Wii: Not for Fatties

Agreed. If I wanted to swing a tennis racket, I'd go play tennis.

He makes a great point. And it has nothing to do with fatties. (Well, maybe something.) If I play one of the gun games at the local Dave & Busters, after playing for a while, I feel my arm is going to fall off.

And that relates to the tennis comment. With tennis out on the court, you don't just use your arm to swing the racket. It's a combination of all body movements that allows you to play for long periods of time. If you are just standing in front of a tv, swinging your arm back and forth, you are going to get much more tired much quicker.

Seems to me the motion thing, while innovative, is going to end up being just a novelty.

Everyone said the DS touch screen was a novelty also and look at how that's taken off. The Wii is basically the DS on a larger scale. I think one of the things to keep in mind is that there probably won't be many games that require you to flail your arms around like a shit-slinging monkey. That's all you see in the promotional materials and presentations because Nintendo needs to get the point across that the system doesn't use a traditional controller. I'm speculating, of course, but I think most of the time you'll be able to relax your arm and shoot from the hip so to speak.

And at any rate, a little exercise would be good for the fat tubs of goo I see rolling around GameStop. The last time I was in there it was like fucking LocoRoco.

Everything above is correct, but its something that's been known and debated for awhile. For example check out the Wii thread here. It's gone from potential reptitive stress lawsuits to "if I wanted to play ____" jokes to downright greedy desire for the thing. The major appeal is a bunch of different gimmicks, from the virtual console to motion controller. That's not to say I'm not going to jump all over it.

And gravedigger, you're right about the DS, its an amped up gameboy advanced, but the thing sells.

It's my understanding that for most games you don't have to swing your arms wildly to play, but rather the machine picks up minute movements. Sure, tennis games are an exception, but I doubt many games will have this issue.

Look at Guitar Hero or DDR - these games require intense movement. By the time I was done playing Guitar Hero for the first time I thought I was never going to be able to hold a pen again. And DDR is a fucking workout. Yet these games are wildly successful Globally.

And Neal, I don't think you need to stand for Metroid or Zelda. I thought you could just sit there with your arms on your lap and just flick the remote.

I give the "Wii-mote" three days before the novelty wears off.

I'm pretty sure we had this discussion before:
http://chud.com/forums/showthread.php?t=91094&page=2

I seriously doubt that the majority of Wii games will involve cardiovascular workouts. I think we're going to see extensive use of the nunchaku setup, with some point and shoot action.

Even if it is a workout, Wii games probably won't be designed to be workouts. The Zeldas and the mario karts of the Wii will be designed to have a very low stress level, while a sports game could benefit from a little exercise. The concept of sport is that you eventually get tired and a session ends. Who plays hockey for five hours at a time?

I know that some games are wiimote only, but they have said for a long time that you can use a Gamecube controller for most games also. I hope they don't abandon that statement.

Yeah, and if I wanted to be a Guitar Hero, I'd haul all of my gear back and forth across the country playing songs that rip off TOOL to nobody but the bartender and opening bands.

But seriously, there might be a legit point here about tiring out from too much Wii play. Although the level of control generally required to make the Wii remote a successful controller should make it relatively easy to fine-tune a game so that it isn't necessary to work out your arms like crazy in order to play it through.

Yeah, so the novelty comment was too harsh. DS touch screen does prove that point.

My first thoughts were the ideas being passed around of a Jedi lightsaber game. And all I can think about is how after holding a light-gun for even 10 minutes started to be a drain on my arm.

And Guitar Hero doesn't count. You're playing a guitar. You can sit in a chair or stand, you're still holding a real or virtual guitar. Subtituting a TV remote for a racket, light saber, or bow and arrow, when the game is designed around that concept, is going to be a hard sell if you are going to get tired using it.

Guys, guys, I think we're forgetting an important detail here: the potentially extensive masturbation history of a given gamer. I don't think ten minutes of subtle movements of your arm is going to make you break a sweat. It doesn't seem to be much different from using the mouse on a PC, and I know some of you guys game on those.

Did you read the article? It's not the subtle that is being referred to. Hell, some of my non-gamer friends have subtle movements when they hold the controller. You ever play Lethal Enforcers??? Shit, my fingers and hands and arms were numb after 3 levels!

Off topic, any of you have friends who move the controller as they move their character/sprite/etc.??? Like driving a car and turning their body to the left and right with each turn?

I've looked at the wiimote before. It's not a strenuous act if you actually move your arms at some point in your daily life. Plus the thing looks like it weighs about three grams, so the stress you guys are talking about seems just a bit overstated.

And yes, I do have friends that do that. And yes, it is hilarious.

I do that myself. It's hard not to lean into turns on Burnout: Revenge.

Here's hoping for a Wii Porn Game.

I don't know, making a back-and-forth motion with that remote sounds like asking for a repetitive stress injury.

I think the first year after release we'll see lots of games(especially 3rd party ones) that use and abuse the motion stuff. Similar to how people didn't know what the fuck to do with the DS at first(and in some cases still don't). After that year we'll see less of the "gimmick" games, and programmers will hopefully know how extreme they can go without pissing off or exhausting people.

Is it just me, or does it seem like they could do wonders with a wireless Guitar Hero kit for this?

It sounds like many of the assholes on this board are weak bitches who can't support their own weight much less that of a small piece of plastic.

That piece of plastic has buttons on it, man. Plus, most games will require you to hold two Wii Dongles causing double the lifting.

Ah the classic "shut up, girly man" defense. As irrelevant now as it was in 2005.

I want Nintendo to succeed as much as anyone does, but burying our heads in the sand about the obvious physical problems inherent in the Wii control isn't going to do any good.

There's a harsh truth we'll all likely have to face up to come Novembr: the Wii isn't made for us. The DS success has had a great deal to do with straddling the line between casual and hardcore gamer. I just don't see the Wii doing that. And the problem comes back to the controls more often than not. Think about what DS games really required the stylus. Nintendogs. Brain Training. Meteos. Kirby. Only two I would consider hardcore: Metroid Hunters and Trauma Center. And how many people actually enjoyed the Metroid control scheme? I practically crippled myself trying to play it. The result is a game which sits in my closet about 10% finished.

The Wii has the potential to be a massive hit, don't get me wrong, I just don't see any current console gamers as being among its target demographic. A control which actually hurts to use for long periods of time should make that clear.

I'm not saying anything else about Nintendo or the Wii until after it's released.

But.... you're on an internet message board! Rampant speculation is practically REQUIRED.

Assuming they are fun to play, I'd expect the full-motion type games will be played as often as the Eye Toy is used (except in the case of those with DDR-honed stamina). Most of the games, as has been noted, don't seem to require much physical effort at all even though the input method is different. Just because you CAN swing your arms like crazy to slash Link's sword doesn't mean you can't produce the same results just by flicking your wrists (and as Shmun has pointed out, males in particular shouldn't have trouble with that).

I just think Guitar Hero is the counterpoint to any argument about the Wii being uncomfortable to play. That guitar is, like, the least comfortable peripheral in the history of videogames and no one gives a shit because the game is awesome and you get used to playing with it.

The remote might end up just being a bad idea. Maybe it's too sensitive, maybe it's not sensitive enough, maybe it's not as intuitive or versatile as Nintendo hopes it is. But there is no way the problem is that people are going to get fatigued flicking a 2 oz. controller around.

The first really sensible post in this entire thread. It's a revolutionary idea. I like it.