To hell with all this wii talk... THE PICTURE IS BACK! I still love it!! A little sad there were no modifications (I know, I know... how do you make "perfect" better?)

jiggaman2

"Will you be forced to buy one?" Just as you are not forced to buy the Zapper or the Wheel or even more remotes, you are not being forced to buy the MotionPlus.

"that'll bump the Wii up to in between the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in terms of "total" pricing."

Does your cost include that you are forced to buy at least one game for the 360 and PS3? The Wii already comes with 5 games bundled into one CD for the US.

LoganSix

"wants US customers to believe that there will be a Wii shortage this Christmas not caused by Nintendo themselves"

Wal-mart appears to have plenty of Wii consoles available online. Wait a minute, they are only available in more expensive bundles.

Who's fault is this -- Wal-mart's or Nintendo's?

ljj

@PlasmaMachine: Precisely.

I sold my Wii last Christmas to some rich dude at cost. I was going to re-buy it whenever they came out with the new colours. But now I guess that I'll have to keep waiting until this feature is included in the new remotes.

el_gordo

Free you devil you or I Motion Plus my Wii right out the window.

To harsh...I'm sorry...I would never...

But really, you messed up the first time around now fix it for free, just like how you made those rubber airbag suit for our weemotes when we hurl them at out T.V., whether accidentally or because our motion control is frustratingly bad.

So.

Free.

doobiebros2two

If I still had my Wii, I'd probably hold out until they come out with the next version of the Wiimote that will have this built in. Still going to get shafted (unless they start a replacement program)either way though..

PlasmaMachine

Makes you think if Nintendo is on the same system as China right now. Expand outwards for extremely cheap until the un-sustainable growth causes an implosion!

BOOM

efenili

Just get me a Wii Fit, darn it.

ninjagin

Yes yes, we know, Nintendo is evil because they want to make money by selling Wiis in areas where the currency is strong, and for issuing a new accessory to fix one of the major shortcomings of the Wiimote and wanting to make it as inexpensive as possible.

HeartBurnKid, creepy morbid freak

@LoganSix: One disc of mini-games = a 5 games bundle??

Your response to the article seems to be very stand-off-ish. Bruised fanboy ego perhaps?

Mr.SithNinja

But who's to say that when they do release it, that it won't be as scarce as the consoles or even the Wii Board?!?

Michael Lehet

I wonder whether this is device is likely to use differential acceleration? Basically the accelerometers in the motionplus work in conjunction with the accelerometers in the wiimote, rather than simply substituting them.

twilight-arc

Why wasn't this just built in the damn controller initially??? I thought the Wii was already Suppossed to have realistic motion sensing, but all it really recognizes is where you point, and gestures.

kcm117

And what explains the nation-wide shortage of Mario Kart? Can't find a dang copy anywhere...

Agent-199

classy looking unibrow...

cautionsupply

If its broke, act like it isn't. Then when it comes time to fix the non-problem just make an accessory and sell it to all the people who already have the wii zapper, the wii wheel, the wii board, the wii skin, the new wii strap, the new tv they had to buy because the old wii strap sucked horrible. Honestly how did that part not come up in initial testing?

Xaldian

@ljj: It's Wal-Mart's fault. Nintendo has asked companies not to do this, but haven't done anything to actually keep them from doing it. My work does the same thing, and it's really just a way for us to unload shitty games. We'll bundle everything up in a pretty blue box; a Wii, a half decent game, and then two games that we couldn't sell for fifty cents. Then we jack the price up a hundred bucks and wait for someone desperate enough to buy one. It's pathetic, and I wish Nintendo would somehow force us (and Wal-Mart) to stop. But what can they do? They need Wal-Mart, and Wal-Mart knows it.

liroku

@ljj: Ultimately it is Nintendo's fault for intentionaly shorting the market. That "forces" retailers to bundle the systems and try to make the most out of each system they do get. They make more $ per console sold by bundling in the higher margin items like a second Wiimote and charger.

Mr.SithNinja

@JEmlay: Apparently others haven't read the early announcement that they gyros used in the MotionPlus were not at a low enough price rate to be included in the original remote. And, others seem to be unable to comprehend that you don't actually have to buy this for the current or most future games to work. Only select games will require it, just like the Wii Board

@Mr.SithNinja: My point, which you can't seem to fathom, is that you don't have to buy a game in order to start playing the Wii, unlike the 360 and PS3. Since games for the other 2 consoles cost on average more than on the Wii, a price of one game should be included in the cost of the console to have a fair comparison. And, I'm betting, that game price would still be more than getting 2 or 3 MotionPlus attachments. Giz brought up the price, I'm just pointing out the flaw in their logic as have others.

LoganSix

@Xaldian:
Fix what problem? The Wiimote works fine. It might not be the best in certain instances but it does work.

This isn't a fix. This is ADDED functionality.

JEmlay

@LoganSix:

You don't have to go out and spend $60+ to play games out of the box for 360 or PS3. You have instant access to dozens of Live Arcade Games and PSN games as well as tons of Demos as well. Or you could take a pre-emptive strike and get a GameFly membership and not have to worry about spending $60 on just one game.

PlasmaMachine

Wii is crap.its just a novelty and when people start to realize this the sales will drop.nintendo knows how to play the U.S."shortage hype=demand"

c64

@Mr.SithNinja:

If you think Nintendo is intentionally creating a shortage you clearly don't know as much about them as you think. I know you're a frequent visitor of Kotaku so I'm not going to argue over a point in this article that gets argued in every post over there.

NeoAkira

@LoganSix: My point, which you can't seem to fathom, is that you don't have to buy a game in order to start playing the the 360 or PS3 either. That's what backwards compatability and free demos online are for. I didn't buy any games the same day as my 360, PS3 OR Wii.

What Giz was measuring was the HARDWARE cost differences between the systems when talking about setting up for multiple players. Software was never part of the equasion.

Mr.SithNinja

I thought the photo was of Rob Schneider.

I'm glad it wasn't.

Ethan Halko!

There is no nationwide shortage of wiis or mario kart. I can go into any walmart here on long island and find tons of both. HEck the nintendo store in nyc seems to get 200 wiis every shipment. I just think the smaller stores dont get very many.

majortom1029

oh noes... the vampire/pirate/devil IZ BACK!

venomous_duck41

@cautionsupply: Monobrow, actually.

CarrerCrytharis

@liroku: If Nintendo gave them an ample supply of systems then nobody would buy the bundles and by effect cause the retalers to stop.

@NeoAkira: I know that they are an evil corporation bent on global domination and the enslavement of the human race. (j/k everyone knows that Disney is the one doing that) I think Nintendo is brilliant for what they are doing. If I had a product that was demanded around the world I would ship as many units as I could to the areas with the stongest currency in relationship to where my company's home office is. The US $ = Toilet paper right now. Why would I chase that market when I can sell to markets where I don't lose money due to the exchange rate?

Mr.SithNinja

@Mr.SithNinja:

Ah, if that's what you meant then my mistake. You're right about that one. I thought you meant that Nintendo was intentionally holding back units in storage somewhere to make an intentional drought in the market.

NeoAkira

@LoganSix: FYI, I have a Wii and a PS3. Between the nunchucks and 1 extra controller and the balance board and SD card and recharger stand (a must if you atually use the Wii) the Wii has actually been just as expensive as the 60 GB PS3. And that's just the hardware.

I did not count controller #3 and #4 or the recharger for the balance board (also something I feel is necessary), which makes it more expensive.

Sora57

@NeoAkira: Yeah, I think that theory is insane as well. Under-producing/under-shipping to an under-achieving economy makes sense. Sitting on mass quanities to drive demand dosen't.

Mr.SithNinja

@Mr.SithNinja: Why buy the console to play previous generation games? However, to your point, you can play GC games on the Wii. None of the extra controllers are required to play the game that comes with the Wii. So, out of the box without buying anything else (including past owned games), you can play a game on the Wii. You can even play multiple player golf and bowling with only one controller without hindering game play.

@PlasmaMachine: Requires internet access, which you have to pay for and pay for again with the 360. You don't need to be connected to the internet to play the game that comes with the Wii.

@Sora57: Rechargeable batteries. Wii Board and SD card are not required to play the Wii. Was that a 60GB PS3 before the price drop?

LoganSix

@LoganSix: I have a hard time finding a retailer that doesn't sell the 360 in a 2 game bundle format for the price of the console alone.

I'm not going to go out and find someone that doesn't sell the 360 with 2 games, but if i needed another 360, i would just go to Best Buy or Future Shop and pick one up with Halo 3/Forza 2/Ninja Gaiden/etc. etc. The PS3 is a little more select in selling it with a pair of games, but there's a number of big box retailers that sell it with 2 games.

I still think Nintendo should make wiimotes from now on with this MotionPlus built in, but never, ever allow game developers to require the ability. Quite frankly, besides Nintendo themselves, i doubt any developer would make a game that requires the accessory, but would allow enhanced game play with it. This would be the Expansion Pack for the N64 all over again.

diabolusunknownTheSecond

@LoganSix: I think that you are confusing "out of the box" cost and "total pricing". What they (Gizmodo) were pointing out was the total HARDWARE COSTS for 2, 3, and 4 players (each with their OWN COMPLETE controller, for the Wii that means nunchuck also) for each system and how the wii-motion plus COULD add to that cost for the Wii. Not sure how much more plainly it can be said. The whole point is that the Wii is going after the "cheap system" market and when you stop and add it up it isn't as cheap as they make it out to be. No system is.

Mr.SithNinja

@c64:
It's been how long now? How long are you gonna suck on that nonsense?

JEmlay

Free or maybe at max $5, with a $4 mail-in-rebate. I mean come on, it's not like Nintendo's profit margins can't support it.

horspowr1001

LoganSix: "Requires internet access, which you have to pay for and pay for again with the 360. You don't need to be connected to the internet to play the game that comes with the Wii."

Fair enough. What about those who purchase the Xbox 360 Arcade bundle? It comes with 5 games on 1 disc as well.

PlasmaMachine

For $15, I'll take four.

Pi-face

Go for 10 each and 'll get 4!!!!

KristenBal