Unlike the PS3’s SixAxis and PS Move controllers, and basically all motion controllers these days which allow for only six-axis motion controls, the Wii U’s GamePad is a ‘nine-axis device, due to its internal geomagnetic sensor, and Becky Oh, an engineer at the firm that makes the motion controllers for Nintendo, believes that is a great boon for the system as far as motion controls are concerned.
“[The gyro and accelerometer] are good at tracking relativistic change,” Oh (or let’s call her Becky) told GamesBeat. “But it doesn’t tell you absolutely where you’re pointing and where the pointer is. What the magnetic sensor does is use the Earth’s magnetic field as a reference. It can always guide [the GamePad] back to what the absolute position is.”
I think games such as first-person shooters, driving games, or some type of flying game would be a good candidate for this type of technology,” she continued.
“Sony’s Sharpshooter [Move peripheral] did something like this, but when we played with it we saw it was not accurately tracking,” she said. “There was both latency and inaccuracy.”
The Wii U’s nine-axis approach and its magnetic sensor allows for both, greater latency and accuracy.
“In that case, hardcore gamers would go back to using a joystick or game controllers,” Becky (Oh) explained, “but if you had a very accurate way — with no latency or very little latency — to use the gun to point what you’re shooting. I think that does change the way the game is played.”
Despite all the disconcerting things we have heard about the Wii U so far, we are yet to hear anything negative about its motion controls, so we’re assuming they work very well.
Have you had a chance to try them? Tell us what you think in your comments.
[VG247]