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Revolutionary: Exploring New Depths
Every Tuesday, Mike Sylvester brings you REVOLUTIONARY, a look at the wide world of Wii possibilities. Going by the company's success of late, neophytes might assume that Nintendo was always looked at as the redemptive innovator of the games industry. But some time around the midpoint of the Super Nintendo's life cycle, the popular sentiment started turning to "a trend isn't cool until Nintendo bucks it." Nintendo fans were two generations behind in getting an optical drive. We played grayscaled, unlit Gameboys for years while our friends dumped battery after battery into their Lynx's, Turbo Express Portables, Neo Geo Pocket Colors, and Game Gears. Even today, we're still ravening for Nintendo-flavored online gaming. Nintendo's first 3D console didn't come out until a year after Sony's, and 18 months after Sega's, so while my SNES delivered 2D nirvana in Donkey Kong Country, Super Castlevania 4, and Super Mario All-Stars, I was getting my 3D fix elsewhere.
Control a telescope with the Wiimote
Using GlovePIE, along with some other programs called BlueSoleil and PPJoy, the young lad above was able to control his high-powered (and, likely, high-dollar) telescope with a Wiimote. We guess we can just chalk this up to another thing the Wiimote can do. Heck, we even present the amazing things the Wii's controller can perform for you folks every week.Personally, we love seeing this stuff, so if you ever stumble upon this kind of thing, let us know! And be sure to head past the break for video of the Wiimote and telescope being oh-so-happy together.
Revolutionary: Beware! de Blob
Every Tuesday, Mike Sylvester brings you REVOLUTIONARY, a look at the wide world of Wii possibilities. de Blob has been getting a lot of coverage here lately because it's been announced that the freeware PC game will be making its way to our favorite console. I first heard of the game a few months ago, and it seemed like it could make for an interesting bit of roll-up gaming for my Wiimote in the absence of Katamari. I figured this week would be an opportune time to finish the scripting project I'd started back then and present a script for this gelatinous ball of Technicolor fun.
Revolutionary: Going Through the Motions
Every Tuesday, Mike Sylvester brings you REVOLUTIONARY, a look at the wide world of Wii possibilities. I was going to jump right into writing another script with you this week, but as development progressed, I remembered how much time I wasted on my first scripts because I didn't have a handle on exactly what motions were triggering the responses I was after. I figured I'd be doing you a disservice if I didn't take time out to get you primed on the nomenclature of all the motions and get you started in thinking in 3 dimensions. Last week we wrote a simple script that didn't use the Wiimote's motion detecting functionality. Some might say that defeats the purpose of using the Wiimote, but is that really what the Wiimote is about? The different input options are there to give the developer choices. Sometimes the developer will throw in lots of alternatives and pass the choice on to the gamer. Taking every feature of the controller and slapping it onto a game isn't going to assure a fun time. More than likely, you'll wind up making something repellent that people will call "gimmicky." It's best to have an understanding of the control options available, and be selective in applying or omitting ones from your project.
Swedish musicians conduct concert with Wiimotes
Utilizing some Wiimotes and a GlovePIE script, some Wii fans known as "ii" from Stockholm, Sweden managed to conduct a two-man concert recently. In the embedded video, their song "aa" is performed and we find ourselves to be in a mild state of awe. We just love what people can do with their Wiimotes (even some of our own).Check out the posted video past the break.
Why wait for RE4 with Wiimote controls? Do it now!
Reader Tiger, who we all know loves working with GlovePIE (as evidenced by his work with Rez, Panzer Dragoon and House of the Dead 3), has made another script, implementing Wiimote controls into the PC port of Biohazard 4 (Resident Evil 4). Tiger's even gone ahead and matched the button mapping we reported on a few days ago, making his controls almost perfect to that of the Wii version due out (except for one flaw due to the limitations of the PC port of the game). Tiger has the script available for download via his site and also assures us he is working on adding sensor bar support.Check past the post break for the videos of this in action.
Fishing with the Wii remote (and how to do it yourself)
var digg_url = 'http://wow.joystiq.com/2007/04/04/fishing-with-the-wii-remote-and-how-to-do-it-yourself/'; Blogger Chris Heald of antiarc.net has a Wii remote and likes to go fishing in WoW. So when he found out (I didn't know this) that the Wii remote is really just a bluetooth device, he figured he could work out some way to combine the two. First, he got Chrono Trigger (omg great game) working, and then, with the use of a GlovePIE script, he set up a way to actually fish in Azeroth, Wii-style. Pretty freakin' cool. But the best part is that he's actually posted the script online, so if you've got a Wii controller sitting around, you could very easily do this yourself. Just make sure your computer can receive bluetooth (adapters are cheap if you don't already have one), download and get GlovePIE running (it's free), input Chris' script, and you should be set.We've seen WoW on the Wii controller before, and our only concern was that the controller was pretty limited in actually playing the game. But fishing is the perfect venue for a motion controller like the Wii-- the controls are simple and don't require text input or complicated sequences. From the video, it looks like Chris' hack works perfectly. Great job, Chris, and very cool.
GlovePIE lets you play Panzer Dragoon with the Wiimote
Reader Tiger is at it again, coming up with some crazy-awesome GlovePIE scripts that allow one to incorporate the Wiimote into other games. Last time he used the Wiimote in House of the Dead 3 and this time Tiger is tackling another Sega game: the PC port of Panzer Dragoon. Again, Tiger delivers, as the gameplay looks smooth and, if you can believe it, improved through the implementation of the Wiimote.Check out the videos past the post break.
Wiimote and nunchuk used to play House of the Dead 3
Reader Tiger wrote in to inform us of a pretty awesome use of the GlovePIE script he came up with, wherein this homebrewer homebrewster took the code, beat it down into a mound of wet ... stuff, then took the remains and sculpted them into something that much more wonderful. Using a PC, along with the Wiimote and nunchuk, you can see our hero take on legions of the undead in Sega's House of the Dead 3. All is presented, through 3 different videos, past the post break.Oh, and if you think this is fake, check out Tiger's website where the script is available for download and give it a whirl yourself.
Wii OS gives you that shiny Wii look on your boring PC
What's a Wii fanboy to do without a Wii to call his own? Hack one up himself, of course. Bigjohn8411 found himself in just such a predicament, so he scraped together a "Wii OS" launcher program for his PC just to feel like one of the cool kids. Other than accepting Wiimote input over Bluetooth via GlovePIE, the program is mostly a complete rip of Nintendo's own Wii interface, with Wii sound effects pulled out of YouTube videos, and the interface built from scratch, but referencing the real thing. Of course, that Red Steel button, it does nothing, but most of the rest of the launcher buttons shoot you right into that game's respective emulator. You can also toss in up to four of your own MP3s for background music if you find Nintendo's own to be a bit too sleep inducing. Now the only question is if Nintendo will be launching Chrono Trigger for Virtual Console before it hits this guy with a C&D. Somehow, we doubt it.[Via Digg]
Wiimote control for Google Earth
If air drumming or imaginary light sabers aren't your thing, then perhaps the familiar territory of Google Earth will be enough to get you to pull your Wiimote away from Zelda long enough to run a few scripts on your PC. There's nothing too complicated going on here, with just the requisite GlovePIE software (the Wiimote's new best friend) and the Google Earth script written by the star of today's video, J. Coulston, needed to take the world in your hands. Once you've got that up and running, you'll be able to impress your friends and navigate the globe with the flip of your wrist. Just don't get too excited when you spot your neighborhood. You know what can happen.[Thanks, Jesse E.]
Today's hottest game video: Wiimote control Half-Life 2
More Wiimote hackery takes today's honor as the second-most-watched YouTube game video. (The Halo 3 commercial is still scoring big, taking the top spot.) The video, created by the same people who demonstrated GlovePIE, shows the Wiimote controlling Half-Life 2.The game interprets the movements of the Bluetooth controller, looking up and down with tilts, and left and right with rolls. The buttons are mapped to handle other game controls, like walking, normally driven by a keyboard. And yes, it's all done on a MacBook Pro running Windows XP; we thought that laptop looked familiar in the previous video.See the video after the break.
Today's hottest game video: Wiimote on Windows
Today's most-watched YouTube game video shows a Wiimote controlling a Windows PC mouse pointer. (Go here if you're looking for that other video.) The Bluetooth connection uses the freely available GlovePIE to make sense of the movements; download the software to try it out at home.We're excited about the hacking and modding cultural movement; it seems bigger than ever. Hats off to the Wiili guys and anyone else who adds unintended features to our consoles.See the video after the break.
