Nintendo announced the development of the Wii MotionPlus on July 14, 2008, prior to Microsoft's E3 press conference. Wii MotionPlus is a peripheral that snaps onto the Wii Remote. It is intended to "more quickly and accurately reflect motions in a 3D space."Nintendo: Introducing Wii MotionPlus (July 14, 2008)
The Wii MotionPlus will be available in U.S. stores beginning June 8, 2009. CNET has called the peripheral a "game-changer" for the Wii console and Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter estimates that Nintendo will sell over 10 million Wii MotionPlus peripherals by the end of 2009.CNET: Wii MotionPlus could be a game-changer (May 14, 2009)
Release Date and Price
After nearly a year of waiting, Nintendo finally announced the official release date for the Wii MotionPlus accessory, stating that it could be expected to debut at U.S. retailers on June 8, 2009. Purchased individually, it will carry a price tag of $19.99, or it can be bought bundled with the Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 game for $49.99.VGChartz: Nintendo Announces Release Dates for Wii Motion+... (April 14, 2009) Amazon.com: Wii Sports Resort
What is MotionPlus?
The Wii MotionPlus accessory snaps onto the end of the Wii Remote. It provides improved precision and more accurately senses movement in 3D space. The peripheral has a 1:1 response and detects every flick of the wrist and precisely renders movement in real-time on the television screen. The hope is to make game play more intuitive.Nintendo: Introducing Wii MotionPlus (July 14, 2008)
Not all games will make use of the Wii MotionPlus' technology. According to Nintendo, older games will not be compatible with the peripheral, and there are no plans to release a patch to change that in the future.Joystiq: Wii games unlikely to be patch with MotionPlus support (April 15, 2009) A few games being released in the near future will support Wii MotionPlus, including Sega's Virtua Tennis 2009 and Nintendo's own Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10, which will come bundled with the peripheral.Joystiq: Virtua Tennis 2009 serves up Wii MotionPlus support (April 14, 2009) Nintendo: Wii Sports Resort