August 06, 2008

Wii motion plus should be free!

I remember watching the live feed of Nintendo's press briefing at the Tokyo game show back in September of 2005; when they unveiled their new innovative controller that would capture player movement in 3-d space and put it on screen. Back then I imagined wielding Link's sword in The Legend of Zelda, or a lightsaber in a Star Wars game. Little did WE know that at that time the wii remote was not accurate enough to capture 1:1 movements.It took two and a half years after the wii's launch for Nintendo to admit the remote's shortcomings, and at E3 2008 they announced the wii motion plus accessory. We shouldn't have to pay for an accessory that is going to make the wii remote what it should have been in the first place. The wii remote+nunchuck combo (that is required in most games) already cost $60 per player. Come spring 2009 wii games will implement wii motion plus technology. By then, Nintendo should pack the accessory with every wiimote and system shipped. They could also make a wiimote 2.0 with the functionality built in. But for the people who already have the system they should be able to pick it up at little or no charge.
In a recent interview, Nintendo's president Satoru Iwata said that "the cost of making the Wii Motion Plus is not that much."and that they intend to "make it very affordable".