Peripherals…From Useless to Useful
This generation Nintendo has released more gaming peripherals than Bowser has kids. The company that has been printing money for the last 4 years really seems to have found its niche and it’s new ways to enhance our Wii’s. Some of these gaming additions have been useful and some not so much….
With no end in sight for peripherals, gameonnintendo has your list of useful and useless peripherals after the break.
Wii Zapper
Be honest now, who bought the Wii Zapper? I know I did; and I never used the device. This piece of plastic came with Link’s crossbow training and was supposed to promote FPS shooter titles for every one’s favorite white box. Turns out though, FPS are better without this peripheral and makes this Wii add on a useless device.
All is not lost however, it’s kind of fun (my buddy let me try out his) for a little while but ultimately your Wii Zapper will be collecting dust in your gaming closet. Who knows, maybe when Darkside Chronicles is released, we may break the zapper out.
Final Verdict: Useless
Wii Speak
This may have been a little more toward the “useful” side but Nintendo needs to start implementing games that actually use this device. Wii speak looks to be the closest thing we will get to a headset setup and could have the potential to be a hit among Wii owners but the Big N has yet to make that “killer app” for the device.
Animal Crossing and The Conduit (thank God) support this family friendly headset, but in my awesomely awesome opinion, all online titles should support Wii Speak going forward. It’s a decent product (although I prefer a standard blue tooth headset) they just need to use it.
Final Verdict: “Useful” but rarely used hence “Not so Useful…”
Wii Wheel
I get it. Take the Wiimote and place it into a shell that’s shaped like a wheel for a more “real time” driving experience. Like I said, I get it; but did we really need it? I can see that the Big N was trying to broaden their horizons and gain new consumers but I can honestly say that I never really use the Wii Wheel anymore. It was OK and it’s pretty sweet to see my parents attempting to try out Mario Kart because of this peripheral but, at the end of the day, the classic “button setup” seems to work very well.
It’s a couple of cards short of a full deck.
Final Verdict: Kind of Useful
Wii Balance Board
The thought of having a glorified bathroom scale to play video games didn’t really light my fire… But after spending some quality time with my Wii Balance board, the peripheral started to make some sense. There is no doubt that Wii owners have fallen in love with WiiFit and with the upcoming sequel to the popular “excergame,” love for the balance board shows no signs of slowing down.
The Wii balance board has opened new ways of playing games and with its extreme popularity, I believe that this peripheral will be around for a long, long time (There’s a new Super Monkey Ball coming out that supports it, what more do you want?!).
Final Verdict: Useful
WiiMotionPlus
I’ll say it, motion plus should have been standard from day 1. Now that we have a taste of this great new device, I am completely sold. WiiMotionPlus really sets a new standard in “motion control” and works (for the most part) flawlessly. It’s a leap forward in motion control and should help the Wii gain more longevity in a era of HD graphics and hard drives (although it would be nice to see Mario in glorious HD).
Final Verdict: Very Useful
And the love doesn’t stop there for Nintendo peripherals; if recent patents pan out to be true, we may see a football style controller, a “horse back” riding device and let’s not forget the vitality sensor. It’s going to be an interesting year gamers.
If you were to re-arrange the list above, what would yours look like (our new writer and I were getting into a huge debate over this list)? Thanks for reading.
“I’ll say it, motion plus should have been standard from day 1.”
well that stupid whining will never end huh? Nintendo has said THOUSANDS OF TIMES that they didn’t implemented it in day 1 because the technology wasn’t available enough.
Pay attention the next time “journalist”
Let me first start off by saying thanks for the comment on this story and thank you for checking out gameonnintendo (we are sincerely thrilled to have you here)
With that said, I have to rebuttal your rebuttal. I was not whining about anything in my story, I was merely stating that it would’ve been a knock out punch if Nintendo could’ve made WiiMotion Plus from the very get-go. The minute a console comes out that company begins work on its successor. When Nintendo decided to play out this whole “motion thing” I merely wished they had made the right moves to fully implement everything they were trying to achieve.
Now I know that Nintendo has stated that “the technology wasn’t available” and that’s all well and good. But in this generation of HD graphics, 100+ hard drive storage in systems, online play, motion control, touch screen cell phones and everything in between, you mean to tell me you truly don’t believe that Nintendo couldn’t find some extra gyroscopes for their 5th system?
By no means am I knocking my favorite company, I am just stating my opinion (as did you). I would also like to note that even the reputable IGN staffers made a similar comment in one of their stories in regards for wiimotionplus so when you quote me as a “journalist” in negative connotation, know that I am not the only writer/journalist who has come up with this idea.
In all sincerity thank you for reading gameonnintendo and making a comment. It’s people like you who keep us alive.
I like the Wii Wheel and still use it exclusively when playing Mario Kart. My kids know then when I join in one of them has to fork over the wheel (we have two). Definitely a must have.
We have that crossbow gun thing. It just seemed way too small to be used seriously. I don’t allow ‘life-like’ shooting games in my house anyways so I knew this would go largely unused. It was worth the low price.
I bought Animal Crossing with the Wii Speak. My kids still play the game but we have NEVER used the periferal. For the one simple reason thaqt we do not know anyone else who has it! Totally useless but still holding out hope.
As for the aside, why was the Motion Plus needed for launch? So they could sell more units? So they could be sold out completely for 2 and a half years instead of just 2? I actually think that having pure motion control at launch would have hurt the Wii’s sales.
Sure, they would have the gamers sold immediately but I don’t think they would ever have gotten the masses interested in the system if they had to play games with exacting movements. Would we have seen all the ‘old-age home’ stories. And the ‘hospital rehab’ stories? Nope.
The expanded audience would have suffered if they had to perform true 1:1 movement.
Also, hey, it’s over. Quit complaining about what coulda or shoulda. I am thankful for what we did get. I have never touched a play station this or xed box that but I love me my Wii (and the DS too).