As everyone else has said, I think it revolutionized the industry by making games more intuitive for newcomers.
But the important question-the one all of us care about-is: does it have the potential to revolutionise games and change gameplay on a fundamental level? I believe it does, though I certainly understand why one might think otherwise at the present time.
Every developer was unprepared for the Wii (even Nintendo themselves); a large part of the reason the wiimote is so underutilized right now, is
because most devs got on board very late, and many are jumping on right now. Many of the original games are party games/minigame fests, because: a) they can be made cheaply and quickly b)they are an excellent vehicle for experimenting with new gameplay concepts.
Additionaly, most devs have no prior experience utilizing motion sensing, and interpreting accelerometer data is actually very challenging. Many are just beginning to climb the learning curve. Just compare Zelda to the Godfather; the former is a first party game with relatively crappy gesture recognition (and it only has 3 gestures!). The latter has 25 accurately recognized gestures, and
it's a freaking EA port. That's an enormous improvement for just 5 months (perhaps EA was using
LiveMove), and motion-sensing will undoubtedly become far more accurate in the near future. Many of the most immediately useful gameplay features offered by the Wiimote (aiming in Zelda, Trauma Center) use the pointer, because pointer data is easy to interpret.
One particular problem that has so befuddled The Black Brad Pitt
The Black Brad Pitt said:
explain in detail the depth of control you have over the ball, because in the manual it doesnt mention any advanced techniques that the game picks up.
and Policecop is that of inadequate instruction. Many gamers are oblivious to the depth present in Wii Sports; I was as well, until others told me. For tennis, all the manual says is "you can give the ball a lob or a spin depending on how you hit it." SSX Blur is the same; uber recognition is actually quite reliable and fairly flexible, once you've gotten the correct gestures into your muscle memory. It took me a while in uber practice mode to get down my gesture size, shape, speed at different parts of the gesture, when to press/release A, etc. The manual just says "draw the shapes in the air," which Eurogamer
comically misinterpreted as drawing with the pointer.
It's easy to tell if you're pressing a button or not, but it's not so simple with motion controls. When players screw up a gesture, they should know exactly what they did wrong. I think both games would have gotten much higher review scores if they'd included video of various gestures being performed, or directly communicated accelerometer data to the player (i.e. map each axis to a sound at a varying pitch, so players could match the sound coming from the wiimote to the sound made by the correct gesture). So yeah, lots of wiimote games have depth that isn't well communicated.
PoliceCop said:
What happened when Conan played Serena in Wii Tennis?
A perfect example. Serena couldn't see the depth (didn't even swing backhand when she needed to), whereas Conan was getting into it and playing like real tennis.
Ponn01 said:
You're trying to argue input method. In that case I will throw you a bone and tell you PS3.
The point you are missing or just obtusely ignoring is that you can port the game as is to another system and mimic the controls with an analog stick or some other input method, the game does not use full freeform motion control.
Not at all. 2 reasons why:
1)
Sheer volume of input data. How can a traditional controller mimic the input coming from 6 axises (axi?) of acceleromter data, 2 axises of analogue data, 2 axises of pointer data (3 if you count distance), and 4 binary buttons, all of which can be operated simultaneously and independantly? It's just not possible. The wiimote allows a theoretically far greater amount of control over in-game actions. Some early examples include Trauma Center and Wii Sports (esp. boxing).
Even if it's possible to mimic something, that doesn't make it practical. The mouse, touchscreen (this is for dog$), and pointer can all be classified in the same category of input device, as they provide a position on a rectangular 2-dimensional plane. But writing and drawing (and Canvas Curse) are only practical on a touch screen, and only the pointer provides data on distance and orientation. Analogue sticks and tilt could be grouped together as limited range 2-d input devices. But the recentering spring in an analogue stick makes it better for specifying rates of movement (like how Mario runs); tilt's lack of a spring makes it better for specifying constantly maintained states (like the position of your gloves in Wii boxing). Accelerometers and buttons get their own catagories. The Wiimote is the only standard controller in all of gaming with all 4 categories. Trying to use one input device to mimic another generally results in suckiness (see Mario64 DS's touchscreen control).
2)
Physicality. You sound like you're putting forth the argument that there's no value in any motion control that simply uses gestures to perform a non-analogue function that could be done with a button press. Obviously, one benefit is being more intuitive, but that doesn't count because real h-kore gamerz don't care. The human mind is
far more adept at performing reality-based gestures than entirely abstract button sequences. Yes, hardened Master Ninjas like me and you are no exception. Motion control theoretically makes it easier to learn and remember a greater number of functions and sequences of input.
I'll argue that the method by which input is provided has differing effects on a player, even if that input is the same. Different movements can have powerful connotations in the human mind, and stimulate the brain in various ways. Developers can now explore the creation of physical immersion within their games, and many gaffers
do care about it. Just take a peek at the Godfather thread. Or think back to E306, where we found out that we could thrust forward the nunchuck to shoot Samus' grappling beam. It's replicating a button press, but everyone thought it was cool, because it sounded like a physically satisfying action.
But hey! Why play DDR on a dance pad when you could use the face buttons on your dual shock? It'd be the same game, you'd be better at it, and you also wouldn't look like a spaz!
And yeah, Sixaxis is limited by 1) being two-handed, making Wiisports possible but totally impractical, and general gaming less comfortable 2) Containing only 1 accelerometer, whereas both Wiimote and nunchuck can be moved independantly 3) No pointer 4) No controller output whatsoever, while the wiimote has both rumble and audio. Feedback is doubly important when the controller is being interacted with physically.
PoliceCop said:
Honestly I have no idea, I didn't put much time into the game after I learned the mechanics because I hated it.
After you learned the mechanics? When was this? A few hours ago, after everyone explained them to you?
