Remember the Wii MotionPlus gizmo that Nintendo revealed at E3 last year? Sure you do. It's that little add-on that plugs into the Wii remote's connector port that allows the remote to sense greater accuracy when you twist and turn and tweak your wrist like a crazed contortionist all in the name of scoring more points. If you have $20 to spare, you can welcome the accessory into your home in June (disembodied hand not included). Kombo has the details.
Nintendo announced today that the MotionPlus add-on will be releasing on June 8th in the US for $20. The first game officially announced to support the MotionPlus accessory will be EA Sports' Grand Slam Tennis. The tennis offering doesn't ship until June 18th, a full 10 days after the motion enhancing remote addition comes out separately. The Wii Sports Resort bundle will ship with the MotionPlus add-on which will ship on July 26th. The price point will be $50.
The song remains the same these days, because this is another Wii add-on that has some great potential for core games, but so far nothing has been announced. Wii Sports Resort will make use of it, but that's a game that isn't exactly lighting my fire. Nor does Virtua Tennis or Grand Slam Tennis. Nintendo is probably playing their cards close to their chest until E3. Here's hoping we see some amazing new core game that makes proper use of the accessory. Enhanced steering for F-Zero? Exact sword dueling in The Legend of Zelda? Pinpoint tongue accuracy for Yoshi's Island? The sky is the limit. I just hope they use it for something that I find worthwhile. Back in the Nintendo 64 era I bought the Donkey Kong 64 Expansion Pak bundle just before they went out of production because I wanted to be sure to have that add-on for all of the awesome games just waiting in the wings. As it turns out, the only other game I own that uses it is The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (although I did rent Perfect Dark a time or two). I'd like the MotionPlus add-on to see more use than that.
