Reggie defends slow MotionPlus uptake

By Oli Welsh Published 22 March, 2010

Won't force devs to use certain controls.

Quizzed by MTV Multiplayer on the lack of games using the Wii's MotionPlus add-on, Nintendo's American president Reggis Fils-Aime has defended the company's policy of never forcing its developers to use certain controllers or control schemes.

"There's tremendous support for Wii MotionPlus," he began, somewhat unconvincingly, stressing that launch title Wii Sports Resort is still selling well, Ubisoft's Red Steel 2 is out soon and Nintendo has recently revealed a first-party action-puzzle game called Fling Smash.

"There are more titles that are coming, it continues to be a core part of what we do," he said.

When challenged on the lack of MotionPlus support in the company's most popular series, such as the next Super Mario Galaxy and Metroid games, Fils-Aime said it was the company's policy to develop controls that were suitable for each game.

"But I guess what's unique with Nintendo is we don't force our developers to stick to a particular type of control scheme, and you've seen that," he said. "Everything from the new Metroid title to be single-remote driven to Fling Smash utilising the Wii MotionPlus. So it's all about what's right for the game."

Red Steel 2 is released this week in a bundle with Wii MotionPlus. Watch out for our review very soon.

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About Oli Welsh

Oli is Eurogamer's acting deputy editor and reviews editor and likes to take things one word at a time. He is among the best dressed people in South London.

Read more articles from Oli by visiting the Oli Welsh archive page.

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Comments (45) Latest comment 2 years ago

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  • kangarootoo #1 2 years ago

    "never forcing its developers to use certain controllers or control schemes"

    Well in truth, they can't force developers on this sort of thing. If developers are going to require any sort of controller, it has to be their own decision. Dual shock eventually became the norm on the PS1, but it took years before developers were confident enough in the installed base.

    Everyone can probably agree that M+ should have been built in from the start, when the huge installed base was established. Getting enough M+ add-ons in peoples' homes that devs can rely on them being there is just going to take a while.

  • kangarootoo #2 2 years ago

    @designerheadache

    Bundling M+ with games that require it is one way to go I guess. Then the customer gets the benefit without feeling they have to spend significantly more. You say add-ons never sell well unless they are standard, but you can't make something standard more than once. For this generation of Wii consoles, M+ is NOT standard. I can become widely used and accepted, but the clock can't be turned back.

    The main barrier as I see it is asking a customer to buy a Wii game that they cannot play unless they make an additional unconnected purchase. Every single PS3 game I buy is playable on my PS3, every single 360 game I buy is playable on my 360, and currently every single Wii game is playable on my parent's Wii (Wii fit being an exception, but that was bundled, as I suggested above).

    Making M+ will change that, and for a mainstream audience in particular, that is confusing and annoying.

  • Johnson #3 2 years ago

    Doesn't exactly fill you with confidence for Natal or Move does it?

  • Toothball #4 2 years ago

    Probably another issue with uptake is that you need to buy several if you want to use these with multiplayer games. With the controller & Nunchuk combo already costing like £45, adding another £15-£20 on top of that is a far from savoury option. I've not bothered with them so far as the games that use them haven't really appealed to me. And then I'd much rather have them included in the controller, so I also don't want to buy more regular remotes in case they decide to combine them at some point.

  • JetSetWilly #5 2 years ago

    Sports Resort would still have sold bucket loads without Motion Plus support. Has there been a Motion Plus game that shows the tech giving a decisive sales edge over a regular Wiimote game? If not then no wonder third-party developers don't bother, it's wasted effort.

  • ignatiusjreilly #6 2 years ago

    If it was an extra or new peripheral they might have a chance of building an install base even if it wasn't a standard, but M+'s problem is that no one really knows what it does and it's pretty hard to explain.

    In fact it does what most people think the Wiimote already does anyway, making it a pretty hard sell.

  • JohnnyWashnGo #7 2 years ago

    This is my main concern for Natal and Move... unless these peripherals are part of the default kit for a console, you can never guarantee that the end user has them and therefore developers/publishers will be less willing to take a risk writing software to support them.

    Plus, I really have too much gaming related junk in my living room as it is. Arcade sticks are the main culprit, but the Wii Fit is another thing that rarely gets used these days. I may go as far to say that unless there is a very, very compelling reason to invest in a Natal or Move, like a AAA game that can only be played with the new control systems, then I won't be buying either.

  • chubster2010 #8 2 years ago

    'Tremendous support'? Really?

    So far, I'd say WM+ is a complete flop. Sports Resort is great, but aside from Red Steel, there is literally nothing of interest on the horizon. It's all well and good having a dig at Sony's Move, and harking on about how motion control is core to the Wii experience, but Nintendo's support of WM+ has been pretty pathetic to be honest.

  • GamesConnoisseur #9 2 years ago

    Natal or Move would not succeed as much as they would have if bundled in the launch console pack obviously but I certainly feels a lot more confidence that Sony and MS would be doing a lotta more to push for a partial successful penetration.

    Never will be able to becomes the majority/norm set up, but surely already pre-launch we can see far more titles from GET GO would be supported than with Motion+ which is so embarrassed half hearted even by first party titles!

  • Dan234 #10 2 years ago

    If reading motion controls was part of the OS instead of letting each developer fumble around with their own take on waggle controls, it would be a lot easier for developers and all games would have had a M+ upgrade, which would have inspired more people to go out and get one.

  • kangarootoo #11 2 years ago

    @ignatiusjreilly

    "but M+'s problem is that no one really knows what it does and it's pretty hard to explain"

    I think specifically it is hard to explain without making the original product look bad.

  • DrDamn #12 2 years ago

    "never forcing its developers to use certain controllers or control schemes"

    Isn't that exactly what they did at launch? I mean obviously it was a key part of the strategy which helped them achieve the massive sales, but by bundling a motion controller as standard this is what they did.

    They are now in a tricky position with WMP, a lot of people really don't know what it does above and beyond a regular controller. I think they need a killer title which will only work with WMP.

  • Arwin #13 2 years ago

    Both Sony's Move and Nintendo's M+ will benefit from each other, and as Move comes closer to release I think you'll see a significant uptake in support for M+ from multi-platform(ish) titles and publishers.

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #14 2 years ago

    Doesn't exactly fill you with confidence for Natal or Move does it?

    Wii Remote + motionplus is far more similar to plain wii remote usage is than Move or Natal compared to joypad usage, so it's less of a differentiator if devs decide to use it.

    SOCOM suggests that Move can easily be grafted in to FPS games, and Sony now have several big first-party franchises - Resistance, Killzone, SOCOM itself, MAG, Warhawk, that that can be done with. Plus, I think they said, LittleBigPlanet will be patched or sequel-ed with support for it, so there's plenty of big name potential ttles .

    Conversely, the CPU overhead and lack of buttons means that sort of FPS integration isn't likely for Natal, but at least they've got Peter Molyneux going round developers evangelising about it.

  • Bremenacht #15 2 years ago

    Nintendo should simply update the Wiimotes to have M+ built-in. It would give publishers confidence that a large-enough market would exist in the future to justify the changes to development. It would make it easier for consumers too - especially all those 'new gamers' that Nintendo have drawn in, but who know bugger-all about how stuff works.

    Of course, they won't because they're making enough money not to worry about such things, and they've market dominance.

  • Grayvern #16 2 years ago

    Reminds me of the old excuse for not doing well on tests by never trying your hardest and revising. The company really needs to be more aggressive if it wants motion plus to catch on.

  • kangarootoo #17 2 years ago

    @DrDamn

    "Isn't that exactly what they did at launch? I mean obviously it was a key part of the strategy which helped them achieve the massive sales, but by bundling a motion controller as standard this is what they did."

    I think you are picking too much at words here.

    The point here is to not force any developer to use a specific one of the controllers available. No platform holder can provide an infinite number of control options, so of course every developer is "forced" to use one of the options available to them.

    We could equally complain that any 360 or PS3 deveoper is "forced" to make their game work with a control pad instead of an imaginary psychic control bonnet... but I'm not sure what the substance of the complaint would be.

  • kangarootoo #18 2 years ago

    @Bremenacht

    Actually, I'm sure Nintendo plan to do exactly what you suggest, but that won't address the millions of Wiimotes already in homes.

  • Essien #19 2 years ago

    Fling Smash?

    Seriously?

  • sneetch #20 2 years ago

    Regarding the uptake of Natal and Move I think Natal has one (rather large) advantage over Move here and that's that you only need one Natal box whereas you'll need a PlayStation Eye and up to four Move stick-things depending on the number of players in your group.

  • DrDamn #21 2 years ago

    @Kangarootoo
    Well I'm a bit confused as to what his point is. Why are they unique? Sony didn't for people to use the motion sensing sixaxis stuff did they? (thank god)

    My point about the motion controller and forcing devs to use it is because it is not as generic a controller as a gamepad. Hence they are forced to use elements such as gestures to make up for lack of buttons for example. Just to make things clear I think their original policy was obviously the right thing to do, I just don't agree with what Reggie is stating here.

  • TonyHarrison #22 2 years ago

    Exactly why would we need motionplus in SMG2 or Metroid: Other M? The motion control involved in both is pretty much done with the IR sensor through pointing at the screen and thus would not be improved by using it.

    We already know that Zelda Wii will be using it and it will be compulsory. It's likely to be Nintendo's big Christmas game to counter the release of Move and Natal.

  • makeamazing #23 2 years ago

    As someone else said, i would pull the old controller and replace it with the Motion Plus, and then have it work with two control methods, tradditional and new, so that it could work with both if needed. Then Nintendo should for all its games make it work for both, while others can just use the tradditional setting.... unless i am missing the point somewhere.

  • erp #24 2 years ago

    Hang on. The new Metroid title to be single-remote driven?

    Does he mean *just* a remote? In other words, no Nunchuck?

    Oh... surely not?

  • comissars_handgun #25 2 years ago

    Yeah I doubt I'll be getting motion plus until the new Zelda comes out.

    @ erp- Yeah the new metroid uses just the wii remote, held in the NES pad style.
    Edited by 1 at 22/03/10 @ 13:02

  • erp #26 2 years ago

    @commissar\'s_handgun: Wow, no analogue? Crazy. I think I need to go back and look at more previews of Metroid, because that makes no sense to me at the moment.

  • Beano #27 2 years ago

    "Regarding the uptake of Natal and Move I think Natal has one (rather large) advantage over Move here and that's that you only need one Natal box whereas you'll need a PlayStation Eye and up to four Move stick-things depending on the number of players in your group."

    No, you need to Natals... 1 x Natal and 1 x Natal 2 which actually works as promised :D

    http://ww w.vg247.com/2010/03/22/microsof...
    Edited by 1 at 22/03/10 @ 13:43

  • kangarootoo #28 2 years ago

    @DrDamn

    Well I think he is responding to an interview prompt. He is saying that they won't force devs to use M+, just like I imagine Sony won't force devs to use Move and Microsoft won't force devs to use Natal.

    Now if down the road Sony released a new "better" version of Move, or MS released a new "better" version of Natal, that required customers to buy yet more new kit, and THEN said to devs "Your news games MUST require the new version of XYZ", then we would have the same situation as being described here.

    You seem to be talking in terms of game control system choices. But the issue at hand is really about hardware revisions. From the perspective of the gamer, there is no real difference between a standard Wiimote and the M+. In game interface design terms, there is nothing an M+ does that a Wiimote cannot... it is simply that the M+ is "better" at detecting motion.


    And please don't anyone spam me with comments about how the M+ "does things a standard Wiimote cannot". I am fully aware of the technical differences. My point is that what you ask a player to do (i.e. wave or point their arm in a certain way) is always the same. It is the ACCURACY with which their input can be read that changes.

  • kangarootoo #29 2 years ago

    @erp

    I suppose technically, the motion aspects of the Wiimote are analogue.

  • kangarootoo #30 2 years ago

    @sneetch

    I think the advantages and disadvantages of Natal can only really be declared when we truly know what it is capable of and what it is not capable of.

    For example, if it can't take input from 4 people at the same time and tell which input came from which person, the lack of "four Move stick-things" would seem to me to be a distinct DISadvantage in some situations. The same might be said of any situation that would benefit from buttons.

    Not saying Natal is no good for the things it is good at. Just that I'm not sure we will ever really be comparising apples with apples when it comes to Natal and Move.

  • sneetch #31 2 years ago

    @kangarootoo
    I think the advantages and disadvantages of Natal can only really be declared when we truly know what it is capable of and what it is not capable of.

    For example, if it can't take input from 4 people at the same time and tell which input came from which person, the lack of "four Move stick-things" would seem to me to be a distinct DISadvantage in some situations. The same might be said of any situation that would benefit from buttons.

    It can, at least it's been declared to be able to do so by the project manager, Alex Kipman. Until someone from Microsoft says otherwise I choose to believe it (as cynicism is wearying for me at the moment):
    "We can track up to four players in the same way we track controllers. Each individual player will be able to choose - do I want to bind with a controller, or do I want to bind with my body, or do I want to bind with both?"

    [link url=http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/e3-post-na tal-discussion-interview
    ]http://ww w.eurogamer.net/articles/e3-pos...[/link]

    Not saying Natal is no good for the things it is good at. Just that I'm not sure we will ever really be comparising apples with apples when it comes to Natal and Move.

    My point was purely about the financial cost for adopters.

  • sneetch #32 2 years ago

    @Beano
    No, you need to Natals... 1 x Natal and 1 x Natal 2 which actually works as promised :D

    Hehe. You might be right there. :D

    But the actual quote was:

    "When we do invent something first like the Natal kind of scenario,” said Hon, “while we have a researcher working with the product group for the first version, we already have a researcher thinking about the second version down the road"

    This hardly means that they'll be bringing out Natal 2 any time soon, most likely it's intended for Windows machines or the Xbox's successor. Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft are working on the successors of their current consoles, everyone knows this, work probably began before the Wii, PS3 or 360 were launched, it's the exact same with Natal.

  • Beano #33 2 years ago

    True, but talking about a successor allready is not a good message to consumers :p
    Edited by 1 at 22/03/10 @ 14:15

  • DrDamn #34 2 years ago

    @Kangarootoo
    "Well I think he is responding to an interview prompt. He is saying that they won't force devs to use M+, just like I imagine Sony won't force devs to use Move and Microsoft won't force devs to use Natal."

    So how does that make Nintendo unique? That was his point wasn't it?

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #35 2 years ago

    talking about a successor allready is not a good message to consumers

    It always seems to happen whenever a new thing comes out, though, I remember quotes about Playstation 4 before PS3 was out, and a similar "as soon as we're done with one we're looking at how we'll do the next one" quote from MS round about the launch time for Xbox 360.

    Also, the quote there was from Microsoft Research, who developed the technology, not the Xbox division who are deploying it.

  • Arwin #36 2 years ago

    Microsoft didn't exactly develop Natal technology, but bought a company that did. ;)

    Anyway, I'm sticking to my prediction that we'll likely see more support for Motion+ as developers start taking Move (and to a lesser degree Natal) into their stride.

  • kangarootoo #37 2 years ago

    @sneetch

    "Until someone from Microsoft says otherwise I choose to believe it"

    With something this new, I'd tend to take the view that until someone NOT from MS says it does, I'll leave my opinion unformed.


    @DrDamn

    Well, the specific bit about being unique is indeed nonsense. I agree with you there. I think his Company Man Chip just took over there :)

  • DrDamn #38 2 years ago

    @Kangarootoo
    Fair enough - thought I was missing something. :)

  • smelly #39 2 years ago

    "Like all add ons, this will Never sell well unless they make it a standard."

    Well if that's the case.. natal and the wand are dead in the water then?

  • JeffGerstmann #40 2 years ago

    There's tremendous support for Wii MotionPlus

  • super_monty #41 2 years ago

    I have a wii somewhere I was thinking of getting a new game for it then only to be told the the motion controller is not good enough and I need to purchase an add on to make it work better.

  • Lamb #42 2 years ago

    For the first time in many months I turned on my Wii to find the Wiimote does not hold a charge. After 15 minutes it was dead despite charging it for many hours before hand. I turned my Wii off in disgust.

    If the Wiimote is X and Y while motion plus is Z it has not worked out for me. From table tennis positioning on the back hand to the atrocious shooting a basketball like striking a bell. This nascent technology should not be standardized till a well thought thru heavily developed version comes out. Even then its appeal for me would be limited to sports or a hack and slash game. Most probably the latter.

    And if this tech just has to be developed make a grid for me on the tv (with X,Y,Z) so I can see how I am positioned while playing. In fact something like compass points on the frame of the screen would be ideal.

  • Lamb #43 2 years ago

    Also whats with the lazy port of Metroid Prime 3? Metroid Prime on the gamecube seems light years ahead of it.

  • erp #44 2 years ago


    @kangarootoo: technically yes, of course, but I was more thinking about analogue movement controls - in other words, an analogue stick.

  • Phishfood #45 2 years ago

    clearly "tremendous" support means something else in Reggie's dictionary.