Xbox 360 Game News, Reviews, and Columns - XboxFocus

An Xbox 360 Wiitmote is a bad idea

by Steve Wysowski May 15th 2008 1:25 AM CDT3 Comments

When Nintendo first revealed the Wii alongside its revolutionary controls and odd-sounding name (funny to think the word "Wii" is a household name in this society), the gaming community were all thinking the same thing: "what the hell is Nintendo smoking?". I remember quite vividly my thought process at the time:

"Nintendo has just jumped the shark, grabbed it by it's fin, and punched it right in the nose. No next-generation graphics? No HD support? Not even a hard drive! Does Nintendo honestly expects to capture the globe with a sleeker version of the power glove? They don't even have one techincal leg to stand on! This is the dumbest decision Nintendo has made since giving Animation Magic the rights to produce the Wand of Gamelon. That Miyamoto poster on my wall is so out of here."

When I look back at myself, I realize how much of a naive idiot I can be sometimes. I didn't realize it then, but Nintendo was the perfect company to make such a leap into this "new" generation of video games as I am calling it. If there ever was a company who has strived at gaming innovation; it's Nintendo. If there ever was a company that could convert the casual fans by the millions; it's Nintendo. If there was a company that could possibly break the social barriers created by the industry in the past two decades; it's Nintendo. So far, their plan is working, effectively flipping the bird to everyone who doubted them two years ago.

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With Nintendo in the lead and dominating this generation so far (over twenty million units worldwide in one year is remarkable since the GameCube barely sold more than that in five), their counterparts Microsoft and Sony have been looking from the outside. Sony clearly realized Nintendo was onto something revolutionary from the get-go, and attempted to make a run at the Big N's invention with their own hardware: the SIXAXIS controller. As we all know, the not-so-innovative SIXAXIS sucked (blame Lair and Grand Theft Auto IV for effectively killing any possibilities the hardware had), and it doesn't look Sony will be giving any motion sensory based gameplay another shot (at least for this generation).

But Microsoft chose not to do anything; instead going with the "wait and see" method. When you really take a look at the beginning of this generation, Nintendo was a big wild card. No one could definitively predict whether or not the Wii would catch fire as it did. Now that it is more than just evident that the Wii is the hottest thing to hit the gaming world since the original NES, Microsoft has quite a bit of catching up to do (especially now that their one-year long advantage has run dry). However, the rumors regarding how they plan on narrowing the gap between themselves and their Big N counterparts doesn't seem to be logical at all.

Across the Internet, widespread speculation has risen that the Xbox 360 will indeed be receiving a Wiimote like hardware peripheral that would effectively change the way things play out for Microsoft generation. So many variables that have been establish thus far can change with an announcement: Xbox 360 sales will definitely see an immediate spike in sales (no doubt the product would be hyped up the wazoo), an emphasis on gameplay innovation and user immersion will clearly have been established for this generation (as there is still a debate regarding whether or not the Wii is nothing but a gimmick), and it will put the 360 in direct competition with Nintendo for the casual market.

While it all sounds great on paper, how good would a motion sensing control scheme for the Xbox 360 really be? Microsoft has never been able to truly capture the casual gamer, and I don't believe that would suddenly change with the announcement of Wiimote copy (which most of the "blueprints" have been showing). Microsoft's biggest attempt to "bring the entire family together" on Xbox 360 has been that Scene It? Trivia Game piece of garbage, which quickly became a running gag amongst Sony and Nintendo fanboy circles. And that was it. If Microsoft were to go from a moderate position towards casual gameplay to a far greater emphasis, it's hard not see a bumpy road ahead for MS.

You have to also take in to account what types of games there are currently present on the Xbox 360. Unlike Nintendo which can rely on a bevy of quirky franchises like Mario, Zelda, and Metroid, Microsoft's library is very lenient on realistic, modern, shooters (mainly first-person affairs). Shooters don't have really much flexibility in the realm of motion sensory, which usually resorts most shooters into being nothing but a standard light-gun affair. That isn't going to attract the casual gamer, ad any Wii owner can tell you that most shooters on the Wii have been dreadful, for it is hard to create a light gun title for the silver screen.

There would also be huge ramifications as far as actual gameplay of some of Microsoft's most appraised franchises. The shooting reticules in both Halo and Gears of War are rather slow and weighted, and if the franchises were forced to adapt to such a large scale change such a motion sensory control system; the games would hardly resemble themselves. Just imagine how deadly Halo 3's Spartan Laser would be if you could quickly move your target from one side of the screen to the other instantaneously. It just wouldn't feel right, and would feel more like Resident Evil then something out of the Halo franchise.

One can make the case that such in-house developers like Rare could perhaps pull off some great titles that could appeal to a wide range of gamers, but I doubt Rare is a developer that Microsoft is confident in these day. And for the record, since when has Rare ever offered us something revolutionary? Even back in the Nintendo 64 days, Banjo and Perfect Dark were far from innovative. Were they masterpieces for their time? Of course, but they nothing we would have never expected to see from a video game. While some games like Ninja Gaiden and The Elder Scrolls series could easily make usage of some form of motion sensing hardware (that could work quite well), I don't believe that would be enough to truly make any converts either.

Remember, updating harcore games with casual controls hasn't been what Nintendo's plan reach the casual gamer. Nintendo has instead focused on creating such titles as the WiiPlay series to attract that crowd; and Microsoft would need to create an equivalent of the newly created franchise to get any kind of attention.

But Microsoft Game Studios has never once attempted jumping into the true casual game genres (ala Wii Sports, Wiifit, WiiPlay). Before Nintendo dove head first into heavy production the Wii, such titles as Animal Crossing and Nintendogs were already hitting shelves and receiving positive attention. It is unrealistic to expect Microsoft to produce games that could truly appeal to everyone, regardless if they ever picked up a joystick or not.

But even if Microsoft could get past their general lack of experience, there are numerous other variables to consider that really separate the Xbox 360 (a harcore system through and through) and the Wii (a system everyone can enjoy to some extent). One major problem is the on-screen interface the Xbox 360 has become known for. While to us it may seem like the most intuitive virtual dashboard ever created, a casual gamer would find it overly complicated to handle. When in contrast to the simplistic styling of the Wiimote's Channels, the dashboard seems maze-like.

You also have to remember that the current Xbox 360 controller packs a lot more buttons than the Wiimote currently does, and making any transition to a motion sensory pad would not only need to be less complicated for casual player, but also would need to be simple enough for a developer to master. It's hard to imagine how the current Xbox 360 controller could be converted to an easy to use Wiimote like product, while still keeping the option of reverting back to its standard form.

If Microsoft wanted to truly work on a motion sensory peripheral, they should have done so once the Wii was announced. It is now way too late in this generation's lifetime to make such a radical change on the system's emphasis, and any such attempt would be futile.

Any chance of the Xbox 360 making a true, large-scale push towards the casual gamer seems to be out of the realms of reality; too many barriers already established. If Microsoft wants to surpass the Wii in terms of sales, they're going to have to resort to other methods which I'm not certain of either. Hopefully, Microsoft will be giving us the Blu-Ray player that the community so urgently desires, or perhaps a streamlined 360 that could reprieve us from the current 360's problems (RROD, lawnmower-esque noises, HD-reader, etc.)

But, hey; what do I know. I'm the same guy who thought the Wii would be the end of Nintendo back in 2005. Look how that turned out.