Motion Controllers (Wii, Move, Kinect)

[Overflow]

So yeah, it looks like all three are out in the wild now. Has anyone picked up a Kinect or Move yet? Any impressions?

I played a Move at a sony store on sunday and I have to say, I was not impressed. Granted I only played Sports Champions with one controller and the volume turned way down, but I didn't have much fun. Archery was pathetic, Bocce ball was decent, Frisbee was okay, and I didn't want to try volleyball. Swordplay was really weird. It felt way too loose and I didn't feel any energy from my movements. I had to swing extremely hard to make a decent contact, and it wasn't clear how to play properly. For comparison, in Wii Sports Resort, the swordplay is simple and the gameplay is clear; how you defend and break past defences is simple, but adds a lot of complexity. In Sports Champions, I just felt like it was all high or low attacks. Plus the ragdoll physics were ridiculous.

Table tennis was accurate, more accurate than Wii Sports resort's, but that doesn't mean it's more fun. I couldn't do backhands when I wanted too and the guidelines (showing where the ball is heading) just got distracting and didn't make it any easier to hit the ball.

Overall, the presentation is incredibly bland and the characters are boring and lack personality. The gameplay is stilted and not much fun. There's just no energy. Where are the crowds cheering me on, made up of klingons, Santas and Hitlers? Again, I just played a demo unit at a store, so maybe having the full version with enough controllers and multiplayer is much better. I'm looking forward to trying a FPS on move, and I want to try out Kinect.

What are your thoughts on them?

[JH Sounds]

I'm not sure if Kinect qualifies as a "controller", heh. Anyways, I still can't see anything here other than Sony and Microsoft trying to go to where the money is.

[Dhsu]

I think Reggie's description of Wii as a Blue Ocean Strategy is apt...it's only profitable if it's considered new and innovative. MS and Sony are eager for a piece of the pie, but at this point the fad is dying down and they've missed their opportunity; in other words, competition has already turned the ocean red.

[Devyn]

I'm not a person with a lot of money, so I haven't even considered investing in Kinect, and definitely not for Move. I've had a Wii for years now, and I have a 360, and I still don't have enough party games for my Wii to go out and buy a piece of technology that hasn't even been proven and has a much smaller library. We just recently got tired of Wario Ware. Yet, I haven't tried either of the new control methods, but I'm pretty sure I won't be getting them. I have a 360, and I enjoy it, but I'm still catching up with the popular titles on that system, like Gears of War.

There are tons of games on both the Wii and 360 that have been out for years that I want to play - especially Oblivion. I'm still waiting to play Wii Sports Resort!

So, I think if you own the Wii and one of the HD consoles, it makes these new methods pretty useless unless you just have lots of money to blow.

[Brandon Strader]

I got a black wii back when the price went down and stuff. I think the new motion controls of Sony and Microsoft kinda inspired me to. Been playing Punch Out (with both controllers! I'm actually punching!) and it's a ton of fun.

I'd probably want to try Kinect simply due to it being more interesting, and innovative... Will probably end up with a ps3 though due to the family's want of a blu-ray player. Might be without the move though.

[PROTO·DOME]

I think Reggie's description of Wii as a Blue Ocean Strategy is apt...it's only profitable if it's considered new and innovative. MS and Sony are eager for a piece of the pie, but at this point the fad is dying down and they've missed their opportunity; in other words, competition has already turned the ocean red.

Completely agree. A friend of mine bought the Move and whilst it felt technically better and more responsive than anything on the Wii... ...I just didn't care. Yeah, Sports Champions was really quite good, but it just lacked that unique and fun factor that the Wii oozed all those years ago.

[Gollgagh]

I'm still not in love with the wiimote either tbph

Being a person without a Wii, the only games on wii that do interest me right now are the ones that make minimal usage of the wiimote as a motion controller (Oboromuramasa), or even the games that don't use the wiimote at all (Taiko no Tatsujin games.)

[Brushfire]

I had a wii for about 2 years. When one day I realized I hadn't played it for a year, I got rid of it. I really couldn't stand the controller or the controls for most of the Wii games I had. Playing games like that seemed wrong to me. Prolly the unresponsiveness of it, I dunno.

[liquid wind]

can't speak for kinect or move but I've never really liked the wii controls, it's always seemed inferior to standard controllers. brawl is really the only wii game I play much

[Lint]

I thought it was a gimmick when it came out and I still think it's largely a gimmick. True, I will give credit so some of it's exercise features in that they're pretty low impact and might price out to an equal value on actual exercise equipment (though a gym membership would probably be lower). I said the same thing about the touch screen on the DS though, and I'm getting the same vibe from the 3DS.

It might as well be a Steel Battalion controller that you use for more than one game.

[XZero]

I was a day-one adopter of the Wii, and while I enjoyed the motion controls, the novelty wore off kind of quickly. Zelda was fun, but a lot of it is simply better with a standard controller.

The key to motion controls is that they shouldn't define the experience; to work, they must be a small part of the whole. The Super Mario Galaxy titles exemplify this--they utilize motion controls for a basic attack, and occasionally require pointing at the screen, but beyond that, they always take a backseat to the core gameplay mechanics that don't require flailing around. Wario Land and the forthcoming Donkey Kong Country (from what I've seen) are additional examples of this fundamental control methodology at work. For the point-and-shoot mechanics, there is a very narrow tightrope to walk as a developer in balancing shooting aspects with proper character control. Metroid Prime Trilogy accomplished this well, as do GoldenEye and The Conduit (to a lesser extent). Resident Evil 4 and Epic Mickey (again, working on what I've seen thus far) are additional examples of mechanics that integrate the motion and point-and-click mechanics with gameplay so that the gesture-based controls take a backseat to the gameplay proper.

For my money, give me classic-style controller any day. The PS3 controller is a godsend, and the GameCube controller has gotten me through plenty of Smash Bros. battles and GoldenEye multiplayer bouts.

[wildfire]

I'm not particularly drawn to motion controls. I like being a lazy gamer. And the only reason I tolerate the Wii mechanics sometimes is because I love some first-party Nintendo games.

[Overflow]

Well, I think that the wii is still going to be the only system that can offer an experience like Metroid Other M. Love it or hate it, you can't deny that the controls were pretty innovative. Hold the controller sidewise (NES style) for movement and point at the screen for FPS aiming. That could not be done on either the Move or Kinect.

I'm really looking forward to Skyward Sword. Nintendo knows how to, above all, make games fun. Sports Champion's sword fighting may be 1:1, but it wasn't fun. Nintendo will make sure that Skyward Sword is fun first and then add 1:1 controls after. The controls for swinging your sword in SS aren't actually 1:1; it uses canned animations, but it's got like 20 or 40 different swinging motions. I think that opens up possibilities for more responsive game coding: rather than just using ragdoll physics like in Sports Champions, enemies could actually block specific attacks (As we've seen: goblins block horiz. and vert., and Stalfos can leave only a single corner exposed) and respond to specific impacts. I think that this will make swordplay (ironically) much more precise and fun. Plus, Nintendo's already said that the sword will be used for a lot of puzzles too, so you aren't going to be flailing madly the whole game.

Now, if they kept the scanning ability for Kinect, I would be MUCH more interested. Imagine if you could grab a cheap plastic sword and actually use it like a real sword! Sure you'd knock down every vase within a cubic mile, but that would be FUN. I really like the Augmented Reality games for 3DS and Move, because they blur the line between your living room and the game. If I could use a toy lightsaber or (toy)machine gun and hide behind my couch while dodging enemy attacks, you bet I would buy a Kinect.

Oh! How about a transformers game!? You Run and shoot with a toy gun, jogging in place and tilting to run! Fold your arms and crouch to transform! Lean left and right to steer and stand straight to turn back into a robot! Man, I should make games...

[Zombie]

I like the wiimote. With motion plus added it's actually pretty good, and I always really enjoyed the smoothness of the IR pointer in the games I played. Waggle that wasn't 1:1 was just trash though.

I too am really excited for Skyward Swordfighting.

[Brandon Strader]

Not to derail too hard but, both Kinect and Move are in the infant stages... I bought a wii because at this point in its life, it has like...

New Super Mario Bros. Wii

Harvest Moon: Animal Parade

Punch Out!!

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers

No More Heroes 2

Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World

Rabbids Go Home

MySims

Wii Music

The Conduit

Animal Crossing: City Folk

Super Mario Galaxy 2

NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams

de Blob

Mario Kart Wii

Red Steel 2

Metroid Prime Trilogy

Arc Rise Fantasia

Silent Hill: Shattered Memories

Okami

Dead Space Extraction

Fragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon

Muramasa: The Demon Blade

Monster Hunter Tri

Baroque

House of the Dead: Overkill

MadWorld

Pikmin

Resident Evil 4

A Boy and His Blob

I pretty much copy-pasted my game queue in gamefly as of August 22nd (added a lot more since then) but you get the point. Some awesome RPGs in there, a lot of great games in general. I think when the Move gets some more stuff and Kinect as well, and both of them get ironed out to perfection, they'll be worth investing in.

[Brushfire]

Not to derail too hard but, both Kinect and Move are in the infant stages... I bought a wii because at this point in its life, it has like...

New Super Mario Bros. Wii - Good

Harvest Moon: Animal Parade - Betteron the DS

Punch Out!! - No Mike Tyson

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers - Terrible JRPG

No More Heroes 2 - Good

Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World - Good JRPG, just not this version

Rabbids Go Home - Terrible

MySims - Lame

Wii Music - Glorified Noise Maker

The Conduit - Garbage

Animal Crossing: City Folk - Sadly Better on the DS

Super Mario Galaxy 2 - Good

NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams - Awful

de Blob - Meh

Mario Kart Wii - Better at the Arcade

Red Steel 2 - SOOOOOOO BAD

Metroid Prime Trilogy - Technically not a Wii game

Arc Rise Fantasia - Gross

Silent Hill: Shattered Memories - HAHAHAHAHHAHA REALLY?

Okami - I prefer PS2

Dead Space Extraction - Nope

Fragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon - Overly Long Terrible Game Title

Muramasa: The Demon Blade - Onimusha was better

Monster Hunter Tri - Not even gonna discuss how bad they fucked up here

Baroque - More like Broke AMIRITE

House of the Dead: Overkill - A little too late for G this time

MadWorld - Attempt at art gone horribly wrong

Pikmin - Not a Wii game

Resident Evil 4 - WORST. PORT. EVER.

A Boy and His Blob

I pretty much copy-pasted my game queue in gamefly as of August 22nd (added a lot more since then) but you get the point. Some awesome RPGs in there, a lot of great games in general. I think when the Move gets some more stuff and Kinect as well, and both of them get ironed out to perfection, they'll be worth investing in.

You left out the above information.

[Devyn]

I doubt that you've played half of these games. Go down the list and critique the ones you've actually played, "after dark man". Your blatant disregard of Madworld makes me think that you're just a fanboy asshole masquerading as someone who means two shits to this community.

Edit: You're a douche

[Brushfire]

I doubt that you've played half of these games. Go down the list and critique the ones you've actually played, "after dark man". Your blatant disregard of Madworld makes me think that you're just a fanboy asshole masquerading as someone who means two shits to this community.

Edit: You're a douche

Apparently you have never seen me butt heads with Oinkness. You should be on the forums more, as we do this to each other constantly.

That being said, if Madworld were devoloped by someone who knows what they are doing when it comes to game (Say Clover, or something like that), it may have not been so terrible.

Also, when have I ever said I am an important part of the site? I constantly say that the only guy on OCAD that has credibility is Stevo.

Oh wait, I forgot you can't see past your Wii-Penis to do your goddamn research.

<3 Your bro for life, Brushfire.

[Brandon Strader]

Apparently you have never seen me butt heads with Oinkness. You should be on the forums more, as we do this to each other constantly.

That being said, if Madworld were devoloped by someone who knows what they are doing when it comes to game (Say Clover, or something like that), it may have not been so terrible.

Also, when have I ever said I am an important part of the site? I constantly say that the only guy on OCAD that has credibility is Stevo.

Oh wait, I forgot you can't see past your Wii-Penis to do your goddamn research.

<3 Your bro for life, Brushfire.

Suck my Wiines.

P.S. Magna Carta 2

[Brushfire]

P.S. Magna Carta 2

[The Damned]

I had a wii for about 2 years. When one day I realized I hadn't played it for a year, I got rid of it.

I'm not getting rid of it any time soon, but yeah, I haven't really played it much in the last year. In fact, I don't remember when I turned it on last.

Hold on, I'm actually going to go see when that was.

...

Well, that's a sign of how long it's been since I turned it on last. It's been unplugged this entire time.

OK, the batteries in both controllers are dead.

OK, the calender says the last day I played was November 9th, 2009, which isn't true, because I did buy Mario Galaxy 2, and that came out in May of this year... but it's also one update behind, so yeah, it's been a while.

My DS Lite gets far, far more use, and that's not even an everyday thing.

Next Nintendo console is going to have to really impress me, seeing how even the PS3 and 30 aren't wowing me with anything. In fact, all three have to really impress me next gen, because this gen was kind of uneventful. I can finally afford any of the consoles, and none of them have anything I want to play.

[Brandon Strader]

Nintendo may eventually go HD but they don't strike me as the kind of company that would really ever make photo-realistic games... I could be wrong but as far as I could predict now, I'd say they would be more focused on controller innovation than actually making the games look better... hey wait, when did this turn into a nintendo hate thread? Eff you guys.

[Brushfire]

My DS Lite gets far, far more use, and that's not even an everyday thing.

I am with you on that one d00d. Aside from my 360 during peak months like October-November, My DS sees the most action.

Well maybe the PC if you count that a console.

[Devyn]

Edit: I had a bad drink and acted like an asshole on the internet. Somebody said something that I thought was shallow, and it was, and I overcompensated by making a total ass of myself. Please accept my formal apology. This goes to Brushfire, and the entire Overclocked Remix community.

[The Damned]

Any system can have a strong library... but if it doesn't appeal to the individual, then it just doesn't. That's for any system, at any time.

Honestly, I'm finding portable gaming to be far more interesting these days. More games I want to play, less hassle playing it, far more flexible in a lot of ways.

I guess I've always been more of a portable person than a console person. With the various consoles I've owned, borrowed, or played on at someone else's place, none of that seems to compare to the amount of fun I've had on GameBoy and DS. Even the rare fling with PSP has yielded more fun times.

Maybe Nintendo should just give up the console market and seize absolute control of the handheld market again. Those were good times.