One-to-one

One of the biggest announcements from Nintendo at E3 is their new Wiimote attachement Wii MotionPlus. Wii MotionPlus, in conjunction with the sensor bar and the accelerameter already in the Wiimote, will provide enhanced motion sensing. "Every slight movement players make with their wrist or arm is rendered identically in real time on the screen, providing a true 1:1 response in their game play." Despite the promise of the new controls, I think that one-to-one motion controls will end up being a mixed blessing for video games. The Wii MotionPlus will make some games possible that are not possible with just the Wiimote. One game I am especially excited for is the potential for a frisbee golf game. However, the danger that must be avoided is making the controls too realistic. One of the main reasons I play video games is to do things that I am incapable of in real life. It is an escape. For example I love golf games because of my awesome golf skills in video games. Tiger Woods PGA Tour would lose a lot of its appeal to me if I was only as good in the video game as I was in real life. It wouldn't be fun to shoot a 120 golf round in a video game. For games to be enjoyable with Wii MotionPlus developers must be able to obtain the proper balance between realism and keeping the games accessible.