Starting November 16, Nintendo will begin offering black accessories to match the black Wii console that you don't have. A black Wii remote and MotionPlus will be sold for $50, and the black nunchuk will go separately for $20.
We've speculated about a possible black Wii making its way stateside before, so it's certainly surprising to see black accessories landing on store shelves before the actual black console does. Could this be a taste of things to come?
This is the way Wii Sports Resort should have been packaged in the first place.
(Credit: Nintendo)Now that the Nintendo Wii is $199, there are two ways to go about using your savings: putting it in a low-risk bank account, or buying the rest of the peripherals Nintendo wants you to have to complete your Wii experience. Wii Fit notwithstanding, the biggest new plug-in Nintendo has is Wii MotionPlus, the motion sensor enhancement that plugs into the back of every Wii remote. And, sadly, they're still not included with the Nintendo Wii.
In an attempt to make amends, Wii Sports Resort is now selling a $59.99 bundle that includes two MotionPlus accessories instead of just one. It's a $10 savings over getting the $49.99 Wii Sports Resort and a second $19.99 MotionPlus separately. Honestly, it's a wise investment if you're going to buy Wii Sports Resort, since many of the games are two-player and require two MotionPlus accessories anyway.
These little discounts are appreciated, but it's still surprising that Nintendo's not simply releasing a Wii bundle that includes Wii Sports Resort and Wii MotionPlus inside. $250 for a Wii bundle that has both versions of Wii Sports and two controllers with MotionPlus...how about it, Nintendo? We can always dream.
Meanwhile, get your Wii Sports Resort bundles while they last.
Last month, we got some hands-on time with Wii Sports Resort, the first-party Nintendo game that comes bundled with Wii MotionPlus.
While most of the minigames are new, you'll recognize a few classics from the original title such as golf and bowling. That aside, there's a lot of new activities in Wii Sports Resort, all of which take advantage of Wii MotionPlus (which we reviewed earlier this week).
During our demo, we especially enjoyed our time with Table Tennis and Archery. After playing with the final version for about a week now, Table Tennis remains among the highlights of the game. The capability to perform top spin and fades on the ball makes for a very satisfying experience.
We also enjoyed the Frisbee game where MotionPlus really shines. You have complete 1:1 control over your character's toss, in which you must have a dog catch the disc in a bull's-eyed area.
Wii Sports Resort comes bundled with one Wii MotionPlus attachment and rubber sleeve and is available July 26 for $50. Additional Wii MotionPlus units are available now for $20 each.
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We already showed you what exclusive titles you can expect for the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3, now let's wrap things up with the Nintendo Wii.
Historically, the Wii has benefited from a large amount of solid first-party titles like Super Mario Galaxy and The Legend of Zelda. It's certainly refreshing to see third-party publishers getting into the mix this year with offerings like Dead Space Extraction and The Conduit.
With the release of Wii MotionPlus, we're beginning to see games that require the accessory to work. Titles like Wii Sports Resort and Red Steel 2 won't play without the advanced motion control attachment.
While it may cost more to play certain games on the Wii, the new technology should open up even more unique and interesting ways to play video games.
Click through our slideshow and tell us which exclusive Wii games you're most excited about.
As we mentioned previously, this week we got all close-up and hands-on with Nintendo's E3 lineup for the holidays, courtesy of a meeting in a NY hotel room deep in midtown Manhattan. And to our surprise (and clearly, Nintendo's delight), they've gone a little hardcore competitive on us all of a sudden.
We told you about New Super Mario Bros. Wii (a.k.a. "Super Mario Smash Bros."), and now we'll let you in on our three-game session with Nintendo's ace-in-the-hole, Wii Sports Resort.
While you've probably heard a lot about this game, did you know it's including updates of classics like bowling and golf? While we didn't spend time with those, we took on whole new challenges that provoked a bit of smack-talking between Jeff and Scott. ... Read more
(Credit:
Jeff Bakalar/CNET)
Last night in New York City, Nintendo treated two of our CNET editors to some lengthy hands-on demos of major upcoming titles for the Wii and DS. We'll have impressions of our time with Wii Sports Resort and other games later on, but first we wanted to talk about New Super Mario Bros. Wii. ... Read more
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.... Read more
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"You mean you have to use your hands? That's like a baby's toy!"
(Credit: Universal Pictures/MoviesOddity.com)It's by far the definitive theme this year at E3 2009. It seems everyone wants in on motion control. At their respective press conferences, both Microsoft and Sony debuted compelling demos of what they envision as the future of gaming.
Microsoft introduced Project Natal, an initiative to allow the user to play games and navigate through menus using body movements in place of a handheld controller. We got to see what game design guru Peter Molyneux was able to do with the technology in the form of the Milo demo, where a human seemed to convincingly interact with an artificial boy on-screen.
While that demonstration leaves plenty of skepticism and unanswered questions on the table (even with a Steven Spielberg endorsement), most will agree it was the rubber ball block-breaking game performance that really proved that the technology has potential. ... Read more
The follow-up to the sword-slashing original, Red Steel 2 will make full use of Wii MotionPlus, promising a 1:1 representation of your movements on screen. Developed by Ubisoft, the company plans to bundle the accessory with the game as well. While no release date has been set yet, Red Steel 2 will be available exclusively for the Wii when it does launch.
Sony takes aim at Nintendo and Microsoft's motion controls.
(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET)Amid an already-good Sony E3 press conference, a time-out was taken amid PSP Go details, PSP games, and PS3 holiday titles to peek into the future at some on-the-horizon motion-control technology. The routine was familiar already: in fact, Microsoft and Nintendo had similar "the future is motion" pit stops in their 2009 E3 press conferences.
Being last, it seemed, would be a disadvantage to Sony. Appearing onstage were two of Sony's team behind the PlayStation Eye and EyeToy, and the general nervousness seemed palpable. When the prototype device was revealed--a black wand with a glowing purple bulb on top--it almost seemed like a joke. But a funny thing happened: the longer the demo went on, the better it got.
Sony's black wand appears to be the PS3's Wii-mote. Configured with an analog trigger and some number of buttons, the wand has one-to-one mapping just like the . The glowing orb, which changed color during the demo, was integral to the positioning technology, although exactly how wasn't detailed in the press conference. ... Read more
