Hero or Slave?

I think it's pretty clear that there are advantages when using a traditional controller with Mario Kart Wii. As gamers we're simply more at home, more adept and more comfortable with an analogue stick than with the motion sensing Wii Wheel.

I'm not going to start bashing the Wii Wheel, far from it. In fact I'm a big fan of the wheel and think that Nintendo have once again been brave, to a point, in creating something different. The Wheel adds a unique and fun element to Mario Kart and makes races both hotly contested and hilarious. The Wheel is a shining light in what would otherwise have been a fairly average addition to the Mario Kart series. I'm quite glad that the cowboy outfit is optional, thanks for the video Lee, although I've always wanted to try wearing a Stetson while racing at Moo Moo Meadows. Speaking of headwear, isn't it awful that our favourite Nintendo characters are out there risking life and limb on motorbikes without helmets! What's that teaching the kids? I'm sure the HSE will have something to say when they hear about this!

Using the Wii Wheel presents gamers with challenges, this is where some gamers fall off the track, and because the challenges aren't present using analogue sticks it's easier just to go back to what you know.

Here’s a bit of gaming steering wheel history. If you remember the Atari Arcade game Night Driver, released in 1976, you will also recall that this game had a large, black plastic steering wheel. The idea to steer the car with a steering wheel was, of course, sound but it was poorly implemented and hardly ergonomically designed. The steering wheel felt disconnected, it span around and around loosely not being weighted in any way. It certainly didn't self-centre or have a neutral position. If you're not old enough to remember Night Driver then perhaps you've played on a well-worn Outrun machine, incidentally the game that perfected arcade game steering, that had a knackered steering wheel that didn't centre itself and simply flopped from side to side. It could be argued that 22 years after Atari released Night Driver Nintendo have made the same mistakes with the Wii Wheel.

Considering the design of the Wii Wheel the Night Driver problems are unavoidable and I don't think it's true that Nintendo made the same mistakes as Atari. Holding the Wii Wheel comfortably in both hands leaves no chance of feeling disconnected or of the wheel spinning loosely through your grip. The weight is supplied by you and the feedback and feeling couldn't be better. One issue remains though and it's what sets the Wii Wheel apart from and behind the other control methods. It's the lack of a centre or neutral position. It's this that means that the Wii Wheel is put aside in favour of a conventional controller with an analogue stick as gamers fear that the Wheel isn't fast enough or precise enough to keep up with the pace being set by gamers already selecting to use an analogue stick to steer.

The neutral position on the analogue stick allows you to quickly get your kart or bike wheels in line and onto the perfect racing line faster thus achieving your top speed quicker. If you're on a bike the analogue advantage is increased as you'll be boosting along, Valentino Rossi style, front wheel lofted, faster than your opponents can say "L" in the sentence "Look! There he/she goes again. Do they think they're Mario Schumacher or something!!” As I said at the top, gamers are already comfortable with an analogue stick so adding the "neutral" advantage and you have a few extra seconds per lap. Take a look at the Top 10 times in the Worldwide and Continental Time Trials. Not a Wii Wheel in sight when I last looked.

I'm not advocating throwing the Wii Wheel in the bin. I know the Wii Wheel can be as fast as a conventional analogue stick. If Nintendo hadn't included support for other control methods do you think the world Top 10 would be any slower? Of course not, but it would've taken a little longer to achieve those unbelievable times. The Wii Wheel requires just a little more practice, patience and getting used to. Playing using the Wheel intensifies your connection with the game and the sense of fun and achievement are both heightened.

Including all the other control methods, in case everyone hated the Wii Wheel, was Nintendo only being brave to a point. European adverts don’t have the Wii Wheel! It’s Super Mario 2 all over again. Nintendo Japan don’t think we’re adept enough to manage the art of the Wii Wheel!

Don't be a slave to convention because you're desperate to be fastest right now. Remember, the short, quick path leads to the dark side and ultimate doom. You know who you are. We know who you are too thanks to the online system telling us! True Karters, all you Wii Wheel Heroes, are the light and Gameov3r salutes you.

Learn the ways of the Wii Wheel. Be at one with it. Be a Wii Wheel in the World Top 10. Be a Wii Wheel Hero.

See you on the track.

Be a Wii Wheel Hero on the GAMEOV3R FORUM