I think it's obvious the intent is take the Wii in this direction. As some people have pointed out, this may be finally delivering on a promise Nintendo originally made with the Wii. The biggest tell for me is it's being packed with new Wii Sports. If this were just something they're doing to feel the waters in further expansion, they would have made a separate title with a specific focus like they did with WiiFit. In this case it seems more obvious since WiiMusic was also debuted, which has a different focus than Wii sports with completely non-competitive open ended play. Yet no Motion Plus, despite a lot of critics feeling it would very greatly benefit from it.

They didn't want to risk this passing people by, they opted to pack it with something synonymous with their system, and not risk people passing on it because they attached to it something experimental. It's the same reason there's fencing in the game. What does fencing have to do with beach games? The Answer: who the flying fuck cares we want people to know how cool using swords with this damn thing is.

But they can't snap their fingers and just replace the current remotes, so they create a sequel specifically tailored to this device, and packed with this device, as a way to suck people into their refined vision. They likely will do what you're suggesting and make it standard. I'm imaging they'll redesign the remote with this include and probably mark it up at least another $10 and quietly discontinue the old ones at some point and start packing the new ones with the Wii itself and maybe even replace Wii Sports with it's updated brother to further drive home the point.

WOW KINGOFWALE THANKS FOR THE HOT ANTI-NINTENDO NEWS TIP. WHERE WOULD WE EVER BE WITHOUT YOU. MAYBE NEXT YOU CAN FIX MY CAPSLOCK BUTTON WITH YOUR SUPER HATING.

He did in fact tell us we would "rue the day." Rubang back with avengence.

NO THIS ISN'T MY VENGEANCE YET. THAT'S SAVED UP FOR VAIO. I'M GONNA SHOW UP AT HIS HOUSE NAKED AND DO SOME WII FIT HULA HOOP ON HIS FACE.

Just read some points of clarification on Motion Plus from The Register (UK IT site).

Apparently, most developers just found out about Motion Plus at E3, meaning the initial run of games that utilize it, (that aren't shovelware developed within months) will be strictly first party games.

There should be no complaints about that from Wii owners naturally, but this is a bit of a slight to developers, who will presumably want to create games utilizing the additional abilities as the current set up does have its limitations (requiring developer workarounds), regardless of how magical fans of the console think it is.

Where things get interesting is that Nintendo is allowing developers to publish games that REQUIRE the use of Motion Plus. That is a huge telling sign right there.

By contrast, games that utilize the Balance Board must have alternate controls that allow the standard remote to be used. Nintendo policy. The board cannot be a required purchase to play a game (other than Wii Fit apparently).

Also, preliminary reports indicate that it is indeed a second accelerometer, allowing for twin axis movement, essentially creating a stereo effect for sensing motion in 3D space, without requiring the IR camera and twin IR light arrays in the "sensor" bar to calculate proximity to the bar/display.

Pretty slick, and I see no reason why this shouldn't, or won't (seeing as how developers can require its use) become the standard controller interface in the not too distant future.

I'd hope for a 10-20 euros/dollars price, and perhaps the add-on coming with the new Wiimotes at no added cost.

In any case, engadget must be way off with this. Anyone who has a Wii and saw the E3 presentation must have noticed that this add-on was doing something which would be impossible with the current Wiimote.

Two axis: one at the top end of the remote and now one at the bottom, in effect allowing for a stereo motion sensing effect in 3D space without having to point the IR camera at the IR lights in the sensor bar.

And no, it's not possible with the current set up without relying upon the IR camera/lights.

I think they may have been a little too quick to be dismissive without understanding exactly how it works, and therefor understanding how it may be implemented in the future.

Developers will like it as they won't have to rely upon the current cheats and workarounds necessary for certain applications with the current set up.

I assume you are talking about Uncharted in the first sentence there.  Like at the end when you have to shake the controller to shake of zombies, that worked well.  Like you I didn't like having to shake the controller to get the dolls to work in MGS4.  Or the falling scene in ratchet, I like that.  I think the 6 axis can work well, just got to be careful with what you have to do with it.

OT:  as long as they don't force you to buy this upgrade for a game (I can't help but think that they will use this heavily in the new Zelda) I will be fine with it.  When a game comes along that uses it and wows everyone (including me) that says, you have to get the motion plus to experience the awesomeness of the game type of thing, then I will update.  just don't force it upon people just to sell peripherals and make money, since they are already raking in billions.  Little off topic on this question though, does this mean that you no longer need the censer bar on top of your tv?  That is there to track where the controller is relative to the tv or something right?  won't this do the same thing and not have to have the censer bar anymore?  If not I think that is something Nintendo really needs to work on for the wii2.

Wired's Chris Kohler on the Wii Motion Plus (a hands on from someone who knows video games and disagrees with the source cited in the OP).

LOS ANGELES -- Just a quick note on Wii Sports Resort.

I might be poking fun at Wii Music for being "challenge-free," but the opposite is true of Wii Sports Resort. The included Wii MotionPlus controller registers every little movement of your arm. Every one. So throwing a Frisbee? It's not about just flicking your wrist any old direction. You've got to keep your arm steady, and stop your throw exactly correctly. Or else your Frisbee is going to go all over the place, and your little dog can't catch it, and he gets mad at you, and there is nothing more demoralizing during a Nintendo game demo.

And you can't even shoot him like in Duck Hunt.

http://blog.wired.com/games/

Mike from Morgantown

I think there is another thing to consider ...

What I work on from day to day may not seem all that related to what Nintendo's hardware engineers deal with, but there are similarities with all technology that is ever developed. Often when you're working on something that is supposed to be generic, reuseable, and/or extendable when you have finished initial development and it starts getting used (for one reason or another) it ends up being not generic, reuseable, or extendable enough and it doesn't match the requirements you're given ...

With software this is an easy thing to fix ... You refactor your solution to fix the problems and create a new deployment or patch the existing system.

It is quite possible that when Nintendo first started working with the Wiimote and didn't notice the limitations because of how successful they were early on; or that they assumed that they would be able to overcome some of the limitations with greater understanding or through improved software. As they started to try more complicated things with the Wiimote they could have simply discovered that the initial version of the Wiimote was not accurate enough to do what they wanted to do.

Now, hardware is difficult to patch because of the cost associated with it, but being that they can add a little dongle for (hopefully) a minimal cost to the user it is a much simpler problem to solve than a memory bottleneck (as an example).