Topic: REVIEWS: Wii Sports Resort

[kraken613]

Tiger Woods you never notice it because you are at the zero point with the remote pointed down and you press A.

[Pale]

Pap, just to be clear, whenever you turn on a new Wiimote in Sports Resort the first thing you have to do is place it face down on a table for about five seconds.

The "tricks" I talked about are used after that.  At any point you can pause and do the set on a table calibration again, but I've never felt the need to have to do that.

I don't play for extremely long sessions though.  Maybe a half hour per sitting, which is what I think this game is great for (from a single player perspective).

[NWR_pap64]

I'm just curious because S_B is the only one so far who has had issues with the calibration process when everybody else seems to be doing just fine.

I am wondering if there's such a thing as a bad calibration process where the player could be doing something wrong, forcing the game to re-calibrate often.

I know for a fact that Balance Board calibration can go wrong if you don't follow the process (I know Balance Board calibration is different from Motion Plus calibration, but both need to be calibrated in order to work, so the processes are important).

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

So the calibration process is quick? When does the game ask you to put the wii remote down?

There's two separate things going on.

1)  You put the Wii Remote down, and you literally leave it alone for a couple seconds -- this is similar to stepping off the BB, but takes less time than the BB.  The game only forced me to do it at the beginning.  YOU can pause the game and set the Remote down voluntarily if you feel the motions aren't lining up properly anymore.

2)  You point at the screen (or hold a particular orientation) and press A to begin the event -- this is like clicking a "Yes/No" or "OK/Cancel" popup message on a computer; point, click, and it goes away immediately.  Many events ask you to do this right before each session; it's a quick-fudge calibration.  In comparison, Wii Bowling Ver.1 asks you to hold the Remote upright and press A+B to begin the session, and Archery works similarly (hold straight up, Press A).

These stop-n-go messages probably give Smash a bad itch.

[Jonnyboy117]

I guess a lot of people think it's fun to make fun of Jeff Gerstmann, but he said Resort is "awesome" on the Giant Bomb podcast.

[kraken613]

His video review was really positive too.

[NWR_pap64]

I just want to warn everyone that I don't want to flame SB for being the only one who has issues with this game. I was just curious since I heard a lot of good things about both the game and MotionPlus and want to know what exactly caused the issues SB experienced. So let's not get out of hand. Let's give anyone that doesn't like the game the benefit of the doubt and say that they might change their minds. If they aren't convinced too bad.

[Smash_Brother]

Many Wii game products are played, started, and stopped by pointing at the screen and you call it a problem?  Why, I guess pressing A+B to begin Wii Bowling is a deal-killer for me.  Maybe standing up is a deal-killer for me.  Maybe waving my arms is a deal-killer for me.  Maybe holding a controller is a deal-killer for me!

What the heck are you trying to accomplish in WII SORDS RESORT anyway?  It's a basic kendo sim, not Jet Li's Weekend Kung Fu Ninja Bash.

And from Steak2 accounts, it's another faked implementation of sword movements, less proper than Resort.  But since it's an FPS, you don't have to worry about having to "point back at the screen" every time, cuz it's recalibrating as you aim anyway!  So it's insta-buy huh

This is the first time we've had motion control demand that you make preparations to use it. The accelerometer may not be as accurate, but you can just pick up the damn controller and bowl, aim or whatnot (wrist strap advised, but optional).

It had me calibrate the thing 3-4 times within the span of 20 minutes (maybe the one I borrowed was broken). I'm not always going to have a table near me to rest the controller on.

Plus, unless a game has you constantly pointing at the screen anyway, it's going to be extremely flow-breaking to need to stop and point at the screen to calibrate the system on occasion.

One of the reasons the Wii remote is so great is, simply put, that the thing is DAMN low maintenance. The worst you have to do is aim it at the sensor bar and make sure your light sources aren't screwing with it. With WMP, I need to pause occasionally to sit it on a table and I need to aim it at the screen so it can figure out where it is.

There are a lot of audiences that just won't put up with that kind of prep work, blue ocean included. The Wii was an easy sell to all the people I demoed it for because the motion control was easy to use, seamless and worked flawlessly. If I had to be telling people, "Ok, wait, put it face down on the table for a moment..." I think it would detract greatly from the experience.

I'm hoping that developers will find ways of hiding the calibration, but it's still irksome that we went this long with zero calibration required and all of a sudden we need it.

[NWR_pap64]

I think that the more immersive gaming hopes to become the more issues will arise. This is why I believe that Natal will have much worse issues than MotionPlus. I recently played "You're In The Movies" and the process for that is TERRIBLE and doesn't always get the desired result. It tells you to make sure the room is well lit, to wear clothing that doesn't blend with the background, so on and so forth.

In comparison to the MotionPlus calibration process this is quick and easy and the results are accurate.

Just saying that even if the calibration process exist its still better than what we have already seen in other consoles.

[Smash_Brother]

Just saying that even if the calibration process exist its still better than what we have already seen in other consoles.

Well, except for what we've already seen on the Wii before WMP.

[NWR_pap64]

Balance Board calibration in some games its annoying as all hell (CIRCUS STAAAAAAAAAR!!!!).

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

It suddenly struck me that it's strange the "resting remote" calibration is technically needed at all.  Games like Kororinpa already play fine and recognize the horizontal plane with the existing tech.  Now I'm not sure what Lotion Puss is trying to zero-in on.

WHATS GOING ON

[Flames_of_chaos]

One other question, how about Tiger Woods, Virtua Tennis 09 and Grand Slam Tennis? How do they handle the calibration process?

Before every serve, you point at a circle with your player number.

[TheYoungerPlumber]

BTW, Wario Land: Shake It has achievement equivalents, too. Nintendo isn't against them, but doesn't seem interested in encouraging developers to (over)use them.

[Halbred]

Or use them in a meaningful way, anyway.

[Smash_Brother]

It suddenly struck me that it's strange the "resting remote" calibration is technically needed at all.  Games like Kororinpa already play fine and recognize the horizontal plane with the existing tech.  Now I'm not sure what Lotion Puss is trying to zero-in on.

WHATS GOING ON

That's an excellent point. The accelerometer definitely senses which way is up at all times. Why it couldn't just get a bearing while you're holding the remote still is a mystery. It could even do it while the player doesn't even KNOW it's calibrating.

The game is still decent and I think the tech has promise, I just feel that every additional stipulation to using a piece of tech will alienate that many more people from it. I still love the original Wii Remote because of how simple it is to use. It's a smart piece of technology that I think had more life in it without WMP. It's just that very few devs stepped up to the plate and really did something with it.

[Stele]

Well the wife and I played the hell out of it Sunday... and Monday... and Tuesday... and a little bit yesterday.

It's loads of fun.  As others have said, the game only forces you to calibrate when you first start it up, or if you perhaps leave it running for 5+ minutes and the wiimote shuts off, then you come back, the first game you play asks you to lie it facedown.

Tiger Woods I don't ever doing any calibration in-game.  I know the game manual said something about placing the Wiimote facedown to re-calibrate if you felt it was out of whack.  But you didn't have to pause or anything.  I think I might have done that if I ever had to take a break and came back and the wiimote had shut down.

Anyway both my wife and I have gotten really into the Swordplay.  And while running the showdown mode we have both started pausing and setting the wiimote down before each round.  Seems like the swinging can really knock it out of whack.  Maybe we're just being overcautious or something.

But I've played through an entire 18 holes of golf and disc golf and never felt like it was out of whack.  So I guess it just depends on the mode and whatever.

True test of the game will probably be when I have my parents over to play.  They're on vacation right now, so in a couple weeks I guess.  But they absolutely love bowling and tennis from the first game.  Curious to see if they will adjust to ping pong in this one and if they will find any of the others interesting.  I'd think they'd enjoy 3-point shootout as our whole family has always played a lot of basketball, but we'll see.

I'm more than satisfied with the purchase for myself though.  Of course after first playing Tiger Woods 10 over a month ago, I was sold on M+. 

Oh and if anyone is wondering, TW10 beats the hell out of WSR golf.  For serious players or casual players either one, TW10 is superior.  WSR keeps the same ridiculous "swing too hard and you randomly hook/slice" BS that Wii Sports had already.    Dumbest design ever, still.  And the putting... well it's just shitty compared to TW10.  The putting in TW10 is just so amazing, if you play enough you can stop looking at the power meter even.  But WSR golf never has that precision feel to it.

As for disc golf, it's a much closer match.  WSR disc golf might be a bit more challenging.  It's hard to tell how much of it is the limited aiming and difficulty telling how far away from hazards you are vs. how precise the actual throwing motion is measured.  TW10 has the "can't miss" putter disc, but WSR is much easier to hole out on a par 3.  They're both fun in their own way.

[Caliban]

It suddenly struck me that it's strange the "resting remote" calibration is technically needed at all.  Games like Kororinpa already play fine and recognize the horizontal plane with the existing tech.  Now I'm not sure what Lotion Puss is trying to zero-in on.

WHATS GOING ON

I think I have a clue, but I'm not skilled at writing my thoughts. It involves the point of calibration to which the gyroscope has been set to reset.
What I can say is that it's possible one of the factors that the Wii remote requires to be off hand is so that its internal temperature can return to what the gyroscope might have been calibrated to. I recall from the "Iwata Asks" feature something about temperature oscillation being a problem with having the gyroscope resetting itself.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

That's interesting find.

My idea was M+ needs to set an elevation datum for itself relative to the sensor bar and the player's sitting/standing position.

[Caliban]

But it's a gyroscope, so wouldn't elevation mean nothing to it? I mean there are no games that take such advantage, IR is pointless. Unless it uses IR for a soft reset, and upside-down Wii remote for a hard reset.

If it's a soft reset then I gather it creates a vector (point of origin is center of gyro, direction and magnitude is based on IR triangulation) for the gyroscope to compare with an original vector created with values at STP... wow if the WM+ really can read its own temperature and pressure I am more than impressed (I am already impressed with its use of MEMS) that we can use such high tech in such a casual manner.

For the hard reset I think the gyroscope just shuts itself off, and uses gravity as a means to reach the original vector at STP.

[NWR_insanolord]

Based on what I've read about Motion+ and the games that use it, recalibration only requires that the unit be completely still for a couple seconds. Nintendo seems to be saying put it face down on a table because that's the simplest, most straightforward way of making that happen.

I played this extensively with some friends of mine over the past few days and we had a great time with it. Within 20 minutes we knew we were going to spend a ton of time with basketball.

[King of Twitch]

Fair review. This game is 12 flavors of fun. Some of them you'll want to pig out every day on, the others you'll stick in the back of the freezer for another time. For those, the game presents a mind-blowing twist unprecedented in gameplay history: you'll need to play them more.... in order to learn the controls and get better and better. Some are certainly more fun and more addicting than others, and you can't help but wish for more features (like button tricks for wakeboarding, carrying over wins between kendo games, or different dog catch beaches for example) but if you buy this game you will have fun and smile for a long time to come.

[NWR_Neal]

One other question, how about Tiger Woods, Virtua Tennis 09 and Grand Slam Tennis? How do they handle the calibration process?

Tiger Woods - very well
GST - poorly

[KDR_11k]

BTW, Wario Land: Shake It has achievement equivalents, too. Nintendo isn't against them, but doesn't seem interested in encouraging developers to (over)use them.

Disaster has 100 archievements.