Is caricature the Wii's last secret? [update 1]

by Ross Miller { May 24th 2006 at 3:25PM }

Though it may be difficult to tell, the adjacent picture is not a live photograph of Shigeru Miyamoto -- it's just a caricature. At Nintendo's E3 2006 press conference, Miyamoto, Reggie Fils-Aime, and Satoru Iwata all played Wii tennis with cartoon versions of themselves.

In an interview with CNN's Chris Morris, Nintendo legend Shigeru Miyamoto hinted that the average Wii owner may also be able to turn themselves into Anime Avatars: "we have some different ideas about how to take advantage of that functionality – and we will be sharing that type of functionality with third parties." Is it a software app, inherent to the Wii, or a special trick involving a Wii camera?

Microsoft showed us at E3 this year how to use its camera for face mapping, what if Nintendo had a camera that could do the same -- only, the Wii camera would turn us all into Japanese cartoons. This is all, of course, rampant speculation, but we wouldn't be surprised if Nintendo managed to placed a little camera inside its TV-mounted sensor.

[update1: Mike Sklens of Planet GameCube has sent us an interview his site did with Takashi Tezuka, who is overseeing Wii Sports. Tezuka confirms that there is software where players can "use some set images and match them up together to create faces" -- in other words, you're going to have to make your own caricatures.]

Tags: camera, eyetoy, rumor, rumors, speculation, xbox 360, Xbox360

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Doug the Aquacell Guy @ May 24th 2006 3:28PM

I would love that in a WiiFi game.

Marc @ May 24th 2006 3:37PM

I don't care about MY face being in a game, i just hope THEY (nintendo staff) come with Wii Sports at launch!

Prof-KOS @ May 24th 2006 3:39PM

Sounds cool. Maybe even a possibility, but it won't be the final secret. Nor will the secret be the embedded mic. Neither of those have the cache that the final secret needs. Nintendo isn't stupid enough to leave us in anticipation for almost a year without having something big to announce.

For further proof, I offer that both motion sensing in the nunchuk and the speaker in the remote are as big or bigger than both of the above possibilities and they barely made a ripple.

Guaranteed it will also have to do with gameplay, because the whole theme of the console is 'Playing = Believing". It holds to form that the final secret will be some sort of new gameplay function and certainly not a camera. Every Sony rep in the world would finally be able to say that Nintendo stole something from them. The camera would have to go under the radar. Even if they did have one for the Gameboy.

Harry Johnson @ May 24th 2006 3:53PM

Does anyone know what's hiding behind the Wii front panel?

Perhaps a GBA and/or NDS slot?

How about playing NDS games on screen while using the NDS as a wireless controller?

Benny @ May 24th 2006 3:53PM

Nah, I don't think anyone really cares. A camera is almost always a bit gimmicky, only something like an Eyetoy where the camera makes the game would be of any use and since the Wii doesn't require such a control input there's no point. The additional cost of adding a camera is not worth the effort.

John Q. @ May 24th 2006 4:04PM

Harry: SD card slots. DS through TV (though I'm sure it will happen soon) will probably have to be a hardware thing, like the Game Boy Player.

Azrael @ May 24th 2006 4:08PM

Heres the secret: THERES NO FINAL SECRET. the last "secret" they had was the mic in the controller.

The caricature system they mentioned is probably a wizard to create an online avatar, good idea. ( read Penny arcade for further reference on why letting a kid with a camera online is not very smart)

The Wii has an IR sensor not a video camera. (a lot less expensive)

If they had a secret to show they would have done it in the E3 theres no point at showing anything right now since most people wont even notice.

p.s. Does anyone have a release date and price on the Wii? the rumors mentioned $150 now there are all the way up to $300.

Seth @ May 24th 2006 4:10PM

Or just maybe, and I'm only fantasizing here, Nintendo puts a writable DS slot in the Wii, and sells writable "virtual console" cards, so the games you legally purchase through the VC can also be played on the DS.

heat @ May 24th 2006 4:15PM

i personally anticipate less hardware suprises (though the PR woman said there was more to reveil, she also said the hardware suprises were for hardcore gamers--like specs) and more SOFTWARE.

wiiconnect24 will offer so much. read this: http://www.codenamerevolution.com/?p=635
+ then consider the opera browser,,its support for external USB hard-drives, etc.

the wii is going to be soooo great.

nootau @ May 24th 2006 4:29PM

yeah, i heard the "secret" was going to be a microphone too. Some way to communicate with other people in the Wii community. There would be no way nintendo would allow a keyboard, as that would add to the complexity. Someone also mentioned Online persistant storage, so you can recieve (voice?) messages and such without having to store everything locally.

My speculation would be that nintendo has spearheaded some kind of new input method using the Wiimote. Maybe some dodeahedron looking polygon with letters all around it, and you tilt your Wiimote to spin the polygon and select letters. Something Lawn Mowerman-esque. But a microphone would probably be much easier for people lol.

BlackYoshi @ May 24th 2006 4:39PM

This would be terrible. Penis heads and other obscene images EVERYWHERE. No one wants to see Goatse while playing Wii Tennis.

Prof-KOS @ May 24th 2006 4:40PM

nootau, they don't need a keyboard. There are 2 USB ports and support for virtually all USB devices. ie. wireless keyboards and mice. The Opera browser interview on IGN almost says as much.

epobirs @ May 24th 2006 4:55PM

#8

I could see something like that happening but without a special slot on the Wii. The DS already knows how to write to flash memory in a game card and the DS already has online capability. All Nintendo needs to do is sell a DS flash card that meets their security concerns to make selling DS content online viable. Alternatively, SD cards, which the Wii does support, could be be accessed on the DS through an adaptor in the GBA slot. Nintendo already sells a GBA media player that uses SD cards, so much of the engineering has already been done.

Doing the shopping on the Wii would offer a more comfortable display but the same can be said for any PC. All that matters is that the DS can access the download via WiFi regardless of what device was used to register the purchase.

NF @ May 24th 2006 5:02PM

THat would b soooo awesome, but we have to think about the price, what can they do with just 250$ and still win a profit? And think about all the things you could plug in2 the controller, mayb a camera? Sony is probably shaking of fear of wat Nintendo might come up WITH!!!!!!! Oh yeah, fanboys 4 Sony, they (sony) said it didn't matter if the console came out with no games, that u all would still buy it, TRUE?

ALH @ May 24th 2006 5:14PM

What is it with cameras and consoles nowadays? I REALLY dont want to be looking at myself while playing a game, cariacature or no. The novelty of that died out with the game boy camera.

Jon @ May 24th 2006 5:24PM

Maybe Wii can hook up to a regular PC keyboard and mouse, and hooks into some kind of online GoogleOS/storage (that's where google seems to be headed) site that can travel with you. Maybe the Wii flips open and becomes a laptop (nah!) Maybe the next version of Wii is half it's size and handheld? Maybe the Wii remote doubles as an Ipod Shuffle and digital voice recorder? I dunno ;-)

Anonymous @ May 24th 2006 5:30PM

Wii steal something from Sony? Wasn't the Eyetoy first available for the original GameBoy (as an accessory!) You could print the images on stickers, too.

Anonymous @ May 24th 2006 5:36PM

Wii steal something from Sony? Wasn't the Eyetoy first available for the original GameBoy (as an accessory!) You could print the images on stickers, too.

r-deezy @ May 24th 2006 5:56PM

Speaking of secrets involving the Wii - does anyone know how likely this is to be valid (joystiq???): http://news.spong.com/article/10118

It basically states that the Wii will (or, is rumored to) be much more powerful than the initial specs indicated.

Anonymous @ May 24th 2006 6:08PM

Spong is known for its educated guesses more than factual reporting. However, this is coming from another source, and as far as we know, the GPU is not completed yet, let alone tested.

Nintendo has never revealed official specs, so these are as good as those from IGN in my opinion--both hearsay, and the IGN specs are not based on final hardware, either.

However, I fully expect final hardware to be approximately what Spong is reporting. Nintendo still won't make a big deal of it.