Will Motion+ go the way of the Balance Board, Wii Speak?

[trestres]

ameratsu said:

trestres said:
Balance Board is not an integral part of the Wii, you may see it as a secondary platform. M+ does enhance the capabilities of the Wii, therefore needs to be on most Wii's if we want most games to support it. When a game has multiple control schemes, it's most probable that it won't be as refined, due to restrictions the other scheme imposes.

 

This is an important point. Nintendo has made a habit of bundling their new shiny peripherals with complementary software that makes for an enticing package. So while someone may have no problem buying Wii Fit if they are interested in the software, the way nintendo keeps the balance board hostage by bundling it with software seems to reinforce its limited use, as seen with the abudance of fitness related balance board enabled games. The fact that Wii Fit is about the exceed the total install base of the ps3 with only a handful of worthwhile balance board enabled games out there is telling. The Balance Board is being treated by third parties like a set of rockband drums, with the software being developed for it specifically having a very narrow range in the form of fitness and lifestyle games.

In the case of M+, even if tommorow Nintendo decided every new Wiimote came integrated with M+, there are millions of legacy users with no M+. Third parties would have a bit of a tough spot, having to configure their game for regular and M+ enabled wiimotes, thereby reducing the amount of effort they are able to put into integrating M+, or any optional Nintendo peripheral for that matter. W+ is available seperately though which is a good thing as those interested in a particular M+ don't necassarily need to buy a bundle to get it. Working with the benefits that Nintendo's peripherals provide to make a more immersive game experience while still making the game work for users with just a wiimote is going to be a challange for third parties.

Absolutely, that's what I mean. They will have a divided audience, unless every game they make comes with M+ bundled, but then again, for those who already own a M+ it will be 10 dollars more expensive and could make them not buy the game. One the other hand, if the game doesn't come bundled with M+, there will be many people that will want the game, only to find out at the counter that it requires an extra peripheral that costs extra money, therefore hurting sales again.

The first bundled games will be the most successful due to no one owning M+'s yet, but when future M+ compatible games come out, will the bundled ones sell or will they end up sitting there because people already own multiple M+'s. If this is the new WiiMote, it should be coming with the Wii and somehow Nintendo should try to get many of the old users to get one. But when they make deals with games like Grand Slam Tennis or Tiger Woods PGA 2010 which only come bundled with M+ in limited quantities and in limited territories, then many will just buy the game alone, and guess what, they won't care about M+ because the game can be played without it anyways. WSR is a good game to begin with, but it's not enough. It's a hard task for them to get a M+ in every home, and with just 1 game it won't be possible, that's why I believe multiple M+ games from Nintendo themselves should have been ready for a simultaneous release. Games for all the players, not just one part of the audience.

In the future, devs will have to think "Should we do a M+ only game, or should we do a M+ compatible game that also works with the standard WiiMote?". Problems are that 1) The M+ compatibility will feel tacked on; 2) The WiiMote by it's own will feel unresponsive and broken; 3) Only one part of the audience will be able to play it if chosen to be M+ only, making devs go the way of standard WiiMote only or compatible with both.

It will seriously limit M+ potential.