Developers are being given access to the Wii's Balance Board peripheral, further increasing the physical interaction possibilities open to Wii games.
The board, which was created for WiiFit, is being used in a new Namco Bandai title called Family Ski. In addition to using the regular Wiimote/Nunchuck combination, players can also use the balance board by leaning to regulate turns as the character descends the slope.
Should the same openness with the peripheral be extended towards all developers, game creators would have a new palette of physical interactions to use when designing their games. No firm details have been confirmed at present, but more is likely to be revealed when the board is released in western territories in 2008.
I know it sounds like hyperbole, but for my family Go Vacation has been as engaging and time consuming as Skyrim seems to have been for our more hard core gaming friends.
It’s the kind of game that makes me wish I gave video games scores out of 10. If I did I would only have handed out a few 10s on the Wii, and Go Vacation would get one of them now for sure.
SPOnG: "The producer of Family Ski and Go Vacation has told SPOnG that he could have easily made a Ridge Racer title for the Nintendo Wii, but decided against it."
What's more, Family Ski and Snowboard improves on real-life snowboarding. It's sociable rather than solitary, and there's not a single nasty or brutish thing about it. The good selections of courses and events mean it's not too short, and it's an ideal alternative to real winter sports if you're poor. But most importantly, it's not rubbish.
Wiifit. Pay more attention in making good games, with bareable controllers. Ubisoft make a game that isn't a port, and same with ea. Becausethere is no way ea, or ubisoft is going to make a game work with that controller.
You cant develop the Wii board with any other games because, such like skating and skiing, as THE Wii BOARD DOES NOT ALLOW YOU TO JUMP, or LEAVE THE BOARD WHATSOEVER
It could be cool. Much like the Wii Remote it's yet another tool developers could use to get gamers outside of the box. Playing games with controllers is sooo last gen ;)
Can you use the balance board and the wii mote at the same time as that could make some interesting games if they could get it right.
that sounds good... i like to see what they can do with the innovation that is the wii board