Gadgetory

what's up guys and girls Jon Rhett enger' here I've been talking about TechnoBuffalo for over a month and you're working on it for much longer when I introduced you guys to the site and the concepts I mentioned that we're going to be bringing on some of the best writers and some of the best video producers I think in the world and it's my distinct pleasure to introduce one of those video producers to you and give you a sampling of a type of content that you'll be able to expect from TechnoBuffalo so it is with great pleasure that I introduce you to LP formerly of techno review calm with a full review of the Wii MotionPlus and demonstrating how it works on the Wii Sports Resort so I hope you enjoy and this is just a taste of some of the great things to come in from TechnoBuffalo as we work up to our September lunch I hope you guys enjoy okay Christmas 1989 I remembered vividly ripping open a huge box and there was the Nintendo Entertainment System I remember hooking it up and being amazed by the impressive 8-bit graphics how could they get any better and the gameplay was awesome precisely 18 years later in 2007 I got the Nintendo Wii for Christmas it was the first console that I could actually get my girlfriend to play unfortunately since then it has been collecting dust I did finish zelda and dabbed around with Metroid Prime and Super Mario Galaxy but the lack of solid game releases on the Wii is quite apparent and it's really no secret that the Wii success is hugely relying on the novelty factor in this video I'll be taking a look at Nintendo's new Wii MotionPlus accessory and we'll find out if and how it can reboot the novelty that once was today we'll be looking at Nintendo's new Wii MotionPlus accessory but before we go any further I have an announcement to make there's going to be some major changes to come with techno review.com because I'll be joining forces with random minimun from pocketnow.com and jon rut injure aka John for Lakers who have worked for 10 months to create an excellent new website concept for tech enthusiasts and it's called TechnoBuffalo so from here on and I'll be making all kinds of tech related reviews and videos for TechnoBuffalo comm and there's gonna be a lot more info to come on TechnoBuffalo in the coming weeks leading to its September launch so stay tuned but let's get back to the review will be using Wii Sports Resort which came bundled with the device we'll be focusing mainly on the motion plusses accuracy and how it translates into gameplay when you boot up the Wii Sports Resort the game shows a very detailed and long tutorial of attaching the accessory itself you can watch the five-minute tutorial or you can use your MacGyver skills and hook it up in about 15 seconds anyways the skydiving game gives a very good sense of how accurate the motion sensor truly is you can twist and turn on X Y and z-axis and the motion sensing keeps up without a hitch it's almost translating the motion in real-time there may be a delay of a few milliseconds but that's about it the new accessory picks up on the subtlest of twists and turns but it can also keep up with very fast jerks and rattles probably not the way you want to plummet in freefall but it makes for good gaming the island flyover event uses similar control mechanics as the skydiving game you hold the remote as if holding the plane itself maneuvering the plane really shows off the motion plus is precision plane reacts to every pivot and tilt and it's quite easy to maneuver death-defying stunts maybe they'll make a new Top Gun game I definitely bite no ghouls let's check out a few of the more interesting games the Wii Sports Resort has to offer the sword fighting events are a very good example of how the more accurate motion sensing technology can be implemented play leading the sword around is surprisingly accurate and taking down these annoying Me's can be quite fulfilling the speech lesson game shows how responsive the remote can be in terms of speed and it's really nice to see that the Wiimote is now registering full motion movements and not just triggering button presses with different gestures which pretty much was how the plain old Wii Remote worked a flick of the controller basically triggered a button press now the remote seems to recognize full range of motion setting aside the innovative motion controls he games have definitely been a step or two backwards motion controls have been slapped on on most games with very little innovation truth be told for an old-school hardcore gamer like me Louie has been somewhat of a letdown I'm pretty sure game developers were quite surprised by wee success as well I mean who knew that being this would appeal to basically everyone from 8 to 80 years old apparently Nintendo and I've learned over the past few years that Nintendo still knows when I saw the Wii Balance Board I thought it was a bathroom scale well it turned out to be a motion controlled bathroom scale but this particular bathroom scale sold millions but time will tell if the Motion Plus accessory will in fact widen the possibilities for game developers to create more complex and innovative games I think it will take a while for third-party developers to release their Wii MotionPlus games because rumor has it that last year when Nintendo announced the Wii MotionPlus most third-party developers were only hearing about it for the first time but business-wise this was a very smart decision giving plenty of time for Nintendo to rack up enormous amounts of cash with Wii Sports Resort and upcoming first party releases before starting events you will often be asked to calibrate the controller by placing it on a level surface it can get annoying sometimes because the calibration reoccurs quite often and you must have a flat surface handy to do this luckily it only takes a few seconds and gives you time for a short breather before hacking up some more Me's the game often cautions about hitting nearby people and objects I've heard this all before skip skip let's get to the game already the table tennis is also a fun game that shows off both speed and accuracy of the motion plus technology you can curve your shots by adjusting the angle of your paddle as you hit and you can for example set the ball and backspin to achieve a bounce that is harder for your opponent to hit on occasion when changing the paddle position from back hand to front hand the game will register the switch as it fits which can be very annoying when you're on the brink of breaking a new record I had to calibrate the Wii mode a couple of times mid game which kind of took away from the gaming experience but most of the time the Wii mode works without any issues and table tennis can be a lot of fun and it can also be quite a workout I had to change my shirt three times while making this video the water sports games in Wii Sports Resort are a bit sketchy in terms of motion plus gaming mechanics I have a feeling that the events really aren't taking too much advantage of the new technology and could be played without the accessory itself at first I thought the controls were a bit off on the jet ski but it turns out the controls were affected by the water physics which basically means that I suck now bowling is a sport that I can really relate to I was a big fan of the bowling in the original Wii Sports but I definitely noticed that the old Wii mode could recognize only a few angles of curve and a few variations of thrust now the new version of the bowling is a definite improvement with the Wii MotionPlus you can achieve pinpoint precision and you can definitely have more control over the ball spin too bad there isn't any online multiplayer League because I would kick ass and chew bubblegum the archery events are very good application to show off just how intricate the motion sensing capabilities really are I have actually practiced real archery several years back and archery on the Wii is exactly the same as real archery well it's actually nothing like real archery but it demands a steady hand and nerves of steel in most games the differences are subtle and I would imagine the average week gamer the eight-year-old annoying kid or the 80 year old grandma won't even notice the improvements but they will definitely enjoy the new sporting events we sports resort has to offer all in all the Wii MotionPlus accessory is definite improvement to the Wii experience but you will be having to buy the accessory for each remote you own so if you're like me who has four remotes he'll end up paying a couple of days salary for some dude at Nintendo even though the Wii MotionPlus isn't anything truly groundbreaking I can't deny that it's still good fun that is at least until the novelty starts to wear off hi just to make the novelty factor is good for say 25 million units sold what the heck let's make it 40 million the Wii MotionPlus accessory actually exceeded my expectations is not a perfect device but it really gives the Wii mode much-needed accuracy unfortunately the technology is not backwards compatible so you're gonna have to wait for feature releases to reap the benefits Nintendo is in for some stiff competition later next year Microsoft is coming out with their motion control tech project at all and Sony is coming out with their new motion controller as early as spring 2010 but I'm pretty sure that Nintendo is keenly aware of what Sony and Microsoft are doing and I have a feeling that Nintendo will possibly always be a step ahead 51 million consoles sold is definite proof of this to conclude the Wii MotionPlus gets TechnoBuffalo approval well that about wraps it up catch you later with more exciting videos on tech gadgets and gaming this is LP signing out