Why The Conduit Dropped Wii MotionPlus Support
The developer breaks down exactly what happened to 1UP.
By Patrick Klepek, 03/09/2009
1UP got in touch with High Voltage Software VP and chief creative officer Eric Nofsinger to find out what happened. "We've been committed to doing what is right for the game and being true to our fans from the start," said Nofsinger over e-mail.
At Nintendo's media summit last fall, while I was a reporter for MTV, Nofsinger was notably excited when telling me how quickly they incorporated MotionPlus. The situation changed between then and now, however, but there's no conspiracy.
"We _could_ have included support for Wii MotionPlus as Nintendo provided us with early hardware and good developer support," he continued. "However when we actually implemented it for the Conduit, it didn't really add anything for our primarily ranged combat. We had hoped that it would allow for better off screen IR tracking, but the device seems to lend itself more naturally for hand to hand combat where the player can calibrate in-between bouts. And that just doesn't feel like an optimal fit for how we had designed our moment to moment gameplay."
High Voltage went as far as prototyping several melee weapons specifically designed to take full advantage of MotionPlus but ultimately scrapped them. Nofsinger believed the weapons showed "promise" but without enough time to make them really work before the game's June ship date, they were removed.
Even though The Conduit no longer includes support for Nintendo's improved Wiimote technology, WiiSpeak support still is. "WiiSpeak [has been] a fantastic fit," he said. "And although it did take a colossal amount of effort from our audio engineers, it has really paid off and made for [a] great online multiplayer feature."
No one outside of High Voltage played The Conduit with MotionPlus, so we'll never quite know what we're missing, but what do you make of the studio's decision?
