14 DAY TRIAL // Shigeru Miyamoto offered an interview with Popular Mechanics and the future of the Wii was put under the microscope. The main thing that was discussed was whether or not the motion controls would be making a comeback. It seems like their popularity hasn't slipped Nintendo's watchful eye, and they're a guaranteed certainty. The second round of motion controllers for the Wii will be smaller and cheaper.
"With both the Wii remote itself and Wii Motion Plus, what we've been able to do is introduce an interface that is both I think appealing and at the right price for a broad audience," Miyamoto told Popular Mechanics. "And while we don't have any concrete plans for what we'll be doing with hardware in the future, what I can say is that, my guess is that because we found this interface to be so interesting, I think it would be likely that we would try to make that same functionality perhaps more compact and perhaps even more cost-efficient."
The idea of making them cheaper would be exactly what they need, but, since it's also their weakness, it's going to prove to be a little bit of a strain for the research and development department. A problem Nintendo had to deal with was the growing price of its controllers. The latest US bundle saw the Motion Plus' price rise to $70, while, as a stand-alone item, it's priced at $80. This is contrary to the normal evolution of prices, as new technology tends to lower its cost as time progresses.
The good thing about the Motion Plus is that, when the new Wii is put together, along with the new Wiimotes, it should be incorporated straight into the controller and result in an overall smaller device. The visual drawback of the Wii, in regards to the other consoles, was also brought up, but Miyamoto said that the Wii would continue to focus on gameplay. "What I don't think is particularly true is that the graphics make the game. We're still going to focus on the gameplay. We'll take advantage of the technology as it comes out, but right now, this is what we offer."