Nintendo Wiimote: Technology Limitations

[Javery]

Nintendo has told us all along that this was a new technology that 'the console's controller can detect its exact location and orientation in 3D space' with 'pixel-perfect accuracy'. This lead me, and likely you to believe that this was like some sort of 3D grid in the room that the console could detect exactly where it is, and in what position it is in. That if you laid the controller on the floor and started up the system, it would know that the controller is on the floor. There is no new technology at work here, but rather the culmination of two existing technologies used in a new way.

Interesting stuff I think - sheds a little light on how things work...

http://www.xgaming.com/newsletter/Wii%20Dupe.shtml

[shipwreck]

Sounds reasonable to me. This makes a lot of sense. I figured the movement was registered by accelerometers, but the "light gun" like technology certainly explains how it tracks pointing.

It really will all come down to how the software is programmed though. Even if the controller has limitations, the software can hide these and make it seem more accurate than it actually is.

Definitely an interesting read.

[sfriedlander]

Interesting stuff I think - sheds a little light on how things work...

http://www.xgaming.com/newsletter/Wii%20Dupe.shtml
dose that mean it doesn't work when u push it forward or something

[botticus]

:lol: The poor employee at the end.

Good read, makes much sense. I also understand that PixArt announcement a bit more now. I thought that was what was already being used, but apparently not.

[Lan_Zer0]

Good read, it definitely makes me hopeful for surprises to come. However, it still doesn't resolve some of the FPS control issues some people have been having... http://blogs.ign.com/matt-ign

[Robobandit]

That guy edited his article since yesterday.. it sounds less harsh now.

Anyway, I'm not convinced that that guy knows what he's talking about. Until an actual Wii remote gets out in the wild where people can dissect it and figure out what makes it tick, I'm going to be skeptical of anyone claiming to know how the device works.

yeah, the sensor bar looks similar to the LED lightgun technology, but that technology is apparently flakey and easy to fool, whereas the wii remote apparently does not suffer from that fault.

As far as "knowing its position in 3d space", I wouldn't have thought that they meant it would know whether or not it was sitting on the floor, on a stool in your room or on top of the television.

I took it to mean "It knows its position relative to the sensor bar, knows whether or not it is turned backwards, sideways or at an angle and knows how fast and in what direction is it being moved and tilted", which does seem to be what it knows.

We know it is capable of things in that sense, especially in that during the IGN Interview with the Red Steel developers they said that they originally had free-form sword movement in the game, but they changed it to the gesture-based move system because they thought it made combat more dynamic and fun.

Anyway, I'm skeptical of this guy's article (he was pimping it multiple times in the comments section of Matt's blog.. which is rather annoying, imho)

[mtxbass1]

I haven't been keeping up with exactly how the Wii remote works, but do you put sensor bars everywhere and it tracks it that way? Do you have to have a TV screen to reflect back the beam or what? I ask this because I do all my gaming on a projector and I don't have a TV.

[botticus]

I haven't been keeping up with exactly how the Wii remote works, but do you put sensor bars everywhere and it tracks it that way? Do you have to have a TV screen to reflect back the beam or what? I ask this because I do all my gaming on a projector and I don't have a TV.
The remote interacts with the sensor bar, which is best situated above or below your TV.

[epobirs]

The employee at the end should just have said, "That is where we keep the magic!"

The technology will have it's limits but so what? Just making this work well with nearly any display and without an excessive amount of stuff beyond the sensor bar required is a good achievement in consumer design.

The system will likely have a built-in test and alignment app to insure the sensor bar is placed properly and you have a comfortable location to stand in relation to the size of your screen. The smaller your display the closer you'll need tob e and the more limited your range of movement. This means developers have to test the game on a variety of displays and perhaps offer options to adjust for different needs. Any new addition to the design process such as this will have a learning curve. A lot of Nintendo's work with third parties will be enforcing their requirement for ease of use and making sure developers understand the tech properly. Same as ever, really.

[trq]

The employee at the end should just have said, "That is where we keep the magic!"

The technology will have it's limits but so what? Just making this work well with nearly any display and without an excessive amount of stuff beyond the sensor bar required is a good achievement in consumer design.

The system will likely have a built-in test and alignment app to insure the sensor bar is placed properly and you have a comfortable location to stand in relation to the size of your screen. The smaller your display the closer you'll need tob e and the more limited your range of movement. This means developers have to test the game on a variety of displays and perhaps offer options to adjust for different needs. Any new addition to the design process such as this will have a learning curve. A lot of Nintendo's work with third parties will be enforcing their requirement for ease of use and making sure developers understand the tech properly. Same as ever, really.

You know, as probably the most obviously tech-savvy regular poster here, I was hoping you'd have something to say in this thread, Epobirs. Thanks.

[jer7583]

Only thing that worried me is the idea that the Wii might not be able to directly track your hands' position in 3D space.. I was really looking forward to the idea of a fight night/PunchOut with two wiimotes in hand. The article doesn't make it an impossiblitity, it just says that wasn't a funtion of the Wiis at E3 2006.

[Robobandit]

Only thing that worried me is the idea that the Wii might not be able to directly track your hands' position in 3D space.. I was really looking forward to the idea of a fight night/PunchOut with two wiimotes in hand. The article doesn't make it an impossiblitity, it just says that wasn't a funtion of the Wiis at E3 2006.

Well, you could do it with a gesture based system.. I also saw a guy playing Wii Sports baseball and he was circling the Wii mote around like a bat and I saw the in-game character doing the same thing.

It should have enough information available to it to recognize the difference between a straight punch and an uppercut at least.. the DBZ game apparently used the controller pretty well.. using it to throw punches, and pressing A or something and doing a forward gesture to use the kamehameha wave, etc.

I'm still looking for a video of someone playing that with the Wii remote, it just sounds like fun :D

[epobirs]

Only thing that worried me is the idea that the Wii might not be able to directly track your hands' position in 3D space.. I was really looking forward to the idea of a fight night/PunchOut with two wiimotes in hand. The article doesn't make it an impossiblitity, it just says that wasn't a funtion of the Wiis at E3 2006.

That will have to wait until Nintendo's next big annoucement at E3. The return of R.O.B.!

This time he won't be a diminuative little servant but a fully capable combatant that will give Wii games an amazing touch of realism by enabling the Wii to reach out and touch the player. The new R.O.B. will have several diffrent skins, in a almost literal sense, that put him in character for the game. In his Kirby skin R.O.B. will be a giant pink puff ball that seeks to distract the player at inopportune moments. But R.O.B.'s full power will be unleached when dressed in his skin Ultimate PunchOut, where he'll take on the appearance and demeanor of Dolph Lundgren in 'Rocky IV.' Gamers will be required to sing a waiver with both Nintendo and their health coverage provider before the R.O.B. becomes active.

Playing against R.O.B. can be regarded as the ultimate gaming experience because it will also very likely be your last.

[ArthurDigbySellers]

I know that people who played the MP3 demo were saying that if you thrusted the Wiimote forward that Samus would punch her hand out for certain puzzles. I thought that was accomplished through determining the Wiimote's distance from the sensor bar but apparently that was just an accelerometer?