Nintendo failed to notify third-party devs of MotionPlus prior to E3

We weren't terribly impressed with Nintendo's recently unveiled MotionPlus add-on, but we're even more disappointed by this. Reportedly, scads of third-party developers revealed at E3 that the Big N's latest Wiimote accessory was just as much a surprise to them as it was to any of us. In other words, Nintendo didn't bother giving its external devs any advance notice in order to get the ball rolling on compatible titles, or so it seems. Unfortunately, this also means that we probably won't see any MotionPlus-ready games hitting shelves from anyone not named Nintendo for months to come, but it's not like Wii Sports Resort can't hold our attention for a solid year, right?

[Via Nintendo Wii Fanboy]

[Nicky-Larson @ Jul 23rd 2008 10:57AM]

Nintendo are getting drunk with success, and I smell arrogance now from them.

[LongshotX @ Jul 23rd 2008 11:05AM]

You can say that again.

[Craig @ Jul 23rd 2008 11:05AM]

Actually, I suspect they're not very confident how this will do (either performance-wise or market-wise), so they're not bothering their developer partners with it until it's a bit more baked technically.

[ybd @ Jul 23rd 2008 11:09AM]

They've been arrogant for a while now, ever since they announced WiFi for MKDS.

I've been a Nintendo fan for about 12 years, but right now I'm more than ready to admit Nintendo is a bad company with worse management.

[High Ranks make you sterile @ Jul 23rd 2008 11:12AM]

Oh, Engadget, you say that like it's a horrible thing. I mean, I suppose it's possible that someone out there will be disappointing when "Carnival games II" doesn't have super accurate-r controls for Skee Ball or something. It's not like Wii third party games are that great anyway. Nintendo's first priority is first-party games, it always has and always will be. And if you haven't noticed, they tend to do pretty good. This will just ensure that it continues to be that way....

[TomTom2007 @ Jul 23rd 2008 11:49AM]

I thought they are just gonna keep on milking the cow...

[rock99rock @ Jul 23rd 2008 10:59AM]

They are so good at droppin the ball over there.

[Matt @ Jul 23rd 2008 1:11PM]

It's hard to carry the ball and 15 billion dollars in revenue at the same time, bro.

[rock99rock @ Jul 23rd 2008 1:27PM]

Actually, it should be easier.

[shanoboy @ Jul 23rd 2008 11:00AM]

3rd Party developers have always complained that Nintendo doesn't play very nice with them.

This is just another example of that.

[Carl M @ Jul 23rd 2008 5:37PM]

My reading on this is that Nintendo just got this gyro thing figured out recently, and that they weren't planning on announcing it now, except that they heard a rumor that Microsoft and Sony were going to announce their own Wiimote-like controllers.

I think if Nintendo were going to announce MotionPlus on their own schedule, they would have waited until it was less than 4 months away from release and had at least one or two major developers on board with it.

But certainly Nintendo is stuck on the principle that success for its platforms depends solely upon themselves. Third parties have no loyalties that can't be bought by the highest bidder, and Nintendo has been bitten by this several times already.

I think Nintendo could do better if they worked more closely with (some) other developers, but this doesn't seem to come easy for them.

[Forrest @ Jul 23rd 2008 11:01AM]

If this is typical of how they handle things with third-party developers it's no wonder third-party support for their consoles is so poor.

[Scott @ Jul 23rd 2008 2:24PM]

I am just glad the the first party support is pretty decent with releasing some good quality games.

[OX4 @ Jul 23rd 2008 11:06AM]

So...you weren't impressed with the hardware add-on, yet you're complaining that there aren't titles to take advantage of the add-on. Thanks for the article, Grumbly McGrumbler.

[makishima @ Jul 23rd 2008 11:12AM]

I think it was meant more as
"We weren't terribly impressed with Nintendo's recently unveiled MotionPlus add-on and we really wish there were some more games on the horizon to show us what its really capable of, but we're even more disappointed by this."

Or if it was meant to be a contradictory complaint.....well welcome to the internet.

[makishima @ Jul 23rd 2008 11:15AM]

Plus I think everyone is still a little bitter that the MotionPlus and Animal Crossing were the highlights of E3 from Nintendo.

[phanbouy @ Jul 23rd 2008 11:07AM]

guess they won't have 3rd party developers developers developers developers developers

[CUBSWILLWIN @ Jul 23rd 2008 11:11AM]

you can say that again :P

[Jon Cotton @ Jul 23rd 2008 12:15PM]

DEVELOPERS!!!! :'(

[Justin @ Jul 23rd 2008 12:37PM]

Nice Steve Balmer reference!

"We got into creative differences over the speech. I wrote it so that he'd say "developers" 37 times, but he only wanted to say "developers" 35 times. I told him that just didn't make any sense without those last two "developers"; that was the hook!"

Sarge - RvB PSA 4

[tiremfej @ Jul 23rd 2008 11:12AM]

Surprise! Nintendo, thinks they can do well with only their first party games! Third partied be damned! What a joke. I don't know why everyone Ninty thinks differently. It's happened since the SNES and to a greater extent the 64 and 'Cube. Now the Wii...ahh, how the mighty get arrogant.

[N30 G30 @ Jul 23rd 2008 11:24AM]

Nintendo has done well with only their first party games. The N64 and GameCube had a crap third party list compared to the systems of those generations and they still did well, and most importantly they made some of the greatest games the world has ever seen.

[MasterCKO @ Jul 23rd 2008 1:11PM]

N30 G30: The GCN did not "do well" by most meaningful metrics. Their handhelds is what kept the Big N in the game at all during that time.

Someone below said it best, Nintendo's mistreatment of 3rd party is systemic and would have led to the downfall of the company by now, if not for their unending ability to appeal to the masses. But I guess that's good for them, I suppose.

Sucks if you're a dev that wants to actually work with Nintendo, though.

[Blacklisted @ Jul 23rd 2008 11:21AM]

The Wii SDK documentation still refers to the hardware as the "Dolphin" (the code name for the Gamecube), which gives you an idea of how frequently they update it.

The guidelines and examples to meet certification... if you directly paste the text/code in from their guidelines you will fail certification because the guidelines are not correct.

We didn't hear anything about the motion plus accessory until it was announced at E3. Which is pretty dumb because I can quite literally throw a rock and hit Nintendo from where I'm sitting. Though I'm not terribly friendly with anybody at Nintendo, I have former coworkers who now work over there and many of my current coworkers have good friends who work at Nintendo. And still we heard nothing.

I could go on at length, but I think I'll save myself the increase in blood pressure and just say Nintendo is successful in spite of themselves. *sigh* I'm tired of working on the Wii, I want to make real games again.

[Lam Nguyen @ Jul 23rd 2008 11:22AM]

I don't know why anyone else is surprise by this move from Nintendo. They have always done this in the past with their other systems: relying only on first-party games and could careless about third-party. Look at the Gamecube and N64... history is repeating itself. If it weren't for the mass appeal to "casual gamers", Nintendo would have been dead in this console generation because long-time gamers (I didn't say hardcore) like me have already learned this lesson before... and it's tiring.

[Seminole @ Jul 23rd 2008 2:12PM]

Exactly the reason I returned my Wii after owning it for a week. (I got one on the day they launched.) I had a Gamecube last generation and got shafted with shitty games that didn't appeal to me. All the really cool games (With the exception of Zelda and a few others) were all on the Xbox and PS2. I was in love with the Wii for 2 days. Then I started to play COD3 and other games I had bought for it and noticed how crappy they were implemented. Returned that sucker after deciding I wasn't going to get screwed by Nintendo yet again. I love the big N, I've had every handheld (still have them all including the original Gameboy and Gameboy pocket) and every console with the exception of Super Nintendo. But this isn't the 1980's where first party games will seal the deal. I've moved on.

[mooman @ Jul 23rd 2008 11:23AM]

A bit of a non story.

Nintendo are not releasing the MotionPlus thing until late February / early March 2009.

So assuming developers received them after E3, would it really take them more than 7 months to include MotionPlus controls in a game they were developing? Even if they didn't use Nintendo's wiimote middleware it would take a months work tops to program for.

[Braverwon @ Jul 23rd 2008 11:35AM]

Lets put away some negativity here. The MotionPlus will not be out until Spring of next year when Wii Sports Resort releases. I think that 6+ months of lead time is plenty enough for any developer to add the functionality to their game. Its not like they are writing code for a completely new device, the MotionPlus will just add and another value to check.

I am willing to bet the bulk of development time is spent on level design and graphics, not mapping input...

[Jonathan @ Jul 23rd 2008 11:37AM]

You know, the only thing I'm unimpressed with so far is your so-called "review" of the MotionPlus. You know, where you suffixed the title with "Blah"? Real professional.

You should go to IGN, watch the off-screen demos (where seeing the man's motion mapped perfectly to the game is truly amazing), then write an addendum to your blasé "review" apologizing for even bothering to write such a worthless article in the first place.

I think the biggest issue I had with your "review" is the fact that you seem to think that this level of precision was something "the Wii promised at launch". You know, considering these kind of gyros were just invented and/or became affordable in the past year.

[Matthew @ Jul 23rd 2008 1:57PM]

Indeed, except for Engadget all the other reviews have been positive if not glowing.

[loosely_coupled @ Jul 24th 2008 2:31PM]

+1

[Namssorg @ Jul 23rd 2008 11:39AM]

Is "not caring" the new cool thing to do, instead of "being sad" ?

I'm looking at the front page and I see "No one cares" "not impressed" etc.. Way to make stories dealing with the very topics of your website exciting. It's like reading a car enthusiast magazine and every car review is just like "yeah, it's a car I guess."

Fucking boring.

[nh @ Jul 23rd 2008 12:29PM]

Yeah if no one cares, why report it?

As Garfield once said, 'They're doing it, you're watching them: who has the problem?'

The headlines on engadget are dreadful. If it wasn't for the infrequency of the updates, I'd be back at Gizmodo like a shot.

[Braverwon @ Jul 23rd 2008 11:38AM]

You beat me to it Mooman, glad to see that some people still have the ability to think critically.

[ShadowKain @ Jul 23rd 2008 11:41AM]

Article a little Phan-boy and arrogant but holds a good point. Nintendo? Did you misplace your Post-it Notes? If you want 3rd party devs to like you, don't pull stunts like this please.

[Quicksilver4648 @ Jul 23rd 2008 11:45AM]

My Wii condom is going to get all stretched out!

[Seminole @ Jul 23rd 2008 2:14PM]

Just buy the magnum brand now.

[SteveJ @ Jul 23rd 2008 11:48AM]

Wii Sports Resort (and the motion-plus add-on) aren't due to be released until Spring 2009. That gives 3rd party developers at least 8 months lead time. If they can't adapt their current titles to use motion-plus in 8 months, well, they've probably got bigger problems to deal with.

[dboobis @ Jul 23rd 2008 11:50AM]

I wasn't notified of the PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, iPhone, Eee PC, HTC Touch Diamond, N95, MBA, or any other major tech product prior to their official reveals. I'm beginning to think that tech companies don't want to share all their secrets before they have the patents in place, manufacturing secured and a working prototype to demonstrate...

[SKI @ Jul 23rd 2008 12:28PM]

They were probably scared of Sony stealing the idea.

[jabra @ Jul 23rd 2008 12:38PM]

Well depending on the game, adding support for the new attachment can be a nightmare even if the control is released 8 months from now. For complex games, imagine design architecture, planning, and coding. Those take months... and add in the factor of the QA team running through the whole game again testing the controls and not to mention fixing any bugs that may occur because of this. Nintendo dropped the ball big time.

[James McGill @ Jul 23rd 2008 1:10PM]

This is nothing new for Nintendo. They have been doing this to their third party developers for years. Nintendo never changes, weather their console is in first place or third.

[Gavin Veasey @ Jul 23rd 2008 1:23PM]

Does anyone know if future Wii motes have the MotionPlus built in?

[inteller @ Jul 23rd 2008 1:45PM]

hmm...smells like Sega 32X around here.

[Andrea @ Jul 23rd 2008 1:57PM]

Bad news.

[sinjinn @ Jul 23rd 2008 2:04PM]

is that a robot baby with a nappy on its head? thats one ugly game controller. i gave my wii away and i dont regret it. its a piece of shit.

mario was the easiest mario ever made. there was no difficult stages , no ' oh man , ive died 20 times but i know this time ill do it even though its getting late and i havnt had my dinner ' moments , except the 'collect all the blue coins' levels , which seemed like an after thought to compensate real gamers for tricking them into buying a baby game system, cos thats what it is .. its a baby game system for thumbsuckers.

you want proof? look.. the wii-mote is wearing a nappy .... on its head!

[DoomGaZer @ Jul 23rd 2008 2:22PM]

Oh Poo, there goes my hopes for "real" chocobo riding simulation in FF: Crystal Cubicles. ;)

[edward @ Jul 23rd 2008 3:34PM]

Dude there is NOTHING new about this for ANY game console dev/producer. Consoles tend to be kept from devs till near release.

[Rahabib @ Jul 23rd 2008 3:26PM]

by not including third party developers to work with the devices I bet most, if not all, will simply ignore it. Its a shame because it could be a cool device on the right game. I know I wont buy it unless there is a good game to accompany it (and when was there a good game for the Wii anyway?)

[pacatak @ Jul 23rd 2008 4:28PM]

It's not coming out til next spring, so I'm not suprised that the devs don't know about it. Now they do so they can work on stuff for it.