Official Nintendo Fanboy Smugness & Gloating Thread

Deckard · Post by **Deckard** » Sun Oct 21, 2007 5:13 pm 0

So Nov 16th for SMG in the UK then... http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=85723

Ghostbiscuit · Post by **Ghostbiscuit** » Sun Oct 21, 2007 7:42 pm 0

Goatboy wrote:
fog wrote:
Ghostbiscuit wrote:What Wii games out there have a multiplayer mode where all players use nunchuks? I'd quite like to get one for a bit of one-on-one boxing, but apart from that and the tank game in WiiPlay, I can't think of anything else which might require me to have two nunchuks. Any help?
There are a few in Monkey Ball. The FPS mini-game in particular is a good laugh.
Mario Strikers
Red Steel
Eledes I think
FIFA?

Cheers, chaps. Just noticed that Eledees and Monkey Ball are "2 for Â£35" in Argos - all I need now is Â£35.

GeeZa · Post by **GeeZa** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 3:22 am 0

Anyone else playing Rockstar Table Tennis on the Wii? It seemed to start off being the most annoying thing ever, but now I've kinda won a few games it's less annoying. I still can't quite work out if it's actually still annoying.

It's really annoying me.

Marius · Post by **Marius** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 5:53 am 0

Metroid Prime 3...only four days to go...*gnn*

chub · Post by **chub** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 7:44 am 0

GeeZa wrote:Anyone else playing Rockstar Table Tennis on the Wii? It seemed to start off being the most annoying thing ever, but now I've kinda won a few games it's less annoying. I still can't quite work out if it's actually still annoying.

It's really annoying me.

I got it on the Xbox 360 last year, so I'm not sure if I really want to buy it again on the Wii. How fast is it though? Does your arm become a blur of movement after a while?

WhiteSpy · Post by **WhiteSpy** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 1:53 pm 0

GeeZa wrote:Anyone else playing Rockstar Table Tennis on the Wii?

No 1:1 controls. No online multiplayer. No thanks.

Darkflame · Post by **Darkflame** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 4:29 pm 0

WhiteSpy wrote:
GeeZa wrote:Anyone else playing Rockstar Table Tennis on the Wii?
No 1:1 controls. No online multiplayer. No thanks.

Yup, Sums it up nicely.

Reading IGN's review it dosnt even seem to vaguely try to correlate the real motions to the virtual.

-sigh-
When are we actualy going to get developers investing in motion controll, rather then just pocketing the money saved from the graphics department

GeeZa · Post by **GeeZa** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 4:32 pm 0

chub wrote:
GeeZa wrote:Anyone else playing Rockstar Table Tennis on the Wii? It seemed to start off being the most annoying thing ever, but now I've kinda won a few games it's less annoying. I still can't quite work out if it's actually still annoying.

It's really annoying me.
I got it on the Xbox 360 last year, so I'm not sure if I really want to buy it again on the Wii. How fast is it though? Does your arm become a blur of movement after a while?

Played it until 1am last night, mostly two-player with my wife who weirdly likes table tennis.

It's actually very good but there are some major caveats. There are three control methods, basically, simple, medium and advanced. The simple one uses the Wiimote only, medium uses the Wiimote and the Nunchuck analogue stick to place the ball, and advanced uses the Nunchuck too but gives you complete control over movement. Beginners can pick up the simple method within a few minutes, the latter two are much more complex to get the hang of. The initial annoyance is that Wiimote control doesn't feel too precise and this is especially noticable against the AI opponents.

Wiimote-only control is a blast but you've got no real precision. Placing the ball is really a bit of a lottery but Christ it's funny. Because applying spin, the soft-shot and the special shot is done via the d-pad and buttons, you can actually apply these accurately. Lack of 1:1 doesn't matter at all, in fact I'm not at all sure it'd work here. Sometimes your timing will feel exactly like a 1:1 movement, other times you're programming your shot in advance. But once you've got your head around it (and it takes time if you're used to Wii Tennis) it becomes oddly intuitive. My wife and I were hitting off varied shot rallies of over 100 shots in a fairly short space of time. Some of them were fast, manic and borderline hilarious tbh.

The Wiimote makes it kinda manic and physical and I imagine it'd be great if you had a few friends round. There's no split screen which is also an oddity coming from Wii Tennis, but I think once you get used to its idiosyncracies, this seems to play a mean (and fun) game of ping pong. I'd say use Wiimote for fun two-player and any of the other more precise control schemes if you want to cane the AI players. It's pretty stripped down with somewhat ropey presentation and functional visuals, so if you can find it cheap, it's worth a punt. I'd pay no more than 19.99 for this, dunno what the UK rrp is....

Darkflame · Post by **Darkflame** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 5:15 pm 0

Wiimote-only control is a blast but you've got no real precision. Placing the ball is really a bit of a lottery but Christ it's funny. Because applying spin, the soft-shot and the special shot is done via the d-pad and buttons, you can actually apply these accurately. Lack of 1:1 doesn't matter at all, in fact I'm not at all sure it'd work here.

Works in real table tennis dosnt it

Using Dpad to apply spin just sounds like a cop-out, imho.
It should be able to deduce that from the angle the wiimote is when you sweap it.
A Dpad option should be the "easy" mode for those that cant learn to apply spin with their movements.

I also find it depressing that the "more advance" the mode is the *less* motion controll you get.
This gives people more excuse to think that motion controll has to be less skillfull then pressing buttons. Which is just wrong.

Not to say the game is bad, just it smells like another bad wiiport of a good game with motion controlls just mapped to buttons. again.

GeeZa · Post by **GeeZa** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 5:30 pm 0

Darkflame wrote:
Wiimote-only control is a blast but you've got no real precision. Placing the ball is really a bit of a lottery but Christ it's funny. Because applying spin, the soft-shot and the special shot is done via the d-pad and buttons, you can actually apply these accurately. Lack of 1:1 doesn't matter at all, in fact I'm not at all sure it'd work here.
Works in real table tennis dosnt it

Using Dpad to apply spin just sounds like a cop-out, imho.
It should be able to deduce that from the angle the wiimote is when you sweap it.
A Dpad option should be the "easy" mode for those that cant learn to apply spin with their movements.

But the one area where Wiimote motion *is* utilised for ball placement doesn't feel accurate enough, at least not to me. Performing four different spin movements *in addition* could be a nightmare scenario. That's the problem for developers right there, as was also experienced with SSX. There is the distinct possibility that if one goes too far with the Wiimote you'll end up breaking the game and ruining the playability. I'm not saying that Rockstar necessarily made all the best decisions, but I do understand from a dev perspective why the game has gone the way it has. It's still sufficiently different (I'd argue more fun) than the 360 version and most importantly the meat and potatoes of the game is intact.

I think it's too easy to tell developers what they should be doing with this thing, my guess is that it's a very careful balancing act. This isn't real table tennis, it's a video game.

Samus · Post by **Samus** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 7:41 pm 0

GeeZa wrote: That's the problem for developers right there, as was also experienced with SSX. There is the distinct possibility that if one goes too far with the Wiimote you'll end up breaking the game and ruining the playability.

Hey? SSX? It's demanding yeah, but works a treat once you nail it.

EDIT: thanks for the TT impressions, I'm thinking of getting it, was always curious about the game and figured this would be the version to get.

disciple · Post by **disciple** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 7:46 pm 0

Metroid comes out this Friday.

For those that have played it does it really live up to all the hype we had about it on US release?

Samus · Post by **Samus** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 7:46 pm 0

Ghostbiscuit wrote: Cheers, chaps. Just noticed that Eledees and Monkey Ball are "2 for Â£35" in Argos - all I need now is Â£35.

If you like "Ball Rollers" I'd suggest Kororinpa, it's way better than SMB and it's an excellent showcase for the precision and usability of the Wiimote tilt controls, whereas SMB feels sticky and clumsy compared to Kororinpa. It's quite short though, but the difficulty level is up to you, restart if you fall and collect the extra crystal from every level and you have a nice challenge, the extra Space levels are the best yet in a game like this.

Samus · Post by **Samus** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 7:48 pm 0

disciple wrote:Metroid comes out this Friday.

GeeZa · Post by **GeeZa** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 7:52 pm 0

Samus wrote:
GeeZa wrote: That's the problem for developers right there, as was also experienced with SSX. There is the distinct possibility that if one goes too far with the Wiimote you'll end up breaking the game and ruining the playability.
Hey? SSX? It's demanding yeah, but works a treat once you nail it.

That's the problem for me (and others), nailing the more complex gestures has tended to be quite hit-and-miss which is a pain in the arse. Much like this thread at the moment.

EDIT: thanks for the TT impressions, I'm thinking of getting it, was always curious about the 360 version and figured this would be the version to get.

The lack of on-line play is a massively disappointing omission. Because of that I don't see this as anything other than a budget title.