Wii Gameplay

Wii’s hype generated a lineup of 1 hour to get into the convention, another hour to wait in line to get into the Wii area and about half an hour in line to get to each game that are offered. I have to admit that this is not the actual figure, as I had to use connections and sometimes just plain assholeness to cut the waiting time by half.

I haven’t been to anywhere close to a gaming gathering of any sort for a while, so I was surprised to see the amount of people that showed up and the number of hot chicks that were in the convention. Girl and gaming didn’t mix in the generation that I was born. They weren’t hired by the organizer or anything, but rather, they are your average day to day high school kids hanging out and having fun with their guy friends. I wondered if they still call them geeks in school.

My cell phone couldn’t capture any images worth your time under the low lighting condition, but it isn’t important, as the graphic isn’t that stunning. I had initially thought that the innovative controller which will allow players unlimited movement in freedom will allow me to overlook this small blunder, but later on as I re-examined my own feelings at Microsoft’s Gears of war booth, I can’t help but feel a sense of “Wow” at the graphics. Wow that Microsoft has outdone itself and Wow that PS3 will be better than this.

First game up is Zelda Twilight Princess. I figured that I should get it over with the longest line while everyone’s still asleep in their bed at 10AM. The graphics is ok, comparable to that of a PS2 and the control was a big disappointment since it didn’t make use of the gyroscope or IR sensor much except to jump from predestined rooftop to another. It still feels like I am just playing ocarina of time with a controller that’s broken up in two.

Next up is Wii sport’s boxing game. It looks impressive as I gazed on in the line up, waiting the time when I can beat my friend to a pulp in cyberspace. Figuring that my past training in martial arts will help me dodge and attack. The reality is quite disappointing. It seems like the Wii-mote can only sense a change of direction and has a really hard time distinguishing the speed at which I punch and the direction that my punch is going. I spend the whole time trying to make my character do a right hook punch. I tried the proper boxing motion, slower/faster motion, moving the controller left and right in the air and just plain waiving it around in circles. The only thing that my character did on the screen was to throw straight punches at the same speed.

Wii tennis was another disappointment; because the only time you have to do anything is when the ball gets near the racket. You make an attempt at swinging the bat and voila, the game plays itself. Nope, you can’t do any curve balls.

There was another game that showcased the numerous capabilities of the Wiimote through a series of mini games. I was quite impressed by how precise the controller detected the movements. However, I later found out upon dissecting the experience against that of the boxing game and found out why.

Reading through the Internet, you can easily learn that the wii mote has a gyroscope and an IR sensor array. The gyroscope is perfect at detecting tilt while the IR sensor array will be able to determine where the remote is pointing. The wii mote is especially good at these two tasks, but it does not equate to a perfect triangulation of the controller in space. Nor is it a good device to detect motion. Which is why you can see this controller excel at car games or shooting games.

Overall, my excitement at having a new way to interact with games dimmed by quite a lot. I was expecting a game console that can help me in improving my tennis skill, or to help me train my reflexes in sword fighting. I was expecting it to be something of a “Brain Age” game for the motor skills. Instead, they simply moved button smashing to arm waving.

Disclaimer: I own Nintendo stocks. I do not own Sony or Microsoft stocks.