Topic: EA Tennis (featuring MotionPlus)

[Mario]

http://au.wii.ign.com/articles/900/900374p1.html?RSSwhen2008-08-20_001700&RSSid=900374

EA has announced it's working on a Tennis game for Wii that will use MotionPlus. This is a game you'd think "duh, it makes so much sense!" but they usually don't get made. So glad this is happening, hope it turns out well.

[Morari]

Just so long as we don't have auto movement and can actually direct our shots!

[KDR_11k]

I hope with "direct your shots" you don't mean "aim with an analog stick".

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

Just so long as we don't have auto movement and can actually direct our shots!

It's nearly 2 years since Wii Sports came out, and you still don't know how to hit left/right?

SadWorld

[Morari]

I know how to hit left and right, it's just a stupid system. Assuming that they can't make aiming work properly with the motion controls, you should aim with the analog stick while swinging. This is how every other tennis game has ever worked, except you press a button isntead of swing. Deciding upon when to swing should judge the power of the hit, not the direction.

[Ian Sane]

Directing shots in Wii Sports is easy.  I don't see why it needs fixing.  It feels very natural.  If I have to aim with an anlog stick then f*ck motion control.  Then it's just stupid waggle and that sh!t's a lameass g!mmick.

The only problem with that game is you can't move so my friend broke it after I played with him a few hours.  He knows a spot on the court that the auto-moving player cannot get to in time and serves it there every f*cking time.  Unless I'm serving I can't even get a point on him.  Now if this was something like Mario Tennis I could anticipate him hitting there and thus move to get into position.  But the stupid auto-controlled Mii just stands there in the center of the court a million miles away from where he's going to serve and it doesn't matter how fast you swing you miss every single time.

[D_Average]

Hope this works great, as I've wanted to pick up a tennis game for awhile.  Has anyone purchased any of the other tennis games?  From what I read, they never got the controls right...

[Mario]

That makes even less sense Morari. Have you played tennis before? "Every other tennis game" didn't have access to superior motion control, and none of them had mainstream appeal because they weren't as accessible, and didn't make as much sense as Wii Tennis. I think with motion plus giving you more control over the racket, it'll make even more sense and give you more shot options.

Don't know how you're gonna move the player though, that's a tough one, I guess dpad is possible. Or they could make it so you just point around the screen or do a motion in a direction to go there. So this doesn't interrupt a shot, you could make it so you hold A or B while swinging so it registers as a shot rather than movement.

[Nick DiMola]

Yeah I agree with Ian, not directing the ball with motions is just lame waggle for something like this. Yeah it'll be more tactile but it'll ultimately be worthless. Seeing as how this is using MotionPlus I'd say its almost certainly doing it like Wii Sports Tennis, and probably far more accurately.

I'm hoping that movement around the court is done with the nunchuk.

[Morari]

That makes even less sense Morari. Have you played tennis before? "Every other tennis game" didn't have access to superior motion control, and none of them had mainstream appeal because they weren't as accessible, and didn't make as much sense as Wii Tennis. I think with motion plus giving you more control over the racket, it'll make even more sense and give you more shot options.

Don't know how you're gonna move the player though, that's a tough one, I guess dpad is possible. Or they could make it so you just point around the screen or do a motion in a direction to go there. So this doesn't interrupt a shot, you could make it so you hold A or B while swinging so it registers as a shot rather than movement.

Tennis is about the only sporting game I do enjoy playing for real.

The motion control does not come off as seemingly superior when you can't direct your shots using it. If I hit to the left, my ball does not go to the left. That is dumb and certainly not a good example of motion control. That is what I'd like to see be done, and perhaps such a feat will be possible with MotionPlus. As it is however, deciding which direction the ball goes in due to timing is lame and I'd much rather see it use the nunchuck's analog stick instead... With that attached, we could even--gasp--move our player around manually.

Wii Sports only has mainstream appeal because it was packed in with the console. Outside of Bowling, the collection doesn't stand up too well due to ridiculous limitations.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

"If I hit to the left, my ball does not go to the left"

A few posts up you said you knew how to play.  Make up your mind.

[Nick DiMola]

Wii Sports only has mainstream appeal because it was packed in with the console. Outside of Bowling, the collection doesn't stand up too well due to ridiculous limitations.

I'm not trying to derail, but this is definitely not true. What about Wii Play and Wii Fit, or Carnival Games? The game would've sold gangbusters regardless, hell look at Japan where it isn't packed in.

[Stogi]

Morari: This game has the ability to be WAY more accurate than WiiSports if everything I've read and seen is too be believed. Now one can actually put proper slice and back-spin on the ball as well as let the ball bounce of the racket (a move used all the time when playing the net). You should be able to properly spike now as well (one thing I hated about WiiSports).

[DAaaMan64]

Now games are going to be too realistic.

[Stogi]

That was probably sarcastic but I'll still reply:

Not necessarily. In WiiSports Tennis, even though it brought a new level of immersion, it still felt disconnected at times. WiiMotionPlus should be able to smooth everything out and make the game feel much tighter and more responsive.

Also, I think the players should still move by themselves. You can reserve the right to move or nudge them to the spot you want with your nun-chuck, but they'll start moving to the appropriate spot automatically once the ball is volleyed or served to their side. You should also be able to set their movement sensitivity to all or nothing and everything in between.

This will help those that don't mind the player moving by themselves, but in certain situations, would like full control over them. I like to fore-hand rather than back-hand, and if a ball is coming right down the middle, it would be nice to be able to nudge the player one way or the other in order to make a more comfortable volley.

[ShyGuy]

I hope they turn this into Celebrity tennis with Fergie and Sugar Ray Leonard.

[AV]

This is great I very much enjoyed WiiSports Tennis but never thought the ball went exactly where I wanted to go and I wanted control over my character. So I thought it was fun but not perfect, and this in concept seems like a game that " feels " more real and is still fun. To many sports games sacrifice fun for realism, thats part of the draw for me with madden all play, I hate traditional madden and the things they did in that game seem like it will be fun.
 
EA has really shown they aren't making shovel ware and actually making worth while games.  Not all of them have been amazing, but the vast majority of them have been very good so I have faith they will make a fun, and good game with great online.