Wii owners, does the motion sensor make a big difference?

Question

Or is the same old games? Is it tacky or addictive? Is it that much different from XBOX, PlayStation games?

Answer 1

Makes a huge difference. I keep telling everyone there's going to be a tremendous novelty right when they first get to move the pointer around the screen. You'll fall in love. Then you'll play any game (I have zelda, excite truck, cod3, and rayman) and will experience, depending on the depth of the game, a period of being uncomfortable or feeling out of control and unnatural. Then after putting some time in on the learning curve suddenly, something just clicks and you can't imagine playing that particular game any other way. I understand that if you have fun playing a first person shooter, a role-player, or a driving game on a regular controller, you are probably playing a very good and easy to use game that is as intuitive as regular controller will allow it to be... there is no absolute NEED to change. However, once the motion control scheme "clicks" and you're no longer using the remote, for example, to crash into trees, suddenly you can't imagine ever using an analog stick to control a car again, it almost "unmakes sense" (I tried going back to "need for speed MW" on 360 today and it was way more boring than how it was only 2 weeks ago). As far as a simple motion control scheme in something like zelda or rpg adventures goes, you just swing the remote for sword cuts. For everyone out there who is worried about being tired or getting injured, as with all games, zelda only requires a tiny flick of the controller. There are certain moves in the game that still require the push of the "a" button for a very specific sword attack, and to be perfectly honest, it truly feels less immersive, and almost feels like cheating now. The aiming in zelda is pretty well spot on, but moving the screen with the pointer can get a little dicey if you point way off screen, but that has nothing to do with the controller, it has to do with the way the game was programmed to read the controller. They still haven't perfected the best way to solve the whole "lift your mouse and replace it on the mouse-pad problem" that occurs when you point the remote very far offscreen then point it back at the screen in a very different place (I've read that "Far Cry" may have solved that issue).
There is absolutely no learning curve on the party games.
Driving-wise, The remote is incredibly accurate, especially because there is no pointing involved. First person shooting has a tremendous learning curve, but mostly because all first person shooters do on any new controller, because you have to learn all about your inventories, and need to be able to do things lightning fast. However, the aiming is getting to be close to as good as it is with a mouse and keyboard, which is really saying something.
Lastly wii sports comes with the system, and its a blast. Its really fun to bowl with someone or play a little tennis or baseball, but I haven't found boxing or golf all that fun. They would probably be the most fun if they were fleshed out more, but as you asked, these two games almost seem gimmicky. As far as the others go, my shoulders are very sore right now. I know so many articles are taken out of context in that sense. You may read that people have sore arms and it's all the wii's fault, however I don't think that any of the people who are complaining about it realize that they are exercising for the first time in a long time. I have the same feeling in my shoulders that I get at the beginning of every spring when I start swinging bats and clubs. I could "cheat" like my dad and play wii sports baseball on the couch and hold the controller with one hand and flick my wrist, like in zelda, but I like standing in the batter's box and really taking a cut at the ball. It feels great, accurate, and is completely addictive. The homerun derby training game might be the most addictive part of the system, except for zelda which has taken up 25 hours of my life over the past 5 days, and I don't think I'm quite halfway through the game.

So to follow up my insanely long answer with a short one: The games could be the same old, because if you could play them on something other than the wii, they'd still work okay, and you wouldn't know what you're missing. However, now that i've experienced it, I believe that regular control schemes have taken a giant step down in my mind. It is incredibly addictive. It is not tacky in general, but you can find a single instance of tackiness in every game. The games are very different, especially graphics wise, but as a 360 owner, I can't say that there have been any times I've really felt cheated by the graphics. To be honest, the graphics are several times less powerful than ps3 and 360 and they are still beautiful.

Thanks for putting up with this rant, I've got insomnia and nothings on the tube right now.

Answer 2

Don't have one, but saw a promo for local news where 4 teens were testing out the new PS3 and Wii and 3 out of 4 chose the Wii...

That being said, they only tested it for a couple of hours, it could suck after that...

Answer 3

OH GOD YES...

goto your local game stop and test it out... there are no words to describe it...

only downside is that natural sunlight will hurt the motion sensors, so dont leave it out near a window or anything like that

Answer 4

certain. you won't be able to play Wii video games devoid of the Wii-mote. yet does it upload something new to the way video games are performed? in my opinion, no. i'm purely effective with making use of the obtrusive previous controller.

Answer 5

As a fellow wii owner, all I can see is the long post above mine is 100% accurate.

Answer 6

I do not have first hand experience but you really should see this.
www.wiihaveaproblem.com

It has some wii related damages and horror stories