Wii Sports Resort could be the must-have title… of 2009
Thursday, July 17th, 2008 at 4:35pm by Jack
With the keynote and its subsequent distractions now safely behind us all, we can start to focus on the real gems coming out of E3 this year. One title in particular that appears to be rising head and shoulders above the rest is apparently just a tech demo. That’s right, it’s Wii Sports Resort, and the initial impressions over at Kotaku today have me feeling all 2005, all over again.
What we have is literally an incomplete demo of Wii Sport Resort, just like Wii Sports back at an E3 long gone. And, just like it was then, this title is grabbing people by the balls Wiimotes and not letting go. Well, at least one-and-a-half of the three games on display is, but then again, that’s just like how Wii Sports bowling was back in the day. Are we seeing a pattern yet?
The precision of the controls was, in a word, astounding. I found that I could move the tip of the sword around in tight figure eights, an old training exercise from my fencing days. I also didn’t have to rely on broad swings from either side and above to hit my opponent [...] The game had a little trouble keeping up with fast attacks, but if I slowed my attacks down a bit it was easy to direct and land attacks and parries. The best two-out-of-three matches left me thirsting for me [sic]. I can see this being the top game of the pack unless they drop something just as spectacular in the remainder of the games.
After being laughed off the stage, Nintendo is once again content to let the software do the talking.
July 17th, 2008 at 5:08 pm
I think the same pattern is going to happen with this as it did the first Wii Sports. If you still play Wii Sports, you’ll love this. If you hated Wii Sports, you’ll hate this. If you stopped playing Wii Sports a month or two after release, same.
There’s nothing indicative of a deeper game under the surface–besides a training mode like in the first one–so it looks like just a rental for me (not that I would even consider paying $50 for it.) The swordplay does look pretty cool, though.
July 17th, 2008 at 5:16 pm
Man I’m calling all the people I know that fence and I’m slapping them with gloves to start duels so by the time it comes out I will get a full challenge off the built up rage!
Man I have to make some new Miis just for this game! Seriously this should be fun. Strategy will win over brawn.
July 17th, 2008 at 5:39 pm
I’d pay 50 if it came with some sort of motion advancer, oh wait it does. even if i dont like it, i’m sure it’ll sell out just as Wii Fit did and be worth at least 2wice as much.
This game will own, I’d say preorder it now.
July 17th, 2008 at 6:35 pm
I don’t like Wii Sports, but I’ll be getting it anyway. For the lightsaber dueling. I mean fencing.
July 17th, 2008 at 6:45 pm
I think you were saying 2005 in your other post but don’t you mean 2006?
July 17th, 2008 at 7:11 pm
I can see it now…all those darth vader Miis…This will be great! ^_-
July 17th, 2008 at 8:27 pm
It’s great if it actually leads to some more indepth games, but if it is 2006 over again, then I don’t think many of us will be happy. The initial wow factor of Wii Sports was nice and almost 2 years later the potential of that initial showing has hardly been shown.
So basically if we’re seeing another “demo” of what’s in store and it goes mostly unfulfilled, then no, I don’t think as many will be “wowed”.
July 17th, 2008 at 9:26 pm
resident evil,
nintendo is but one software company. there is only so much they can do. all they should do right now is show 3rd party devs how it is done, and lead the way. i don’t see why 3rd parties can’t increase effort for the top console this generation and make some in depth games, especially in genres that nintendo don’t do. they’re giving 3rd parties a chance to shine, and i think that’s a good strategy. i hope by now, 3rd parties have figured out that wii is the best. they’re the best because they’ve figured out what technology people want. they invested most of their money on techs for user interface, and less on graphical enhancements. its obvious to people who know most about video games that this is the biggest advancement in video games in a very long time. if 3rd parties haven’t figured this out then good luck to them. they’re going to be left to extinction by other companies that are smarter and more aggressive.
July 17th, 2008 at 9:33 pm
The only thing that had me laughing was the Wii Music presentation. That just doesn’t look right up on a huge stage. It’s comical that way.
I don’t know why anyone would think Wii Sports anything would be less than amazing. Wii Sports defined new gaming. Nintendo doesn’t want to drag the series down, ya know?
July 17th, 2008 at 11:15 pm
“and the initial impressions over at Kotaku today have me feeling all 2005, all over again.”
And the PROBLEM with that is, it is now 2008. Not 2005. Been there . LOVED that, but that was in the past.
We already HAD Wii sports, it was and still is great.
I deserve to feel like it is 2008 at the 2008 E3 conference, that means NEW , INNOVATIVE games and big blockbusters.
I loved 2005-6. But no, as cool as Wii sports resort will be, it has been done before, and 1: 1 motion wont be enough to ” wow” us like in 2005-6.
I wish something like a new Zelda game, a BIG third party game, or something was announced to ” Wow” us. Instead, all we got was 2005-6 all over again. No matter how fun that was in 2005-6, We needed something 2008!
July 17th, 2008 at 11:24 pm
Brian Crecente’s comment begs the question: will you be able to fight using the different sword styles (foil/epee/saber)?
July 18th, 2008 at 1:43 am
Wii Wii:
I think your big 3rd Party game is The Conduit. There have been lots of “Wows” over that one.
Also, my personal opinion is that 1:1 through MotionPlus is a huge leap forward and will foster a great deal of innovation. Where waggle often simply replaced a button press, 1:1 has the potential to fundementally change how games are played.
July 18th, 2008 at 6:04 am
I absolutely adore Wii Sports. Every single last sport in that game is great fun to play, incredibly intuitive and, despite what many people think, full of hidden depth. I have no doubts that Wii Sports Resort will be exactly the same. Can’t wait.
It really beggars belief that some people claim Wii Sports is ’shallow’ simply because each sport has only a few modes. There’s more depth in the gameplay of Wii Sports Tennis than in almost any game that’s been released since. Depth isn’t just about narrative, number of game modes or size of “epic 3D world”. It’s about building complex interactions from small numbers of basic constituent parts. Wii Sports Tennis does that fantastically. It’s the very definition of “easy to play, difficult to master”.
July 18th, 2008 at 7:09 am
Would I be correct in assuming that this game will come with a free wii motion plus addon? in a similar way to crossbow training and wii sports? If so it’s an obvious buy for anyone. I only bought Wii Play for the extra wiimote, this will be the same I reckon. ‘cept this game actually looks pretty good.
July 18th, 2008 at 7:19 am
@Jamie: That’s the plan, anyway. $50 for game and MotioPlus x 1. Extra needed for additional controllers, no price given just yet.
July 18th, 2008 at 7:57 am
Now i have a deep enthusiasm for the possibilities of Star Wars lightsaber game heading to Wii
July 18th, 2008 at 8:14 am
Anyone who thinks that WiiSports Resort will be the only game which uses the motion plus needs their head examined. Third parties are coming up with more games for the ballance board and it has far fewer applications than this. If you don’t think for one second that the next Zelda will support this you are insane. Am I going to buy resort, yes it will be a good intro to the motion plus and get me the peripheral. Haters better get over it and pre-order because when you finally do come around you won’t be able to find one.
July 18th, 2008 at 6:24 pm
El Hajjish : I do need to check out more on the Conduit. It seems very interesting.
muffinman91 says… “Now i have a deep enthusiasm for the possibilities of Star Wars lightsaber game heading to Wii”
Yes I want to play a 1: 1 lightsaber game. But will we ever get one?
July 20th, 2008 at 10:34 pm
It’s along the same lines of Wii Sports and Wii Play which I loved with the additional of the new sensor technology. I think it’s going to be a must have.