New photos from THQ's Wii event [update 1]
by Joystiq Staff 
{ Aug 16th 2006 at 10:45AM }
THQ hosted a super secret special Wii press event in New York City on Tuesday and IGN was on hand to get the pics and the goods. While there isn't any drastic new information that came out if it, there are interesting side notes that did, including the Wiimote speaker implementation:All games used rumble, but no game used the speaker. When asked about it, a THQ rep told us that no documentation outlining the speaker has been received from Nintendo at this point.
Interesting that so close up until launch and a major developer hasn't been given the full details on a major component in the Wii control scheme. Check after the break for more pictures, including the Wii development kit (which is not a GameCube, like at E3).
[Update: Images pulled at the request of their copyright owner, IGN.]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Peter Segura @ Aug 16th 2006 10:52AM
Wow, theres a majillion wires coming out of that dev kit.
I officially want a black Wii
whookid @ Aug 16th 2006 10:53AM
Very sleek looking controller but the dev kit seems kinda large considering the wii's power!
Derbeste @ Aug 16th 2006 10:54AM
Wait....you mean ALL games used motion sensing AND rumble!? Both at the same time!!?? WITHOUT A DEAL WITH IMMERSION!?
LIIIIIIESSSSS!!!
We all know that's impossible.
Marc @ Aug 16th 2006 10:54AM
That Black Wiimote looks SWEET!!!!
Jeff @ Aug 16th 2006 10:55AM
"Even still, the select group had a great time handing out at Dylan's Candy Bar in the heart of New York City"
Handing out what?
I see IGN has yet to hire a copy editor.
Woody @ Aug 16th 2006 10:56AM
The fact that they haven't recieved any info on the speaker is a concerning one. Its as if nintendo may have tacked that on last minute before E3. With a release date approx 2 months away, why would nintendo be holding back details now.
Derbeste @ Aug 16th 2006 11:00AM
"I officially want a black Wii"
Feeling insecure?
/snicker
existonfile @ Aug 16th 2006 11:03AM
Ugh, the rumors better be true about black and white Wii's being available day 1. Me wanty black wiimote so bad.
Anonononomous @ Aug 16th 2006 11:05AM
Unless that guy has huge hands the remote seems to be tiny.
Rallion @ Aug 16th 2006 11:09AM
I think it's both: Those are huge hands holding a tiny remote.
Paul P. @ Aug 16th 2006 11:12AM
What RPG looking game is he playing there? Is that avatar?
Weird that they haven't gotten any speaker documentation when we know for a fact other companies like Ubi-soft have.
therpham @ Aug 16th 2006 11:23AM
That black Wiimote is pretty hot. I'm torn between getting a black one or getting a white one to match my DS, if black is released.
vidGuy @ Aug 16th 2006 11:28AM
The remote is as long from tip to back as the 360 controller is wide from tip to tip at the bottom of the hand grips.
The nunchuck is slightly larger than the N64 center prong that had the analog stick and Z button.
I prefer white, but black does look nice and shiny. :)
DrMongol @ Aug 16th 2006 11:33AM
I will probably get one of each, one black wiimote and one white. The only thing with the black is that smudges and fingerprints might show up easier.
Lemming @ Aug 16th 2006 11:45AM
Ok... so what's the deal with the two buttons under the speaker? originaly they were a, and b buttons, then they got changed to X, and Y.... and now they're 1 and 2? seriously... can Nintendo not make up their minds?
as a side note: That black controller proves that not all that glitters is gold... sometimes it's better.
Nicolas Redfern @ Aug 16th 2006 11:50AM
Think about it. You are playing a FPS. You shoot, the controller rumbles throwing your aim off. This is brilliant for immersion and realism.
Daniel @ Aug 16th 2006 11:52AM
I've always preferred black with anything electronic. I haven't bought a DS Lite yet because I'm waiting for the black one to come to North America.
That being said, I was thrilled when I heard rumours of a black Wii possibly being available at launch.
Paul P. @ Aug 16th 2006 11:52AM
I will never understand the obsession with needing all of your electronics to be black. You know what that is? It's reverse console racism.
vidGuy @ Aug 16th 2006 11:53AM
There's already an A and B button (A button front and center, B trigger underside the remote), so they must have changed to avoid confusion. I'm not sure why they switched from X and Y to 1 and 2. Maybe it's because you are going to be using those buttons mainly when the controller is in a sideways position?
Scott @ Aug 16th 2006 11:54AM
I wish they would have gotten a cleaner pic of the back of the dev kit. Looks as if there's a DVI connection there, but its hard to tell. If so, that would be extremely promising.
JimmyHACK @ Aug 16th 2006 12:00PM
i would love to get a black controller at launch, since 360 controller is a show my dirt magnet.
kinda odd speaker, but whatever its not like it will be some high quality speaker anyway, just kinda weird that they havent truly provided devs with all the dev info at this stage, but its kinda the norm, i believe ps3 had finalized stuff longer before launch that 360 and wii , but not by much...
oh well cant wait to buy wii and ps3, will be a good holiday season
toys R notus @ Aug 16th 2006 12:31PM
"I will never understand the obsession with needing all of your electronics to be black. You know what that is? It's reverse console racism."
"reverse racism"? You are aware that racism exists against any colour and not just black? (ie, people can be racist towards white people) therefore it's just "console racism" if anything (of course, it's not even that because racism is more than just colour - it's RACE, as far as I'm aware all Wii consoles are the same specification (ergo "race"). ;)
Anyway, seriously - the black controller as you can see is getting all greasy from slick handed player, give me white anyday - it will be a nightmare keeping that smooth black thing clean ;)
Mojojojo @ Aug 16th 2006 12:32PM
While i'm not crazy about graphic power, I do care about games being widescreen. It would be nice if the majority of the games on wii support 16:9, like this one and Zelda, from what I heard.
Alkaiser @ Aug 16th 2006 12:40PM
Woody: That's an astute pick-up there. Probably unlikely to see speaker support once the launch titles hit considering the launch title games' code have to be pretty damn near final at this point.
You'd have to be pretty bold to try and retroactively code stuff for the speaker onto the game with such a slim amount of time left.
The black controller looks nice, but I'm afraid it'll have the same problem as the PSP, namely, finger prints, or far worse, depending on the player's hygeine and how long they've been holding the controller in their hand at a time. I'm not sure that glossy white alleviates that problem, though. Maybe we'll all need gaming gloves or something. =)
Looks about like what I remember at E3, only now in Black, and with a different button layout.
RP @ Aug 16th 2006 12:41PM
The speaker thing could have just been a simple case of misinformation, but i guess we'll find out soon enough.
I think the wiimote looks better in black, but the Wii certainly looks better in white. Maybe if you had a black stand with a black Wii it would look better, but as it is, it doesn't look as nice due to the contrast between the system and the stand.
Marc @ Aug 16th 2006 12:45PM
toys R notus,
Actually, if you look closely, the buttons and the area where you hold the remote aren't slick and shiny. It looks like matte black (same stuff used for GCN controllers). Only the parts that your hand isn't normally touching is slick and shiny
Therefore, it should be as easy to clean this controller as with any game controller.
All Your Lost Socks @ Aug 16th 2006 12:45PM
As to the X and Y, I think it's because those are on the nanchaku under your left-hand trigger finger - I could be wrong.
vidGuy @ Aug 16th 2006 12:48PM
Nunchuck buttons are C and Z.
ALL first party Wii games will support a 16:9 480p display option. 3rd parties will likely offer the same resolution.
AlphaCananogram @ Aug 16th 2006 12:59PM
I "sorta" like the black controller. It looks like my black PSP: easy to get fingerprints and smears all over it. That controller looks kinda nasty!!!
Yet I still will most likely buy a black one.
jorge2k @ Aug 16th 2006 1:13PM
hey there is no pictures of the devkit in the ign page
socrates @ Aug 16th 2006 1:14PM
"reverse racism"? You are aware that racism exists against any colour and not just black? (ie, people can be racist towards white people)"
Yeah, but then it is not so racist as it is funny.
"Yo, check this out: black guys drive a car like this.
Do, do, ch. Do-be-do, do-be-do-be-do.
Yeah, but white guys, see, they drive a car like this.
Dee-da-dee, a-dee-da-dee-da-dee-da-dee
Homer: Ah ha ha, it's true, it's true! We're so lame!"
LongshotX @ Aug 16th 2006 1:18PM
The black Wii is bigger than the white Wii. It's a well known fact. And the truth is all the girls know it.
idioteraser @ Aug 16th 2006 1:19PM
Most likely the sound is quite easy to code to the speaker. A number of developers have said they were aware of the speaker and were even figuring out how to use it before E3. So how could THQ not be aware of it?
MikeyC @ Aug 16th 2006 1:19PM
IGN has taken thes down now... perhaps nintendo didn't want anyone to know about the black Wii yet? Or maybe they don't want folks seeing the Dev kits?
Seems strange, given that it was already rumored it would come in these two colors.
Pixelantes Anonymous @ Aug 16th 2006 1:32PM
WTF happened to all the pictures on the IGN site??? Son of a...
Paul P. @ Aug 16th 2006 2:14PM
Wow, I didn't expect someone to take that comment seriously. In order to have taken it seriously you must have been a white controller supremacist. Yeah, I can see you now, burning dreamcast controllers on the front lawns of those who own black consoles. You biigot.
kimo @ Aug 16th 2006 2:34PM
I had to say something about this:
"Think about it. You are playing a FPS. You shoot, the controller rumbles throwing your aim off. This is brilliant for immersion and realism."
Heh. Because when you shoot things in real life, there is absolutely no rumble at all!
kimo @ Aug 16th 2006 2:36PM
In other words, I agree.
tactics @ Aug 16th 2006 2:42PM
i would kill a man for a wii.
-"superfanatic" tactics.
Peter S. @ Aug 16th 2006 3:12PM
"I had to say something about this:
'Think about it. You are playing a FPS. You shoot, the controller rumbles throwing your aim off. This is brilliant for immersion and realism.'
Heh. Because"
Aha! And it's not like you can't turn off rumble in the games, eh? The only game I can think of where I couldn't turn the rumble off is in Medal of Honor: Frontline. Pretty much every other game lets you turn off rumble.
Sorry to burst your bubble.
Sidd @ Aug 16th 2006 3:13PM
yea
thats avatar: the last airbender
its a sweet show
jopojelly @ Aug 16th 2006 4:01PM
""Think about it. You are playing a FPS. You shoot, the controller rumbles throwing your aim off. This is brilliant for immersion and realism."
Heh. Because when you shoot things in real life, there is absolutely no rumble at all!"
Have you ever shot a gun??? There's something called recoil. seriously.....
sdfsdf @ Aug 16th 2006 4:33PM
wow. i like the " NDEV" . they should use that instead of the stupid wii thingy.
mmr @ Aug 16th 2006 4:44PM
Wow. I think i am the only one in here who wouldn't want a black one. Hear me out...
Over the past several years everything I own that connects to my TV is Silver. My sharp aquos, silver, my HD cable box, silver, my xbox 360, white (but close enough), my mac mini, silver & white, and my dying hunk of a receiver is BLACK.
That black piece of sound churning metal is making my whole TV array look crappy and i want WHITE AND SILVER!
I just preordered from FYE for 50 bucks and they are forcing me to buy two games when the thing is released, but at least I will get one. Zing!
desi double @ Aug 16th 2006 5:04PM
yo do u liv in north america miainly canada n if so wher did u preorder i can't find anywher to. n i totally agree wit the guy hoo sayz the black wii n bigger than the white wii( jkz.)
jkelly86 @ Aug 16th 2006 5:46PM
All i know is that those pictures worry me because the wiimote is gonna be tiny and i have banana hands. My thumbs cramp from using the DS Phat...
Superdotman @ Aug 16th 2006 6:46PM
The black one is sweet, but I'll probably stick with white, if only to avoid fingerprints. I wouldn't care if it were pink, really.
As for 1 and 2, a and b would be easily confused with A and B, and X would probably look too much like +. But then, it looks like + and - were switched with... arrow and pause? I can't tell from these pictures, and it looks like they were removed from the IGN article.
toys R notus @ Aug 16th 2006 9:04PM
@Paul P. Didn't take it seriously at all. The use of the word "reverse" is just technically incorrect and assumes that there is a "normal" or "accepted" racism towards a certain color. An oversight on your part perhaps (if not then what?) either way, my orginal reply (with winky ;) ) was just as much a 'jovial' throwaway comment as your original comment was so I suggest rather than resorting to name calling - i.e "biigot" you should instead just deal with it and move on (go pre-order a Wii for example, either colour will do!) ;)
John Lucas @ Aug 17th 2006 7:21AM
Nintendo knows what they're doing! LOL!!
They are teasing the hell out of us & they KNOW it's working.
I admit I like the suspense of the Wii info.
Holding it so close to chest & letting a little nugget here or there out. A rumor out of nowhere & all the cryptic prophecies.
It's BETTER than marketing.
This is how you create a real buzz. This is how you get the people talking.
Look at those pics showcasing the black Wii.
Development kit & the guy working the controller so naturally. All "CONFIDENTIAL" & "TOP SECRET".
"PROTOTYPE SAMPLE: For Internal Testing Only...must be returned to Nintendo"
Hahahahaha! SLICK! Very slick.
In the process we get a sneak peek at one of the color schemes which really looks good I must say. I might be torn on what color to get.
This Wii is gonna be good & I'm enjoying the teaser previews. Build this buzz to critical mass Nintendo. It's working!
John Lucas
TheClashRocker @ Aug 17th 2006 1:00PM
I know what Im going to do
Im gonna buy a white wii controller/nunchuck and a black wiimote/nunchuck and switch the nunchucks.
so the white wiimote will have a black nunchuck attached and vice versa..