Which Motion Control Is Right For You – The Xbox 360 Kinect Or The Wii?
If you’re wondering about whether or not the Kinect is worth ditching your Wii Controller for, or if you’ve avoided the whole motion control fad but are interested now, read on for a sensible, straight-talking summary on what the Kinect can offer… and what it can’t.
Unlike the Wii, the Xbox 360 Kinect is more than just motion sensing for a controller. Primarily it functions as a full body motion sensor, bringing your torso and every limb into play as potential interface tools.
Accordingly, this requires a great deal more physical effort from a player than the Wii requires. This can be seen as either a disadvantage – too much work for too little gain, or a benefit – an innovative way of turning gaming into exercise.
This motion sensor peripheral also has other tangential features not readily available to the competition. A microphone capable of voice recognition, facial recognition technology, and a camera all round out the peripheral into something that’s truly more than ‘just’ a motion sensor.
It helps that all these components work together to create a coherent and seamless online gaming experience. However, for those who just want a simple, single player ‘plug and play’ environment, it’s likely to be overkill.
Those interested in local multiplayer parties will be glad to know that you do NOT have to buy a new Kinect for every person! Rather, each peripheral can track half a dozen users, although more advanced features are only available to two users at a given time.
Of course, with either system you’ll want multiple controllers for multiple people, so overall it’s a bit of a wash… except for the Kinect being a separate purchase from the console itself!
All this power does come at a price, however. Unlike the wireless motion control of the Wii, the Xbox’s equivalent requires a special cord and port at a minimum.
Wii Motion Plus – Nintendo’s New Game Controller
The new wii controller Motion Plus was released in June 2009 after much fanfare at the previous year’s E3. The new controller addon is basically a plastic piece and a rubber sleeve to cover the additional length to the remote. It easily hooks on to the remote using two small prongs. Of course there is still the plastic cover up at the base of the device so you can still hook in the nunchuk controller.
One of the biggest things you will notice right off is that the controller feels a bit clunky with the Motion Plus attachment. Playing a game horizontally will be a big problem. So here is hoping that there are no games released that make that a requirement. A negative to the controller is that it will no longer fit into the original rechargeable docking station. So you may have to upgrade in the future.
With that said many reviewers have remarked that the Motion Plus has greatly increased the on screen movements to the player’s actual movements. Games like Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10, Grand Slam Tennis, Wii Sports Resorts, and a few other titles are the only games that currently are able to use the new controller. But at a price of around $20.00 there really is no reason not to purchase the attachment. Especially considering that newer game releases will be using it.
In conclusion, the Motion Plus will rely on game developers to put it to use in the games. Hopefully future releases will include this new improved controller but at the same time not make it a necessity to playing games.
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