Electronic Arts' first two games to take advantage of the Wii MotionPlus accessory will now arrive alongside the optional add-on on June 8, the publisher announced today.

Previously, the Wii editions of EA Sports Grand Slam Tennis and Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 were slated to launch on June 16. Both games will be available individually at $50, with a $60 Tiger Woods bundle packing the regularly $20 accessory.

The Tiger Woods bundle will be available in both North America and Europe, with Europe also set to receive an EA Sports Grand Slam Tennis/MotionPlus bundle.

Announced last year, the Wii MotionPlus accessory plugs into the bottom of the Wii Remote, providing "a true 1:1 response" for motion controls in compatible games.

Nintendo has announced prices and release dates for its control-enhancing Wii MotionPlus accessory and the game Wii Sports Resort, which will take advantage of it.

The Wii MotionPlus, out June 8 costing $20 per accessory, attaches to a Wiimote to increases the sensitivity and accuracy of its motion sensors to an almost 1:1 scale.

Nintendo's first game to take advantage of the MotionPlus is Wii Sports Resort, which arrives on July 26 at $50, bundled with a single MotionPlus unit. Jet skiing, fencing and frisbee are among the minigames to enjoy and show off the enhanced precision.

Several third-party games have already announced support for MotionPlus, including Ubisoft's Red Steel 2 and EA's Grand Slam Tennis and Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10.

New details from a Nintendo Power preview indicate that the Wii MotionPlus, the remote add-on that enhances the precision the Wii motion controls, is due out sometime prior to June 18.

Nintendo Power's recent preview of EA's Grand Slam Tennis title mentions that the MotionPlus is "due out prior to Grand Slam's release."

After noticing the tidbit, GoNintendo tracked down the June 18 release of Grand Slam Tennis, leading to the assumption that the MotionPlus accessory will make it to stores sometime ahead of the date.

The MotionPlus was announced at E3 last year. Games supporting the accessory in addition to Grand Slam Tennis include Ubisoft's Red Steel 2, Wii Sports Resort and Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10.

Electronic Arts today announced that EA Sports Grand Slam Tennis and Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 will hit Wii on June 16, and confirmed that the two will the first Wii games out of EA that support the upcoming MotionPlus controller add-on.

Nintendo unveiled the accessory last summer, promising that it would improve the accuracy of the Wii Remote's motion-sensing capabilities to an almost 1:1 scale. At last official word, the add-on was to be bundled with Wii Sports Resort this spring.

When played in conjunction with the MotionPlus accessory, Tiger Woods is said to "allow golf fans to experience a near-perfect 1:1 swing." Meanwhile, Electronic Arts vowed that Grand Slam Tennis is "the deepest tennis experience ever for the Wii," and noted that both Grand Slam and Tiger Woods 10 would eventually hit other platforms.

Those versions of Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 for other platforms will ship in June, the company added, while stressing that Grand Slam Tennis is "available first for the Wii."

Since the Wii's inception, fans have been clamoring for a 1:1 motion-accurate lightsaber game from LucasArts. And while Nintendo's announcement of the Wii MotionPlus accessory caught developers off guard, it appears that progress is being made toward that ultimate goal--albeit by a less familiar source.

LiveMove 2 is a piece of middleware designed to help developers easily incorporate Wii MotionPlus support into their games. Produced by AiLive, the tools were demonstrated in a short video (below), which shows a developer using a laser sword to knock around objects, including a human figure. [videofeature] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acND4sO3pJs&vq=2&fmt_map=6/720000/7/0/0 [img] http://cdn.shacknews.com/public/images/videopreview/feature/lightmove2.jpg [/img] [/videofeature]

A sequel to Ubisoft's first-person sword and gunplay title Red Steel will make use of Nintendo's Wii MotionPlus peripheral, a device which drastically increases the motion sensitivity of the Wii Remote.

The peripheral was first demonstrated at Nintendo's E3 2008 press conference along with Wii Sports Resort, the only announced title to make use of the device at that time. The game and Wii MotionPlus will be sold together as a bundle in the spring of 2009.

"Red Steel [is] the typical product that will appreciate the new device," Ubisoft executive director Alain Corre told GamesIndustry.biz. "Red Steel 2 has been in development for many months now, and this new device will help us be even more precise in what we do with the product."

Developed by Ubisoft Paris, Red Steel originally shipped for the Wii alongside the console's debut in late 2006. Despite overwhelming hype for the shooter's gunplay and sword-based combat elements, the title was widely panned for its poor... Read more

Following the debut of the Wii MotionPlus peripheral at last week's E3 2008 exhibition, several third party Wii developers told GameInformer that they were not given prior notice of the peripheral's development before its official unveiling.

According to the report, the developers questioned added that they were not briefed of the implementation of the Wii MotionPlus—which promises to bring one-to-one motion control to the Wii Remote—and were doubtful that they would be able to support the device in games currently under development.

Announced at Nintendo's E3 press conference, the Wii MotionPlus peripheral is currently slated as compatible with only a single game, Wii Sports Resort... Read more