Out of all the things at E3 that Square-Enix could have showed invested interest in: the new, streamlined PSP, the mysterious possibilities of Home, the ever-growing functionality of Xbox Live – it decided to publicly swoon over … the Wii Balance Board?
That’s right. Akira Toriyama and Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings producer Eisuke Yokoyama, in an interview with IGN, have expressed some genuine curiosity in Nintendo’s contribution to a healthier gaming world:
Right now we're mostly interested in Wii Fit. We're really intrigued by it. There are no actual plans to take Final Fantasy into the fitness genre, but that whole system and mechanism of using your weight and balance to control games is something we're interested in incorporating into future RPG titles.
Even though by no stretch of my imagination can I comprehend how this new control scheme will be incorporated into an RPG, I am excited that major publishers are embracing some much-needed change to the industry and stepping (no pun intended) out of the box to make that happen.
This news is also of note as it kind of confirms Square-Enix’s plans for more Wii RPGs in the future. What those will be, though, is anybody’s guess.
What do you think? Are you excited by this growing trend of more physically interactive videogames? Any thoughts on how the Wii Balance Board really could be incorporated into an RPG? Seriously, I am still totally confused.
Chad Concelmo is Destructoid's features editor. He loves hanging out with awesome people. That's why Destructoid makes him so happy, since it is full of THE MOST AWESOME PEOPLE OF ALL TIME! Also, dolphins.
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Chad enjoys punching old ladies in the face, Super Metroid, Zelda: A Link to the Past on the SNES (best system ever!), Final Fantasy VI, Day of the Tentacle, Shadow of the Colossus, Mother 3, Beyond Good & Evil, Contra III, Valkyria Chronicles, Punch-Out!!, Half-Life 2, and Super Mario Galaxy 2.
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Contest:
5:04 PM on 07.18.2007
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Also, if people playing RPG's have to stand on Wii balance boards the whole time, it will be easier to know if the Korean guy your playing with that's been online for 70 hours at an internet cafe just died.
Priceless
There's a lot of potential for the board if developers use it correctly, or it could just fade away like any number of Nintendo peripherals.
I never thought about that. You should sue. :)
Is it that hard to see a RPG that had a main character that used a board (hover/snow/water) whatever to travel... We've had RPG's based on far worse, and you can always use the Wiimote if you don't have the board.
PS The Balance Board isn't for us (aka hardcore gamers) even though I need one and most of you probably do too. It's aimed at more middle aged gamers, and it's gonna sell like crazy.
YES! YES! Y-E-S
Call me a Good Ol Boy, but RPGs should be synonymous with vegetating, like they've always been.
The PSP? OMG! They put Darth Vader on it! The system still has shit for games no matter how much they shrink it down. It really just means they can fit more on a shelf at Wal-Mart where they'll stay for all eternity.
But you're right, I can't BELIEVE a new peripheral could be more exciting to a game developer, than Sony's lame showings.
"What's that...? A mix of Myspace, Second Life, with a little iTunes mixed in...? Squee!!!"
Granted, Home may not be for me... not going to stop it from doing what it's destined to do though.
As for this board... as it's been repeated enough times, if used correctly it can come up with something. Racing, skateboarding, hell... throw and old school Mario game and have peeps jumping on the damn thing. If one thinks long enough, it could work.
can i have that game?
Lean to avoid punches, and to do uppercuts, coruch down, then, while standing back up, punch upwards. Things like that. I think, if well-implemented(the key word here), then it should be good.
I also thought of something else. What about a fencing game where you use the Wii remote as a sword and use the Balance Board to do the footwork, keeping pace with your opponent and striking when the time is right. Maybe the nunchuk could be added in there as well.
I am actually really excited about the Wii Balance Board and agree with you that it is far and away more exciting than anything Sony or Microsoft showed at E3 (I just love the freshness of the whole thing).
I just am surprised that Square-Enix, a company that prides itself on the latest technology (and very long games), would be interested in, of all things, a controller that forces you to stand up to play.
The news made me very happy, though -- I am all for steps in different (and wholly original) directions. :)
I'm curious to see how Square plan to changes things up and get out of the monotonous control schemes of the 360 and PS3.
BTW, I noticed that the more popular the Wii gets the more that users and some of the editors are getting more critical of it. Hmmm? Is it fear that we are a dying breed (the hard core gamer)? Is it like when your favorite local band gets famous, and you hate how everybody is in to them? Can you really honestly say you would rather see no Wii?
Gaming would suck with out the Wii by the end of this generation, both the other consoles would sell less than 20 million units before finally dropping to $199 in the year 2525.(not the 360 core either, nobody who is actually gonna buy any games is gonna buy that)
Not me. I love my Wii. :)