NFS Carbon Wii controls revealed

Need for Speed Carbon on Wii will provide four different control options in an attempt to make motion-sensitive racing as easy to pick up as possible.

The default setting sees the Wii-mote used as a steering bar, held parallel to the ground and turned like a wheel in order to maneuver your car on screen, but the three other setups offer more ways to take on your street-racing rivals. Hit the Images tab for more explanation in pictures.

Carbon's other control schemes use the Nunchuk. First, you can roll the Nunchuk left or right to steer while holding the Wii-mote at a 45-degree angle, raising or lowering it to accelerate or brake. Or in another setup you could hold the Wii-mote pointing straight up, dipping it to accelerate and using the Z button on the Nunchuk to brake. Finally, you can also opt to use this Wii-mote option while steering with the Nunchuk joystick.

With no 'normal' set up - using the remote's ability to act as a standard controller - EA seems to be serious about experimenting with some interesting solutions for motion-sensing gaming. "Non-gamers had no trouble picking it up," producer Larry LaPierre told Newsweek of NFS Carbon's default steering-wheel setup.

"The Wii market is more casual, so that's why this is the default control," LaPierre explains, adding that "experienced gamers don't like it much. So we have alternatives."

Will so-called experienced gamers actually choose the Wii experience over identical (and better looking) games on other platforms? That's the question everyone's dying to have answered. Why not hit the forums and release your views?

October 23, 2006