Today's hottest game video: Wiimote on Windows
by Zack Stern 
{ Dec 5th 2006 at 1:00AM }
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.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Bob Loblaw @ Dec 5th 2006 1:09AM
FAKE!
mo @ Dec 5th 2006 1:15AM
thats reall cool
but tilting isnt useful in controling a mouse, pointing would inpress me this does not, this is kirbys pinball game on gameboy
Rayek @ Dec 5th 2006 1:18AM
NOT FAKE! Honestly, all it has to do is interpret the signals from the device as certain mouse movements. It's a little more complicated than that, but, whatever.
I think this is kind of useless, but we'll see. I would have liked to have seen some pointer action.
azesino @ Dec 5th 2006 1:21AM
waste of time, it looks like it would take you about 1 minutes just to close a window with this cluncly interface.
ShortFinal @ Dec 5th 2006 1:23AM
Rome wasn't built in a day?
mountain_rage @ Dec 5th 2006 1:28AM
It really shouldn't take too long for someone to start using the pointer, all they will have to do is figure out how the wiimote sense the Ir signal and interpret it.Of course you will also need to either build your own sensor bar or power the nintendo sensor bar by some other means.
KapsLocked @ Dec 5th 2006 1:29AM
Hmm... I'll wait until they figure out how to make it play nice with the Wii Sensor Bar that way I can use it for both the Wii and a mouse (I have a TV Tuner connected to my PC).
KapsLocked @ Dec 5th 2006 1:31AM
@6, Mountain_Rage LOL... you and me were thinking the same thing.
If you have your Wii connected to your PC via TV Tuner, then all you have do to is turn on the Wii.
Of course, you'll probably transmit data to both... but it'd be a cool geeky thing to do. :3
Optimus Rhyme @ Dec 5th 2006 2:03AM
To anyone saying that this is a waste of time: Hush. The point of this is not to show that the wiimote can replace a mouse, it's mostly just to show progress being made in the area of adapting the wii hardware to run on PCs. Emulators anyone?
Brandon @ Dec 5th 2006 2:54AM
I've got a tv tuner... now all I need is money to get a wii :(
MO @ Dec 5th 2006 2:58AM
Hmm...If they make it work that well on the console, there might be a chance of RTS games on the Wii
TheBlunderbuss @ Dec 5th 2006 2:58AM
Doesn't look like he released the source
Thumbs down.
Sofar @ Dec 5th 2006 3:11AM
This just rocks for computer musicians like myself. Anybody remember the P5 data glove? It was a sucky game interface but folks hacked a midi driver for it and its great for live gesture controlling on the cheap. (You could pick them up for 12 bucks when the manufacturer went bust).
This is going to kickass. And since everybody here will have one anyways, its a free extra feature for stuff like Powerpoint presentations (just for clicking to the next slide, you can get ohter devices to do that but ey, this one you allready have).
Charles @ Dec 5th 2006 4:32AM
There was a peripheral called a 3-D mouse which could pan and zoom by holding it up and moving it forward. I don't know how well it sold, but if this wiimote thing does work, then it would only mean that various applications can work with it. Unfortunately, being a hack,it might make it difficult to come out with applications officially taking advantage of its features.
Kent Houseman @ Dec 5th 2006 5:12AM
OMG ITS NOT ACCURATE!!! ITS SUPPOSED TO BE LIKE A LIGHTGUN RIGHT??
And the graphics are not very good. The PS3 is the best PS!!!1!!
Menge @ Dec 5th 2006 5:14AM
Well, they haven't figured out how to read the IR signals, yet? cause this is just reading the accelerometer values (it's pretty difficult to control the mouse this way)
Christian @ Dec 5th 2006 6:38AM
How does this work? The Wiimote needs an infra red point of reference to work. It has no mechanical motion sensing devices on board the wiimote itself like the PS3 controller. What was it using for a reference point in this video?
Chris @ Dec 5th 2006 4:29PM
@ 17
Yes it does, just like the PS3. There was no sensor bar, that's why they were only able to achieve XY movement (left, right, up, down). The Wii uses bluetooth to transmit XY and button presses, and uses the IR sensor bar to determine the remote's location relative to the sensor bar.
Stu L Tissimus @ Dec 5th 2006 6:59AM
Christian, I'm afraid your mistaken. (I could have made an excellent religion joke, but I'm not in the mood.) The wiimote does indeed use a camera to triangulate the position of the sensor bar, but that's only for when you're using the pointer. It also has accelerometers and gyrometers. (See: Excite Truck for gyrometers, and swinging the sword in Zelda for accelerometers.)
Stu L Tissimus @ Dec 5th 2006 7:02AM
Oh my, I misspelled "you're." Just want to correct that before some raving fanboy says that the fact I can't spell means that my entire post is moot.
Schweppes @ Dec 5th 2006 8:04AM
for all the ones who complain about it not working like a normal mouse... this is the first step. i mean, come on, they'll be able to get it farther along, just give them time. I'M almost impressed on how quickly they did this.
Deus_ed @ Dec 5th 2006 8:10AM
Stop being so negative about these things. Yea ofcourse its not perfect yet, nothing is in the beginning. Besides, this will be more usefull for games or presentations. not ment for replacing the mouse in total..
kel @ Dec 5th 2006 8:58AM
My HTPC eagerly awaits further development with the Wiimote on a PC
Tom B. @ Dec 5th 2006 8:21AM
I am so using this in my presentation next week.
It'll be better when someone gets the pointer functionality working. But I don't know how I feel about bringing candles into the conference room.
kinshadow @ Dec 5th 2006 8:51AM
Hmmm... PS3 + Linux + Hacked ROMS + Bluetooth Wiimote driver = Wii Games on PS3?
saboola @ Dec 5th 2006 9:31AM
So, this is basically the result of only a few weeks of hacking, and mind you its already in usable form, and we get responses like
"waste of time, it looks like it would take you about 1 minutes just to close a window with this cluncly interface."
Please, shut the hell up. Your idiocy does no good to the developers. If you think you can do a better job, then do it, nobody is stopping you.
LMAO @ Dec 5th 2006 9:25AM
Huh? Isn't there something out that already does something similar to this? It's called Gyration Cordless Mouse? Which by the way has been out there way before Nintendo revealed the Wiimote.
crono141 @ Dec 5th 2006 9:58AM
"It's called Gyration Cordless Mouse? Which by the way has been out there way before Nintendo revealed the Wiimote."
Yeah, I have one. I got it right after TGS '05 when they announced what the Wiimote was.
Its about 60 to 80 dollars and its cheaply made (my accelerometers are going bad after about 9 months). Anybody know what kind of bluetooth receiver you need, or will any kind do?
aformalevent @ Dec 5th 2006 9:51AM
kinshadow,
I hope, dearly, that you are on to something. And it seems like you are, since all of this is based on wii/linux work and the PS3 does linux (well?) and certainly the ROMs will be available. I think the biggest hurdle to wii emulation on PS3 will be the emulation it self, since even gamecube emulators are still experimental. (http://www.emulator-zone.com/doc.php/gamecube/dolphin.html)
Steve @ Dec 5th 2006 9:58AM
>> Christian, I'm afraid your mistaken. (I could have
>> made an excellent religion joke, but I'm not in the
>> mood.)
Why would it even cross your mind to make fun of religion because someone's named "Christian"? Is it a short distance?
Just seems odd that you followed up your post by contradicting yourself with a mention of how fan boys jump onto irrelevant things. Guess it's different when you are on the receiving end of something ;)
Field Anony-mouse @ Dec 5th 2006 10:13AM
I agree with #26. Let's think back. Back to a time when most of us (myself included) weren't even born, a time when someone suggested going into space. Someone somewhere undoubetly said "That's a stupid idea. There's nothing up there. Waste of time." Now, before you comment and say that I'm stupid, think about how those communication satellites got up there.
kinshadow @ Dec 5th 2006 11:56AM
"I think the biggest hurdle to wii emulation on PS3 will be the emulation it self, since even gamecube emulators are still experimental. "
Wii and PS3 are both PowerPC processors. Wii has only minor ISA tweaks that can be compensated for.
Dae Kim @ Dec 5th 2006 11:07AM
Read the stipulation for the glovepie download.
New Version 0.22
Now with Wiimote support! Play Wii games on your PiiCii.
Download version 0.22 of GlovePIE here.
Just extract it to a directory of your choosing. Then run it. There is nothing to install. If you want to associate .PIE files with GlovePIE, you will need to do so yourself.
NOTE! You may not use this software on military bases, or for military purposes, or in Israel (which amounts to the same thing). Violation of the license agreement will be prosecuted. See the readme for the license agreement.
Either the author of this software is a SUPERLIBERAL LEFT WINGER, A NAZI, or a militant MUSLIM, or all of the above. In any case, Carl Kenner is an anti semite and a RACIST. A despicable man indeed.
Moogle @ Dec 5th 2006 11:42AM
Stu L Tissimus, actually excitetruck (and this mouse pointer demo) use accelerometers. The tilting changes the alignment of each axis with respect to gravity. Simple math will tell you the tilt angle for each axis, but I expect the mouse program just uses the raw data with a scale factor. It should work just fine.
As far as I've seen, there's no evidence that the Wiimote actually has gyrometers, which makes me kinda sad. They're not apparently necessary for most functionality anyway, but it seems like there are things it won't do. If any game really needs it, it should be easy to make a $5 box to plug into the back to add any sensors needed. Still hope/wish they are/would have been included though. (Just to clarify, I don't know for a fact that it doesn't, I just don't know of anything that proves it does have gyrometers (or multiple accelerometers per axis, which would accomplish the same thing))
Tarasil @ Dec 5th 2006 12:17PM
It is a good theme for discussion..., thanks all for the information
ackmondual @ Dec 5th 2006 12:47PM
This is a good precursor to Wii emulation. The Wii can be modded to work on PCs. If this modding isn't practical for typical emu users, doubtless there will be a third party adaptor that takes care of all of that. Since Wii games are DVDs, all we have to do is wait 5+ years for some to write and perfect an emulator to play commercial games and read the DVDs through PC DVD ROM drives :D
All Your Lost Socks @ Dec 5th 2006 12:58PM
Er... Dae Kim, there are actual stipulations regarding those locations. It's not unreasonable to place such disclaimers regarding military use, especially when you consider the implications of the technology involved - and the fact that it is a hack, and *unofficial*. And I don't even know where you got "Anti Semite". Israel is our military (see the connection) ally.
All Your Lost Socks @ Dec 5th 2006 1:01PM
Ack, second half of my post fell off. Here we go again:
For those of you calling this method "clunky" - I have four words for you: Remember the track ball?
That's what this reminds me of - you never rolled the ball to where you were on an even grid comparable to the screen; you moved the ball to turn the wheels around it to give the computer an impression of which way you are doing. Using the accelerometers is just a wireless way of doing the same thing. I love it.
crono141 @ Dec 5th 2006 2:16PM
What "bluetooth profile" does the wiimote fit under. I'm trying to find a USB dongle that will work on it.
Mark @ Dec 5th 2006 4:36PM
That is pretty neat! If they can make it work with the sensor bar then i'll be buying a media center computer :D
That'd be so awesome.
James @ Dec 5th 2006 2:02PM
First, I'm *really* looking forward to trying this out, but I have to buy a BT widget first. Any suggestions? Cheap is good, but I want it to work with pretty much anything I might later decide to buy...
Second, to those who say this is pointless, no, it's not. I've been looking for a way to do freestanding (e.g. no table/mouse-pad required) wireless navigation ever since I connected my PC to my new HDTV, and this seems like a great approach. I didn't want to shell out for a $$$ gyro-mouse that would only be good for one thing, plus the Wiimote has more features, plus I already own one ;-) I would love to see official support from Nintendo for this -- they're supposed to make a profit on all their hardware, so why not encourage non-Wii use of Wii products?
As far as getting the Pointer mode working, it looks like the WiiLi folks are hot on the trail -- they've figured out how to get X/Y coordinates for "dots" (IR signals) out of the camera, which means that with a bit of calibration you can figure out where the camera is pointing. Should be any day now, I imagine.
Moogle @ Dec 5th 2006 8:51PM
http://www.wiili.org/forum/download-windows-driver-here-t294.html
Thread on it may help. I heard someone mention that it might not play nice with the standard windows bluetooth stack, but I have no idea what you'd use otherwise. *shrug* I guess I'll be trying it tonight.
radzuky @ Dec 30th 2006 8:14PM
They came up with this program wich lets you control your mouse with yor wii mote... it works just fine... but i cant play games with it.... it does not respond at all...
(this is not a fake)
OldGlory747 @ Feb 4th 2007 2:39PM
Ok, so let me get this straight. You guys are all sold on the idea of buying a $700+ system (PS3) and hacking it to get it to play games from a $450+ system (Wii), while STILL USING the controller from the Wii, and armed with the foreknowledge that there will be no graphical, gameplay, audio, or otherwise gain from doing this? That sounds like it's quite the biggest waste of time I've ever heard of. Especially when it would be just as feasible, nay, more feasible to just use a plain old PC instead. I hope everyone who said anything to propogate that terrible line of thought is just a creative salesman from Sony, trying to increase the market on his shitty system by telling kids that it just may be able to play BETTER games from BETTER systems by hacking it. Do us all a reasonable favor, and go take a bath with a toaster.