Why Wii Motion Plus Annoys Me

Come June, Nintendo will release their latest hardware accessory - the Wii Motion Plus. As most of you know, it aims to increase the sensitivity on the wiimote to handle finer tuned movements and make it better equipped for lightsaber duels, frisbee tossing and practicing golf swings.

And I'm rather annoyed by the whole thing.

Look, we haven't turned on the Wii for a while. If we did, I guarantee you it would be for either Wii Fit or bowling. Possibly Rayman Rabbids TV, which feels like the last decent Wii title we got. We played the heck out of Animal Crossing for a while, but honestly there wasn't much new to the game to sustain us for long.

Which feels like a bit of a trend for the old big N. Most of the titles I've enjoyed on the console are old franchise hits warmed to Wii standards. And many have been good, but the fact that I'm mostly on the PS3 right now has nothing to do with the fact that it can push better graphics so much as there are better games to play. If it weren't for Wii Fit and Wii Mario Kart, the Wii would have virtually no software sales of which to speak.

So why am I annoyed at the Motion Plus? Because it's just another piece of hardware to support Nintendo's bad habits. Instead of engaging developers to build something other than yet-another-light-gun game, we have the same exact trick the Wii started with, only better. So you'll get exactly the same kind of games we've been getting, except some will be re-released and you'll need to buy yet-another-bit-of-white-plastic in order to play it.

I think of all the lost opportunities so far - a Wii Civ with proper multiplayer. A decent Wii RPG with proper multiplayer. An indie title like Flower with wiimote capabilities. Anyone up for some Wii X-Com? Or how about a decent Wii Sims with coop.

The potential is there. And I don't see the lack of real HD or high end graphics being the problem, I see Nintendo constantly worried about the next bit of hardware to release as the problem. I look at the release schedule for Wii in May, and it's pretty bleak.

Nintendo, of course, is trotting out Punch-Out! warmed up to Wii standards. Gah.