Wiicade opens up remote buttons for Flash games
by Kyle Orland 
{ Feb 28th 2007 at 5:25PM }
The Wii's support for downloadable Flash games through the Opera browser has made it easier than ever for indie programmers to get their games off the computer and onto the living room TV. But Wii-focused Flash development has been hampered by the browser's inability to recognize basic button presses on the Wii remote past a simple "click" of the A button. While pointer-based games have flourished under this setup, developers who wanted to go any further with their Wii input designs were out of luck ... until now.
Flash game aggregator Wiicade has posted a downloadable API that lets Flash developers finally utilize all the buttons of the Wii remote in their games. The site has a full tutorial and documentation to help any Flash developer unlock more of the the system's control potential in their games. Now, if someone could just get Flash support for the remote's tilt-sensitivity, we could see some really interesting gameplay experiments. Wii hacking community... get on it!
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Psaakyrn @ Feb 28th 2007 5:31PM
Anyone else find it interesting that, unlike most hacking on other consoles, Wii hacking seems to be the most legit (for now, at least)?
Intentless @ Feb 28th 2007 5:35PM
Wow... I'm gonna go play flow... without the 600 down payment........
Dylan @ Feb 28th 2007 5:41PM
Um... You already could play Flow, it's already entirely mouse based, this is about finally being able to make non-mouse based Flash games.
Eric @ Feb 28th 2007 5:42PM
Um...Cool?
jay @ Feb 28th 2007 5:44PM
Flash based emulators?
Such a thing would be huge. Though personally I'm against roms n shit, i doubt other folks would be as picky!
Ps. With GlovePie you don't need a PS3 for gyro-Flow. haha. Every self respecting Wiimote owner needs GlovePie.
DWells55 @ Feb 28th 2007 5:54PM
Line Rider - now.
NintendoFanbot @ Feb 28th 2007 6:03PM
Screw Flash emulators. If you really want to play them, then great. But you could also try to make something original in Flash. It's fun to learn and you can do a lot of neat stuff.
I'm not sure, but can't you play Flow with Wii-Opera? Even GlovePie isn't necessarry if true. :P
Mr Khan @ Feb 28th 2007 6:08PM
@ Psaarkyn
Most legit now
once the VC's DRM is hacked, then people will begin hosting Wii-friendly websites to download ROM dumps for free
I'm surprised it hasn't happened yet
AirIntake @ Feb 28th 2007 6:10PM
Aren't there already flash emulators? I swear I've stumbledupon them before. That could end VC sales for more savvy Wii users.
hvnlysoldr @ Feb 28th 2007 6:17PM
Why hack the Wii to play burnt discs of homebrew when the easier to build Flash can handle it? Plus it's legit since you're not messing with the console at all and just using the controller like it's meant to be used on the browser.
ConstyXIV @ Feb 28th 2007 6:24PM
To my knowledge, emulators are outside the scope of Flash. I doubt we will ever see them. If the Wii had Java, that'd be a different story (see vNES). And this still doesn't let you use the motion sensor, unfortunatley. That would take an official API from Nintendo. That would rock, but I doubt it will happen
Mr Khan @ Feb 28th 2007 6:44PM
The FULL version of Opera should support AJAX, which could make up for the lack of Java
Plus the browser should have a way to ACTUALLY MANAGE WINDOWS...
(rages about all the times Opera Trial Version randomly decided to skip between open windows)
ConstyXIV @ Feb 28th 2007 6:59PM
@12 Mr Kahn
In this case, AJAX is no replacement for Java. AJAX is more like Flash, without the seperate code from HTML/JS/CSS. Writing an emulator in AJAX would take:
a) tons of effort
b) one hell of a machine, and definitely not a current gen console
c) a very efficient JavaScript implementation
I doubt anyone will try anytime soon
Rubang B @ Feb 28th 2007 7:17PM
I forgot the name of it, but there's a web site that lets you tab your windows on the Wii browser, and the tabs can auto-hide.
And doesn't Line Rider only use the mouse and the left mouse button anyway? I thought it did. If so, it already works fine on the Wii with no buttons other than A.
I think this is a pretty awesome development for Wiicade. Maybe now it won't be 99% crap. I look forward to their progress!
Rob Accomando @ Feb 28th 2007 7:20PM
I hope NES Cafe works.
Poisoned Al @ Feb 28th 2007 7:20PM
As a Flash user, this is interesting to me. Shit, I might buy a Wii just to test this out!
Al @ Feb 28th 2007 7:29PM
Oh.. my... god... YES. I work with Flash a lot and I've been idlely making a game designed for Wii in Flash. If this works it'll make sure it uses this. (If I ever complete it)
Simon @ Feb 28th 2007 8:34PM
You do know what AJAX means don't you?
Asyncronous Javascript And XML.
Opera already supports it and I have no doubt Opera for wii does too.
Poisoned Al @ Feb 28th 2007 9:45PM
Also another problem with AJAX is that it's hard to take seriously anything that shares a name with a product you clean the toilet with.
Simon @ Mar 1st 2007 10:44AM
@Poisoned Al
LOL i almost forgot about that, I have that somewhere :P