Wii Balance Board accessory overload — works for me
Thursday, July 12th, 2007 at 8:41am by Jack
Who out there thought they heard a collective groan when Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime revealed yet another accessory at the E3 presentation yesterday? It probably happened right about the time he pulled out a steering wheel and promised it would help unskilled gamers kick veteran gamer ass in Mario Kart Wii (online, natch). Heck, I’m betting that collective groan was probably contributed to by many of you reading this right now.
But not me. Not Jack, Nintendo fanman extraordinaire (as I have said before, I am no boy). What I saw wasn’t some quirky exercise game and an accessory. What I saw was potential.
For the purposes of this post, I’m going to focus on the Wii Balance Board. It was the most demonstrated of the accessories, and allows us to make the most educated of guesses about its future. The steering wheel and the Zapper? They look fun, but we don’t really know too much about them just yet (32-player multiplayer? It’s so 2004, but sign me up please!).
First of all, it’s time to face some facts. Regardless of what you thought of the Wii Balance Board or WiiFit, the combo is going to sell millions of units and basically seal the deal for Nintendo when it comes out next year. Video gaming won’t look like it does today. It will be something entirely different. Think the world after the wheel; realizing the sun is the center of the universe; nuclear energy; that wonderful feeling you get when you read my writing.
Ok, so I exaggerate, as usual, but the point — again — is that it’s NOT the accessory we’re supposed to be thinking about here. It’s the software. As I surfed the Interweb today, riding along the waves of teenage angst and amongst the turbulent fanboy eddies, I noticed the g-word getting bandied about again. Gimmick. Funny thing was, it was no where near the levels of rhetoric that I saw in 2005 and 2006 when Nintendo first started waving its magic wand on the stage of E3, and its executives began uttering that strange new word that’s now an accepted part of all our vocabularies… “Wii.”
In fact, I actually saw something new. Instead of attacking the idea as a gimmick (but believe me, there were still a few of those ignoramuses around), people were thinking of new ideas for gaming. “Time Crisis, with real ducking!” someone declared over at WiiFanboy. It was a good start. I know because I saw the same idea being floated down the innovation stream at many other sites too. The gears in my own head were turning too. How about some real time FPS strafing, to remove yet another real life action from the constraints of a button press?
“21. A shadow boxing game using this board would be equally awesome.” — ampersan
Why yes, young padawan, yes it would!
Of course, WiiFit would have never seen the light of day if the Wii tanked in 2006 and didn’t start selling the way it has. The board needed a solid foundation to launch from, and I think both the success of the DS and the Wii have established the Nintendo brand as the dominant one this time around.
The beauty of this device is that you aren’t required to buy it to enjoy the system. It’s an accessory. By their very nature accessories are optional. However, just like the Wii phenomenon that occurred after November 2006 and continues to this day, I’m going to bet many of you are going to see a friend or a friend of a friend leaning and gyrating to some innovative new game someday in the near future. And you’re going to want one.
July 12th, 2007 at 9:24 am
[...] But not me. Not Jack, Nintendo fanman extraordinaire (as I have said before, I am no boy). What I saw wasn’t some quirky exercise game and an accessory. What I saw was potential. (more…) [...]
July 12th, 2007 at 9:57 am
dont post whats already there
July 12th, 2007 at 10:10 am
Is there a release date for this accessory and the Wii Fitness “game”?
July 12th, 2007 at 10:23 am
2008 is all they’ll say. At least $50, probably more.
July 12th, 2007 at 10:36 am
Normally I’m not the most talkative person, but what i just thought of i have to share. Think of a Green Goblin game. You know, the villain from the first Spider-Man movie (and many comics). Can you picture the glider he used? Now imagine a free-roaming game where you fly this glider, using the Wiimote and Nunchuck to aim, shoot, blow stuff up and make all sorts of moves and at the same time stand on the balance board to steer your glider between the skyscrapers of New York. Now i ask you: How awesome would that be?
July 12th, 2007 at 10:40 am
I’m guessing the game will sell for $50 with the board, though they could probably get away with more. But heck, maybe they’ll do a special Wii pack with Fit included for $300 to make an even better gift for those more inclined (hehe, I made funny) on getting physical.
I’d definitely love to see this accesory see more use in other games, though a game using it as a mandatory part of gameplay could be a tough (and risky) sell. That’s the problem with accesories, if you get enough support, then everyone has em and you needn’t worry, but if it’s really exclusive to a piece of software, then trying to attach something else to it (especially for a completely different target) is very hard to do succesfully.
One can only hope though. This would definitely add a whole new level of immersion to games.
July 12th, 2007 at 10:49 am
There is actually some exiting stuff that could be done out of the balancing board provided it is an optional element. The first thing that popped in my mind was that dancing game demonstration we saw. An enterprising game developer could expand on it by making a game where you not only use the board but also the numchuck and wiimote to dance! So not only are you doing arm movements but also foot movement!
July 12th, 2007 at 10:57 am
I’m guessing this will see a post Christmas, post New Year, diet and resolution friendly, January launch. Gotta lose all that turkey weight.
July 12th, 2007 at 11:12 am
Tony Hawk/SSX was my first thought. I like that Green Goblin game idea, though. Call Activision with that one!!!
July 12th, 2007 at 11:13 am
I don’t know why most people haven’t proposed the most obvious use for a wireless board (even the word suggests it!): SSX Blur!! It could optionally replace one of the nunchuck steering points in the game, increasing the immersion factor!
SSX Blur was underrated by most critics, in my opinion…
And it doesn’t have to stop there: pretty much any game that uses a board can use this accessory as an option. I’m thinking also all the Tony Hawk games.
July 12th, 2007 at 11:33 am
I see Track and Field as a possibility as well. Imagine jumping hurdles and running. I wonder how sturdy this thing is, and if a “large” person would be able to jump around on it though.
Isn’t Mario versus Sonic coming soon? Wonder if it will have support for this.
July 12th, 2007 at 11:42 am
@Taulmarill
Awesome idea, and I think a lot of people would just eat that right up. Too bad -assuming it does get made- it’ll probably end up being a poorly made licensed game.
July 12th, 2007 at 1:13 pm
I like it even if no game other than Wii fit uses it. I rather get $50 than buy another treadmill for $1700 to replace my shitty old one…
July 12th, 2007 at 1:17 pm
Gimmick? HA! That’s what they said about the Wii and the DS!
July 12th, 2007 at 11:00 pm
I can see this used for many of these ideas. I wonder if the EA title “Boogie” will use it for the dance pad… Anyways, I am really looking forward to getting this once it arrives on store shelves.
July 13th, 2007 at 9:09 pm
I really am looking forward to this.
Though I’m sure Tony Hawk or SSX would be an excellent fit here, I could really see Nintendo themselves reviving the 1080 series- to much success.