Jokes about waggle have become ubiquitous fodder -- this console generation’s World War 2 shooter references-- that can be deployed without any particular tact or skill for immediate hilarity.  Generally, I disagree with any community-wide consensuses (consensi?) of this nature.  Mob mentality often curbs the supple opinions of enthusiasts into misinformed regurgitations for the sweet, treasured acceptance that comes with universal agreement.  This phenomenon tends to be even stronger in subcultures with a marked lack of social graces.  While I love disagreeing with the masses for the sake of measured and intellectual discussion, this time I can’t.  Waggle sucks, as it is both pointless and annoying in equal measure.


I won’t make excuses - lazy development constitutes a large percentage of the waggle issue.  Instead of tailoring the game play experience around a fundamentally new interface, they simply adapt old designs as quickly as possible.  Another big factor - and far more emotionally resonant with gamers jilted by the Wii - is that the Wii Remote didn’t turn out to be as accurate as we all assumed it would be.  Nintendo carrot-and-sticked us into thinking it was what MotionPlus will soon make it (unless they’re doing it again).

Then again, these are factors but not the originating problem.  Until this point all games, excepting some eccentric arcade games, have employed interpretive controls.  A player presses a button or a direction on a joystick, and this real world action triggers a corresponding virtual one.  You press A and Mario jumps.  Motion controls should’ve changed this process - most importantly the timing and sequence of virtual events, but it didn’t.  Why is that?