New Wii-like phone unveiled, everyone ducks

by Justin McElroy { Apr 23rd 2007 at 9:56AM }

Are we missing something here? Mitsubishi's new DoCoMo D904i model phone has a motion sensor inside it, allowing, according to Reuters, gaming like on the "popular Nintendo Wii console." We wish we could play Wii outdoors too, but never really hoped that the thing we were flailing around wildly could also be what we were watching the game on.

Actually, the actions look less pronounced than Wiimote movement on the DoCoMo site, though we're still not super crazy about waving our expensive phone around like it was on fire. This isn't the first time Mitsubishi is trying something like this though (see their DS-esque phone), so maybe they've thought of the possibility of their phone becoming an extremely dull shuriken. (If so, can you share a little of that non-slip love with Nintendo?)

There's no mention of whether the gadget will come to the U.S., but the Wii has garnered a few fans here, so maybe there's hope we could someday see DoCoMo injury lawsuits on our shores.

Tags: docomo, nintendo, reuters, wii

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Kevin @ Apr 23rd 2007 10:05AM

THAT WAS MY IDEA

TomC1234 @ Apr 23rd 2007 10:17AM

It wouldn't be anything more than slight tilts. Otherwise you wouldn't be able to see what's going on with the screen.

Jack of No Trades @ Apr 23rd 2007 10:21AM

It looks like this phone will have the same amount of processing power as the Wii.

JodyAnthony @ Apr 23rd 2007 10:23AM

man, I hate digg-pimping.

Jonathan Tran @ Apr 23rd 2007 10:32AM

This phone sucks, it's just two D800i's duct-taped together.

Justin McElroy @ Apr 23rd 2007 10:52AM

Jonathan Tran = My hero.

Ikitsumatatsu @ Apr 23rd 2007 11:05AM

It looks like this phone will be smarter than Jack of No Trades.

Ken @ Apr 23rd 2007 11:48AM

Look up at the above comments.

This is why I love coming to Joystiq LOL.

lionzub @ Apr 23rd 2007 12:14PM

I wonder if this phone will claim to have weight loss effects as well.

Kye @ Apr 23rd 2007 12:28PM

My partner has had a Samsung fone with tilt and shake functionality since last year, you can tilt it even during some games.

FrankTheCrank @ Apr 23rd 2007 12:48PM

yeaaaah....even more stupid mini games!

Alexadroog @ Apr 23rd 2007 1:36PM

...can someone say "iphone"?

Steve @ Apr 23rd 2007 2:29PM

This thing is more like a one-handed PS3 emulator than a Wii emulator. When "flailing around wildly" on WiiSports you can still see the TV screen but you cannot play games like that when the monitor is built into the controller. This would be better for mild motion control like Super Monkey Ball, Excite Truck, and basically games that would work on the PS3. I guess you could pull off a FPS with this by analyzing the degree that the user points the phone, but you'd need a good screen with a large viewing angle.

Besides, I don't know about you but I'd prefer a phone that I can actually make a clear call on.

Bob @ Apr 23rd 2007 3:50PM

You can do the same thing on your current camera phone without any hardware modifications.

Check the URL below -
http://guir.berkeley.edu/tinymotion/

Olly @ Apr 23rd 2007 5:31PM

C'mon guys,I'm sure it wont be that bad!
I really doubt the actions will be as wild as the Wii. It will probably be more like Warioware:Twisted kinda movement, and that was awesome!

(In fact, how cool would it be to have a warioware type game on a regular mobile phone?)