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Results for posts tagged "wiimotes" on Gizmodo Australia.
There is an alternate universe much like our own, but in this universe there is no war and cows produce ice-cold milkshakes. And in this universe, you'll also find the manifested counterparts to these wooden Wii peripheral concepts. Made of wood and featuring well-placed LED flare, the only thing better than the Wiimote and Nunchuk is this realistic Wiiglock:
The speakingObject is a voice-synthesising board that's easily tweaked with two buttons and a typical three-axis accelerometer. What's that mean? You get a completely original, vaguely human techno-ready track with the flick of a wrist. And yes, it's only a matter of time before some tripped-out a'hole at a concert is doing this right next to you while waving his iLighter high in the air. [joerg via bbGadgets]
Surely, at least a few of you are sad that Nintendo never released the Wii in multiple colours—despite their announcement promises. Well good news! No, the Wii isn't coming in any new colours, but Nintendo has launched the Wiimote strap in almost any flavour you'd like—blue, green, pink and, uhh, white again. Available in Japan only for the time being, the safety harnesses will go for US$2.75 apiece or in a variety pack of four for about US$9. In other news, Nintendo makes a bajillion more dollars without even really trying. [Kotaku]
This Wii Sqweeze demo by InterAction Labs supposedly does for your upper body what Wii Fit does for the lower body of the 10 people who actually managed to find one. The thing is essentially two squeezable grips (exactly like the kind you can get at sports stores now) that correspond to claws and bows and other activities on screen. It's not a real Wii game now, but just a PC demo running off a Wiimote tied via USB to a Wii. Could it be a real Wii game? Sure, but unless it's got Nintendo's name and advertising attached to it, we don't think it's going to do that well. [Exergamelab]
Now that Nintendo's solving their Wiimote control issues, we can finally focus our intentions on superficial improvements. It's required some major soldering, but one modder has added all sorts of LED-based tweaks to his Wiimote. The first, seen here, Skittles-izes the player indicators by swapping out the now-drab blue LEDs for those of multiple colours. Our cup of tea? Not really. But the kids will love it. The second notable mod utilises the Wiimote's rumble signal and maps an LED pulse to the shaking:
AiLive, the company that collaborated with Nintendo on the MotionPlus controller add-on, has released a video demonstrating the full capabilities of the new hardware with a set of 3D tools called LiveMove2. An obvious but effective rendering of the controller shows that the touted 1:1 tracking is, in fact, 1:1 and that the response time is almost instant. They've also had some fun with the software, mapping a light saber to the WiiMote to fight off physics-enabled Seeker Drones (which caused our own Adrian Covert to "make a mess in his pants"). To top it all off, the "Snap-to-fit" technology can map incredibly complex motions to more specific commands, recognising everything from throwing a lasso to specific sword slashes.
Nyko's Wiimote charge station has been on the market for a while now, dutifully rejuvenating two Wiimotes at a time so you don't have to. How could you improve on that concept? By introducing a charge station that charges FOUR Wiimotes simultaneously. Penguin United's solution does just that, plus comes with fancy green and blue LEDs, the ability to charge up to max in four hours and a price tag of US$45. Unlike driving four cars simultaneously, eating four burgers simultaneously, peeing in four toilets simultaneously or dating four women simultaneously, we see no downside to charging four Wiimotes simultaneously. [Penguin United via IGN]
Ah, the great outdoors. Nothing says summer like heading out in your canoe. Especially if said canoe has been modified with a small electric motor that's controllable via a Wiimote. That's right, nerds: now you can use your mad Wii skills to help you avoid the horrible exertion that comes from paddling. Unfortunately, it's just a steering mechanism. What would really be something would be if you had to "paddle" with the Wiimote while steering with the Nunchuk. If you're going to do something this ridiculous, you might as well go all out. [Wiimote Controlled Canoe via Make]
One day Wii controller attachment manufacturers are going to run out of plastic, and the world is going to be a better place. But until that day, there's going to be a seemingly never-ending tide of white plastic crap like this "Laser Sword" attachment from French company Subsonic. It's kind of like what Wilson found last year with the Wiimote Light Sword, but adds in a motion sensor so Star Wars poseurs can activate the lights inside with a wrist flick or Star Wars kid ninja move. [Subsonic]
Unfazed by Nintendo's Wii Music going over like a lead balloon at E3, Yamaha has its own accelerometer-based motion-controlled music interface that look oh-so familiar. The slightly more adult-looking wands use three accelerometers to feed movements to music software on a PC, and the 2.4GHz wireless receiver can accommodate up to 24 wands at once. It seems as if Yamaha is developing these more for music therapy for the elderly and disabled than entertainment, which sort of puts Wii Music in whole new context. [Tech ON via Fareastgizmos]
