Notebook Dump: Rare Visit, MotionPlus Question, Nutcracker
There comes a time in the week to reflect on what got into my reporter’s notebook but didn’t turn into Kotaku blog posts. Shall we?
This was a tricky week, as two of our finest, McWhertor and Fahey, were off to Comic-Con and working odd hours because of it. So I wrote more posts and therefore did a little less reporting and left less on the cutting room floor. But still, here are some scraps…
A Rare Studio Visit: You might think that an experienced video game reporter like myself would have visited a lot of game development studios. Unfortunately, I haven’t. Blame my being based in the studio-light New York or not barging into enough development company offices or whatever. When I stepped into the Gameloft studio in New York on Tuesday, where I witnessed games actually being developed, well, that was unusual. (I was there to play Gangstar: West Coast Hustle, a GTA-like iPhone game.) I’ve covered games full-time for a little over four years and my visit to an active game development part of Gameloft adds to a short list that includes a visit at Retro in Austin, Midway’s recently-shuttered Austin studio, the recently-shuttered Gamelab in New York, Yukes in Yokohama, EA in Redwood Shores and Double Fine in San Francisco. That’s it, though I think having Kenta Cho show me stuff on his laptop counts too. I’ve been in meeting-room areas at Rockstar (NYC), Nintendo of America (Redwood Shores), Tecmo (Tokyo), Sony (Tokyo), Sega (San Francisco), Konami (San Francisco), EA (Los Angeles) and probably a few others. But if we’re talking strictly visits to places where people are at computers developing stuff, it’s just that short list.
MotionPlus Calibration Needs Still A Question: Chatting with Nintendo reps in Times Square on Thursday did not help answer one lingering question from my fun time playing Wii Sports Resort on Saturday: Why does the game ask for the controller to be re-calibrated – sometimes by having it placed upside down on a table — before any new mini-game is played? Nintendo’s corporate affairs v.p Denise Kaigler referred me to the company’s product expert Bill Trinen. He said that he believed the designers required that in order to ensure that each of the diverse sports in Wii Sports Resort can be controlled with fine and accurate motions. But I wondered if this signaled a limitation for the MotionPlus. Could it be used without any interruption for re-calibration, in longer, continuous games that might mix up motion styles? It’s a hypothetical question and one Trinen couldn’t address at the moment. He sounded confident in the technology, but, as I suggested to him, it’s something I guess we’ll have to wait and see about, when games that try to do what I’m talking about, come along. Maybe Red Steel 2 will be a test case.
Nutcracker Notes: Finally, I guess it pays to mention in Twitter the games you are playing for review. While I know some reviewers don’t like to read other reviews for fear of being prematurely influenced, I appreciated the e-mail from a reader this week who saw that I was playing Little King’s Story and sent me some information about it. His note expanded my understanding of how the game’s developers were influenced by things like the Nutcracker Suite. I can’t say I caught all that on my own, and I’m a fan of learning this extra stuff to make what I do more informed. That added info may not make it into a post or even my review, but it’s good stuff to know. Makes me feel smarter. That review was supposed to run today, but I haven’t finished the game yet, so it bounces to next week.
That’s all for today. Comic-Con madness subsides next week, I book some trips, some more embargoes lift and I get to check out the full holiday line-ups from Ubisoft and Sony, with some Majesco mixed in. Should be fun. Happy weekend, everyone.
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Comments (AU Comments | US Comments)
@Smoothjazz: mmmmmmmmmmmm...Gyro errors. *Drools*
@Stephen Totilo: Odd. I've played it for hours at a time and I don't recall it ever asking me to calibrate between sports. Only when turning the game on or adding another Wiimote for multiplayer action.
MysteryPersonX
@duderdude2: You're correct. I had to recalibrate several times an hour, only at the beginning of playing a sport -- and usually prompeted by being told to set the Wii Remote upside down on the table -- but it happened a little less frequently than I implied above. So I've update the piece. But you only had to calibrate the remote once an hour? That wasn't my experience. I had to do it several times an hour. Again, not in the middle of a game as if there was an error -- but at the beginning of a new mini-game, as if to set the calibration for that particular activity.
@spiderweb1986:
No, no you're not.
D:
doughboyx
I believe the calibration is a necessity due to the gyro errors (like drift and random walk) that build up over time, likely amplified by some of the extreme rotations that controllers get run through. Keeping still can help zero these errors out.
Smoothjazz
All I know is, everyone needs to go buy Little King's Story if you have a Wii. This game deserves more promotion...
Am I the only one who saw "Rare Visit" and was disappointed that it didn't involve Banjo or Conker?
spiderweb1986
Wii Sports Resort doesn't require you to recalibrate every time you play a new minigame. It simply reminds you how to do it in case you need to.
You can happily play for extended periods without recalibrating it.
MysteryPersonX
@Stephen Totilo
Hey Stephen, just wanted to start with I love your articles and your attention to detail. However, it's not true that Wii Sports Resort asks you to recalibrate by setting the controller down any time a new game is played. I've been playing the game for the past month and switch games during sessions all the time--aside from the very start of the game, it asks for a recalibration maybe once an hour (that's just an estimate).
I do know that if you take frequent breaks, the Wii Remote will turn itself off, in which case it will need to be recalibrated upon being turned back on; perhaps that's what you experienced?
duderdude2
@Stephen Totilo: Oh, in this case the answer is yes. We tested the device for long period (couples of minutes) and if you don`t re-calibrate it, you began to feel an offset with your real movement. This can be problematic with games (and I'm sure all devs tried it) that want to create a 1:1 experience on a long period. I don`t say that it is impossible, but you need to create tools to fix this issue, and takes time (and time is money).
slimky
It takes all of two seconds to recalibrate. Even in a longer game, having to do that should really have zero effect on anyone. It's not like it's going to ask you to recalibrate in midswing.
@slimky: To be clear, I didn't mind the re-calibration in a game the format of Wii Sports Resort. I had a ton of fun with that game and wasn't bothered to re-set the controller before each mini-game (not each session, mind you -- just each game). I just can't tell whether there will be an issue with longer games.
I love these notebook dumps, please don't ever stop.
I always wonder that too (about the motionplus). I have played almost all the game that support it (except for Virtua Tennis 2009).
My experience has been on and off, for Grand Slam Tennis I couldn't make the Motionplus feel good or useful...it never calibrated well and I had patience to try all the things I could read on 'how to play' with motion plus for 2 hours...nothing. It never calibrated for me to do what I wanted (and as you can figure I lost way to many times.)
PGA tour 10 was completly different and Motionplus felt great on it, of course the calibration was seamless (cause of the whole point down and press B, which is the moment it calibrates) so it felt great...I just suck at golf personally xP But it was really good.
Then now with Wii Sports Resort (japaness version though) it only ask for the 'down on the table' calibration the first time and I never had to do it again. I tested various of the games (Basketball, cycling, sword, Water Surfing and Table Tennis). They all played great, never had problems and everything I did work...of course 'point at screen' calibration was always there.
They all had some some calibration (continous) and the only 'long' parts that don't need calibration where the sword part (where you walk foward attacking a mob of Miis) and the basketball (3-on-3 that is 3 minutes). The basketball one is the only one (IMO) that can be use as measuring cause that one doesn't ask for calibration when you start (that I recall) and you do various moves (dunking, shooting and dribble).
Most likely it might be continously recalibrating and might not need to be calibrated always IF the game is program well for it...either that or developers will add parts to make the calibration not noticible (I believe Red Steel 2 might do this when you shoot, since you have to point at the middle of the screen to shoot, this might be it's way of calibrating motionplus)
daknight
@slimky: That is really worrisome. I saw what Bobby Lee did with headtracking with just the Wiimote and the Sensor bar. If it's him and others like him working on Project Natal, Nintendo really needs to be worried.
vid3oman64
Gut your enemies! Leave no survivors! Take this land in the name of the King and for glory!
First, please place your sword blade-down into the ground. Please wait... your sword is now calibrated. Proceed with your slaughtering.
vid3oman64
"Could it be used without any interruption for re-calibration, in longer, continuous games that might mix up motion styles?"
All I can say is that it has limits. The Nintendo's "gimmick" isn't for fun or adding gameplay, it is purely because the device need to be recalibrated a lot. The device adds a lot to the developing of new gameplay, but at the same time, it is really dependent of the accelerometers and the IR. However, if designers can find way to fit the recalibration in the gameplay itself, it's a win-win situation.
slimky