so there was no intential deception.

          But as some of the people in the comments on the Eurogamer article mention, it's 100% possible that this controller plugs into the Wii remote, and NOT into the console... which would make sense IMO: why have a long cable to the machine, when you can just have a small one to the remote, which can be on the armrest of the chair, or wherever. Makes perfect sense to me. Not REQUIRED of course (
          • That is, in fact, exactly how the classic controller connects to Wii, becoming wireless in the process.
          • As for the controller itself... I'm a little wary of the placement of the analog sticks. I was never a huge fan of the dual-shock-type controller stick setup, so I wonder how well it'll really work for N64 games "reaching" over to use the sticks (and it has nothing to do with hand size, as mine are massive). I think I'd still try and use my GCN controller if possible (that was confirmed a while ago that you can just plug those straight in), small as it is.

            As a small-hander, I'll agree that it looks like it

        • Re:Retro Controller (Score:4, Informative)

          by J. T. MacLeod ( 111094 ) on Wednesday May 10, 2006 @03:23PM (#15303280)
          It's not a rumor any longer. Though it's only been a minor note, they've revealed the shell.

          http://www.nintendo.co.jp/n10/e3_2006/wii/controll er.html [nintendo.co.jp]
      • Sounds like it might be possible to buy a developer license. I can't wait!

        They ahve either already said, or rumor has it, that they will sell Dev kits for $2,000. not cheap but a fraction of the cost of PS3 or 360 kits.

    • It would probably also be used for cross-platform titles that expect a more "normal" controller, but what worries me is that it doesn't seem to have as many buttons as the N64 controller. Using the GameCube's C-stick as the N64's C-buttons may work for some games, but not all.

  • Interesting (Score:5, Funny)

    by voice_of_all_reason ( 926702 ) on Wednesday May 10, 2006 @02:35PM (#15302849)
    I think that motion-control feedback would actually be the perfect venue for another remake of the Resident Evil series.

    How, exactly, would you need to manipulate the controller to make a "Jill sandwich?"

  • Opera browser on the Wii, huh? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Pichu0102 ( 916292 ) <pichu0102@gmail.com> on Wednesday May 10, 2006 @02:35PM (#15302856) Homepage Journal
    Don't get me wrong, Firefox is my favorite browser, but Opera is pretty nice too. Looks like their Wii Opera will have a good amount of functionality (including AJAX, in many Web2.0 apps such as Gmail) according to their press release [opera.com]
    Luckily, I don't think the Opera browser on the Wii will end up like WebTV (*barf*) turned out to be, since the motion sensitive controller could be used to emulate a mouse. The question is, will Opera release a keyboard for their browser, will Nintendo release an all-purpose keyboard for other games, or will it be an onscreen keyboard?

  • Nice looking list (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Dark Paladin ( 116525 ) <jhummel.johnhummel@net> on Wednesday May 10, 2006 @02:35PM (#15302858) Homepage
    I was looking over the list last night of the upcoming Wii games - "Trauma Center" should be interesting on the Wii (the DS version was pretty good, even if it had some annoyances).

    Either way, it would appear that Nintendo has a lot of 3rd party support time time around, which made me think of why, and then something that Ubisoft president commented on made me figure it out.

    Long story short, he made some less then flattering remarks about the PS3 [nintendojo.com] - how it just ups the power. The same could be said for the 360. But that's no the issue for a publisher; for a publisher, all of that extra power and HD requirements goes into cost. Now, a development team needs even bigger hardware, a bigger graphics and sound team to get the same game out, which now increases the cost of the game by a large margin - say from $1 million to $7-$10 million. For a publisher, that means increased risk, reduced margins, and relying ever more on "certain" hits (which can vanish if something goes wrong - look at the Tomb Raider franches, and what they've had to do to get it back).

    Nintendo is offering publishers something more than just a gimmick: they're offering them reduced price. Look at "Brain Age" - developed, tested, and ready for market in 90 days, and it hardly needed a graphics team. Since the Wii uses really Gamecube development systems with more power, that's an easy transfer of knowledge, which is why I predict that for the first year, Wii games will look pretty much like Gamecube games, maybe a little smoother.

    But for the publisher, once you get past the controller issue, it's reduced cost, reduced time, reduced risk over time. If the Wii takes off at all, it may be that publishers wind up favoring it if for no other reason than it makes them more money over time.

    Of course, this is all just my opinion, and I could be wrong. But my family is pretty much committed to the Wii - the only thing I need to know is how to get DVD functionality out of it and it'll be the only console in the play room for family computer gaming for quite some time.

    • Re:Nice looking list (Score:5, Informative)

      by MBCook ( 132727 ) <foobarsoft@foobarsoft.com> on Wednesday May 10, 2006 @02:43PM (#15302922) Homepage
      I'm in the same boat. There is one or two games on the 360 and PS3 that I am interested in. Then there is the Wii. Here is the list I have collected so far:
      • Trauma Center Wii
      • Wii Sports
      • Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
      • Super Mario Brothers Galaxy
      • Rayman
      • Sonic Wildfire
      • Wario Ware Smooth Move
      • Resident Evil Wii
      • Super Smash Brother Wii

      They are saying they'll have up to 27 or so launch titles, so there are obviously even more. Some of them (like the Final Fantasy and others) I'm wait and see on. But these are just near-launch titles, what will we see in the future?

      And that doesn't include virtual console and indie stuff.

      • Re:Nice looking list (Score:4, Informative)

        by Dark Paladin ( 116525 ) <jhummel.johnhummel@net> on Wednesday May 10, 2006 @02:49PM (#15302985) Homepage
        No kidding - the DS upcoming list [gamerspress.com] is almost as evil. Between "Phoenix Wright 2" and "Elite Beat Force", those two alone gave me a joygasm. Throw in "Magical Vacation", the really good looking "Final Fantasy III" remake, and Castlevania with a girl who fights with a big book -

        (sigh) I keep telling my wife I need to just get rich so I have more time for game play.
        • Wait a second, they're releasing Phoenix Wright 2? Oh dear Lord... As if the first one didn't have me glued to my DS. My poor wallet weeps.

          It's never been a better or a worse time to be a college gamer.

          As for the Wii, I've never been this excited about the launch of a system. I'm a Nintendo loyalist just because I've always found Nintendo's games to always be the most pure fun. I've always also bought and played the other systems, too, and often loved them, but the steep price tag for what just feels like P
          • I was hoping for Miles Edgeworth: Ace Prosecutor, myself, but this is good news too.
            • My understanding is the Gyukatan Saiban 2 is really the story of Edgeworth, so maybe they'll start with Ace, then shift over, but kept the name for brand recognition.

              Or - who knows. Guess we'll find out. I'm tring my own contacts to see what's up.
            • Actually, Gyakuten Saiban already has 2 (GBA) sequels in Japan. Our Phoenix Wright was just the remake of the first GBA game on the DS.

              I've also played the first case of Gyakuten Saiban 3 via a fanmade translation patch, and I know you play as [*spoiler*] Mia, as she defends Phoenix in her second case. I've also heard in that game, or possibly the second, you get to play as Edgeworth and Maya.

              Dammit, I need these games now.
    • On top of this Nintendo plans to use the Virtual Console service to help Indy game developers. As Iwata stated, a game like Tetris would never be made today. Interesting things are happening with the Wii and not just because of the controller.
      • Though you could argue that the 360 and the PS3 could have this ability as well, so it's not a Wii exclusive thing.
        • You don't have to argue. The 360 already has this capability. With the announced arcade ports, Xbox Live is looking to be just as retro-friendly as the Wii.
          • Except for two things

            1)Nintendo's 1st party games will never go on the xbox
            2)Nintendo has a proven emulation system on the Gamecube for NES, SNES, and N64. This means old devs don't have to port, they just need to get Nintendo a rom. Zero cost to them.

    • Re:Nice looking list (Score:5, Insightful)

      by ObligatoryUserName ( 126027 ) on Wednesday May 10, 2006 @02:57PM (#15303053) Journal
      Your numbers are a little off. My understanding is that a XBox/PS2/Gamecube title costs $8 - $12 million to produce (with some AAA titles going into the 20s), and last I heard HD games were expected to at least double the costs. (Is it any wonder publishers are afraid to take risks with money like that involved?)

      When the XBox 360 was announced you could hear industry insiders talking about the end of life as we know it - without rapid market growth we were looking at financing only 1/2 the total number of games. And market growth was an elusive target, as people started to realize that the number of actual gamers wasn't really growing in the US - they were just spending more money (and how long could we expect that?); and the Japanese market pre-DS was on the verge of collapse from genre exhaustion... well, listening to the Japanese game developers anyway - they always sounded so fatalistic.

      Microsoft (for some reason) said that the XNA toolset would bring costs under control for HD games(which doesn't make sense when the art department/sweatshop eats up most of the funds) --- Sony has made no attempt that I know of to address the skyrocketing costs. Nintendo simply isn't taking their next system there.

      Yes, sure, it might take more people to program a game for such a complex controller, but you aren't going to need 200 people churning out high res textures that will only be appreciated by people with HDTVs. Nintendo knows what it's doing.

    • Re:Nice looking list (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Golias ( 176380 )
      Everybody who's cheering for Nintendo (and I'd just like to say: I get it... They are the only non-evil company making consoles, so they are easy to r00t for, if you'll pardon the pun) keeps trying to make the point that it was some stroke of genius for them to keep the console "Low-Def" for the sake of cheaper game development and to keep the cost of the console itself down.

      But here's the thing that doesn't fit about that:

      If I want a cheap console with lots of third-party support and no HD support, I can

      • Re:Nice looking list (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Guppy06 ( 410832 ) on Wednesday May 10, 2006 @03:28PM (#15303324)
        "If I want a cheap console with lots of third-party support and no HD support, I can buy an old PS2."

        Except it won't be long before you stop seeing first party PS2 games published, unless the PS3 bombs so badly that SCEA hangs on to the PS2 to stay afloat.

        "What's so wonderful about a new-generation console with previous-generation performance?"

        Well, considering it's been described as "better than the GameCube," and the GameCube is better than the PS2 as far as performace is concerned, why are you holding on to your PS2 again?

        "Why buy a new console that doesn't offer any new performance boost?"

        Because the only other option is to buy a new console that offers nothing but a performance boost?

        "but those who don't have the need for ultra-smooth HD graphics already have three perfectly good consoles to choose from, each with a 5-year library of fun games already developed for them and being sold for about $20 a pop in many cases."

        Games get old. You can only play one game for so long before you want to try something new, otherwise we'd all still be playing Pong.

        "Unless you're filthy rich, there's no way you already own and have played every single available PS2 game."

        No, but I own all the PS2 games that I might actually want.

        "In other words, the Wii doesn't seem to fill any niche that isn't already served."

        If the other niches are "being served," why are video game purchases still dominated by 20-something guys?
        • If the other niches are "being served," why are video game purchases still dominated by 20-something guys?

          This remains true in spite of Nintendo targeting everybody else for several years now. It could very well be that adult men are actually more intersted in console gaming than other people.

          That's not automatically a function of games being targeted at them.

          It might also, for example, be a funciton of the fact that the majority of prime-time TV is targeted at women. Given a choice between watching "Gilm

          • Re:Nice looking list (Score:4, Insightful)

            by SetupWeasel ( 54062 ) on Wednesday May 10, 2006 @09:06PM (#15305421) Homepage
            This remains true in spite of Nintendo targeting everybody else for several years now. It could very well be that adult men are actually more intersted in console gaming than other people.

            Look at the Japanese Sales charts. They are here [m-create.com]. Now you tell me how successful they have been. Animal Crossing: Wild World has sold more than Final Fantasy 12 in Japan on a system with less than half the userbase, and it is still in the top ten. Brain training 1 and 2 have a decent shot at beating FF 12 too. It is crazy. I thought the DS would be successful in Japan, but it is kicking the ever-loving shit out of every other console combined.

            Wake up and smell the coffee. The revolution has already begun, and in a mere 6 months, it will finally be televised.
      • I still have a Genesis and a Super NES in a gaming box. A few weeks ago, I turned on the Super NES and all the games displayed in B&W. I didn't get all of the games for the NES that I would like to have nor for the Genesis. I sure don't want to spend any money on those consoles if I can only play the games in black and white.

        I had N64 with a roomate for a short while and loaned out my copy of Shadows of the Empire and Pilotwings and never got it back.

        I really don't want to buy an older N64 just to re

  • Gotta admire Nintendo's balls (Score:3, Insightful)

    by SlappyBastard ( 961143 ) on Wednesday May 10, 2006 @02:36PM (#15302864) Homepage
    They're betting their entire company's future on a controller and a great price point.

    This takes huge balls.

    • Re:Gotta admire Nintendo's balls (Score:5, Interesting)

      by VendingMenace ( 613279 ) on Wednesday May 10, 2006 @02:44PM (#15302935)
      the whole company -- except for the part of the company that deals with the handheld market.

      Still. this DOES take balls. Balls and genius. Seriously, i predict that Wii will be the most loved of the consols this generation.

      Speaking of balls, Sony can lick mine. Geeze, i mean they really are not shaping up that well this time around, and this comes from a guy that has NEVER owned a nintendo system. Just the genesis and playstation (greatest consol to date) and xbox. This time around I will be getting some nintendo hardware, i guess.
      • I agree on the Sony front this time around. The PS2 is a fucking MONSTER, everyone made games for that thing, and they made a boatload of them. Plus, of course, it let me ditch my PSOne. Unfortunately you can buy a functional used car for less than what it costs to get a PS3 so I won't be buying one for a LONG time and I think that's going to be a pretty universal response to Sony's pricing. I adore my PS2, but there's no way I'm spending $600 on a game console.
    • They're betting their entire company's future on a controller and a great price point.

      Actually I think it is a well hedged bet though. They're planning on a normal controller, at launch buying the console + normal controller is still going to be significantly less than the other systems. I think what will really make or break the wii gamble is the success of the remote in third party development. A price point difference between consoles becomes less significant as time goes on, so something has to make u

    • It does take some cajones to go against the grain this way, but as it's playing right now Nintendo seems to see a "sweet spot," for both developers and consumers, that its two competitors have lost sight of almost completely.

      Maybe Sony and MS are being reckless, where Nintendo is simply recognizing the market better at this moment and taking risks that are both more interesting and more sensible.

      It seems to me like Sony is intent on "leveraging" its Playstation market position into a win over the Blu-Ra

    • Re:Gotta admire Nintendo's balls (Score:4, Funny)

      by sesshomaru ( 173381 ) on Wednesday May 10, 2006 @03:52PM (#15303524) Journal
      I do admire their balls. I also admire their Wii.

      Wait... that didn't come out right.

  • Nintendo and Opera are a great fit (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Illissius ( 694708 ) on Wednesday May 10, 2006 @02:40PM (#15302896)
    It isn't noticed as often, but Opera is like Nintendo and Apple too: they come up with all the cool new stuff which everyone else then copies.

    It gives me a warm fuzzy feeling when two of my favorite companies join forces like this :-).

  • Seems like Sony is about to get dethroned (Score:4, Interesting)

    by eebra82 ( 907996 ) on Wednesday May 10, 2006 @02:50PM (#15302993) Homepage
    A year ago I wouldn't believe anyone if they told me Sony was going to get dethroned from the lead position in the console market. Now, all of a sudden, Microsoft has dropped the bomb on Sony by releasing the 360 a full year ahead, and by the looks of it, 360 is - in terms of visuals - fully comparable to PS3.

    I personally thought that Nintendo was going down the hill before they announced the Revolution. Now it seems like it gets more attention than the 360 and the PS3, mostly due to its controller. The best part is that it does not seem to be all that mumbo jumbo some people expected the controller to be, so with a few more tweaks before the release, this might make Nintendo sell more consoles than Sony and Microsoft, mostly because the price is so competitive.

    I have obviously not decided what to go for, but I am quite sure it won't be a PS3. It's too expensive and doesn't seem to offer much beyond the cheaper 360, except other games. So with features compared, it's going to be PS3 vs 360, a war which MS will probably win due to its one year advantage. Additionally, MS is likely to refine the build process costs and probably push Sony out of the game by offering a cheaper console. And no, Sony won't be able to compete because every sold console is probably a loss for Sony until we buy a game.

    Things can be turned around a bit and I might be very wrong, but I really think that Sony is in deep trouble here.

    • Wider graphics range (Score:5, Insightful)

      by SuperKendall ( 25149 ) on Wednesday May 10, 2006 @03:06PM (#15303121)
      I plan to buy the PS3, and the Wii. I always planned to buy both of them as I knew Nintendo could produce.

      I would think about 360, but I know the PS3 is going to have a wider range of types of games. Beyond that with the Blu-Ray discs it's going to have games with a lot wider range of graphics since it can hold a lot more textures or other media, the lack of space is really going to hamstring the 360.

      I saw another comment the other day in a news story that was kind of interesting, it stated that because both the Wii and PS3 included motion detection that there were going to be a lot of games ported only to those two platforms, leaving the 360 out in the cold. I could see that happening...

      • Re:Wider graphics range (Score:2, Insightful)

        by wilbz ( 842093 )

        I saw another comment the other day in a news story that was kind of interesting, it stated that because both the Wii and PS3 included motion detection that there were going to be a lot of games ported only to those two platforms, leaving the 360 out in the cold. I could see that happening...

        Dear god, please let this not be the case. While I understand some peoples prima facie tendency to lump the PS3's crippled motion detection in with the Wii's, I hope developers don't make this mistake. I want the

        • I don't think it will water down Wii games any, I just think it will allow the Wii tosee some ports of PS3 specific games that it might not have seen otherwise. The Wii motion stuff is a pretty large superset it seems like of the PS3 abilities.

          Possibly some Wii ports might be attempted for the PS3 that make more use of buttons and rely less on the motion detection.

          Either way the 360 is out in the cold though. I guess they could sell add-on motion detecting controllers just like they are planning an add-on
          • And I think that the PS3 motion detection will be seen by everyone as completely useless and will be abandoned by developers within a year, just like the lame analog buttons on the Dual Shock 2.
            • You and I are the only two people in the entire universe that are even AWARE that the dual-shock buttons are pressure-sensitive analog buttons. I'll bet even Sony doesn't remember. :)

              I think Ratchet & Clank tried to use them at one point, but it was a pointless addon.

      • I'd consider a PS3, but not at the $600 price point. $400 would be pushing it, it would need 3-4 absolute must have games for me to do it at that price. That price point is going to hamstring the PS3 more than lack of space ever would the 360. You can always use multiple discs and better compression (especially with a hard drive to decompress to).
      • If you're saying that the PS3 will have a wider variety of games just because the PS2 does, you don't understand how the market works. The PS2 has the widest variety of games because they've shipped more than 100 million consoles. That means a publisher can target niches within the market and take more risks with products that don't appeal to everyone (because the total market size is so large).

        If the PS3 doesn't dominate the market like the PS2 did, then it doesn't necessarily follow that all the experimen

      • Re:Wider graphics range (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Guppy06 ( 410832 ) on Wednesday May 10, 2006 @04:05PM (#15303631)
        I admit I'll probably end up getting a PS3 myself, if for no other reason so that I can play FFXIII (unless S-E finally sees the light and ports the game to the Wii), but I simply will not be getting it until late 2008 at the earliest, what with the price point they're announcing (I'm not that big of a Final Fantasy fanboy). I doubt I'm alone here, and both Sony and S-E could be hurting as everybody waits until the PS3 goes through a price drop and FFXIII ends up in the $20 bargain bin in the meantime.

        The video game industry has always relied heavily on addicts having more money than brains, but I think $500-$600 hits that magical "critical density" where even the fanboys will be hesitating to buy it. Even fanboys have to pay $3 a gallon, and it's been pointed out that you can get a tricked-out Xbox 360 and a Wii for the same price as the fully-fledged PS3.

        Did Sony forget how they beat out the Sega Saturn that they're now making some of the same mistakes Sega did?

        Seriously
        • Both entered the generation as a strong contender (if not outright winner) of the previous generation
        • Both are entering this new generation with ridiculously high price points
        • Both managed to divide their fanbase with two competing visions for the new generation (Saturn vs. 32-X? $500 vs $600?)
        • Both got their E3 presentations blindsided from a competitor everybody initially discounted

        All we need now is an unannounced early release of the hardware.

        "Wii and PS3 included motion detection that there were going to be a lot of games ported only to those two platforms, leaving the 360 out in the cold."

        First off, comparing the PS3 controller to the Wiimote is like night and day. Aside from the shell not being designed for motion detection (possible motion detection was never taken into account in the design of the PS1 controller), the Wiimote has several other functions that Sony can't or won't implement in the PS3 controller.

        Secondly, the Xbox 360 controller (at least the wireless one) has ports on it. If they're capable of doing more than just connecting a headset and recharge cable, Microsoft could conceivably release a Wii-esque dongle and imitate Nintendo's control scheme even better than Sony. The only problem will be that it will have to be a separate accessory.

        (My God, after years of defending the GameCube against Xbox fanboys, I'm siding with them against Sony. Screw politics, video games makes strange bedfellows.)

  • RE controller? (Score:3, Funny)

    by Rob T Firefly ( 844560 ) on Wednesday May 10, 2006 @03:00PM (#15303076) Homepage Journal
    If they come out with that badass blood-covered chainsaw RE controller [engadget.com] for the Wii, I am so there.

  • Drunkards System (Score:5, Funny)

    by nate nice ( 672391 ) on Wednesday May 10, 2006 @03:01PM (#15303081) Journal
    My friends and I like to get drunk and play video games. This seems like the perfect system for such endeavors.
  • I was a little worried about the accuracy of the pointer and if it would actually hand 3d movement well enough to work. Then someone comes along and says .... the new controller works well with first person shooter games like Metroid Prime, but, currently, falls short in the Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. Morris' impression is that this setback can be rectified by 'optimization.'

    Well GREAT! (In a good way) Obviously in a shooter the aiming bit of control is THE game, whereas in Zelda most of the deve
  • AND THEN I SAW MIYAMOTO AND HE WAS LIKE MOTHAFUCKA WIIIIIIII

    I finally downloaded the E3 conference video, and I was a little underwhelmed. I can't say why, though I suppose I was expecting some mega-huge final info bomb, and the hope that they'd say "Oh yeah, 'Wii'? We punk'd you."

    Even so, my little fanboy heart was elated with what I saw. Now that I see the Wiimote in actual use, it looks easier than I thought it might be, and can't wait to get my hands on it myself. The addition of a little hand strap to
    • You can do the hand-thing already with EyeToy Groove, a few of my gamer friends love it. I, alas, am not coordinated enough to play it ;)

    • Also, I'd like to see a "Dance Dance Wiivolution", where you have the dance pad and a Wiimote in either hand. Not only do you have the foot steps, but you would wave your hands with waves on the screen. Light would have just basic waving motions, and Hard would have you moving in specific directions. You might actually look like you're dancing, instead of having a seizure!

      This would much better be solved by using a camera, ala the eyetoy. Otherwise people spazzing out too hard will be throwing their W

    • Seems like two wiimotes would be a purfect fit for this game.

  • Thoughts on the controller (Score:4, Interesting)

    by zerocool^ ( 112121 ) on Wednesday May 10, 2006 @03:35PM (#15303385) Homepage Journal
    I've been doing a lot of thinking about the Wii controller. And I've come up with some conclusions.

    Head over to wwi.nintendo.com and watch the movies on how the controller is used. See if you can spot the one thing that just doesn't feel right.

    ... Did you see it?
    I stared at these movies, watched them several times. It finally hit me.

    When you're using the Wii controller, for some games it will be awesome. For example, the tennis game will be really cool. The baseball game will probably be sweet. The Ping-Pong game will be cool. The driving game will be cool. The games with the multi-player abilities will really be awesome, and will be huge hits at parties, I suspect.
    See the catch?

    All these games have you get up out of your seat and move around. That's cool.

    But, see how the people hold the Wii controller in the movies that don't deal with Sports themes. They hold it out in front of them, at arms' length. You just aren't going to be able to do that for hours on end. If you sit down to play a marathon Zelda run, or a speed run at metroid, and you have to jiggle, wiggle, bounce, aim, and otherwise move the controller, you're going to wear your arms out (don't believe me? Grab a stapler in one hand and a mouse in the other, and hold them at arms' length. Come back in 45 minutes after taking some advil for the muscle pain).

    Now, take your hands and put them in your lap, as if you were holding a SNES or a playstation controller, and playing Sonic the Hedgehog or Link to the Past, or whatever. Think how your hands and fingers sit. Now, imagine a TV remote in each hand, instead of a playstation controller. Which hand is pointing at the screen? Neither - in order to do that, you have to bend your wrists, which will also hurt after a while (for those of us who type for a living, a short while).

    My conclusion is that the controller will be great for games that encourage physical movement, i.e. tennis, golf (especially golf, that will be cool), etc. But, trying to bootstrap the "interactive controller" nonsense onto platform games like Zelda and Metroid is only going to make them impossible to play for any length of time.

    I pointed this out to a friend, and he said, "dude, not every game is going to use all the motion sensing crap, some are just going to turn the right hand controller over 90 degrees and use that". But, wait. Then, we've got a square controller, with a 4-way D-pad on the left side, and two buttons on the right side. Here's an artist's rendering [jplt.com].

    They're going to have trouble trying to shoehorn the technology into games that serious gamers want to sit and play for 6 hours.

    ~Will
    • The hand stress is definately a potential problem some games. The real question is do I have to hold it out in front of me, or can I rest the controller on my lap and use less dramatic movements? It's pretty obvious that a lot of the people jumping around motion in the promo movies is exaggerated. You don't need to hide behind your couch and come jumping out while playing an FPS.
      One thing that should be noted is that the Wii supports Gamecube controllers and that there is a conventional "retro" controller w

      • Re:Thoughts on the controller (Score:5, Informative)

        by Bulletz26 ( 967431 ) on Wednesday May 10, 2006 @04:14PM (#15303702)
        "The hand stress is definately a potential problem some games. The real question is do I have to hold it out in front of me, or can I rest the controller on my lap and use less dramatic movements?"

        Not if the developer knows what they're doing. Take a look at this excerpt from IGN's preview of 'WiiSports Tennis':

        One interesting thing we learned while playing is that you can choose to either do wide, arching movements that genuinely simulate the real game of tennis, or, alternatively, you can choose simple flicks of the wrist to do the same thing. So, if you want to go out (like the actors in Nintendo's initial controller teaser video), you have that option. But if not, you can go small, too. The game recognizes and translates either movement to the court on the fly.
        (Full article http://revolution.ign.com/articles/706/706071p1.ht ml [ign.com])

        So I'd think if the proper optimizations are made, usage of the Wii-mote really doesn't have to be any more tiring than using a dual-shock or xbox controller.
    • "They hold it out in front of them, at arms' length."

      What you're watching is an advertisement that is intended to showcase the controller. They're holding the controller straight out not to play the game, but so the viewer can see it.
    • Two words, classic controller: http://www.planetgamecube.com/media/2533/1/22060.j pg [planetgamecube.com]

  • ...currently, falls short in the Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

    This shouldn't be any surprise for a couple of reasons.

    Firstly, LoZ:TP has been in development for ages as a GameCube release. Hence, support for waving your Wii stick around wasn't part of the original game design, it's something they've added recently.

    Secondly, LoZ:TP is going to be released simultaneously for GameCube and Wii. This means that the Wii stick can't be required for gameplay, so the game must still be optimized for a con

  • Super Mario Galaxy! (Score:5, Informative)

    by Silent sound ( 960334 ) on Wednesday May 10, 2006 @05:54PM (#15304442)
    Not linked from this story are hands on reports on Mario Galaxy from the E3 floor! [gamespot.com] And here are some photos from the E3 demo stations [advancedmn.com]. This is probably the most exciting thing to come out of this entire E3, this game looks amazing.

    The graphics are creative and mindbendingly absurdist, the gameplay sounds intuitive and natural, and even better-- if I understand the Gamespot hands on correctly, Mario Galaxy isn't a stupid star/shine hunt like the last two games were. The point is to just get from point A to point B, like in the 2D mario games-- meaning that the environments can be huge and expansive and there can be a wide variety of them, as opposed to Mario Sunshine where the levels were basically just entering the same 10 boxes over and over to do different little errands in them. I am so happy about this, I cannot wait to play this game. I hope it is a launch title.

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