Wii controls getting a lot of bad press...

Recently I have seen a lot of reviews of current Wii games that have really made a point of mentioning how crap the Wii controls are and how the original versions were better, and as usual the graphics get slated too.

I can't be bothered posting links to examples but there is the Scarface review here on Gamespot, and the Res-Evil Wii review on Eurogamer and so on.

I personally think developers are simply not taking enough time to think about how to implement Wii controls properly and then actually making them work well, not even Nintendo themselves, and this is a major worry for me.

As usual, I still don't have a Wii myself, and as time goes on I am simply not being anymore convinced that I should be buying one.

All Wii needs are a few great games that look good for Wii (with graphics that match the top Xbox games) and have controls that are implemented properly. It's all about making intelligent design decisions and polishing the graphics and controls in these games just a little bit more. Is that really too much to ask?

What a waste and what a shame...

So you don't have a wii, which leads me to believe that you haven't spent much time playing one eh? Which finally leads me to believe that you're being seriously misled by all this negativew press you seem to uncover from the black hole that is the intrawebz.

I suggest you play a wii for a few hours, then make up your own mind. I can tell you that wii controls are unlike anything you can experience anywhere else. For some games, they truly make the game. Have you even played wii tennis for example?

Yes, some Wii controls do not work well. However that is nearly always down to the developer, implementing ham-handed controls which simply perform the same function as hitting a button. Take Resi4 Wii Edition, you simply shake the remote left-to-right for a whole range of context specific moves, be it slashing a knife or running from a boulder. That to me is sheer laziness and therefore Eurogamer had every right to complain.

However there are some cases where it genuinely seems that the reviewers are in the minority when it comes to control problems.

Two is alot huh? Three must compleatly blow your mind out of the water.RahnAetas

Word, and their both pretty off base.

So you don't have a wii, which leads me to believe that you haven't spent much time playing one eh? Which finally leads me to believe that you're being seriously misled by all this negativew press you seem to uncover from the black hole that is the intrawebz.

I suggest you play a wii for a few hours, then make up your own mind. I can tell you that wii controls are unlike anything you can experience anywhere else. For some games, they truly make the game. Have you even played wii tennis for example?

Gangans

My brother does have a Wii though, and I have played it enough times and tried quite a few games on it, to know that so far the reviewers seem spot on.

Wii games I have played are Wii Sports, Wii Play, Zelda, Medal of Honor (or Call of Duty. One of the two) and Excite Truck. I think that is all the Wii games I have tried.

The graphics in general, across the board, are dissapoint (even for Wii) and the controls in every single game I have tried have just never felt quite right.

It's worrying that simple games like Wii Play have come closest to showing me what the Wiimote is actually capable of and how responsive it can be...

Two is alot huh? Three must compleatly blow your mind out of the water.RahnAetas

Like I said. I can't be bothered posting lots of examples, but there are lots of them...

The press is dead on with this issue, the problem is, it might not be something the game companies can fix, especially if the inaccuracy is inherient to the Wiimote. They certainly can't improved the lack of face button on the Wiimote.

I could tell you Wii has bad controls after spending 10 minutes with it. The first time I ever fired it up, there was noticeable lag in the pointer just at the menu. It felt like a low quality wireless mouse on a PC.Corvin

YOu obviously haven't played warioware

zelda tp

and just about every other game

sorry it's your opinion thats clouding your judgment here, and im afraid you're in the minority

Would several articles saying how good the wiimote works for Manhunt 2 change your mind? Ogloff

No. I am not convinced in the least by the previews of Manhunt 2.

The first game was terrible and I expect the sequel will be too. It totally expect the controls to feel very much like every other game that is basically a PS2 (even though it may have been made with Wii in mind, but I doubt it) game with Wiimote controls added on...

[QUOTE="RahnAetas"]Two is alot huh? Three must compleatly blow your mind out of the water.goblaa

Word, and their both pretty off base.

There are many more that I could point out and you both know it...

The Wii remote deserves its bad press, it's a flawed controller. I've spent extensive time playing on it, and I've never been impressed at the precision of the pointing mechanism, nor the accuracy of the tilt sensitivity. Even in games with supposedly "good" controls, like Wii Sports, the Wiimote can be fickle. It's a flaw of the technology, and not just the games. What can a game designer do when the Wiimote has about six fewer face buttons than it should? Oh right, add lots of "movement controls" that often fail to work properly, and add a great deal of frustation to controlling games.

The press is dead on with this issue, the problem is, it might not be something the game companies can fix, especially if the inaccuracy is inherient to the Wiimote. They certainly can't improved the lack of face button on the Wiimote.

subrosian

'The 'press' that matter, seem to be lauding the wii and it's control style, ergo why it is outselling tevery other console.

Gasp the DS follows a very similiar philosophy.

You guys are just parroting what the DS naysayers were saying 3 years ago. The DS is also light years away from it's psp competitor in terms of processing power, alas, it is the better handheld. If you guys can't see this happening with the wii then you're all simply blind or refusing to see it. Same philosophy, same outcome.

[QUOTE="Corvin"]I could tell you Wii has bad controls after spending 10 minutes with it. The first time I ever fired it up, there was noticeable lag in the pointer just at the menu. It felt like a low quality wireless mouse on a PC.Gangans

YOu obviously haven't played warioware

zelda tp

and just about every other game

sorry it's your opinion thats clouding your judgment here, and im afraid you're in the minority

No, he's really not, I've noticed it as well. I think its something only games with better reflexes and senses would notice. PC gamers tend to be *very* input / display lag sensitive - why do you think counterstrike player still rely on CRT, or the debate about LCD input lag / "refresh" (ghosting) lag is so heated? In every Wii game there is a noticeable *slight* delay to every motion, and I've played it on a variety of sets and situations.

The pointer on the Wii really feels like it doesn't have enough sensitivity - increasing movement speed doesn't help here, there just really aren't enough sensors, and the ability to do something like get perfect headshots consistenly in a game like CounterStrike: Source would be impossible on the Wiimote.

So you don't have a wii, which leads me to believe that you haven't spent much time playing one eh? Which finally leads me to believe that you're being seriously misled by all this negativew press you seem to uncover from the black hole that is the intrawebz.

I suggest you play a wii for a few hours, then make up your own mind. I can tell you that wii controls are unlike anything you can experience anywhere else. For some games, they truly make the game. Have you even played wii tennis for example?

Gangans

The Wii remote deserves its bad press, it's a flawed controller. I've spent extensive time playing on it, and I've never been impressed at the precision of the pointing mechanism, nor the accuracy of the tilt sensitivity. Even in games with supposedly "good" controls, like Wii Sports, the Wiimote can be fickle. It's a flaw of the technology, and not just the games. What can a game designer do when the Wiimote has about six fewer face buttons than it should? Oh right, add lots of "movement controls" that often fail to work properly, and add a great deal of frustation to controlling games.

The press is dead on with this issue, the problem is, it might not be something the game companies can fix, especially if the inaccuracy is inherient to the Wiimote. They certainly can't improved the lack of face button on the Wiimote.

subrosian

The thing is that I am sure it is not the technology in the controller but the developers. Wii Play has that shooting game and When I played it the response was accurate and responsive. It may have had some coding to make it more forgiving for all I know but it felt very good. And I am sure the tilt does work. It just that most developers don't seem to be mapping it properly to the onscreen action. Excite for example uses far to small a motion for the turning action, and that is a 1st party game.

I really don't think it is the technology for the most part...

[QUOTE="subrosian"]The Wii remote deserves its bad press, it's a flawed controller. I've spent extensive time playing on it, and I've never been impressed at the precision of the pointing mechanism, nor the accuracy of the tilt sensitivity. Even in games with supposedly "good" controls, like Wii Sports, the Wiimote can be fickle. It's a flaw of the technology, and not just the games. What can a game designer do when the Wiimote has about six fewer face buttons than it should? Oh right, add lots of "movement controls" that often fail to work properly, and add a great deal of frustation to controlling games.

The press is dead on with this issue, the problem is, it might not be something the game companies can fix, especially if the inaccuracy is inherient to the Wiimote. They certainly can't improved the lack of face button on the Wiimote.

Gangans

'The 'press' that matter, seem to be lauding the wii and it's control style, ergo why it is outselling tevery other console.

Gasp the DS follows a very similiar philosophy.

You guys are just parroting what the DS naysayers were saying 3 years ago. The DS is also light years away from it's psp competitor in terms of processing power, alas, it is the better handheld. If you guys can't see this happening with the wii then you're all simply blind or refusing to see it. Same philosophy, same outcome.

[QUOTE="subrosian"]The Wii remote deserves its bad press, it's a flawed controller. I've spent extensive time playing on it, and I've never been impressed at the precision of the pointing mechanism, nor the accuracy of the tilt sensitivity. Even in games with supposedly "good" controls, like Wii Sports, the Wiimote can be fickle. It's a flaw of the technology, and not just the games. What can a game designer do when the Wiimote has about six fewer face buttons than it should? Oh right, add lots of "movement controls" that often fail to work properly, and add a great deal of frustation to controlling games.

The press is dead on with this issue, the problem is, it might not be something the game companies can fix, especially if the inaccuracy is inherient to the Wiimote. They certainly can't improved the lack of face button on the Wiimote.

Gangans

'The 'press' that matter, seem to be lauding the wii and it's control style, ergo why it is outselling tevery other console.

Gasp the DS follows a very similiar philosophy.

You guys are just parroting what the DS naysayers were saying 3 years ago. The DS is also light years away from it's psp competitor in terms of processing power, alas, it is the better handheld. If you guys can't see this happening with the wii then you're all simply blind or refusing to see it. Same philosophy, same outcome.

The DS from the start had games that felt perfect in terms of response and control. The Wii really seems to be lacking this for some reason, every game seems to have some little control issue, and it has been out for half a year now...

[QUOTE="Gangans"][QUOTE="subrosian"]The Wii remote deserves its bad press, it's a flawed controller. I've spent extensive time playing on it, and I've never been impressed at the precision of the pointing mechanism, nor the accuracy of the tilt sensitivity. Even in games with supposedly "good" controls, like Wii Sports, the Wiimote can be fickle. It's a flaw of the technology, and not just the games. What can a game designer do when the Wiimote has about six fewer face buttons than it should? Oh right, add lots of "movement controls" that often fail to work properly, and add a great deal of frustation to controlling games.

The press is dead on with this issue, the problem is, it might not be something the game companies can fix, especially if the inaccuracy is inherient to the Wiimote. They certainly can't improved the lack of face button on the Wiimote.

freeload

'The 'press' that matter, seem to be lauding the wii and it's control style, ergo why it is outselling tevery other console.

Gasp the DS follows a very similiar philosophy.

You guys are just parroting what the DS naysayers were saying 3 years ago. The DS is also light years away from it's psp competitor in terms of processing power, alas, it is the better handheld. If you guys can't see this happening with the wii then you're all simply blind or refusing to see it. Same philosophy, same outcome.

The DS from the start had games that felt perfect in terms of response and control. The Wii really seems to be lacking this for some reason, every game seems to have some little control issue, and it has been out for half a year now...

Zelda tp has absolutely no control issues for me. Absolutely NONE. 0. Mercury meltdown revolution ahs absolutely no controll issues, not 1.

mario strikers charged has absolutely NO control issues. o. ZERO.

You really need to play more games. OR wait more than 6-8 month, this is a VERY different control scheme, it takes some time for devs to perfect it. Some already have.

OR

You may need to reposition your wii sensor bar away from any natural source of light. People often ignore this.

The Wii remote deserves its bad press, it's a flawed controller. I've spent extensive time playing on it, and I've never been impressed at the precision of the pointing mechanism, nor the accuracy of the tilt sensitivity. Even in games with supposedly "good" controls, like Wii Sports, the Wiimote can be fickle. It's a flaw of the technology, and not just the games. What can a game designer do when the Wiimote has about six fewer face buttons than it should? Oh right, add lots of "movement controls" that often fail to work properly, and add a great deal of frustation to controlling games.

The press is dead on with this issue, the problem is, it might not be something the game companies can fix, especially if the inaccuracy is inherient to the Wiimote. They certainly can't improved the lack of face button on the Wiimote.

subrosian

I think you're being really over critical of the Wii mote. As of yet, I think the games that use the controller best still don't scratch the surface of its potential.

And it certainly is not flawed technology (atleast in my opinion). Boot up Wii Sports Baseball, hold the controller in the bat position and slightly move the controller around with your wrist (not swinging, just moving it around with your wrist). Notice that the controller can not only do 1 to 1 motion controls, but it picks up the smallest degree of movement.

Also, I've noticed the cursor lag. But there is a difference between a lagging cursor on screen and complete inability for the controller to go from a resting position to pointing at the screen and registering within the software. There are many games out where the cursor moves much faster than the Wii Channels menu, and there are light gun type games that are designed for you to simply point at what you want to shoot.

It's all about implementing the software, as soon as we start seeing some live move being used we'll see better experiences. i'm trying not to sound like a zelot, but I just couldn't dissagree with you more.

the Wii's doomed to fail. they just can't keep up with the times. nowadays, people want amazing and technologically advanced graphics backing up outstanding gameplay; without this appeal, Nintendo will eventually lose its audience. they'll keep making more and more graphically inferior games, and people will just get sick of it. and it'll get even worse when the PS3 and X360 drop in price, people won't turn to the Wii for a ''money friendly'' console; because the more powerful consoles are now affordable.

as for all this business with exclusives and whatnot.. who cares? mario is the most played-out character in gaming history. hes kinda like a washed up sitcom actor.. great back in the day, but his old antics just won't cut it anymore. and zelda already flopped, and showed how it was still stuck in the past with its textbox ****story presentation.

as for the Wii controls. they're just a fad. people will eventually grow tired of it. it was a nice try on Nintendo's part, but they're just destined to lose this console war..MasterChief1013

You really don't have any casual friends do you? You really don't know what most consumers want

[QUOTE="freeload"][QUOTE="Gangans"][QUOTE="subrosian"]The Wii remote deserves its bad press, it's a flawed controller. I've spent extensive time playing on it, and I've never been impressed at the precision of the pointing mechanism, nor the accuracy of the tilt sensitivity. Even in games with supposedly "good" controls, like Wii Sports, the Wiimote can be fickle. It's a flaw of the technology, and not just the games. What can a game designer do when the Wiimote has about six fewer face buttons than it should? Oh right, add lots of "movement controls" that often fail to work properly, and add a great deal of frustation to controlling games.

The press is dead on with this issue, the problem is, it might not be something the game companies can fix, especially if the inaccuracy is inherient to the Wiimote. They certainly can't improved the lack of face button on the Wiimote.

Gangans

'The 'press' that matter, seem to be lauding the wii and it's control style, ergo why it is outselling tevery other console.

Gasp the DS follows a very similiar philosophy.

You guys are just parroting what the DS naysayers were saying 3 years ago. The DS is also light years away from it's psp competitor in terms of processing power, alas, it is the better handheld. If you guys can't see this happening with the wii then you're all simply blind or refusing to see it. Same philosophy, same outcome.

The DS from the start had games that felt perfect in terms of response and control. The Wii really seems to be lacking this for some reason, every game seems to have some little control issue, and it has been out for half a year now...

Zelda tp has absolutely no control issues for me. Absolutely NONE. 0. Mercury meltdown revolution ahs absolutely no controll issues, not 1.

mario strikers charged has absolutely NO control issues. o. ZERO.

You really need to play more games. OR wait more than 6-8 month, this is a VERY different control scheme, it takes some time for devs to perfect it. Some already have.

OR

You may need to reposition your wii sensor bar away from any natural source of light. People often ignore this.

See. That's in your opinion and if you are happy then that is good, but I am not satisfied as easily it seems.

Zelda just felt slightly boring to me and the controls were not perfectly intutive in my opinion.

Mario Strikers is the same from what I can tell, although I have not played it yet, but the fact that you "waggle" the controller to tackle sums it up in my opinion. I find this "waggle" solution to most commands is just plain wrong in most situations where it is implemented. Like reloading in many FPS games etc.

Most games I have played on Wii have lag and motion recognition issues and tacked on control inputs that don't relate very intuitively to the action the player is performing in my opinion...

one advice:order mario strikers charged from europe if it works on american wiis, its been out for 2 weeks here that game is incredibly fun and has online capabilities and the graphics really are not that bad brigthcolours and typical nintendo humour,controls are SPOT ON... so just give nintendo some time it will get better..kimsteffan

I'm really not convinced by this game in the slightest bit...

Two is alot huh? Three must compleatly blow your mind out of the water.RahnAetas

WHEN sales slump and drop, then that is validated

but it sure doesnt seem to

do what i did and buy all three consoles then you can choosekimsteffan

I wish I had that much money spare...

From my experience with My Wii there are no problems with control at all. Tiger Woods golf is amazing with the wiimote. Yes if you swing badly you can mess it up but then that's where skill comes in, it's more like real golf than any other system can do. It is so satisfying to putt that 42 yard hole. Or to land right in the perfect spot on the fair way.

As for other games Red still is faster to aim with than a normal Pad IMHO (mouse & keyboard is still the best though). And Wii sports is perfectly accurate, I can't see how the controls could be any better.

I bought a Wii the first day it was out. I also got Wii Play and a second nunchuk. And so I was ready for two player gaming.

Wii Sports was nice for fifteen minutes, Wii Play for another. Then I got bored with the shallowness of both. Luckily, I got the Call of Duty 3, which was supposedly going to be the be-and-end-all of console FPS. I wouldn't go so far as to say it totally sucked, but... well, it actually totally sucked. The graphics were bad, the controls were bad and the game was buggy.

Shooting was actually a lot of fun. I don't agree with anyone saying the aiming is inaccurate. That's the one thing that actually works about the controller. Too bad that turning is not fast enough and it's also difficult to maintain your facing. Driving was the absolute worst. Since there is no feedback whatsoever in the so called "steering", I must have driven like a drunk and blind camel. Horrible.

I also had the distinct pleasure of getting my hands on "Happy Feet", which would have been one of the worst games I have ever encountered, no matter what platform. With Wiimote, the experience was further enhanced with utterly catastrophic controls. Only good thing to say about Happy Feet was that it's way short: you easily pass it in less than three hours.

My little brother (who also got his Wii the first possible day) bought SSX Blur. He thought the übertricks sucked. He bought Kororinpa, but to his surprise, that's the one game where Wii controls

a) work

b) benefit the game

I'm just glad I never had a Gamecube. That means that I have a load of games waiting to be played on my Wii. Cube would have been a cheaper buy, though.

Out of the new gen consoles I have (and I have them all), Wii is hands-down the worst. I'm looking forward to seeing an interesting game that takes full advantage of the new control mechanism, but I stopped holding my breath months ago. The promise has simply not been fulfilled, and I'm much happier with my PS3 and recently bought Xbox360.