Developers kept in the dark about Wii MotionPlus

A recent article in Game Informer magazine has confirmed our own information that many developers were kept in the dark by Nintendo when it came to the announcement of the new Wii peripheral, the WiiMotion Plus.

The WiiMotion Plus is a new add-on attachment for the Wii Remote which makes the controller more sensitive and was first announced at E3 2008 just over a week ago. The device contains a new accelerometer which will make Wii Remote movements translate in 1:1 form.

However, Game Informer has found that nearly all third-party developers were unprepared for the release of the peripheral, meaning they may struggle to support it effectively.

In our own experience this has certainly proved to be true too and, speaking to the Facebreaker: KO Party team yesterday at Electronic Arts, the designers confirmed that the first they heard about the controller was when it appeared on the internet.

What's more, the team seemed surprised that Sony and Microsoft hadn't announced a new motion controller of their own, saying that it was a shock to see that Sony isn't expanding on the SixAxis technology given the obvious popularity of motion controllers and "the fact that Nintendo is owning them in terms of sales."

Will you be picking up a WiiMotion Plus, or are you a fervent 360 or PS3 supporter? Let us know in the forums.

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