The Good: not just the device, but the program itself (Wii Sports Resort) is very lifelike under certain scenarios. I was not able to verify this for any other game, but having played much table tennis, I can vouch for the Wii Sports Resort virtual table tennis as being alarmingly lifelike.
Overall, I'd say the game replicates the feel of table tennis by around 80% to 85%. To me, this is alarmingly life-like for a video game simulation. It's far from perfect. (See complaints below.) But for the most part, I'd say that the game really does feel like actual table tennis, and the placement of my ball onscreen is very close to where I intended it to go.
This speaks very well for the Wii Motion Plus's enhancement of precision, i.e. the device seems to have greatly brought together the real-life positioning of one's Wiimote with the on-screen positioning of the cursor.
The Bad: this seems to rely very heavily on how intelligent and dutiful the programmers are and on how difficult the task at hand is. Table tennis has layers of complexity the layperson isn't aware of, but even a skilled player agrees that the game isn't all that complicated. Spin, speed, angle, and inertia are the four major properties of the ball, added to which are location (on the court), timing, and area of impact (on the court; universal except on the edges). But when you have more physically complex tasks like cycling or sword fighting, the games can leave something to be desired. "Sword fighting" in Wii Sports Resort is more like American Gladiators' baton-fighting than it is like épée or saber fights (fencing). The game is an overly-simplied version of real life swordfights. All you can basically do is strike the opponent's head or sides and block with your sword at a finite number of angles. You can get the swords locked. You can't pierce. You can't use the dull edge of your sword to bluntly attack the opponent. (There is no dull edge or sharp edge -- the entire weapon is one big plastic stick.) But perhaps most importantly: you can't stab. You can only strike. Even if you can't pierce, you could still stab. You could still poke the sword out towards the opponent's limbs or torso. But not in Wii Sports Resort. You'll get nothing for it. Either you strike or get struck. That's it.
The device's technological merit was its precision, but likewise its #1 negative feature comes as no surprise to anybody, either, and that's how the device sucks the lifeblood dry from your Wiimote's batteries. I played the game for less than 2 hours and had a pair of AA's go from half-charged to almost-dead. At 4 to 6 hours tops (screw what Nintendo says officially! >(), you're going to be looking at a lot of battery swaps. And that wouldn't be such a bad thing if the Wiimote's batteries were as easy to exchange as the GameBoy's or GameBoy Advance's were. Instead, the Wii has the honor of being only slightly less of a pain in the ass than the DS when it comes to switching batteries. Because you have to use the plastic jacket for the Wii Motion Plus device to work, and since you have to use the plastic jacket, and since it covers the back of the Wiimote, that means you have to deglove and reglove the goddamned controller every time you want access to the battery hatch. I'm considering vandalizing my glove by taking a knife to the back and removing the plastic which currently covers the Wiimote's battery hatch. Sick and tired of this bullshit. -_-;
Finally, about table tennis ... the third problem I have with the Wii Motion Plus (and the Wiimote in general) is that it does a good job being precise with the laser but it does a terrible job being precise with the accelerometer. In table tennis, this usually manifests in the form of unintended forehand backspin returns (where I'm clearly holding my Wiimote in the backhand forward spin position) as well as unintended backhand backspin slices (where I'm trying to do a forehand slam and the Wii doesn't register it, and then as my hand [in real life] completes the large 140°~ish arc, the Wii picks up that I'm drawing the Wiimote away from the television screen and, in what it perceives to be a backhand, slanted position, it then produces the classic backspin slice). The problem isn't with the errors themselves, but with what happens immediately after. In table tennis, you're always planning one to two steps ahead. You receive the ball from the opponent with a predicted spin. You return it to him with a known spin of your own production. As its heading towards him, typically you decide how you think he's going to respond and you set up for that with the appropriate countermeasure. This falls apart completely when the game produces the opposite spin for your ball than what you had intended, or when it produces the spin you wanted but gets the fore/backhandedness wrong (and thereby weakens or strengthens your delivery outside of your expectations). So whether you guessed the spin wrong or the velocity, either way you sent the opponent a ball you didn't mean to. And it's in that moment of "Buh? o_o;" confusion that the A.I. stupidly returns the ball to you and you lose the point.
- It can tell whether you are trying to play forehand or backhand.
- It can tell whether you are trying to put a forward spin or a backward spin on the ball.
- It can tell whether you're trying to play Western-style ("tennis racquet-style") or Asian-style ("pen grip-style").
- The game appreciates the importance of the edges of the table.
- you aim for edge plays just like in real life, and the ball is shown onscreen landing just where it really ought to. Every time I know I'm being risky, the ball either riskily lands on the edge or riskily lands off court. Every time I know I've overshot, the ball misses the edge entirely and lands off court. Every time I know I've undershot, the ball lands well within bounds. And every time I know I've hit the edge spot on ... it literally has the ball hit the edge spot on and ricochet far away from the table. When I say "every time," of course this is an exaggeration. But I promise you it's only a slight exaggeration! I would say that the game feels 90% to 95% like real-life table tennis regarding the in bounds or out of bounds nature of serves and rallies.
- if you are a weak player, the opponent will slowly but surely try to work you towards the edge so it can slam the ball on the return towards the opposite corner. Vice-versa, if you are a skilled player, you do this to the A.I. rather mercilessly for the first 500 points. ^^; (It's not until the 400-to-500 range that the A.I. begins to display some understanding of corner play.)
- I've had many games evolve into rallies from one edge of the table to the opposite edge between me and the opponent, just like in real table tennis. The game surprisingly allows for you (and the opponent A.I.) to run quite far along the edge of the table approaching the net itself.
Overall, I'd say the game replicates the feel of table tennis by around 80% to 85%. To me, this is alarmingly life-like for a video game simulation. It's far from perfect. (See complaints below.) But for the most part, I'd say that the game really does feel like actual table tennis, and the placement of my ball onscreen is very close to where I intended it to go.
This speaks very well for the Wii Motion Plus's enhancement of precision, i.e. the device seems to have greatly brought together the real-life positioning of one's Wiimote with the on-screen positioning of the cursor.
The Bad: this seems to rely very heavily on how intelligent and dutiful the programmers are and on how difficult the task at hand is. Table tennis has layers of complexity the layperson isn't aware of, but even a skilled player agrees that the game isn't all that complicated. Spin, speed, angle, and inertia are the four major properties of the ball, added to which are location (on the court), timing, and area of impact (on the court; universal except on the edges). But when you have more physically complex tasks like cycling or sword fighting, the games can leave something to be desired. "Sword fighting" in Wii Sports Resort is more like American Gladiators' baton-fighting than it is like épée or saber fights (fencing). The game is an overly-simplied version of real life swordfights. All you can basically do is strike the opponent's head or sides and block with your sword at a finite number of angles. You can get the swords locked. You can't pierce. You can't use the dull edge of your sword to bluntly attack the opponent. (There is no dull edge or sharp edge -- the entire weapon is one big plastic stick.) But perhaps most importantly: you can't stab. You can only strike. Even if you can't pierce, you could still stab. You could still poke the sword out towards the opponent's limbs or torso. But not in Wii Sports Resort. You'll get nothing for it. Either you strike or get struck. That's it.
The device's technological merit was its precision, but likewise its #1 negative feature comes as no surprise to anybody, either, and that's how the device sucks the lifeblood dry from your Wiimote's batteries. I played the game for less than 2 hours and had a pair of AA's go from half-charged to almost-dead. At 4 to 6 hours tops (screw what Nintendo says officially! >(), you're going to be looking at a lot of battery swaps. And that wouldn't be such a bad thing if the Wiimote's batteries were as easy to exchange as the GameBoy's or GameBoy Advance's were. Instead, the Wii has the honor of being only slightly less of a pain in the ass than the DS when it comes to switching batteries. Because you have to use the plastic jacket for the Wii Motion Plus device to work, and since you have to use the plastic jacket, and since it covers the back of the Wiimote, that means you have to deglove and reglove the goddamned controller every time you want access to the battery hatch. I'm considering vandalizing my glove by taking a knife to the back and removing the plastic which currently covers the Wiimote's battery hatch. Sick and tired of this bullshit. -_-;
Finally, about table tennis ... the third problem I have with the Wii Motion Plus (and the Wiimote in general) is that it does a good job being precise with the laser but it does a terrible job being precise with the accelerometer. In table tennis, this usually manifests in the form of unintended forehand backspin returns (where I'm clearly holding my Wiimote in the backhand forward spin position) as well as unintended backhand backspin slices (where I'm trying to do a forehand slam and the Wii doesn't register it, and then as my hand [in real life] completes the large 140°~ish arc, the Wii picks up that I'm drawing the Wiimote away from the television screen and, in what it perceives to be a backhand, slanted position, it then produces the classic backspin slice). The problem isn't with the errors themselves, but with what happens immediately after. In table tennis, you're always planning one to two steps ahead. You receive the ball from the opponent with a predicted spin. You return it to him with a known spin of your own production. As its heading towards him, typically you decide how you think he's going to respond and you set up for that with the appropriate countermeasure. This falls apart completely when the game produces the opposite spin for your ball than what you had intended, or when it produces the spin you wanted but gets the fore/backhandedness wrong (and thereby weakens or strengthens your delivery outside of your expectations). So whether you guessed the spin wrong or the velocity, either way you sent the opponent a ball you didn't mean to. And it's in that moment of "Buh? o_o;" confusion that the A.I. stupidly returns the ball to you and you lose the point.