Topic: Wii Remote Plus?

[UncleBob]

Stolen from CAG

http://gonintendo.com/viewstory.php?id=137126
http://www.gamestop.com/Catalog/ProductDetails.aspx?product_id=77606
Gamestop may have leaked one of the September 29th conference announcements. A box-art for a bundle of the game  was posted for the upcoming Wii Motion+ exclusive Nintendo title FlingSmash. On it, it says in large font "BONUS: Wii Remote Plus Inside!" The picture shows only a Wiimote, but there is a curved ring of small text below the Wii logo.

Since this game requires Wii Motion+, and the box art does not show the WM+ accessory, it is very likely that the Wii Remote Plus is an official Wiimote with WM+ built-in, much like the recently released third-party Nyko Wand+.

Interesting...

[that Baby guy]

You'd think Nintendo would officially announce this before they released the box art. They definitely have not, though.

[Spak-Spang]

This is interesting.  I almost feel Nintendo is developing their controller technology and releasing it for the current system as they go.  I can almost see Nintendo keeping the same controller with their new console.  I mean the controller just works, and works beautifully.  If the next system is going to be backwards compatible, and people are spending so much money on these upgrades, you mind as well just keep it for the next system.

Perhaps minor changes, but even that may not be needed. 

[TJ Spyke]

You'd think Nintendo would officially announce this before they released the box art. They definitely have not, though.

It's possible that Nintendo was planning to announce it at their retailer conference next week and somebody at GameStop just posted it before they were supposed to. It wouldn't be the first time a retailer let something leak before the company wanted them to.

[Chozo Ghost]

I predicted a long time ago that Nintendo was eventually going to merge M+ into their controller by default. Now that the PS3 has Move, they have all the more incentive to do this. This is great news for consumers because with this now being a standard integrated feature (as opposed to an add on peripheral), we will likely see far more games making use of it.

[FZeroBoyo]

So will it be any less expensive than a Wii Remote and MotionPlus seperately? Will this lead to discontinuation of MotionPlus? Was this in response to the design of the PlayStation Move? Quite a number of questions have come up now...

[Chozo Ghost]

I expect that Nintendo is also going to start bundling this new controller in with new Wii console SKUs.

The Motion+ add on is still important, because there is probably at least 100 million regular Wii remotes out there (There are over 70 million Wiis, so over 100 Million Wiimotes sounds reasonable), and of course not everyone wants to spend $50 on a new controller just to get the functionality that a $10 -$20 add on module can provide. So I assume the M+ will still be manufactured and sold for the foreseeable future, but this here will ultimately be the new standard and the old wiimotes will be very slowly phased out.

[Kytim89]

Would having the motion plus built into the wiimote make any difference towards battery consumption? If this wiimote plus does get better battery power then I might pick it up.

[Retro Deckades]

I am tempted to run out and sell my current Wii remotes and Wii Motion Plus accessories RIGHT NOW in order to get top dollar value so that I can replace them with these new Wii Motion Plus integrated remotes. They're just so convenient!

Nintendo sure has had a rough go with the design of their controllers this console cycle. This is, in a way, the third iteration of the Wii remote -- it may not add anything new, but it's an improvement on the overall design. The classic controller also had to be improved with the Pro.

[Kytim89]

I am tempted to run out and sell my current Wii remotes and Wii Motion Plus accessories RIGHT NOW in order to get top dollar value so that I can replace them with these new Wii Motion Plus integrated remotes. They're just so convenient!

Nintendo sure has had a rough go with the design of their controllers this console cycle. This is, in a way, the third iteration of the Wii remote -- it may not add anything new, but it's an improvement on the overall design. The classic controller also had to be improved with the Pro.

Is there room for improvement with the CC Pro?

[broodwars]

This reveal would be kickass if I had any faith that Nintendo actually intended to use MotionPlus in more than a handful of titles.  As it stands, it just comes off as a new way to con the casuals into buying more hardware.

[Retro Deckades]

Is there room for improvement with the CC Pro?

Not sure. Never used one myself. I probably would own one if I hadn't previously purchased the original Classic Controller, which I have only ever used for VC SNES games.

I suppose Nintendo could always work their magic and remove the need to plug it into a Wii remote.

[Chozo Ghost]

This reveal would be kickass if I had any faith that Nintendo actually intended to use MotionPlus in more than a handful of titles.  As it stands, it just comes off as a new way to con the casuals into buying more hardware.

It matters a lot if this is intended to replace the current wiimote and be the new standard controller. If it is now the new standard default controller then we are guaranteed to see more and more games taking advantage of M+. But the only way this can be made the new standard is if it starts being bundled in with the Wii console as the default controller. Hell, already the current Wiis SKUs have the M+ module bundled in (for Wii Sports Resort), so this would be a logical next step.

Besides, isn't the next Zelda going to utilize M+? Any Zelda game is a big deal, and so if a Zelda title supports something that's the equivalent of at least a dozen other titles supporting it, right? I think we WILL see a lot more M+ games from Nintendo and 3rd parties announced in the near future. Because this is the new standard, right?

[broodwars]

Besides, isn't the next Zelda going to utilize M+? Any Zelda game is a big deal, and so if a Zelda title supports something that's the equivalent of at least a dozen other titles supporting it, right? I think we WILL see a lot more M+ games from Nintendo and 3rd parties announced in the near future. Because this is the new standard, right?

A year or two ago I would have agreed with you, but at this point it kind of feels "too little, too late."  The Wii's hardware numbers have been slipping for a while now, the console feels like it barely has 3rd party support, and Nintendo's rolling out new handheld hardware that appears more powerful than the Wii.  We seem on the edge of a new Nintendo hardware generation, so I can't imagine a new wave of MotionPlus titles now.  Hopefully you're right, though.

[Mop it up]

I'm kind of surprised Nintendo didn't make this back when they started bundling the Motion Plus with every Wii Remote, it would have saved them money on manufacturing costs. Can you even buy a Wii Remote without it anymore?

Is there room for improvement with the CC Pro?

There is always room for improvement. In the Classic Controller Pro's case, one thing is, swapping the position of the left analogue stick and D-pad. More games use the stick than the pad so it should be in the optimal position. Symmetry does not equal comfort; I thought Nintendo learned this when they made the GameCube controller. Secondly, the face buttons should be recessed, like the ones on the NES and SNES controllers. I have no idea why this design has been abandoned, it was much better than the slightly mounded buttons of today. Lastly, giving the handles a bit more depth would have been ideal as well. 

[Chozo Ghost]

1) The 3DS isn't more powerful than the Wii.

2) You said it yourself that the 3DS is a new HANDHELD. It is not a replacement for the Wii CONSOLE. Granted, a new Nintendo console may be not far over the horizon, though...

3) 3rd Party support be damned. It was never really there to begin with, now was it? Yet the Wii has sold over 70 million units to become the best selling Nintendo console of all time. The Wii isn't anywhere near death, and that's true even if a new Nintendo console happened to be announced in the near future. Look, the GC died quickly after the Wii came out, but the GC had a very small install base. You notice how the PS2 held strong years after the PS3 was released and how it is still getting new titles to this day? That's what we will see with the Wii even after the Wii 2 comes out, because its in too many damned homes for it to die off immediately. Plus many A+ titles are known to be coming soon (DKC, Goldeneye, Zelda, Wii Party, etc.) plus many more that are yet to even be announced. The Wii has a lot of life left in it still.

4) I also kinda think the Wii controller could be carried over to the next Nintendo system. There really isn't much need for Nintendo to design a new controller from scratch, so this Wii Mote Plus could be the standard controller for the Wii 2 just like how it is for the current Wii. Why the hell not? Of course, a Wii successor is probably a year or two away anyway. The DS came out in late 2004 and the Wii came out in late 2006, so there was a two year gap between those two systems. History might repeat itself now with the 3DS release being imminent, but the next console being another two years off. I don't think we need to worry because we don't even have rumors about it at this point. You know its far off when there's not even rumors.

[vudu]

Is there room for improvement with the CC Pro?

There is always room for improvement. In the Classic Controller Pro's case, one thing is, swapping the position of the left analogue stick and D-pad. More games use the stick than the pad so it should be in the optimal position. Symmetry does not equal comfort; I thought Nintendo learned this when they made the GameCube controller.

That depends on the games you're playing.  If you're all about Monster Hunter then I'd probably agree with you.  But if you're using the it to play VC games then you're completely wrong.

[Chozo Ghost]

I am tempted to run out and sell my current Wii remotes and Wii Motion Plus accessories RIGHT NOW in order to get top dollar value so that I can replace them with these new Wii Motion Plus integrated remotes. They're just so convenient!

Nintendo sure has had a rough go with the design of their controllers this console cycle. This is, in a way, the third iteration of the Wii remote -- it may not add anything new, but it's an improvement on the overall design. The classic controller also had to be improved with the Pro.

Is there room for improvement with the CC Pro?

Yes. Instead of making a Playstation controller clone, Nintendo should have dusted off their Wavebird design and went with that instead. A bluetooth Wavebird that needn't be tethered to a wiimote would have been perfect, imho.

ETA: I was thinking about applauding Mop It Up's post because she hit it spot on, but then I noticed she has 60 points so I don't think I really need to. 

[Mop it up]

I've always preferred to have the D-pad in a position that is angled from my thumb, such as where the left stick is now. It makes the D-pad more comfortable and easy to use. With the stick there, the directions don't relate very well to my thumb's position, so it just doesn't work as well. Swapping them would be ideal for all games.

[Chozo Ghost]

I've always preferred to have the D-pad in a position that is angled from my thumb, such as where the left stick is now. It makes the D-pad more comfortable and easy to use. With the stick there, the directions don't relate very well to my thumb's position, so it just doesn't work as well. Swapping them would be ideal for all games.

I've been saying the same thing for years. The D-Pad is not the primary directional input method anymore, so it shouldn't be placed in the primary position. The analog stick gets used far more often in modern games, so it should be there instead. It reminds me of the QWERTY setup used in keyboards. QWERTY started a LONG time ago with typewriters, and it was setup that way to keep the most commonly used characters as far apart as possible so they wouldn't get locked together with each other (or something like that from what I remember). The problem with QWERTY though is that its not actually very efficient for use, and pretty much any other method would have worked better, but it won over and has lived on and became a permanent standard nevertherless because of an anachronism that no longer applies.

And that's how it is with the PS analog/D-pad setup. It all began when Sony tacked on the thumb sticks to their pre-existing PS controller without any real thought towards ergonomics or anything like that... they just did it because the N64 had an analog stick and they jumped on the bandwagon as quickly as possible, and that's what they threw together. The problem is it became a permanent change and unfortunately now Nintendo has copied it with their Classic Controller, and I'm really not very happy with that. The GC controller was almost perfect in every respect, but I guess because the GC console itself didn't sell very well that cast a lot of derision on the controller too, even though the controller was actually innocent and had nothing wrong with it.

So the Classic Controller is kinda like New Coke, because Coke had a great product in the 80s but they changed the recipe to be more like their competition (Pepsi), and that pissed off a lot of people because there was no reason to do that because the formula was fine all along. So its a shame...

[broodwars]

1) The 3DS isn't more powerful than the Wii.

Perhaps not, but from all appearances it certainly looks it with the 3D display and likely greater storage capacity.  Probably greater memory as well.

2) You said it yourself that the 3DS is a new HANDHELD. It is not a replacement for the Wii CONSOLE. Granted, a new Nintendo console may be not far over the horizon, though...

Perhaps you might not remember the last RFN, but it was discussed at length: handhelds are practically consoles in Japan (the only market Nintendo actually cares about), as they sell the most units the most consistently with the bigger library of games.  The 3DS is looking to be roughly equivalent in power for probably not that much greater in price than the Wii, and it will likely have a much bigger and better library of games.

[Kytim89]

1) The 3DS isn't more powerful than the Wii.

Perhaps not, but from all appearances it certainly looks it with the 3D display and likely greater storage capacity.  Probably greater memory as well.

2) You said it yourself that the 3DS is a new HANDHELD. It is not a replacement for the Wii CONSOLE. Granted, a new Nintendo console may be not far over the horizon, though...

Perhaps you might not remember the last RFN, but it was discussed at length: handhelds are practically consoles in Japan (the only market Nintendo actually cares about), as they sell the most units the most consistently with the bigger library of games.  The 3DS is looking to be roughly equivalent in power for probably not that much greater in price than the Wii, and it will likely have a much bigger and better library of games.

I agree that Nintendo will prioritize the 3DS over the wii and wii 2. In fact, Nintendo will mainly release the wii 2 for the sake of having a home console and to keep up with whatever success Move and Kinect have in the future. They will also just beef the wii's graphical output to HD levels, mix in whatever new they have planned and then make the internet connection more robust. They will then walk away and push the 3DS as hard as they can along side third parties. Lastly, Nintendo will most likely make the Wii 2 to appease third parties and leave that to them to exspand their own titles. Of course Nintendo will support the system, but their baby from here on is the 3DS and until 3D TVs are more affordable, they may not prioritize a home console for atleast another generation.

[Caterkiller]

Come on Kytim do you really believe that? No way the Wii 2 is just going to take a back seat in any way shape or form. The moment it gets revealed you'll be saying the exact opposite.

[Chozo Ghost]

At some point (not in the immediate future) Nintendo probably will combine their handheld and console lines into one single product. Consoles keep getting smaller, and at the same time handhelds keep getting more powerful. Eventually the two will intersect and at that point it would make absolutely no sense to maintain two separate products. The merged system would be portable like a DS, but it would also be capable of hooking up to a TV and would be able to accept controllers via bluetooth so it would also be just like a console. So then you have both products in one and video gaming would be so much simpler from that point on.

[AV]

please improve the internal speaker of the wiimote maybe a slightly bigger control pad, and rechargeable battery built in.


If they are going to add motion plus might as tweak other things too.