Beginning October 12th, Nintendo will release a new Wii Sports Resort bundle containing not one, but two Wii MotionPlus remote enhancer dongles. The bundle will retail for $60 opposed to the $50 price of the original single-MotionPlus bundle, so basically you’re saving $10 on what you would pay to buy the game and a second MotionPlus separately. Why wasn’t this the standard bundle to begin with?
“Shoppers are looking for value as we head into the holiday season, and this Wii Sports Resort bundle is a gift that players of all ages and experience levels can enjoy,” said Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. “Best of all, it instantly gets multiple members of the household engaged in playing as soon as the package is opened.”
I’ve had a MotionPlus for a couple months now and have found its motion-control enhancements quite effective in Grand Slam Tennis and Tiger Woods 10, and just this week I finally got around to grabbing Wii Sports Resort online and I’m enjoying it immensely so far. Basketball, table tennis and archery have me hooked the most. It’s much more of an upgrade on the first Wii Sports than I thought it would be, and it comes highly recommended.
Supplies of the twin-pack bundle will be limited, though, so you better take advantage of this offer before they’re all snatched up.
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Just got back from a little weekend shopping. Swung by Walmart to pick up a Wii MotionPlus, as I needed one to go along with review copies of Grand Slam Tennis and Tiger Woods 10 that recently arrived from EA. Also had a 25% off coupon for Borders, so went ahead and grabbed Andrzej Sapkowski’s The Witcher novels, ‘The Last Wish’ and ‘Blood of Elves’ — I’ve been itching for something to read since finishing up the Dragon Age prequel novel a few months back. Had also been wanting to see Taken, and it was on sale so went ahead and grabbed that too. Anyone see that or read The Witcher books? Any thoughts?
As for the Wii MotionPlus, I’ve tested it a bit with both sports titles and so far it seems to work as advertised. It’s not perfect, but it definitely makes swinging the tennis racket/golf club feel even more natural and precise. Will have reviews coming up for those games, and will probably examine the MotionPlus in more depth once more games start to take advantage of it. Right now I think Virtua Tennis 2009 is the only other game out there that supports it until Wii Sports Resort drops in a couple weeks. Already reviewed the PS3 version of VT 2009, but may give the Wii version a shot just to see how it compares to Grand Slam Tennis‘ implementation.
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Reggie Fils-Aime took the E3 stage today to (re)introduce the upcoming Wii MotionPlus accessory for a new sense of realism with the added precision control. He claimed that the “primary weapon for all this is “interface”.
The new extender on the Wii Remote will add a new sense of realism to playing games physically rather than just with hands and finger controls. “Every little mistake you make in the real world, will be faithfully reflected in the game. New Dimension in physical reality will have you muttering the same bad words in real life,” said Fils-Aime.
“For the past couple years, physical reality has been the new way to play,” commenting on how the controller and end user experience deliver a more realistic sensation reflecting on how something would be done in real life. “It doesn’t just look more real, but feels and plays more real. For decades players just used their fingers to play the action, now they are off the couch.”
What followed were a couple of videos showing off Wii Sports Resort, and demonstrating how much more precise the controller is, visually reflected on the screen. The first video was a mix of live action and CG showing snippets of people playing ping pong, basketball, samurai fight, archery, rowing, golf.
The next video opened with a skydiving demo, jumping out of the plane, grabbing onto friends, free falling, and synchronized parachutes popping open. An archery demo of the precision control followed with the Wii MotionPlus and Nunchuck pulled taught as the arrow was pulled back on the bow and released to show precision aiming and setting.
Wii Sports Resort is set for release on July 26, and will include Frisbee (Disc Dog), Jet Skiing (Power Cruising), Kendo (Sword Play), Table Tennis, Golf, Basketball, Sky Diving, Archery and Wakeboarding.
Additional 3rd Party games for Wii MotionPlus include EA’s Grand Slam Tennis and Tiger Woods PGA 10, and Virtua Tennis 2009 from SEGA.
The aforementioned Wii Sports Resort/Wii MotionPlus trailer is posted below, along with a bunch of new screenshots.
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In North America, the Wii version of Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 10 will come bundled with Nintendo’s new Wii MotionPlus motion control enhancer, EA announced today. When Tiger 10 ships on June 15th, you’ll have a choice between the standalone game for $49.99 or the Wii MotionPlus bundle for $59.99, which is actually a good deal since the dongle will be sold separately for $20.
Europe actually gets even more choice with both Tiger 10 and EA Sports Grand Slam Tennis set to launch with Wii MotionPlus bundles. Shame the Grand Slam Tennis bundle is Europe only, as that’s the only game I have any interest in trying the Wii MotionPlus with. Come on EA, bring that bundle to the US!
]]>“This exclusive and limited-time offer is exciting news for sports fans who want to enhance their Wii experience for a great value with the new Wii MotionPlus right at launch with Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 10,” said Peter Moore, President, EA SPORTS. “The functionality of the Wii MotionPlus will help us deliver the authentic, true-to-life sports motion for Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 10 and EA SPORTS Grand Slam Tennis that will redefine the sports experience on the Wii.”
Feared to have been delayed into late this year, Nintendo’s Wii Sports Resort and accompanying Wii MotionPlus controller add-on are officially on track for summertime launches. Wii Sports Resort, the beach-themed successor to Wii Sports featuring mini-games like jet ski racing, Frisbee tossing and sword dueling, is scheduled to ship on July 26th with a Wii MotionPlus adapter packed in for $49.99.
For the impatient gaming gadget enthusiast, Nintendo will be launching the Wii MotionPlus motion-control-enhancing remote plug-in as a standalone product on June 8th at $19.99 apiece. Unfortunately, outside of a couple EA Sports titles and probably some tie-in shovelware third-parties will rush onto the market to sucker early adopters with, there aren’t many games lined up to actually take advantage of the accessory until Wii Sports Resort comes out, so the early launch seems a bit premature.
I certainly won’t think of buying one until Resort drops, and even then I may not invest because $50 for the accessory and a collection of simple sports games that so far don’t look nearly as fun as the original Wii Sports (which was a glorified tech demo itself) doesn’t seem like the greatest value. EA Sports Grand Slam Tennis could change that though. If it’s any good I’ll probably pick up a MotionPlus individually and skip the Resort bundle.
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Like Microsoft, Nintendo apparently couldn’t wait for its E3 media briefing tomorrow to let loose one of its major unveils. The house that Mario built is now proud to introduce the Wii MotionPlus, an accessory add-on for the Wii Remote promising to deliver “more comprehensive tracking of a player’s arm position and orientation, providing players with an unmatched level of precision and immersion.” As you can see in the picture, the Wii MotionPlus is a small dongle that snaps onto the bottom of the Wiimote. Once attached, every arm and wrist movement is said to be tracked and rendered in real time at a true 1:1 response. That means no more delayed control responses, if it works as advertised.
That’s all Nintendo is saying for now. Check back for more tomorrow morning when Nintendo will be announcing further details and demoing the new accessory during its press conference.
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