Wiispray turns Wii Remote into virtual graffiti spray can

If only Mark Ecko had a Wiispray when he was developing Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure, perhaps people the world would have understood his vision for a videogame-based, graffiti-tagging urban dystopian angst. Anyway, this Wii Remote turned into a spray can is the product of a student's thesis at Bauhas-University in Weimar, Germany. Martin Lihs crammed the controller into the can-like structure and plans (hopes?) to create a communal -- but not illegal -- virtual graffiti wall in which people can add their digital tags and keep it real clean, yo. Curious that he's using PlayStation-based triangle and square buttons, though.

[Via SlashGear]

[M.Samba @ Jun 6th 2008 10:43AM]

I can't decide if this is really cool or not...strange

[bohsocks @ Jun 6th 2008 10:42AM]

This is so cool!

I'm such a liar!

[gad get @ Jun 6th 2008 10:46AM]

Yes, you are. Therefore, we should disregard everything you just said.

All of it!

[Vic the One @ Jun 6th 2008 3:39PM]

The following statement is a lie:

The previous statement was the truth.

[Tony Bowman @ Jun 6th 2008 10:45AM]

Not curious at all. The if the buttons are form a recent Playstation controller, they are analog and allow for various levels of pressure/"paint" flow. I didn't think the Wii Remote's A and B buttons were analog.

[gad get @ Jun 6th 2008 10:48AM]

Shouldn't the trigger button be the sprayer head?

[Mike C @ Jun 6th 2008 10:51AM]

no the sprayer head should be the trigger button

[Tony Bowman @ Jun 6th 2008 10:50AM]

Not if you want it to look like a rattle can.

[Tony Bowman @ Jun 6th 2008 10:52AM]

Wait, I understand what you meant now. Maybe the top button nozzle controls flow, and the button on the sides control color mix dynamically?

[gad get @ Jun 6th 2008 11:16AM]

@ Mike C

That's the same thing said in a slightly different way, you goober! :D

"Pink is light red."
"No, light red is pink, silly!"

[Mike C @ Jun 6th 2008 1:18PM]

No what you said was that the top thing should be the trigger and should function like the spray head should.

What I said was the spray head should function like the trigger button.

English has a very specific ambiguity to it.

[Lyris @ Jun 6th 2008 10:50AM]

JET SET RAAAAADIIOOOO!!!

[gt2378b @ Jun 6th 2008 11:36AM]

Jet Set Wiidio.

[2esae @ Nov 10th 2008 11:43PM]

jet set radio is a gay game but marc eckos getiing up is genius,,, this wiispray is also genius and better be life like,, swear to god if this is a ripoff then ima hunt down the creater and kill him!!!!!!!!!!

[I Cook on My Notebook @ Jun 6th 2008 11:03AM]

This reminds me of when I Spray Painted my Computer and called it a Mac.

[gad get @ Jun 6th 2008 11:19AM]

Was this before or after you started cooking with your notebook?

[Vern @ Jun 6th 2008 11:03AM]

FYI, it's Marc not Mark. you referenced your own misspelling in a previous article, not very good fact-checking, Engadget. {tsk tsk}

[Slick @ Jun 6th 2008 11:06AM]

Yay - now I don't have to pay the 'Paint-n-Spray' guys on GTA IV - i can do it myself in some back alley and loose my wanted level for free...

[a @ Jun 6th 2008 11:06AM]

Sticks, dongles, pads, guitars, microphones, drums, wheels, pedals, spray paint cans...

I like the use of alternate input devices. It allows for more interesting games. But I'm running out of room for (and $ to buy) peripherals :) !

[randall @ Jun 6th 2008 11:07AM]

Getting Up was a dope game...

[SweetSauce @ Jun 6th 2008 11:15AM]

word

[Anonymous @ Jun 6th 2008 8:29PM]

No, it sucked.

[El Burcosier @ Jun 6th 2008 11:25AM]

Bauhaus*

Come on, the Bauhaus school is one of the most important schools of the 20st century and you spell it wrong...

No Bauhaus equals no modern architecture.


(Sigh)

[Tony Bowman @ Jun 6th 2008 11:33AM]

Hardly, due.

You have Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright to thank for modern architecture.

Gropius and his followers built on it, sure, but the Bauhaus school of design was birthed from a collection of Wright designs that were published in Europe long before the Bauhaus style was established.

[TheTenant @ Jun 6th 2008 12:42PM]

True, Frank Lloyd Wright and Louis Sullivan were the grandaddy's of modern architecture, but I believe that Le Corbusier and Mies van der Rohe, along with the Bauhaus school, made it accessible to the public.
I also think that they played a more significant role on design as a whole, in all its aspects.

[Mike C @ Jun 6th 2008 1:17PM]

Modern Architecture as it is known today set forth from the "International Style" coined in CIAM X.

This architecture was derived from multiple places, one, as has been said was Frank Lloyd Wright and Louis Sullivan.

The other was the De Stijl of Theo Van Doesberg, Gerrit Reitveld, and others who were involved in the Cubist Movement, which was influenced by the Arts & Crafts Movement and so on and so forth. For further information, see S.Gideon, Space Time & Architecture.

[meist3r @ Jun 6th 2008 11:41AM]

Another cool idea for an IR camera, really neat.

And by the way it's Bauhaus and not Bauhas.

[SDreamer @ Jun 6th 2008 11:49AM]

Jet Grint(Set) Radio anyone? I'm up for it *prays*

[couchpundit @ Jun 6th 2008 11:53AM]

Don't travel by air with that thing--Can you imagine the expression on the face of the x-ray tech in the TSA line at the airport?

Instant cavity search.

[TavisJohn @ Jun 6th 2008 12:25PM]

'Rather than a specially designed can, though, it would seem easier to make a Wiispray ‘caddy’ into which the Wiimote could slot. Some clever thinking could link the nozzle button to one of the Wiimote’s controls via mechanical rather than electrical means; price would also be reduced."

Why would I want to cram the WiiMote into a can, and have some inaccurate mechanical way of pushing the button...

Why not make a Spray Can that plug into the WiiMote like the Nunchuck or Classic Controller?
That would make more sense to me. The last thing we need is another plastic attachment for our WiiMote.

[Tony Rayo @ Jun 6th 2008 1:01PM]

If this idea was ever commercialized, then yes, that's likely how it would be done. However this was a student project that will likely not even interface with the Wii itself and now as much or as little tweaking as the modder wants to do can more easily be done.

[Echo1 @ Jun 6th 2008 1:55PM]

metropolitan areas tend to have problems with graffiti on buildings. What if a smart board based system in cities could implement with this to prevent vandalism on buildings

[Dylan @ Jun 8th 2008 6:30PM]

Ya, but the smart boards would get stollen.
it is a great idea though... that would be fun.

[Laron @ Jun 6th 2008 4:12PM]

Can't say if it's cool or not, but definitely innovative and creative.
(didn't mean for that to rhyme)

[chickenator @ Jun 6th 2008 6:43PM]

WiiFitti?

[Ryan @ Jun 6th 2008 7:58PM]

FACK

i so thought of this like 1000 years ago when i saw this
http://graffitiresearchlab.com/?page_id=76

[Nytrojen @ Jun 6th 2008 9:36PM]

Wow, this is exactly the same concept that one guy in my industrial design studio class came up with. He'd flip once he found out someone actually took from concept to working format

[Pravir @ Jun 7th 2008 1:55PM]

How accurate is that thing. Doubt it. Always like it. Just do the real thing.