Nintendo Wii worries

[Anayo1]

I can count the number of times I've played a Nintendo Wii on one hand. The first time was shortly after launch day, at my local Gamestop. The game was Excite Truck. I liked it. The graphics were very nice; the Wii remote was stunningly small. It felt pretty weird to steer a jeep by tilting this little white bar around in thin air.

Next time I played Super Paper Mario. Sadly, this was very brief, since I didn't know what level I was on, or even what to do. I liked it a little more next time, when I got to play Brain Age Academy. I got a C++ grade. Hey, not bad for someone who's never played before.

But the most intimate hands-on time with a Nintendo Wii was at my cousin's house, since he owns one. Here I played the acclaimed Wii Sports (I played boxing, golf, baseball, and tennis) and fiddled around with Zelda: Twilight Princess. This all leads up to why I wrote this to begin with. I want to talk about a slightly disheartening trait of certain motion-sensitive Wii games.

Since the Wii controller was first announced, I envisioned something like the consummation of that “virtual reality” thing everyone was talking about in the early to mid nineties. You know, with the dorky headset and gloves. The idea of virtual reality was that your movements would translate into game controls in a very lifelike and natural way. However, the Nintendo Wii doesn't do what I thought it was supposed to do. At least not that I observed, and I could be wrong. I hope I am.

To explain what I mean, I'll go to the extreme of illustrating what happens in a real life tennis game, as opposed to Wii Sports' Tennis. In real tennis, you arc your aim, swing your racket, and probably hit the ball. The velocity of your swing affects how hard the ball bounces back. The deflection angle of the racket's mesh against the ball's round surface affects what trajectory the ball takes. The mass of the ball affects its momentum – how much energy it takes to get it moving and how much it takes to make it stop.

Funny thing is, I felt no such thing while playing Wii Sports. All I felt while playing was that just a well-timed, blind swing would do the job. The arc or velocity of my swing made no discernible difference; it was all in the timing. Wait. In what way is this different from a well-timed press of the “A” button?

Zelda Twilight Princess is another example of this alleged trait. Note that while playing, my cousin was having some sort of technical problems with his nunchuck attachment, so I didn't hold the reins for long, but I did have enough time to make Link walk around as I had done before with OoT, killing a few enemies by way of sword slicing. But the sword slicing was just blind vertical and horizontal movements. Any general up and down movement translated to the same vertical swing animation each time. Same for horizontal swinging. I don't know if this is as big of a deal in Zelda: TP as it would be in, say, Wii Tennis, but it's consistent with what I'm talking about.

Another example is worthy of consideration. OK, I'm getting over the top here cause Metroid Prime 3 isn't even released yet, but if you can bear with me this is a legitimate point. You're Samus Aran, and you've got to insert your arm cannon into a slot to unlock some sort of Chozo-made door. Permitting the fantastical supposition that Samus and her universe actually existed to begin with, what you would do is raise your arm cannon, adjust it accordingly so it'll slide through, possibly collide with the edges of the hole, what with the way solid objects bump instead of passing through each other, then you push it through against the friction of the hole's edges and turn. The gears or whatever inside probably resist you, but with a little persistent heave it finally locks into place and then the door or whatever opens and you proceed.

Or do you just sorta thrust it forward, and the cannon automatically fits in by way of a pre-made “insert cannon” animation? Then make some approximate twisting movement which cues the pre-made “arm cannon twist” animation to play? Which is it? If this is all the Wii remote amounts to, I feel like it's using an analog stick on a game designed for a digital D-pad. Could these things just as easily be done with a Gamecube controller?

I am irked at how crude, approximated gestures are what seems to be detected by the Wii rather than 1:1 movements with physical qualities like friction, momentum, solid collision, deflection angles etc. I thought that was what the Wii was all about. And don't you dare mistake me. I'm not trying to make some overblown rant just to make some subversive “get an XBOX 360 or PS3 instead” statement. I've been a Nintendo fan since the NES and I can't imagine upgrading to the next gen without that next gen upgrade being Nintendo. Tradition, I guess.

Well, anyway, the nature of the motion sensitivity bothers me. It just doesn't seem to be what I thought it was. Of course, I might be totally mistaken. But that is what it seems like.

Can any Wii owners relate their experiences concerning this subject?

[VideoGameCritic]

I think I know where you're coming from.  The motion controls haven't been especially precise.  However, Nintendo is in a situation where they need to balance robust controls with ease-of-play.  If a game requires perfect movements, then they might frustrate the less-coordinated among us.  On the other hand, by watering down the movements it doesn't feel as responsive or immersive. 

[Steerfoorth]

Here's my take - I think you are looking for trouble if you make a game that has to have several different specific motions to pass for button combos or whatnot.

I DO like WIi Sprots though, but you are correct, it is fairly shallow, at least for what you are looking for. Like I have said before, you cannot check your swing in baseball, if you commit the tiniest amount of swing, the game will automaticly follow through, no matter how little you swung. So that is not true 1 to 1. However I think Wii golf is an example of wimote motion sensing being far and away superior to buttons with that stale power bar business.

I think it is very similar to the touch screen on the DS - you are going to see a lot of gimmic crap until people figure out what works well and focus on that, if they ever do. But the majority of the ports just have a 'lets do it different with motion' mentality, wether it makes any sense or is even better than traditional controls.

Actually Red Steel made me much less excited about getting Metroid, and that is not fair to Metroid at all. But I think I will pick up BWii maybe brand new, I expect that game to work well with the pointer and I enjoyed BW more than Prime.

[feilong801]

I think you are setting your expectations far too high. It's a consumer electronics device. Personally, I find even simplistic "replace the button" type Wii remote uses enjoyable. I far prefer Twilight Princess' controls, and playing Ocarina of Time with the old control method feels wrong to me.

I also think you don't realize everything that is going on in terms of the Wii's technology, either. In Wii Tennis, there is more going on than just swing animations being triggered by motions. It is also measuring the velocity of the swing. It also takes the wrist angle that you are holding the Wii remote into account. You can create a variety of different shots using these impressive abilities, and in fact have to do so to beat the more difficult CPU opponents. It does indeed take more than blind swings when you get to the higher levels. It isn't 1:1, but it is more than just generic swing.

From reading your post, it seems you have played Excite Truck, Twilight Princess, Super Paper Mario, Wii Sports, and Big Brain Academy (and some you admit you only played briefly: Super Paper Mario is a game designed for the hardcore and cannot be appreciated in a half hour play test). Is that all you have tried? I would recommend Wario Ware Smooth Moves- there are lots of really great uses of motion, including some 1:1 stuff. Despite the naysayers, some of the FPS games are solid, if not great. And Metroid Prime 3 will be awesome: the ability to smoothly turn and aim with the remote may not seem like much, but it will fundamentally transform the console FPS experience.

I would also try SSX Blur as well. It's a very good game, and uses the controls in a manner that could not possibly be duplicated with regular controls.

I understand, given the immense hype, how one could feel the sort of remorse that you feel. But I never really expected accurate 1:1 control in the opening lineup of games. Thus, I have been very pleased with my experience.

Frankly, I've had more fun with Wii than I've had with any new console that I've purchased in the past 3-4 years. If that makes me seem irrational or, to use the dreaded term, "a fanboy," so be it. Different people will have different experiences. But I would also say that the upcoming onslaught of games should finally settle the matter. If you don't find yourself really digging the Wii after Metroid Prime 3, Mario Galaxy, and Smash Bros (not too mention the bevy of 3rd party titles like Umbrelle Chronicles and Mario vs. Sonic, among others), then you should probably sell your Wii, since at that point you could reasonably assume that you won't ever really like it.

-Rob

[feilong801]

Ah, I just missed a huge part of your message, that you don't in fact own a Wiil. Sorry. That explains to me a little bit more why you are unsure about it.

-Rob