5 Game Franchises that Must Use the Wii MotionPlus!

If you haven’t heard yet, Nintendo has just announced a new add-on for the Wii. Called the Wii MotionPlus, and don’t just shrug this one off because this is the add-on which will literally change the way we play games. The new peripheral, according to Nintendo, will allow 1:1 like movements on screen. Allowing us all to play that star wars game, or golf like game we’ve been dreaming of since, well… forever! With this being said, we could think of hundreds of different game franchises that could use this controller, and use it well. But lets narrow it down to the top 5 game franchises that we would like for them to use this brilliant new add-on to the already wonderful Wii-mote.

Number 5: Tiger Woods PGA tour

We’ve all wanted that perfect golf game with the Wii-mote, but frankly, we were never going to get it. Until now! While we haven’t seen what this new peripheral can do until E3 tomorrow (which we will be covering extensively) what Nintendo has said is surely promising and we’ll take their word for it. Imagine, being in front of your TV screen, you slowly move you arm back getting ready to take the shot, and the character on-screen does exactly what your doing. Then you quickly strike forward with a powerful blow and at the same time your character mimics you. You get a feeling of control over a game you’ve never felt before and for a second there you actually felt like Tiger playing at the PGA tour. The possibilities are endless and with 1:1 gameplay, this could definitely be a hit if used alongside the Wii MotionPlus.

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Nintendo announces newest accessory: Wii MotionPlus!

On Nintendo’s site this morning, an “E3 Sneak Preview” revealed a brilliant accessory for the Wii Remote that no one thought of yet: the Wii MotionPlus.

The MotionPlus accessory takes the initial issues critics found with the Wii Remote, in terms of the actual motion-sensing technology, and shatters them with enhancements that will make any lightsaber-esque game worthwhile, and incredibily realistic.

Nintendo’s announcement below:

Nintendo’s upcoming Wii MotionPlus accessory for the revolutionary Wii Remote controller again redefines game control, by more quickly and accurately reflecting motions in a 3-D space. The Wii MotionPlus accessory attaches to the end of the Wii Remote and, combined with the accelerometer and the sensor bar, allows for more comprehensive tracking of a player’s arm position and orientation, providing players with an unmatched level of precision and immersion. Every slight movement players make with their wrist or arm is rendered identically in real time on the screen, providing a true 1:1 response in their game play. The Wii MotionPlus accessory reconfirms Nintendo’s commitment to making games intuitive and accessible for everyone. Nintendo will reveal more details about the Wii MotionPlus accessory and other topics Tuesday morning at its E3 media briefing.

1:1 Response, 3-D space, this is shaping up to be an accessory that ISN’T a headscratcher from Nintendo, but their best addition to the system yet.  And the small device also has a port on the bottom for Nunchuk action.  Tune in tomorrow for more details on this exciting new product.

Update - Details (and speculation) on Castlevania Judgement

The folks at IGN reminded me of one, crucial detail on Castlevania Judgement upon a second read-through of their piece on Castlevania Judgement:

The newest DS Castlevania title, Order of Ecclesia will be able to wirelessly connect with this new game to unlock bonus content, likely for both versions.

Considering this news on the Castlevania title for Wii is entirely new, a previous article in Nintendo Power did well to hint at the new Wii game.  It also led to the speculation that the DS and Wii games will connect in a Metroid Prime/Fusion style, unlocking bonus features between the two.

Let’s think further on Konami’s strange turn.

Considering the uproar of gamers on Konami abandoning their platforming ways even once in the series, it’s tough to imagine any addition to the game that will make up for the genre change here.

But other successful Nintendo games have used handheld/home console connectivity quite well.

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles on the Gamecube allowed up to four players to navigate dungeons together by sharing information unique to their Gameboy Advance screen.

The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures let friends play a classic, cooperative Zelda adventure in a new, fun way (which I hope leaks into a new DS/Wii version).

The Pokemon series has already seen two games that lets the DS and Wii wirelessly connect.  With Pokemon Battle Revolution your Pokemon will fight on the large screen with better graphics and effects for attacks and spells.  Plus My Pokemon Ranch on Wii Ware lets you bring your Pokemon to a farm for… some reason.

Okay, so the Pokemon series could use a bit of help.  Regardless, there are many other cases where handhelds have connected well with home consoles, and the Castlevania series could lead the way in showing how to do it well with the Wii and DS.

I’m hoping that, in the least, Castlevania Judgement will offer an unlockable, classic 2d platformer.  Perhaps this will be our chance to really use our handhelds as controllers for the Wii?  Will Konami try to make a multiplayer platformer in this way?  Give us your guesses as to what some of these features for these anticipated titles will be!

We called it: Mega Man and Castlevania to hit Wii

I’m never usually one to brag.  But let’s say we made some guesses at the beginning of the month, and maybe even talked about some games that should see the light of day for the Wii back in April.  Could we do a bit of gloating if some of these ideas came to life?

But aside from serving my own ego, there’s a more important agenda here.  Two series that classic Nintendo fans have been dying to see on the Wii have been announced this week.

First comes that “perfect 3D” Castlevania title will be what Ehrgeiz was to the Final Fantasy series.  Castlevania Judgement brings characters spanning the entire series to the battlegrounds in a 3D fighter.  Not at all what gamers have been expecting, but as 1Up reports, players can make use of the environment in their battles, and the game will keep to the use of subweapons and hearts.

The game will bring favorites together like Alucard, Simon Belmont, Maria Renard, and Dracula.  Perhaps Leon, Richter, and Trevor Belmont, as well as Soma Cruz and Joachim will join them.  Considering their options, they basically have to. As the news was revealed in this month’s Nintendo Power (likely the news we were waiting for from the previous issue), classic monsters from the series will interrupt the motion-controlled battles and try to trip up players.

Could we be lucky enough to have a single-player campaign mode similar to games like Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Mortal Kombat: Armageddon?  We have few details on the game so far, but a guy can dream, right?

Next, Capcom announced through Nintendo Power as well that Mega Man 9, the first game from the original series in over ten years, will be hitting Wii Ware (and some other unimportant downloadable game services on unimportant consoles).

The best part? According to IGN, it will be keeping true to classic Mega Man tradition in a few ways.  Bosses are a bit more throw-back, with names like:

• Magma Man
• Galaxy Man
• Jewel Man
• Concrete Man
• Hornet Man
• Plug Man
• Tornado Man
• Splash Woman

Additionally, the game will be in its 8-bit glory, literally.  As seen in the screens, the game maintains the old-school Nintendo look that made the series great.  Mega Man 9 will be developed by Inti Creates, a team comprised of people that worked on the first three Mega Man X games, which is a very good sign.  I love the original series, but nothing hits the spot like X2, in my opinion.  Plus, it controls like Mega Man (Men?) 3-6, as speculated by The Mega Man Network.

So that’s two series down.  We will surely have more wonderful disc-based and downloadable game announcements for Wii that will grace us come E3.  Be sure to stick around for all the important info you need about these games, and I promise I won’t gloat.

Prayers Answered: Rock Band For Wii Announced!

Musically inclined Wii enthusiasts, your prayers have been answered! Electronic Arts finally came out of the woodwork and announced that Rock Band, Guitar Hero’s biggest competition for the 2008 musical crown, will be coming out for the Wii! When trumpeting the resounding success of Guitar Hero 3 late last week, we speculated that the newcomer to the music scene would be making it’s way to the Wii sometime soon. After all, with one of the largest console rates worldwide, it only makes sense for MTV/Harmonix to bring their game to the wonderous, untapped Wii market sometime this year.

No further details on the game have been announced at this moment, but we can only hope that the masses of downloadable songs will somehow be made available for purchase for Wii owners. The poor souls who picked up the severely gimped PlayStatoin 2 version were not only robbed of downloadable content, but the bands phenomenal World Tour mode as well. That unfortunately downgraded port seemed thrown together at best, so here’s to hoping that the developers have used their extra time to work out all the kinks for the Wii version of the game.

So for those about to rock, get ready to salute by picking up your giant box of Rock Band sometime before the end of the year.

[Via Kotaku]