The Wii: a letdown in motion sensing accuracy?

No doubt, the Wii’s release has gotten us giddy like high school girls seeing the hunkcicle of their lives make his way to them.

Erik Sofge, our source, was also smitten by Nintendo’s new baby. He even said that he “was in love with the Nintendo Wii long before they’d ever met.” Unfortunately, it seems that his passion for the Wii curbed into a one-time fling the moment he touched the Wiimote.

It seems that his Wiimote wasn’t as accurate as he thought: “There’s a huge crack, though, in this dream of a fully immersive, pick-up-and-play experience. The Wii is not a precise machine.” When he tried out Metroid Prime 3, he said that “the crosshairs drifted off the screen and the perspective changed” when he pointed at an enemy. The next thing he knew, he was facing a wall, and the enemies surrounded him, and “even at point-black range he could barely hit anything.”

He also said that the Wii gives much of the input, instead of doing a good job mirroring the moves of the player:

This is the Wii’s biggest letdown—you don’t need to stand up, leap around, or otherwise leave the warm embrace of your couch. The console senses motion, but compared with the full-body workout of a game like Dance Dance Revolution, you’re not getting any kind of exercise at all.

Hopefully, this is just an isolated case of faulty manufacturing. After all, it would be a drag if the Wii fails at motion sensing precision.

No doubt, the Wii’s release has gotten us giddy like high school girls seeing the hunkcicle of their lives make his way to them.

Erik Sofge, our source, was also smitten by Nintendo’s new baby. He even said that he “was in love with the Nintendo Wii long before they’d ever met.” Unfortunately, it seems that his passion for the Wii curbed into a one-time fling the moment he touched the Wiimote.

It seems that his Wiimote wasn’t as accurate as he thought: “There’s a huge crack, though, in this dream of a fully immersive, pick-up-and-play experience. The Wii is not a precise machine.” When he tried out Metroid Prime 3, he said that “the crosshairs drifted off the screen and the perspective changed” when he pointed at an enemy. The next thing he knew, he was facing a wall, and the enemies surrounded him, and “even at point-black range he could barely hit anything.”

He also said that the Wii gives much of the input, instead of doing a good job mirroring the moves of the player:

This is the Wii’s biggest letdown—you don’t need to stand up, leap around, or otherwise leave the warm embrace of your couch. The console senses motion, but compared with the full-body workout of a game like Dance Dance Revolution, you’re not getting any kind of exercise at all.

Hopefully, this is just an isolated case of faulty manufacturing. After all, it would be a drag if the Wii fails at motion sensing precision.