Nintendo: "no plans" to retrofit MotionPlus

By Robert Purchese Published 16 April, 2009

Freedom restricted to new Wii games.

Nintendo has told Eurogamer there are "no plans" to retro-actively fit Wii MotionPlus capabilities to existing games, keeping the new and optional features instead for specifically designed games.

"Wii MotionPlus accessory is only for games that are designed to make use of its abilities. Wii MotionPlus is an optional accessory for developers and players who want to further refine their game experience," a spokesperson for Nintendo told us. "There are currently no plans to make it compatible with existing non-Wii Motion Plus enabled titles."

The Nintendo spokesperson added that Wii will continue to support games which work with the original Wiimote powers. These will behave no differently when played using the clip-on MotionPlus accessory.

"The Wii Remote pioneered a revolution in video games and made this pastime accessible to millions of new gamers. This technology is still relevant and compelling," said the spokesperson.

Wii MotionPlus adds a further three degrees of motion-sensing capability to the Wiimote, producing quite staggering results. Serve and volley to our hands-on impressions of Virtua Tennis 2009 - one of the first third-party titles to support WMP - to find out why.

Wii MotionPlus launches in Europe on 12th June. One MotionPlus peripheral will also be bundled with each copy of Wii Sports Resort, which goes on sale from 24th July.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (19) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Red_Bool #1 3 years ago

    @Coin-Op: What's the matter with graphics of the Wii games that Nintendo made themselves? Sure, they're not super high-res / anti-aliased / blah, but on my CRT-TV they still look fine to me.

  • Toothball #2 3 years ago

    Yeah, I've not had any reason to grumble about Wii visuals. They're not HD but they do a decent job.

    I might hold out and see if they come up with Remotes with this built in. I'm not especially desperate to play any of the supported games at the moment.

  • LazyDan #3 3 years ago

    Yeah right.

    6 months time then:
    "NEW PLAY CONTROL: Wii Sports - Ģ19.99"

  • roz123 #4 3 years ago

    every wii threads first comment is from coin-op spouting some bollocks. The sad git.


    Is this news? im sure everyone knew this already

  • schnide #5 3 years ago

    Retrofitting would take effort that I really can't see Nintendo making, they're just not that way inclined.. Besides, it only seems to be me who thinks the translation of motion onto the Wii from the Wiimote is awful.

    As for good graphics on the console.. running on a plasma TV, the Wii is just embarrassing. Love the console or hate it, that much is pretty much undeniable.

  • roz123 #6 3 years ago

    you obviously havent played galaxy or brawl

  • Britesparc Verified Creative, ITV #7 3 years ago

    I think the Wii has pretty good graphics. Mario Galaxy, over component, looks terrific, albeit with a few more jaggies than most 360 games.

  • Sean.Aaron #8 3 years ago

    "As for good graphics on the console.. running on a plasma TV, the Wii is just embarrassing. Love the console or hate it, that much is pretty much undeniable."

    I deny it; no issues with Wii graphics. I also don't view HD content on my plasma as DVD over component looks just fine.

  • makeamazing #9 3 years ago

    I dont think retrofitting would be worth it, I think they will be able to do alright in the boxed with a game type method. Of course when they do a wii2 they they just replace the old controller for the new improved.

    For me the graphics were not an issue to begin with, but as i started looking for more general games, then i was disappointed with the graphics.

  • moggsy #10 3 years ago

    Bit of a mess is this if you ask me. They should have kept this controller for the Wii 2. Developers are going to be held back by the fact they have to support the old controllers.

  • CaptianScarlet #11 3 years ago

    Not fussed about retro fitting. As long as I don't have to remove the MotionPlus dongle to play normal games :)

    Also not to sure that Nintendo are fussed about Wii 2 just yet. They've probably made enough cash to sit the next generation out :) and besides that's for those cool head tracking glasses thingies.

    I know everyone has seen it but it's worth posting again because the possibilities are mind boggling :)

    [link url=http://www .youtube.com/watch?v=Jd3-eiid-Uw
    ]http://www .youtube.com/watch?v=Jd3-eiid-Uw
    [/link]

  • Monsta #12 3 years ago

    I was hoping this was going to say that they we're going to start selling wiimotes with th emotion plud already built in.

    But no it will be the most expesive 3 part gaming control system ever. It almost makes steel battalions look cheap and simple

  • MisterCraig #13 3 years ago

    Tis a shame!

  • malexous #14 3 years ago

    http://ha ckmii.com/2009/02/why-the-wii-w...

    "Why the Wii will never get any better"
    Edited by 1 at 16/04/09 @ 11:59

  • gudnikristinn #15 3 years ago

    It would be so awesome if people who like the Wii could just discuss it on multiplatform sites without spending most our time defending that we donīt mind playing the least powerful machine and we actually see the Wiimote as evolution in gameplay.

    But like always, i enter a Wii discussion and the first thing i read is some hater trollin...Being a gamer is not what it used to be.

  • wankerw #16 3 years ago

    I'd say nintendo will end up doing what they always do with peripherals which is... Bring out a couple of games that work with it when it launches which really serve to act only as a tech-demo of sorts, then totally forget about it.

    But maybe they won't as motionplus is a little more "important" than let's say the wii zapper, the balance board, the dk bongos, the gameboy camera/printer, the gamecube modem, gba/gc linkage, the built- in rumble pack for perfect dark on gbc (obscure I know), the mouse for the snes... I think you get the point.

    Oh and are they not releasing motion+ and wii sports resort at the same time?

  • SG #17 3 years ago

    Not surprising really.

    I can't see any company doing this ever. It's like adding analogue control to D-pad games.

  • sneetch #18 3 years ago

    @SG
    Not surprising really.

    I can't see any company doing this ever. It's like adding analogue control to D-pad games.

    Exactly. It's just too much work and would add very little as the games' control schemes were designed with the limitations of the Wii remote in mind, for better or worse. Re-doing them would add very little, for example, MotionPlus would add nothing to Zelda unless you re-designed the entire combat system and that would require a serious patch, a serious amount of work and practically speaking the Wii simply hasn't enough storage space for those kinds of patches.

    The headline could have read:

    Nintendo: "no plans" to attempt pointless, thankless task :)

  • sneetch #19 3 years ago

    @gudnikristinn
    But like always, i enter a Wii discussion and the first thing i read is some hater trollin...Being a gamer is not what it used to be.

    Actually, it is sadly exactly what it used to be. It just used to be Comodore vs. Spectrum or SNES vs. Megadrive or Amiga vs. Atari ST or whatever. The names change but the tune remains the same. :)