Wii Zapper To Have Zelda Pack-In Title

The Wii Zapper, announced during Nintendo's keynote at this year's E3 Media event, will be released with a Zelda-themed pack-in title. Called Link's Crossbow Training, it will train up players on skills with the add-on before big-league titles aimed at the device are released. "Nintendo also announced that the Zapper will work with EA's Medal of Honor Heroes, which will feature an 'arcade mode' to make the game accessible to all age groups and skill levels, as well as 32-player multiplayer. Nintendo also dropped a reminder that the upcoming Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles will take advantage of the Zapper, as will Sega's Ghost Squad. The Zapper looks like it will have quite a selection of strong franchises to grab gamer interest when it launches."

Re:It's just a gimmick!

[tomstdenis]

Speaking of replay value, what I'd want more than anything out of an FPS, is dynamic levels. I mean we pack these things with uber-fast processors and tons of ram, can't they resolve a BSP tree or two. I mean it wouldn't have to be a very intricate random level designer, just something that can place walls, doors, windows, obstacles. Even if the levels were linear, having a random map to play on would be cool.

Not saying it would be a trivial task though, just that it would be really kickass.

Re:WOOSH!

[BosstonesOwn]

Tell me about it ! I am so upset there is no duck hunt , and the one on the wii play disc kind of bites.

I want duck hunt and hogans alley to come back , now those were damn fun nintendo games with the gun.

Other games like , Gumshoe ,wild gunman and freedom force where great shooters for the nintendo. I would love to see these packed into a wii disc, so that we can get back to the days of fun over graphics. After all that is why the wii is dominating in even the non gamer market.

On my list to buy.

[dada21]

As the wifey and I got older, our response on regular gaming systems has fallen quite a bit. It may also have to do with the fact that we don't play for hours on end, so our skills have depreciated because of the lack of regular play, too.

Since we purhcased our Wiis (two of them, one for the home, one for travel), our relationship is stronger, we have more fun with friends, and we're just as likely to play a game versus watch TV.

We both are awaiting this because, while it is a gimmick, it adds another level of fun to the games, especially for 30-somethings. It's a great form of exercise, already, but each new "controller" option just adds that much more interest for us in the Wii. Our PS3 and X360 are only used for high def stuff, I can't remember if we even have any games left. But our Wii game purchases are consistent (used, usually, to save a few bucks), and we still get a good hour or two of gaming in a day when we don't have a lot on our plates.

Even if we don't give the new add-on two thumbs up, I'm sure it'll have a place and time in our gaming. Big props to Nintendo for keeping us involved with gaming, and still keep us competitive even against our teenage nieces and nephews who stay over on occasion.

Wierd Ergonomics

[cpt.hugenstein]

I don't know about in Japan but all the weapons I have fired through my army training always have the trigger in the rear. It may be a little odd to have the controls reversed especially for the majority populus being right handed.

I guess it would be difficult to arrange otherwise though, the nunchuk would have to be placed in the front and grip and the trigger extended rearwards.

Re:WOOSH!

[moderatorrater]

I'm predicting the zapper will work with virtual console titles that used the light gun.

Wii-Mote blows for FPS...

[sherriw]

I sincerely hope that Wii FPS and other shooter games like the upcoming resident evil will support the gamecube controller in addition to the remote.

Why?

The remote blows for shooters. Say you are holding the remote in your right hand- index finger on the trigger, thumb on the A button. Left hand has the nunchuck.

Ok, your left hand can move you, and access 2 buttons.

Your right hand can access the trigger, a button, and down arrow on the pad without moving. but if you want to hit the (+), (-) or other arrow buttons you have to shift your hand up the remote- screwing up your aim and taking you out of the game immersion. This is not good at all. So, with your limited access to weapons, how are you supposed to: jump, crouch, change weapons, bring up binoculars, flashlight, menu, throw a grenade/punch/knife/alternate weapon, etc, etc. Games these days needs lots of controls. Even the GC controller was pushing it.

I like the Wii, and I love Nintendo, but the wii mote is not my first choice for shooters. Others may love it. That's why I want CHOICE.

Re:Wii-Mote blows for FPS...

[Chris Burke]

I sincerely hope that Wii FPS and other shooter games like the upcoming resident evil will support the gamecube controller in addition to the remote.

After playing Metroid, I hope I never have to play another FPS with craptacular double-analog-stick controls again. It's FPS gaming how it should be. I'd say it's even superior to Ye Olde Mouse, at least for aiming. It doesn't allow the speedy 180s of the mouse, so the overall nod has to go to the mouse, but as far as speed, ease, and feel of aiming it's debatably better than the mouse and a billion times better than an analog thumb stick.

Your right hand can access the trigger, a button, and down arrow on the pad without moving. but if you want to hit the (+), (-) or other arrow buttons you have to shift your hand up the remote- screwing up your aim and taking you out of the game immersion. This is not good at all.

But thankfully because you're using the wiimote you can instantly re-acquire your target. This isn't like the craptastic analog aiming, where you have to try to keep the reticle over your target all the time because it takes so long to move it back so losing your aim just to switch weapons would be disastrous.

Others may love it. That's why I want CHOICE.

Having to balance a game both for slow analog control and free-form Wii aiming sounds problematic to me. If they can do it, and you insist on using the old control scheme, more power to you. I personally hope they spend any time they would have spent implementing the old scheme to instead further perfect the wiimote controls.

Aiming with the Wiimote.

[Xoltri]

The thing I don't like about the Wiimote for aiming in shooting games is that you are never actually aiming with the gun. You are just looking at the cursor on screen and aiming with that. In the duck-hunt-esque game on Wii Play this gets to be very confusing with 2 players because it is difficult to tell your cursors apart in the heat of battle. Plus it feels a bit 'disconnected' from your actions, where as simply pointing and shooting feels more real. With the old Zapper on NES it had the advantage of knowing exactly where you were pointing on the screen, because the frame of reference _was_ the screen itself. However with the Wiimote the sensor bar is the frame of reference and the screen doesn't matter. In my perfect Wii world the Wii Zapper would have gun sights on it similar to the old NES Zapper. Then any game using this would have a quick calibration session in the game where it shows targets for you to aim at on screen and when you shoot at them it can figure out where on the screen you are pointing with the sensor bar (sort of like calibrating a touch screen on a Windows Mobile device). This way you could remove the on screen cursor and simply aim with the gun sights on the Wii zapper. But unfortuantely based on screenshots I have seen the Wii zapper does not have any gun sights so it doesn't look like the on screen cursor will be disappearing any time soon. Guess I'll just have to get used to shooting from the hip.