Topic: Raise Your Standards

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

The Conduit does look promising! I can't convince myself to pay for a WWII shooter however, so Medal of Honor will remain a mystery. Any idea how Metroid Prime 3 handled?

MP3 handled aiming particularly well within its 3D-Nintendo-Action-Adventure context.  Adding free aim to the lock-on-strafe mechanic allowed the camera to stay centered on the target, yet have the freedom to twitch-aim at "distractions" away from the center; a natural evolution of lock-on.  Minus lock-on, normal traversal felt downright soothing, tho traditional twitch-aim wasn't useful at this point since the game isn't designed to ambush you from behind (requiring lightning quick turning).  But walking and looking around was neatly done.

I hear Medal of Honor Heroes 2 allows the fine tuning which enables proper twitch-aim results.

People also need to get it out of their heads that fixing the targeting reticule to the center of the screen for Wii shooters is a bad idea.  What the player inputs must have an appropriate visual feedback.  Fixed reticules on PCs work cuz the camera moves with the mouse by moving in a 1:1 fashion.  When the mouse stops, the camera stops.  The IR Aiming does not do that, since it's based on Remote deflections away from the imaginary center.  At minor angles, the crosshair should twitch around inside its bounding-box just as your hand twitches the Remote around; that's immediate, intuitive feedback, and it feels right.  Aiming outside the bounding box to make the camera turn is essentially treating the Remote like an analog stick that's pointing at the TV, but at least the crosshair still leans to coincide with the way the player is tilting the Remote.

Fixing the reticule is outright DUMB because you're now dragging the camera to catch-up with the direction you tilt the Remote.  With no bounding-box effect, you've eliminated the semi-free twitch-aim functionality inherent in Wii IR pointing.  What the Wii Remote is "aiming" at no longer matters, since the reticule/camera exclusively moves based on your deflection from the center.  At this point you've turned the Wii Remote into a GIANT analog stick aimed at the TV (minus the traditional IR aiming ability), and you might as well be using a traditional controller now.

BLAH BLAH BLHA BLHAAL;HX

[Shift Key]

I need better friends?  What an absurd statement to make.  You don't know me, or my friends, just like I don't know you guys.  Enough with the personal attacks.

Turn on your sarcasm detector. Not all of us are wielding pitchforks...

[Morari]

People also need to get it out of their heads that fixing the targeting reticule to the center of the screen for Wii shooters is a bad idea.  What the player inputs must have an appropriate visual feedback.  Fixed reticules on PCs work cuz the camera moves with the mouse by moving in a 1:1 fashion.  When the mouse stops, the camera stops.  The IR Aiming does not do that, since it's based on Remote deflections away from the imaginary center.  At minor angles, the crosshair should twitch around inside its bounding-box just as your hand twitches the Remote around; that's immediate, intuitive feedback, and it feels right.  Aiming outside the bounding box to make the camera turn is essentially treating the Remote like an analog stick that's pointing at the TV, but at least the crosshair still leans to coincide with the way the player is tilting the Remote.

Fixing the reticule is outright DUMB because you're now dragging the camera to catch-up with the direction you tilt the Remote.  With no bounding-box effect, you've eliminated the semi-free twitch-aim functionality inherent in Wii IR pointing.  What the Wii Remote is "aiming" at no longer matters, since the reticule/camera exclusively moves based on your deflection from the center.  At this point you've turned the Wii Remote into a GIANT analog stick aimed at the TV (minus the traditional IR aiming ability), and you might as well be using a traditional controller now.

That was (one of) my problem(s) with Red Steel. I wanted to point the Wii remote and have it look over there, keeping the reticle centered like you would in a traditional FPS. Having to take the time to push your aimer up against the side of the screen just to look around was slow and cumbersome to say the least. I'm willing to believe that an in-between (or a switch on/off function) may very well work best on the Wii, but more so than anything I want options. I don't use the default WASD while playing on the computer, and I don't want to be stuck with default controls on the Wii. Console gaming, in general, needs to be more customizable as far as controls go. Choosing between two or three pre-set schemes just doesn't cut it either!

[Nick DiMola]

Console gaming, in general, needs to be more customizable as far as controls go. Choosing between two or three pre-set schemes just doesn't cut it either!

I'll agree with that all day long. No reason for console games to not have customizable controls.

[D_Average]

The Conduit does look promising! I can't convince myself to pay for a WWII shooter however, so Medal of Honor will remain a mystery. Any idea how Metroid Prime 3 handled?

I hear Medal of Honor Heroes 2 allows the fine tuning which enables proper twitch-aim results.

Though the game does offer calibration, and is far better than most FPS's on Wii (MP3 excluded), the controls are FAR from reliable.  In fact, you will die at least 3 times battling online in say a 20 min session due to sketchy controls. 

And that my friends, is why I quickly sold this game for $40 to some guy in a McDonald's parking lot.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

INTERESTING!!

[NWR_insanolord]

I never had any trouble with the controls in MoH. I got killed a lot, but it was because I suck, not because of the controls.

[KDR_11k]

Cutting edge graphics cost money (it gets more expensive and difficult as it reaches the system's limits, a game far from the limits of the system is easy to make). More money = lower profit and, if the project fails, higher losses = lower design flexibility since the risk must be avoided by going with a sure-to-sell game design.

In other words, be careful what you wish for. The last thing we need on the Wii is risk-averse game design.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

That was (one of) my problem(s) with Red Steel. I wanted to point the Wii remote and have it look over there, keeping the reticle centered like you would in a traditional FPS. Having to take the time to push your aimer up against the side of the screen just to look around was slow and cumbersome to say the least. I'm willing to believe that an in-between (or a switch on/off function) may very well work best on the Wii, but more so than anything I want options. I don't use the default WASD while playing on the computer, and I don't want to be stuck with default controls on the Wii. Console gaming, in general, needs to be more customizable as far as controls go. Choosing between two or three pre-set schemes just doesn't cut it either!

Watch the "VS. Rundas" gameplay clip below, and see how things turned out.

MP3: Corruption videos