Now that the fungineers at Nintendo have increased the smile efficiency of the Wii Remote via a brand new accessory, the Wii MotionPlus, what's in store for the vanilla Wii Remote? What if I don't want to purchase a reasonably priced copy of Wii Sports Resort, but want that 1:1 motion control the Wii MotionPlus promises?
Nintendo's corporate affairs VP Denise Kaigler confirmed to us earlier this week that the Wii Sports sequel is currently the only game that's confirmed to take advantage of the new sensor, but... what if? What if, say, Mario Teaches Sniping is coming down the line and requires the add-on? Will Nintendo release an updated Wii Remote, one integrated with the MotionPlus tech built-in?
Katsuya Eguchi, producer of Wii Sports Resort and MotionPlus subject matter expert, says the company is currently thinking about integrating it into the current remote.
"We're always looking at how hardware will evolve," Eguchi noted, adding that it's too early to confirm anything about a new standard Wii Remote. There's a possibility that MotionPlus may simply remain an attachment only and that it may be used with limited software.
Talking to Nintendo employees after the Nintendo Developer Roundtable, we expressed our concerns that the MotionPlus would fragment the user base, that it may be leading to an overcomplication of the inherently easy Wii Remote. We were told that the MotionPlus accessory may be packed in with more than just Wii Sports Resort to prevent that sort of split between users.
Addressing other concerns that the Wii MotionPlus might lead to more difficult games, ones that require increased precision, Eguchi said that his teams "are very aware of this issue and we're keeping this in our thoughts during our development."
That said, Eguchi noted that "We want a gaming experience where [the player feels] 'the more you bite, the more flavor you get'."