Officially revealed at E3 2008, Wii MotionPlus promises 1-to-1 control, which simply means that the add-on device will improve the Wii Remote’s motion-sensing capabilities. How neat. Nintendo has been coy about the peripheral’s coming out party, with recent reports suggesting that the platform holder is struggling to push it out the door – something that Nintendo of America boss Reggie Fils-Aime refuted such claims in an early April Eurogamer report.
Well, after much speculation, Nintendo has finally nailed down release dates for the United States and Europe.
This morning, the Kyoto-based company revealed, via a press release, that Wii MotionPlus will hit American shores on June 8, while IGN reported that Europe will receive the peripheral on June 12. However, rather than rush out and plop down the $19.99 for the standalone enhancement, you might want to wait until July 26, when Nintendo will release Wii Sports Resort in the States. The game, which will come packed with the shiny new accessory, will retail for $49.99, the standard price for first-party Wii games. The European bundle will launch on July 24.
Tiburon’s Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 and EA Canada’s Grand Slam Tennis will also be compatible with Wii MotionPlus. Last year, Electronic Arts CEO, John Riccitiello, promised that the company would devote more attention to Wii development in the future, and it looks like we’re finally seeing the games he was talking about.
I am sure that someone will be excited by this news, but I have absolutely no plans to purchase the standalone product or the bundle. Aside from the duel game, Wii Sports Resort looks pretty lame. I realize that we haven’t seen everything the sequel will offer, but I am not expecting Nintendo to introduce any additional modes that will rock my world. I once considered throwing my copy of Wii Sports in the garbage, since bowling was the only worthwhile part of the package. Also, I refuse to spend $19.99 to enhance something that already works fine. What? I need that money for booze and bologna sandwiches.
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White Wand? How did you know that’s what I call… oh never mind.
Woo for un-PG comments!
Also
$40 for Wiimote + $20 for Nunchuk +$20 Motion Plus = $80!
WTF Nintendo? $80 for a complete controller!? You’re seriously the greediest company today. That’s right, even more greedy than Apple and I didn’t even think that was possible.
@ Yousty
Greedier than Apple? Let’s not get hasty.
I dunno Havok.
I used to love Nintendo with all my heart, but the way they’ve been operating lately…it’s just greedy.
How can anybody in their right mind at Nintendo think it’s ok to charge $80 for a complete controller? In order to make your Wii fully 4-player capable you have to spend more than what the console cost! Three controllers plus a nunchuk and motion plus for the controller that comes with the system. That’s $530!!! ($250+$80+$80+$80+$20+$20) And that doesn’t even include the batteries that are going to drain even faster with the new motion plus addon.
So let’s compare the total cost of buying a current-gen console with 4 controllers:
Xbox 360 (Pro) – $450
Nintendo Wii – $530
PlayStation 3 – $$550
Now do you see how greedy Nintendo is being? $20 less than the PS3? That’s just insane.
And then you have to factor in the reports that were released the other day about how much Nintendo has been able to reduce their manufacturing costs over the past two years and STILL refuse to drop the price of anything.
Seriously, Nintendo = Apple. They charge what they want because stupid people will pay it just to be cool.
Eh, let them give me a game that supports it that I want, then Ill bite.. but not one moment sooner.
ditto
Exactly. Bring on some kind of FP lightsabre game with accurate controls…
Just like the current Wiimote, only a few titles are going to use this correctly. Most Wii games replace button pushes with waggle motions, a bad way of utilizing the controller.
I’m done with Nintendo. I know that console makers make money in accessories and game licensing but seriously. This is blindly taking advantage of non-gamers and tacking on increasing costs to “upgrade” your system. At least add a useful upgrade like the ability to play DVDs.