Wii MotionPlus backwards compatibility: Denied!

The new MotionPlus peripheral plugs into the bottom of your Wii Remote and claims to boost sensitivity, accuracy and that all-important sense of immersion. Wii Sports Resort comes bundled with the device and a trio of forthcoming titles will support it too. Don’t get any fancy ideas about using it to breathe new life into those old games gathering dust on your shelves, though.

Yup, sadly – and somewhat inevitably – it seems that Nintendo is not planning to release any kind of patch to make old games work with the new accessory:

"Wii MotionPlus accessory is only for games that are designed to make use of its abilities. Wii MotionPlus is an optional accessory for developers and players who want to further refine their game experience," as a Nintendo spokesperson told Gamespot earlier on.

Ah well, guess we should have seen that one coming, what with the wholesale (and costly) reprogramming that probably would have been necessary to bring older games up to speed. In fact we can only think of a bare handful of titles where the MotionPlus’ advanced functionality would have made much of a difference anyway. Even so it might still be disappointing for newcomers who buy Wii Sports Resort with the expectation of finding a bountiful back catalogue of software where their new super-precise pointers can be put to good use.

So, will the MotionPlus with its lack of backwards-compatibility be on your shopping list this summer? Put another way, is it even worthwhile investing when only three games actually support the device? We’re beginning to wonder ourselves...