InvenSense boasts about Wii MotionPlus-powering IDG-600 motion sensor

With Nintendo's official business out of the way, the motion sensing-minded folks at InvenSense are now free to brag about the technology behind the new Wii MotionPlus add-on, a press release we're sure they've been itching to send out. The key bit of kit in the forthcoming accessory, it seems, is the IDG-600 multi-axis MEMS rate gyroscope, which InvenSense describes as a "truly disruptive technology" that boasts just the right combination of manufacturing and performance advantages to make it ideal for Nintendo's purposes. InvenSense also says that it has already begun shipping to Nintendo in mass production quantities, which is certainly assuring, if unsurprising.

[Mic2000 @ Jul 15th 2008 5:15PM]

It should have been in the Wiimote itself already...

[Doggerts @ Jul 15th 2008 5:29PM]

How could it have been? Its a bran new part!

[GatgetMan @ Jul 15th 2008 5:38PM]

Still, nothing beats brand new raisin bran!

[Ethan @ Jul 15th 2008 7:38PM]

I don't know what any of you were talking about, I was off getting some Gat!

[Heinz @ Jul 15th 2008 5:19PM]

Wow, with all those attachments, it is so long, its going to be like playing the game with a broomstick.

Seriously though, those buttons are going to be hard to reach now with the end on it, and then to take it off to use the side buttons you are going to have to the jacket and then put it back on, wow, genius move.

[Syphon Filter @ Jul 15th 2008 5:44PM]

Am I missing something here?

Just because there's an extension on the controller doesn't mean you have to hold it any differently.

Just hold it as you did before surely?

[sockatume @ Jul 15th 2008 6:03PM]

Not for games that use the controller in a sideways, NES-style position. The MotionPlus will have to come off for those.

[Syphon Filter @ Jul 15th 2008 6:25PM]

ah good point sockatume...

[Jeff @ Jul 15th 2008 6:38PM]

eh, the jacket is for suckers anyway.

:P

[xdrewfacex @ Jul 17th 2008 10:24AM]

i'm pretty sure they said something about a longer jacket being made to accomodate this addon...

Wiimote Jacket Magnum XL?

[Heinz @ Jul 15th 2008 5:20PM]

totally, just make new controllers!

[Kevin @ Jul 16th 2008 9:13AM]

Apparently, that is exactly what they are doing and this will become the new standard. This peripheral is meant to upgrade existing Wiimotes. I get the feeling that they don't want to publicize this because it would prevent people from buying the current Wii controllers and the new controllers won't be released this year, but it was implied in an IGN interview with Miyamoto.

[Bosco @ Jul 15th 2008 5:33PM]

This is amazing! InvenSens has sure come a long way quickly with help of those late night informercials helping inventors get their submissions patented and presented to industry.

[Taylor @ Jul 15th 2008 5:55PM]

I hope you're joking...
InvenSense=/=InvenTech
You probably are joking, i just figured i'd throw that out there...
-Taylor

[Sebbi @ Jul 15th 2008 5:51PM]

Does that mean the MotionPlus thing uses a dual-axis gyro? Or did InvenSense in fact "invent" a 3-axis gyro? Because I can't find that IDG-600 on their website and the press-release only speaks of multi-axis gyros ... hmmm

[Britt @ Jul 15th 2008 6:04PM]

I'm betting it's dual-axis only, since everything they manufacture is dual-axis. I don't think I've seen a tri-axis MEMS that small, or that cheap, as yet. But some clarification would be nice.

Either way, my money's on dual-axis.

[Andre @ Jul 15th 2008 6:12PM]

^ What's the difference between a 2-axis gyro and 3-axis gyro? Also, does it matter since the wiimote has accelerometers built in?

[Sebbi @ Jul 15th 2008 8:42PM]

Andre,

I highly recommend reading this article on wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inertial_measurement_unit

Basically you measure 3 accelerations and 3 rotation rates all orthogonal to each other and you can track every move of an object. 2 gyros and the built in accelerometers are not enough ... even with camera they use.

[chefgon_ign @ Jul 15th 2008 6:17PM]

I'm still not totally clear on what this thing does. It makes the motion sensing "better". Makes "1:1" possible (though I didn't see anything in the Resort demo that is any more comlpex than the original Wii Sports, the baseball bat seemed pretty 1:1 to me).

They need a really clear message about what this thing does if they want it to catch on. It can't just be some vague feeling that it "makes it better," it has to have a key new feature that is easily distinguishable from what was possible before!

[Jeff @ Jul 15th 2008 6:39PM]

no kidding. i'd really like to see a tech demo that shows exactly what this little add-on is capable of beyond what the wiimote already does.

...though having sensors at both ends of the device does seem like it could result in some real accuracy and interesting possibilities.

[bouncicles @ Jul 24th 2008 10:51AM]

Actually you've got it precisely backward:

"They need a really clear message about what this thing does if they want it to catch on."

What could possibly make you think that a technical description of how a piece of hardware works would have anything to do with its catching on? If anything, the success of the Wii proves that such details have no correlation with catching on. Their message is that this new part enables 1:1 motion correspondence. That is the clear message. It is true that some people would like more technical information about how this hardware works, but that has absolutely nothing to do with its success.

[Plothole @ Jul 15th 2008 8:48PM]

My guess is that it allows the Wiimote to track its actual orientation in real time. You see while the sensor in the controller can sense which direction it is being held in, apparently it can only do so while stationary. The minute the controller starts moving, it has to base this value on the last measurement compared to the direction of acceleration. Sometimes it miscalculates though. This is most obvious when the on-screen cursor acts up right after a quick motion; the pointer system needs to know the wiimote's exact orientation in order to work properly.

Anyways, a sensor dedicated to that task would presumably eliminate this current limitation.

[Andre @ Jul 15th 2008 6:26PM]

^ The Baseball bat was just a clever implementation of tilt control. Since you held the bat as the player did on-screen, it could infer where you were holding it based on how the wiimote was tilted. As for swinging, it merely measured how fast the controller moved, and once it reached a certain threshhold, your character would swing too. Again, clever, but not ideal for many uses. For instance, you could simply tilt the controller in your hand to get the same effect, but the game wouldn't know the difference.

However, with WiiMotion, it apparently can go much further than that, and can't be fooled by simple tricks. Furthermore, it (apparently) can also detect yaw, which the Wiimote by itself can't do, which would mean the dog-frisbee game would work without it.

[Dan @ Jul 16th 2008 5:08AM]

When playing baseball you can rotate the bat and it follows exactly the same movement on screen which feels 1:1 even if it technically isnt. But then it doesnt know if you are holding the remote left or right handed so I assume it it making assumptions about the relationship of the remote orientation and screen.

Im not sure yet what this add on will provide in games. If Red Steel 2 comes out now after such a long wait then at least we know they were waiting for real sword movements!

Show us some demos Nintendo!

[Andre @ Jul 15th 2008 8:39PM]

Correction: The dog-frisbee game wouldn't work without it.

[Rocketboy @ Jul 16th 2008 10:30AM]

Aww, we knew what you meant. There was enough goodness in your post to overlook such a slight miscalculation.

[Jason @ Jul 15th 2008 8:10PM]

What I don't understand is why they couldn't just include two single-axis gyroscopes in the original Wiimote. The WarioWare Twisted! one was pretty darn precise.

[Plothole @ Jul 15th 2008 9:20PM]

Since the accelerometer can detect orientation while stationary, they must have figured that the software portion would be "smart enough" to keep track of this without the need for a dedicated gyro.

[Carl M @ Jul 15th 2008 10:08PM]

They couldn't include this with the original remote because gyros that were cheap enough (and available enough) did not exist at the time.

A gyro is a much much more complicated beast than an accelerometer, and whereas a single accelerometer part can give you 3D acceleration data, you need 3 gyros to get 3D rotation data.

Probably even today, no one makes enough gyros to supply with every Wii sold. I imagine that Invensense is scrounging around for manufacturing capacity like mad now.

[chris carter @ Jul 7th 2009 7:34PM]

came across this link on the invensense website... may prove to be
helpful for answerin ur question regardin gyroscopes and gaming and
the wii motion plus
http://invensense.com/applications/gaming/wii-motionplus/wii-motion-plus.html