E3 2009: Hands on with Wii Sports Resort

Nintendo’s booth was a happening place at this year’s E3 (well, it usually is) with tons of showgoers looking to get their hands on games like New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Wii Fit Plus, Sin and Punishment 2, Zelda: Spirit Tracks and the big N’s awesome sequel to Wii pack-in, Wii Sports.

Wii Sports Resort was truly like the original game on steroids, using WiiMotionPlus, the new games are infinitely more accurate and skill-based, without sacrificing that essential Wii Sports accessibility.

I was able to try out three of the games: Archery, Basketball and Sword fighting. Archery was incredibly fun. you actually aim with the Wii-mote and pull back on the nunchuck to nock your arrow. It’s incredibly immersive and intuitive and I felt like an archery pro after loosing a few rounds. Basketball was tougher to master, requiring picture-perfect rhythm but I could easily see myself losing a few hours in the interface.

The most explosively fun new game was definitely the sword fighting. You do need technique. You block and look for openings in your opponent’s defense but, my lord, is it ever fun to swing your WiiMote like a sword.

There will be 12 activities in total (ten are all new) when the game ships on July 26, 2009. If my time with the game is any indication, this will be one to sign up for. I can only imagine having a few awesome summer barbecues extended well into the night with inebriated sword fighting matches.

Read [San Francisco Gate]