I, like many others, was skeptical when first hearing about the Wii’s new MotionPlus attachment, designed to further enhance the accelerometer capabilities of the Wiimote. It seems like all Nintendo has done this generation is provide us with things to snap our Wiimotes into (Wii Zapper, Wii Wheel), and none of them really enhance the experience. At least, I believed that about MotionPlus until I actually tried it, and now I’m a believer.

The E3 show demo of Wii Sports Resort featured three mini-games (Disc Dog, Power Cruising, and Sword Play), each of which demonstrate that the new MotionPlus attachment holds great potential to really make the Wii’s motion controls totally immersive and endlessly fun. The new Wiimote protrusion does so much in order to make even the subtlest movements register that you may spend so much time marveling at it all you forget to play the game.

The first game to show off this new level of accuracy was Disc Dog, a playful game of fetch where you toss a Frisbee and send your canine companion after it. Targets are displayed before each throw, and the closer the dog makes the catch to that specific spot, the more points you get. What’s incredible is how every movement you make, no matter how subtle, is translated perfectly on-screen. As you hold your disc in preparation to throw, each slight twist of your wrist is accurately portrayed, giving you full control over your toss. For a console with games that have suffered significantly due to this lack of refinement, it feels like we’re all receiving present that is long overdue.

Another challenge that takes full advantage of MotionPlus is Sword Play, a sword fighting game that allows you to parlay your movements into a series of strikingly accurate horizontal, vertical, and diagonal slices. Playing this particular mini-game you get the feeling that this is what Red Steel was supposed to feel like but never quite achieved. Obviously, seeing that we now have proof the Wii can handle accurate 1:1 sword swings with MotionPlus, we now have every right to expect some incredibly fun sword fighting or, dare I say it, lightsaber dueling games.