wii-motionplus
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Joystiq impressions: Food Network: Cook or Be Cooked
click for a larger steak -- it's what's for dinner Cook or Be Cooked -- quite an ominous subtitle to a Food Network game for Wii, no? Fortunately, the only thing potentially dangerous we spotted in our hands-off demo of Food Network: Cook or Be Cooked was a scolding by silly-looking caricatures of the network's personalities.To be honest, it wasn't the thought of learning to prepare food properly via a video game that intrigued us. We just had to check out a cooking game by Red Fly, developer of Mushroom Men and the upcoming Wii version of Ghostbusters: The Video Game. That and the title is slated to utilize Wii MotionPlus -- but it wasn't doing so at the event. The brief demo we watched took place inside a nicely realized virtual kitchen, with the demoer following steps on a recipe card to make steak and mashed potatoes. The former required the proper oven temperature (turn the Wiimote to twist the knob, naturally) and frying pan handling. The steak was left in the oven too long, causing the kitchen to fill with smoke. Potatoes had to be cut with small chopping motions and, later, pulverized by holding the Wiimote vertically and mashing away.More of a simulation than the arcade fun of Cooking Mama, Food Network: Cook or Be Cooked could easily be renamed "Learning to Cook Without Ruining Real Ingredients." Now, if you'll excuse us, we have some bacon to waggle.%Gallery-51410%
Red Steel 2 goes to the Wild West, adds MotionPlus support
Red Steel 2 is real ... and it's not really what we were expecting. The June 2009 issue of Nintendo Power will feature Ubisoft's Wii-exclusive sequel, and the cover reveals two things: MotionPlus makes wielding the sword feel "as real as you'd always dreamed!" Red Steel 2 seems to take place in the Wild West ... with swords. WTF? Now, before you freak out, let's not forget that the Wild West and the East have merged together quite successfully in the past. If Red Steel 2 turns out anything like the Charles Bronson / Toshiro Mifune mashup Red Sun, it should be the best game ever made. Check out the cover after the break.[Thanks, Fernando Rocker]
The rather uneventful (yet somehow exciting) evolution of Wii MotionPlus
Some recently unearthed European legal filings show us the timeline of development for Wii's MotionPlus. Well -- it shows us what could have been, anyway. The image, starting to the left, shows the oldest version, with an insanely hideous curve that was dispensed with in favor of an outwardly leaning shape in the next iteration, while the far right shows what we essentially ended up with: a tiny little lip that some theorize may be a design element intended to help keep the jacket in place. We'll say this much: we sure are glad they didn't use that initial design. Yuck![Via Joystiq]
Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 10 lands in June, comes with MotionPlus
Say it with us now: "Phew!" When Nintendo announced that its Wii MotionPlus dongle would be hitting US shelves on June 8th, we all wondered why Wii Sports Resort (Nintendo's first MotionPlus-enabled title) was set to ship over a month later. Now, EA Sports has relieved worries that early adopters would have no software to use with their new toy by announcing that Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 10 will hit North America on June 15th. Better still, the Wii version will be available with a MotionPlus add-on bundled in for just $10 more than the standalone title (which will run $49.99). As great as all this is, Europeans still come out better, as they'll also see Grand Slam Tennis ship in June with a MotionPlus packed in. Ah well -- it's just a peccadillo, we'll let it slide this time.
Virtua Tennis 2009 serves up Wii MotionPlus support
The rumors were true: Sega has confirmed the Wii version of Virtua Tennis 2009 will support Nintendo's upcoming MotionPlus remote add-on. The publisher is making a racket about the fact its game will be out before EA Sports' Grand Slam Tennis, which hits in June, making it the first title on the market to utilize Ninty's fancy new doohickey.Of course, Wii MotionPlus won't even be out until June, but it's still nice to know VT2009 supports it without pesky patches. (You know, those things Wii games don't have?) We suspect we'll be hearing more about the extra-sensitive Wii version of the game soon. Right now, Sega's only providing a general "spring 2009" release window.
Wii MotionPlus and Wii Sports Resort (feat. Disc Dog) out in July
According to a source at Nintendo (the source being Nintendo's website) the company will include its long-awaited, not-yet-duplicated Wii MotionPlus with the upcoming Wii Sports Resort collection, to be bandied about at E3 this June. The sequel to the Wii Sports promises an even greater sense of submersion for games with titles like Sword Play, Power Cruising, and Disc Dog. Disc Dog! According to Tech Radar, the game -- and the device -- will be out in Japan in June, and will then go on to see the light of day in the rest of the world sometime in July. Pricing and specific release dates have yet to be announced, but you'll know as soon as we do -- promise.Read - Nintendo Wii Sports 2 and MotionPlus out JulyRead - E3 2008: Wii Sports Resort
Rumor: Release list dates Wii Sports Resort with MotionPlus, reveals Wii Fit Plus
A GoNintendo reader by the name of Maxemillian_X recently snapped a picture of an upcoming release list from an Amsterdam-based gaming retailer which reveals two interesting pieces of Wii news. The first (and somewhat more reasonable) item is a supposed July 10 release date for the Wii Sports Resort and Wii MotionPlus bundle, as well as the standalone MotionPlus peripheral.The second eye catching release date on the list is for Wii Fit Plus, which is apparently due out November 19, giving us plenty of time to find out what the hell it is. Given the pictured release list's dubious origins (we don't know what store it came from), we're taking it with a healthy dose of trepidation. Still, a summer release for Wii Sports Resort and a follow up to Nintendo's exergaming cash cow don't seem beyond the realm of possibilities.
Wii MotionPlus can be oversensitive to your needs, say EA devs
The jury's still out on whether or not Nintendo follows our logic and is gonna release the Wii MotionPlus attachment before June 18th, the day Electronic Arts debuts the first compatible game Grand Slam Tennis. Regardless, the developers of that game want you to know that they had to actually to tone down the touted 1:1 responsiveness to make the game playable. We can't say that we blame them -- after all, the air resistance of a Wii remote is slightly different than that of a full tennis racket -- but we'd love to have the option to crank up that sensitivity and see just how unstable it really is. So when do we a chance to find out for ourselves, eh Nintendo?[Via Joystiq]
Matsuura wants hardcore gamers to sit back and enjoy 'Major Minor'
Rhythm game pioneer Masaya Matsuura, known for popularizing the genre with titles like PaRappa the Rapper, told MTV Multiplayer that hardcore gamers should take a break and get ready to enjoy his upcoming game, Major Minor's Majestic March. "PaRappa was released about 12 or 13 years ago, and being a hardcore gamer the entire time since then must be kind of tiring," Matsuura jokingly answered when asked if the marching band game would appeal to PaRappa fans. Matsuura also fielded questions regarding Nintendo's upcoming peripheral, the Wii MotionPlus, saying Major Minor had been tested with the accessory but in the end it "didn't really make it any more fun." While the add-on could be added in the future, Matsuura hypothesizes that titles may "need to be planned" from the beginning for its use. Matsuura also throws kind words toward Harmonix, reminiscing about a time when he "implored" the team to create games and noting how proud he is of the success of Rock Band and Guitar Hero as though they were his own creations. But don't worry, Matsuura isn't prepping a frivolous lawsuit ... he was just being nice.
Joystiq hands-on: Tiger Woods 10 (Wii)
We actually got two hands firmly on a MotionPlus-sporting Wiimote for our demo of Tiger Woods 10, which, as it turned out, was a very good thing. Unlike EA's other 1:1 motion sensing sports offering, Grand Slam Tennis, we were able to more immediately appreciate what Nintendo's new tech brought to the game.Playing one hole at Bethpage Black, we first got into the swing of things (sorry) by seeing how accurately our on-screen club matched what we were doing in reality. The answer was "very accurately." Bringing the Wiimote slowly back and up, we watched as Tiger perfectly matched not only the angle we were holding it at, but the twist of the club as well. We took our first real swing and found that, yes, it was quite true-to-life: we sucked.We got better, though, and putting really seemed to benefit from the increased Wiimote precision. The slightest backward movement was shown via an on-screen meter, providing a really good sense of how much follow-through we'd want in order to sink the ball. All in all, our brief time with Mr. Woods' game was the most impressive implimentation of MotionPlus we've tried yet. You can get an even better idea of what we experienced in the above video. %Gallery-47656%
Joystiq hands-on: EA Sports Grand Slam Tennis
click to enlarge EA Sports' entry into the Wii tennis game roster came out to play at its "Season Opener" event in San Francisco. We weren't so much interested in the fact it was a tennis title from EA as we were with its support for Nintendo's yet-to-be-dated Wii MotionPlus peripheral.It was a little odd, then, that we started off our play session without said Wiimote doohickey. We were essentially playing a more -- though not entirely -- realistic game of Wii Sports tennis, right down to the serve mechanic and the automatic on-court movement of our character. Thankfully, we learned that the game will support a Nunchuk for player-controlled movement -- and we eventually got to give MotionPlus a try.%Gallery-47654%
MotionMinus: Dead Space Extraction won't use MotionPlus after all [update]
A few days back, we posted a story based on a quote from EA's John Pleasants that seemed to confirm the use of the MotionPlus peripheral for the upcoming Dead Space: Extraction on the Wii. We mentioned how weird we thought it was to use advanced motion-sensing in a title that will presumably be controlled mostly with the Wiimote's pointer. EA seems to agree that it would be a weird choice, which is why it isn't actually doing that. It turns out that the quote was mistakenly taken out of context: at the Goldman Sachs conference, Pleasants talked about EA's planned MotionPlus sports games and Dead Space at around the same time, and somehow in the trip onto the Internet, the two subjects became conflated.Update: Sean from GameCyte has helped us clarify the source of all the confusion: not a misquote, but rather a mistaken statement from Pleasants himself. He did say that Dead Space would use the MotionPlus peripheral, which has since been confirmed not to be the case.
EA not waiting on Nintendo, will release MotionPlus-compat games on time
EA is determined to release its new crop of sports game, whether or not Nintendo has released the Wii MotionPlus peripheral or not. As you may recall, EA revealed the next Tiger Woods game would feature MotionPlus support, as well as a new tennis game the company is developing, and both will ship to retail on June 16, 2009. EA Sports' PR chief, David Tinson, said that both games "will be compatible, but not dependent, on WMP. They will ship with the functionality, regardless of when WMP comes to market."The peripheral is a tie-in with Wii Sports Resort, a game that was woefully absent from Nintendo's big release list yesterday. Will MotionPlus and Wii Sports Resort be on store shelves by June 16? Nintendo has yet to comment on an exact release for the Wii Sports successor, but we'll be sure to update you as soon as we hear.
Dead Space: Extraction to support MotionPlus
Despite Nintendo's total, mystifying silence about the MotionPlus peripheral in its big news release today, EA is still working on games designed to support the new gyroscope add-on. In addition to Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 and EA Sports Grand Slam Tennis, both of which EA reconfirmed as MotionPlus titles today, Dead Space: Extraction will feature MotionPlus capabilities.EA's COO John Pleasants revealed the use of the device at the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference today, saying that Extraction would be "taking advantage of the MotionPlus controller." John Riccitiello previously alluded to this in a somewhat less specific manner during the original announcement of the game.Dead Space seems like an odd choice for MotionPlus -- as an on-rails title, we would expect its controls mostly to involve using the pointer for aiming. But EA knows what it is doing: including MotionPlus support for anything is going to get the Wii fanbase on its side.
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 getting MotionPlus support
A recent dispatch from Electronic Arts promoting its EA Sports Season Opener event teased us with the promise of new information regarding its major athletic franchises -- though the nature of these new pieces of intel were absent from the message. One phrase did catch our eye, however -- while listing off the games which will be showcased at the event, EA mentioned Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 will be "featuring Wii MotionPlus." We can't wait to see the implications this will have on gameplay -- hopefully, when we fling our club into the crowd of jeering onlookers after our fourth consecutive double bogey, it'll travel on a startlingly realistic trajectory.We'll also get our first look at EA Sports' yet-to-be-named, MotionPlus-infused tennis title at the event -- hopefully, we'll get a chance to chuck a few rackets in a similar, McEnroe-esque fashion.
Rumor: Virtua Tennis 2009 for Wii to support WiiMotion Plus
Sega may be soon walking onto the court with an extra spring in its step, as TechRadar UK reports that the recently announced Wii version of Virtua Tennis 2009 will ship with support for WiiMotion Plus. Citing an anonymous source, the site writes that the game will be among the first third-party titles to support the new controller tech, which promises to boost the Wii remote's sensitivity to motion. We remain interested in seeing what developers do with WiiMotion Plus once it's introduced, though Sega has yet to announce any plans for supporting the souped-up controls when Virtua Tennis hits a backspin for retail in May.As an aside, the rumor comes just as '80s tennis crybaby John McEnroe celebrates surviving half a century, his ball striking the white line of the Wii's target demographic. If any extra-sensitive waggle does make its way into Virtua Tennis 2009, we advise keeping your distance should McEnroe stop by for a quick tantrum game of doubles.
Wii Warm Up: Ridiculous!
It's Sunday, and for some of you out there, it's cold or even snowing. That means it's a good day to stay inside and fill your hours with incredible silliness. That's what we do when it's freezing, anyway. Alternately, you could probably play video games, but talking about them can be so much more fun. But we don't want to talk about real games. That isn't any fun at all. Instead, let's see if we can cook up some completely ridiculous Wii game concepts. With Wii MotionPlus heading out to improve our real motion experience, and the console's fascination with minigames, what's yet to come? Wii Music-er? Wii Dodgeball? Wii Cage Match? Call it now.
Wii Warm Up: Peripheral issues
Wii peripherals have proven a profitable business for Nintendo, and a new member, the WiiSpeak microphone, will join this rapidly growing family later this month. In our experience, these accessories mostly enhance the games they support, and that's great and all, but it has been a while since we actually perched on our Balance Boards, or waved our Wii Wheel about to Mario Kart Wii, or Zappered zombies. When was the last time you played a Wii title with something other than a naked Wiimote and Nunchuk, and what was the game?%Gallery-23865%
The Conduit finds publishing partner in Sega
After spending months in the public eye without a publisher – including two very public presentations with Nintendo, and one embarassing gaffe that appeared to put the game under the Nintendo banner – High Voltage Software's The Conduit has finally found a happy home at Sega (as rumored). Of course, Sega's got another high-profile "core" game for the Wii in MadWorld so today's announcement represents a strategic addition; what Sega of America prez Simon Jeffrey calls its "belief in the Wii's gaming potential beyond the casual market." With an estimated Spring 2009 release date, there's not much we don't already know about The Conduit; however, the press release does confirm support for the Wii Speak peripheral in online multiplayer games as well as Wii MotionPlus support for "optimal control." Or maybe there is more. Jeffrey says High Voltage "has only scratched the surface of the game in terms of what they have shown so far." Our guess: smell-o-vision. %Gallery-33787%
Born for Wii: Discs of Tron
The year is 1982, and your mind has just been blown straight out of the back of your head into an alternate reality of endless imagination and gripping fantasy. Why? Because you just saw Tron. The iconic Disney film, which was one of the first movies in history to use computer graphics, cemented itself in the public conscience as an integral part of 80s pop culture. A handful of legendary scenes are still instantly evoked when Tron is mentioned, such as the lightcycle sequence -- and many of them have found their way into a real videogame over the years.One of those games was Discs of Tron, released in arcades a whopping 25 years ago. Inspired by a few minutes of the film, the game pits you against an adversary in a small arena on floating platforms, charged with "derezzing" your opponents before you bite the digital dust yourself. Unfortunately, you can't kick quite as much ass as Tron himself, but the game did an admirable job (especially by 1983 standards) of taking a single concept and making it fun. And even though the original really shows its age now and wouldn't stand up against the competition in 2008, just think of it this way: how could a murder disc simulator not be Born for Wii? #ninbutton { border-style: solid; border-color: #000; border-width: 2px; background-color: #BBB; color: #000; text-decoration: none; width: 100px; text-align: center; padding: 2px 2px 2px 2px; margin: 2px 2px 2px 2px; } .buttontext { color: #000; text-decoration: none; font: bold 14pt Helvetica; } #ninbutton:hover { text-decoration: none; color: #BBB; background-color: #000; } NEXT >> %Gallery-34937% Every week, Born for Wii digs into gaming's sordid past to unearth a new treasure fit for revival on the Nintendo Wii. Be sure to check out last week's entry in the series, Cosmic Smash, and for more great titles that deserve your attention, take a look at Virtually Overlooked.
