Wiimote magician Johnny Lee on head tracking, Nintendo, and future videos

17 Comments by Christopher Grant Apr 30th 2008 2:30PM
Filed under: Nintendo Wii, Peripherals

Johnny Lee is one of the most exciting innovators in the video game space right now; only thing is, Lee doesn't work in the video game space. He's a PhD candidate at Carnegie Mellon University (graduating this week, congrats!) and his projects have not only made their way around the entire internet, thanks to sites like YouTube, but it even landed Lee a spot presenting at the prestigious TED conference.

Our pals at Wii Fanboy caught up with Lee and picked his big brain on everything from head tracking getting pulled from Boom Blox ("it's actually a pretty complicated decision, and I don't know if I'm at liberty to explain exactly why"); Nintendo's reception of the technology ("I have been talking to some Wii game developers and they've said that ... if a game requires too much motion or requires ... too much movement on the player's part, Nintendo asks them to pull it."); and future projects ("Maybe next week or the week after that, I can push out another video."). Any guesses on what's next from Mr. Wiizard?

Tags: Johnny-Lee, Wiimote

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(Page 1) Reader Comments

Obie: Apr 30th 2008; 2:35PM

Johnny Lee = Bruce Campbell of Wii mod coolness!

D_Average: Apr 30th 2008; 2:58PM

Somebody please hire this guy! Wii Sports is STILL the best use of motion controls. Pathetic...just pathetic.

oncnawan: Apr 30th 2008; 2:46PM

"if a game requires too much motion or requires ... too much movement on the player's part, Nintendo asks them to pull it"

Pretermitting the desireability of 1 to 1 control in video games, comments like the above lead me to believe that 1 to 1 controls will never happen on the Wii. Waggle is all we'll get.

FOXHOUND: Apr 30th 2008; 2:59PM

Exactly. I'm thinking any or all of the following:

A) Nintendo and their devs truly don't want to be outdone by an upstart from CMU. Which is a shame, since he's so willing to share how he went about the process.
B) As said before, Nintendo would prefer the quick "shovelware" bucks than this.
C) As I posted below; Nintendo fears gamers either becoming too immersed control wise or nauseated & disoriented due to the gameplay... and thus, injury following. Lame reason, but the bad press that could evolve from claims would be detrimental. Anyone remember all those crazy "Wii-remote through the expensive(HD)TV" stories in 2006? Now imagine people stupidly doing that in addition to *ramming* themselves head first into a TV screen.

LOL Sure, it'd lower the number of idiots nature couldn't get rid of herself; but still...

Lone Starr: Apr 30th 2008; 2:59PM

You get a heart for 'pretermit,' good point aside.

Jody Anthony (cookingrebels.com): Apr 30th 2008; 4:04PM

well at first anti-nintendo folk complained that they didn't want to have to move around all over the place. once this quote gets all over the place, the same people will be saying how nintendo is screwing with everyone, because they WANT to move a lot.

oncnawan: Apr 30th 2008; 5:35PM

Jodie;

To the contrary, most commentary on the net indicates that people want MEANINGFUL motion control or none at all.

Jansperus: Apr 30th 2008; 2:47PM

So, I guess it's Nintendo's fault that the easter egg won't be in the egg. Nintendo, who demands that no game have too much movement, but is completely all right with the shovelware crap. It's official. Nintendo wants a second gaming crash. It'll be revenge against all us gamers who betrayed them in the N64 era.

el serpiente: Apr 30th 2008; 2:50PM

"if a game requires too much motion or requires ... too much movement on the player's part, Nintendo asks them to pull it."

I'm gonna let this one stand on it's own. No ketchup or pickles.

FOXHOUND: Apr 30th 2008; 2:53PM

Admittedly, Mr Lee's efforts are truly admirable. Though I can "slightly" understand why Nintendo *wouldn't* use head tracking in Wii games for fears of "over enthusiastic Wii owners"(quite possibly the same who launched their remotes through the TV); but of any and everything Wii-wise thus far, this IS the most innovative and revolutionary for the console, period.

Congrats on the graduation, Johnny. I sincerely hope you go far with your ingenuity and talents. -salud'-

Ken Seang: Apr 30th 2008; 3:18PM

"if a game requires too much motion or requires ... too much movement on the player's part, Nintendo asks them to pull it"

If Nintendo goes out of their way to tell a developer to stop that, why don't they do anything for all those crappy shovelware that gets release ala M&M kart racer... like tell them don't bother making it on our system.

Tim The Enchanter: Apr 30th 2008; 3:24PM

Haha "mr wiizard"

I really hope they pick this guy up. What he showed was really exciting and could truly bring the wii up the next evolutionary step in consoles.

Bigfoot: Apr 30th 2008; 4:29PM

I'm guessing that Wii Fit is pushing the limits of maximum movement for a Wii game then.

:(

Zorink: Apr 30th 2008; 5:40PM

Johnny Lee and Ben Heck need to get together and create the best mod/hack ever

lukeR: Apr 30th 2008; 7:05PM

Oh so he's a magician eh?
Hopefully for his next trick he'll make all the shovelware disappear.

hvnlysoldr: Apr 30th 2008; 8:59PM

Wurmstrum!

Eh: May 1st 2008; 12:52AM

People shouldnt expect this to ever be an actual product in its current form. Its just too complicated for the end user and requires too much stuff. The PS3 eyetoy doing the same thing is MUCH more likely to happen since you dont have to wear headgear, and even that will never will happen because it requires people to buy an eyetoy. If hes smart he should be in talks with console makers to make sure a next gen console offers this feature built in without the headgear crap, hes wasting his time trying to make it happen with current gen games. Patent this idea and he could have himself a bidding war by MS, Sony, and Nintendo for exclusive rights for their next console.

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