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The thing that attracted most people about the Nintendo Wii console was the fact that one could now swing a tennis racket or a sword just by waving the Wii remote provided. But there were complaints that the remote was finicky and often misread movements. There was trouble in moving it faster or slower, or adjusting it to an appropriate angle to get the best shot. In the E3 conference of 2008, Nintendo announced the Wii Motion Plus, a more attachable add on for the Wii remote that would provide the console more information on the remote’s movements. The hardware patch promises true motion control gaming with 1:1 motion detection. When launched in June, there were no first part games from Nintendo and hence we could not really determine how it exactly is to play with the attachment. But thanks to the Wii Sports Resort, we could fairly estimate how good it actually is. So, does the launch of this accessory herald the revolution in motion control gaming? Read the following detailed review to find out.
The Device:
The Wii Motion Plus is not really a stylish add on, however, it does make the Wiimote look complete and a bit longer too. It is about a square inch and hooks on to the Wiimote easily. The attachment does feel bulky and has 2 buttons on the sides that one can use to push in or remove the motion plus to from the Wii controller. On the rear, you will find a lock button which slides up to lock and down to unlock. At the bottom of the device is the pass through for the nun chuck. There were problems in hitting the 1 and 2 buttons while moving horizontally. The newer Wii remote jacket would help in limiting the damage done to the accessory if it falls down.
Set up:
The Wii Motion Plus is provided in a pre packaged protective cover and to connect to the Wiimote, just thread the wrist wrap, plug it in and pull the rest of the cover over the assembly. There is a locking switch on the back and you are done. To remove the Motion Plus, one needs to unlock it, press on the tabs on the sides and pull it off.
Features:
Hardware:
The Wii Motion Plus hardware consists of a sensor that is capable of detecting rotation and hooks onto the expansion port of the Wii remote. Thus, it allows the setup to feed back on the exact 3 D positional information to the console. However, since it still requires all the other motion detecting systems of Wii including the sensor bar, there is scope for flaws. While, playing Showdown we had to constantly re-calibrate the system by pressing down on the D pad. Then there are problems of the Wii mote being susceptible to interference from sources of bright light as it mistakes them to be signals from the sensor bar. But otherwise, its 1:1 motion in carefully controlled environment and just about does whatever it claims to.
Games:
Grand Slam Tennis:
The Grand Slam Tennis title from EA sports is one of the few titles that Motion Plus is compatible and when we tried playing the game with the accessory on, we noticed that it felt no more accurate than the Wii Sport Tennis. Unless you are really into tennis, neither would most of you notice a difference. The Motion Plus let the game distinguish whether the user was holding the racket in the left or the right hand. One can hit a reasonably decent serve but constant calibration was a pain in the neck. Even swinging backhand and forehand was not distinguishable. There was a noticeable difference in the hand movements and the actions on screen and so it certainly was not 1:1. But we must keep in mind that one to one tennis is real hard to simulate.
Tiger Woods PGA 10:
There is a reason EA games has packed the game along with the Wii Motion Plus add on, the accessory works here. While playing tennis was not that realistic, the Motion Plus accessory did bring us to the reality of playing golf indoors. There are 3 modes of difficulty in the game and that basically tells you how realistic you want the game to be. The game has astounding consistency and controls are pretty accurate. Twist the remote left or right, so does the club move on screen and that translates in the shots. The main thing left to ape is the topspin and backspin which are very difficult to do on a handheld controller. While there is that, one could feel the difference between a shot with 30 percent power and 70 percent power. This slight extra force does remind you how hard it is to do so in real life.
Disc Golf:
Not only is the mini game in Tiger Woods a fun little game, but this game allows you to experience the most technical demonstration of Motion Plus available right now from a non Nintendo title. Pickup a disc and you can play it in 3 d space with almost perfect 1:1 motion. The game allows distinction in twisting and bending a flick well. However, the game was not able to detect the distinction between a full body throw with less power and a powerful flick.
Wii Sports Resort:
Nintendo has made sure that the true potential of Motion Plus is revealed in the Wii Sports Resort. The title is developed such that the implementation of this concept is best done in the titles we have seen so far. The Frisbee game is fun as you would watch your Mii character with the 1:1 replication before you toss the disc. Even basketball, bowling and table tennis fare well and make you feel like you are controlling what is happening on screen, something that was lacking from Wii Sports. But there are games such as archery and canoeing where Motion Plus is not as flawless as it seemed to be. There was a problem of constant calibration in both the games and hence precision was not as perfect as you would want. While we believe these games do lack depth, we also believe that this is a blueprint for future development and that Nintendo and others should focus on expanding into “real” games.
Some Hassles:
Constant Calibration:
While playing most titles, the game will ask you to place the controller on a flat surface so that you can re calibrate it. Games have an option to pause at any time so that this can be done manually. We guess that the reason for constant calibration is to be careful about the experience. But it does get annoying at times. What was interesting was that there is an option in the game to let it use the sensor bar to help refine the motion control detection.
Single Motion Add on:
One disappointing thing about the Wii Motion Plus is that to play any multi player games Motion Plus compatible games, one would need two or more Motion Plus controllers.
Design Issues:
The Motion Plus does make the Wii remote big enough not to fit in any of Nintendo’s official peripherals. And if you would want to use the Wii Zapper or the Wii Wheel, you would have to remove the Motion Plus and place the standard Wii Remote into the shell. But if you would want to play games such as Super Paper Mario or Excite Truck, try removing the accessory that simplifies things.
Cannot be used with Third Party add-ons:
Another complaint with the Motion Plus is that it cannot be used with third party add-ons. There are wireless nunchucks that communicate with the remote via a device that plugs into the nunchuck port. The Motion Plus also is capable of plugging the nunchuck, but since the port is positioned differently than on the remote, it is incompatible with some devices.
Not Backward Compatible:
Sadly, the Wii Motion plus is not backward compatible and it neither would probably in the future. There are a great deal of games that would highly benefit from Motion Plus and that would probably boost sales of the accessory as well. Let’s hope that Nintendo launches a firmware update regarding this soon.
Power Drainer:
As soon as the Motion Plus is attached to the Wii Remote and is powered on, the gyroscope present in the accessory drains power from the batteries. If you keep playing non motion plus titles, keeping the accessory attached means one would have to keep on changing batteries quite regularly.
Warranty:
While the console itself carries a warranty of one year which is one of the longest in the console industry, the accessory has a warranty of three months. The warranty covers all manufacturer’s and workmanship defects and they will be repaired at no change. However, the warranty does not cover any sort of physical damage such as spilled liquid on your accessory or anything of that sort.
Conclusion:
Let us be frank, we are not really sure whether to give the Wii Motion Plus a buy or do not buy recommendation. While the Motion plus at its best can be seen as completing the Wii revolution and allows player a sense of control that they have expected from the beginning. It looks like it could solve the problem of people overusing excessive and pointless waggle in games. The use of the Wii Motion Plus does differ from game to game but the functionality is definitely working as Nintendo promised. All this makes you wonder why this was not included when the Wii launched. Nintendo claims that the gyroscope technology was too expensive then and hence launched it separately.
While it does deepen the experience of most games, it has a lot of issues that are need to be dealt with. There are problems of calibrating very frequently and constantly altering your Wii remote if you own accessories such as the Wii wheel. Also most games are neither Motion Plus compatible nor is the accessory compatible with older titles. At the end of the day, should you buy it? That depends on what you think of current Motion Plus games available in the market now. If you love golf and the likes, then this would be a good investment. If it still does not appeal for you, there is no need to buy it soon, as we believe it is something that you would need sooner or later because that is the future of Wii.
Check Nintendo Wii Fit Reviews, Nintendo DS Game Console Review in this website.
Nintendo Wii Motion Plus - Technical Specification Table
Grand Slam Tennis, SEGA Tennis, Tiger Woods Golf Pro 10Wii Sports Resort
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