Mercury Meltdown Revolution Comments by Tom Bramwell

marbel maddness wii?

This is a must-buy for me. If it makes march it will probably be my next wii game.

WoW seems like a great game i'd probably get it sooner or later

My mind is rotten at the moment due to violent games (and too much drinking) and this looks like the cure.

PS Hitman: Blood Money is way worse, mind rotting wise, than GTA imo.

He dances round the question about the accuracy and functionality of the Wiimote though with a "it may be better than it seems but if you're enjoying it as it is why worry?" kind of response. I get where he's coming from but as an experienced gamer I found it innacurate and confusing at times - something at odds with Nintendo's 'breaking down the barriers' philosophy. Just pointing it at the screen in the menu (with fresh batteries) causes it to jitter aroud like mad at times like an optical mouse on a carpet. The whole thing feels unfinished IMO. Surely combining light gun technology and accuracy with built in gyroscopes would've been better than that silly infra-red sensor?

Hmm I don't understand people saying that the wiimote jitters when you point it? Given I was able to shoot a post in Zelda when I could barely see it it can't be that shakey? Do you have trouble stopping your hands shaking or something?

".. I could barely see it"

That's low-def low-res graphcis for ya ;) No, my hands were'nt shaking. I don't know if it was a hardware issue, but it was definately happening of it's own accord.

so if i want to use an analog stick i can't use the nunchuck analog and have to go out and purchase the classic controller? isn't that stupid?

i can understand not supporting gamecube controllers but to not support the existing analog stick of the main controller is idiotic.

Hmmm that's not exactly sold it for me.
Sounds like their second Wii game will be the one to get.

I can't wait to get this one. Been wanting this since I saw it on the PSP (but with no motion sensor, I wondered if it suffered because of it).

@rambali RE: Shaking in wii menu.

Adjust the sensitivity of the controller in the settings (you're probably sitting too far away or have the sensitivity too low). That's how I cleared up my one. Also, the wii menu does not 'smooth' out your movement like Zelda. So it recreates ANY tiny movement. Zelda 'shapes' the movement and gives it some kind of averaging out thing, making it rock solid.

Sort out the sensitivity setting.

".. I could barely see it"

That's low-def low-res graphcis for ya ;) No, my hands were'nt shaking. I don't know if it was a hardware issue, but it was definately happening of it's own accord.

Well it was quite far away... maybe its just my eyes ;).

Rambaldi: The wiimote gets confused when it can see other bright light sources. The sun reflecting on a cupboard for example tend to irritate the wiimote. Also the Ambilight Feature of Philips TVs can cause some problems as they seem to emit quite a bit of infrared frequencies. My infrared receiver of my barebone gets crazy too if I point it at Ambilight - it is constantly flickering like it's receiviing data.

But closing the curtains or turning on ambilight (although I never do that because it causes problems only at rare occasions) and everything works fine. It is true that the pointer jitters slightly on the Mii channel (like you are shivering, but not that intense) but everywhere else it is really precise and I have no problems at all.

There you have it, how well and complex the Wiimote functions is up to the developers. Finally someone kills the debate. Thanks Ed.

And Rambaldi, for sure you must suffer from delirium :D

The original Mercury almost had me buy a PSP (I didn't though). I'm so excited this game is coming out for Wii as well!

@Der tolle

Cheers for that - makes sense really! I was playing it facing a window..and the sun does shine out my arse ;)

What does he mean by at the developer's own risk, in regards to the gamecube controller?

What does he mean by at the developer's own risk, in regards to the gamecube controller?

That means Nintendo's stance towards GC controllers in Wii games seems to be "if you want it, fine, but we won't support you / help you with it".

Rambaldi - Jitters

I have the same "problem" but it is only really if I am about 12-14 foot away sat on the sofa an a little to the side. Straight on it is fine.

My mate side it works with two candles (not tried it an do not recommend it ) but maybe another way to get the girls into it, and maybe there is a little less pointer lag with citrus scented ones rather than lavender or something! Lol

Will somone please explain to me why (I have asked this before with no answer) why why why is the stick on the nun chuck not being used by any developer (that I am aware of)for sole analogue control?

Or put another way - why bother to support the classic controller instead of the one already packed with the console?

One could say to drive sales. But it's a good question, the nunchuck combines motion sensing and the analogue control. Should be enought for this game really.

If you happen to read this, Mr. Bradley, nice interview. Intelligent, solid, readable answers. Thanks.

It is a bit weird that they'd not support the Nunchuck. Seems like a five-minute fix to me, but hey.

Has the potential to be a real nice stop-gap game for Wii.

More Wii/PS fusion.
It's almost inevitable.

He dances round the question about the accuracy and functionality of the Wiimote though with a "it may be better than it seems but if you're enjoying it as it is why worry?" kind of response. I get where he's coming from but as an experienced gamer I found it innacurate and confusing at times...

He doesn't dance around it at all in my opinion, he clearly states that it is far more complex than any average person would ever need it to be. I think his point is that despite the technology, you still have a human at the end of it (or in this case, several million) all of which do things in completely different ways, therefore you've got to compensate for everyone, which in turn means "dumbing down" the controls to some extent.

I've been fortunate enough to "get" the controls straight away (I've never been good at games previously) and find it easy to go way beyond what I'm normally capable of in a game, even FPS games (specifically CoD3) where I've struggled like mad with on a joypad before.

I like the tennis racket analogy, anyone can pick one up and probably hit a few balls back in the court, but not everyone can place it accurately and consistently. Same applies to the Wii, anyone can play it, but it doesn't mean everybody will be an expert.

@Rambaldi : It'll be jittery if you sit too close to the screen (but then that's obvious surely?)... It even tells you that in the manual.


But this game isnt using the pointing functionality, it's using the accelometers (however u spell it). So you wont get that problem.

fantastic! this game's controls sound like they work exactly how i expected monkey ball's to.

as much as i enjoy wii monkey ball, it does leave my wrist in agony after an even vaguely extended session.

(and yeah, i know, that's probably more an indicator of a health issue of mine rather than a problem with the controls...!)