First Take: Wii MotionPlus

When Nintendo announced Wii MotionPlus at last year's E3 2008 press conference, it certainly raised a few eyebrows. First off, we wondered why this technology wasn't included in the original Wii remote to begin with. Would every game be able to take advantage of MotionPlus?

We've had a few days to play around with Wii MotionPlus along with a few games that take advantage of what it offers. That said, we're not convinced that these games maximize its capability and therefore we're not giving it a score yet. We're going to wait until Wii Sports Resort is released--the first game that is supposedly fully optimized for MotionPlus--before we make any final judgments.

Regardless of a final score, we got to experience what MotionPlus is mostly all about, and for the most part, it does offer an impressive 1:1 representation of your movements on screen. We tested it out with two early games that can use it, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 and Grand Slam Tennis.

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 seems to only use MotionPlus for performing draw and fade shots. During your follow-through, you need to twist your wrist left or right in order to make the ball slice. A meter appears on screen (unique to those with the accessory) that measures the slight movements in your grip of the Wii remote.

We couldn't tell the difference during an actual swing though. It seemed the Wii remote was just as accurate in detecting our back swing regardless of whether MotionPlus was attached.

During our testing with Grand Slam Tennis, the MotionPlus control was even less impressive (or present for that matter). Sure our player's racket was moving perfectly with our Wii remote before a serve, but that control didn't translate well during actual gameplay. In fact, we found that MotionPlus made the game even harder to play. When we took off the device, we had a much easier time keeping the tennis ball in play.

As it stands right now, it's pretty clear that we're going to get a more intuitive experience with a MotionPlus compatible first-party Nintendo title. When Wii Sports Resort is available, we'll hopefully be able to properly examine just how well Wii MotionPlus can be utilized. Additionally, we'll update this First Take with a full review and score. For now, let's examine the actual attachment itself and how it hooks on to your Wii remote.

All you'll find in the packaging is the plastic piece and a new rubber sleeve to accommodate the Wii remote's new length. Wii MotionPlus itself is only about a square inch and easily hooks on to your Wii remote using two prongs. When inserted, you'll slide the rear lock switch so that it won't fall out during gameplay. A plastic trap door sits at the base of the device so that you can also hook in your nunchuk controller.

Using the MotionPlus attachment occasionally felt a bit clunky. It does add a noticeable length to the Wii remote. If you turn it horizontally, it makes hitting the "1" and "2" buttons very difficult. Let's just hope there are no games out there that will require you to do so.

It's been announced that older Wii games will not be able to use MotionPlus. That said, some titles down the road will actually require it, like Ubisoft's Red Steel 2.

Whether we need motion control in games aside, right now it looks like Wii MotionPlus might add a degree of difficulty to games that some users may not be ready for. We'll know much more when we get our hands on games made specifically for the device.

Stay tuned for our full MotionPlus review when Wii Sports Resort is released in July.

[pablouk1]

And in England we are being asked t o pay twice as much as the USA,

[caseyahenry]

This brings the cost of a single Wii controller (Wii Remote + Nunchuk + MotionPlus) to $80 in the US (and, it seems, even more in the UK). So much for the Wii being the most affordable console...

[kieranmullen]

Buy them all on ebay or the like (usually even the genuine items are cheaper off ebay)

[jimswofford]

Yes, the Wii remote is expensive. But in the package above you have all the regular buttons, rumble feedback, sound, and a motion controller for each hand. For Wii, a lot of the technology is in the remotes, and the costs go with the technology.

[sjschaef]

You don't need the MotionPlus.. at least not right now. And I am pretty confident that if it is going to be required for all future games, it will come built into the next gen Wiimote. I have both the Wii and a PS3 and I am tired of reading comments from people who just complain about them.. How do you think these companies get their money after you purchase the console? New accessories and games. They are here to make a profit.. If you are mad about that, sell your Wii, go get a free library card and read some books...

These are gaming consoles.. they are not a necessity... they are a luxury. If you can't afford them, don't buy them.. sheesh!

[pghcraig1]

This is actually new-er territory for the console makers.

Consoles used to come as a complete system. You never needed anything except at most an extra controller, maybe a memory card.

I can't think of on Xbox or PS accessory that you HAD to have. Most of them were cheesey add ons like a steering wheel or a camera or something, maybe a mike, but never NEEDED. Nintendo is accessory happy, and making them required in a lot of cases. Like selling a remote separate from the chuck, when they really should come as a one piece.

The Wii to me is not a relevant game system. It was different, gimmicky, fun, and once the dust settled, it was laying all over the millions of Wii's in living rooms that people got bored with and quit playing for that reason. I never bought one looking at the cost of ownership vs. the PS3 or the 360. Most games on the Wii are fun in a group setting, and by the time you add enough controllers and other gear, the Wii is by far more expensive than any other system out there. People are doing that math and it could hurt Nintendo, especially in this economy. I'd be a ticked off parent if after buying all the gear, I had to go drop $20 more for each controller I've already bought.

And so many of these things are just dumb. The Wii bowling ball? Really?

[Donfuy]

Well, you don't really /need/ to buy it. You buy it if you want, and many games that will come out will work with or without it.

But yes, they should sell Wiimotes with it inside /and/ as an accessory. For those who already have a Wii, they would buy the accessory (cheaper than a whole new wiimote).


And the Wii bowling ball isn't needed for anything, it's just a stupid thing.

[dmoney18]

i'm tired of all the people complaining about wii accessories, the 360 and ps3 have just as many. i have a wii and ps3 and each company makes tons of money off these things. with the 360 you have the live cam, xbox live itself, charge kits,headsets and dlc for games. ps3 you have dlc,headsets,eye toy,blu ray remotes etc.

[Stories84]

You forget, though, that the MotionPlus significantly alters the core gameplay of many games. None of the accessories you mentioned are critical or significantly alter the gameplay of any of the consoles. They are just fun add-ons you can buy if you want them.

[kevsmyname]

Yes thats true dmoney18, you do have those extras to buy,

but you don't need them to play almost every game on the console!

[frodo8723]

I like it so far, I got it with Tiger Woods 2010. Pre-ordered Wii Sports Resort as well. That makes 2, and then 2 more and I shall have a full four. Hopefully it's worth it.

[mickberna]

I have a couple versions of Tiger Woods games for Wii, and the Motion Plus significantly changes the gameplay, and for the better. Putting and driving are especially affected. I don't understand the complaints... Nintendo saw that they could improve their product, and did so with an accessory that cost a measly extra 10 bucks. It was worth it for that one game alone.

[tyoungbe]

What? No mention of Disc Golf mode in Tiger Woods 10? If you wanted an obvious example of improvement in the responsiveness of the Wii Remote check out that mode. It's so accurate it almost feels creepy. Also, Golf itself is much better. I have both 09 and 10, and I had all sorts of problems with 09 misinterpreting motions as swings such as a back swing for putting and the like. No such problems with motion plus. It just feels solid.

[wuchmee]

>>> In fact, we found that MotionPlus made the game even harder to play. <<<

Well. . . . .that's the whole point of WM+ in GST, isn't it?? The objective wasn't to produce another Wii Sports Tennis, but provide a degree of verisimilitude. I, for one, really like (and recommend!) Grand Slam Tennis, and believe that EA has made a very good first attempt at incorporating WM+. Is it perfect? No.

Here's hoping that next year's version gets even better. Until then, I'm happy and fully agree with IGN's 8.5 rating.

[mikeste101]

I find wii motion to shine on Tiger Woods 10. I can dial a better percentage in my swing. I have found it even better in high light environments. I used contollers, one with the motion plus, one without. I myself could see the swing motion on the screen much more fluid. Without the motion plus I could swing as soft as i could with a PW, for the best example and only achieve no less than 36% power. With motion plus I dialed down as low as 8%. Same swing over and over. It worked for me that is.

[AdamB5000]

I never played Tiger Woods for the Wii until I purchased 10 & the motion plus. It's pretty cool. As far as games go I like the overall gameplay and experience of Hot Shots golf better, but regarding controls Tiger is pretty fun with the new controller.

Kinda wish we had Hot Shots with the Motion Plus swing controls.

[JazGalaxy]

I feel like Bakalar is predisposed to disliking the peripheral just based on the fact that he doesn't like the underlying CONCEPT.

I mean, of COURSE increased sensitivity of the controller would make the game harder. Why WOULDN'T it?

I mean, I'm going to laugh uncontrollably when we finally get virtual reality "holodeck" technology only for gamers to buy and install it and realize suddenly that they're fat slobs who can't run or duck and return it all to the store...

[Shanghai Kid]

EuroGamer.net - "This morning we received a tip-off from our colleagues at Eurogamer.de that they had encountered substantial differences in Wii MotionPlus performance on their Wii debug review kit and their retail Wii console."

They had to re-review Grand Slam Tennis bringing the score up to 8 from 5/6. It's likely cnet suffered the same problem.