Wiimote control coming to the Mac
Nintendo's new Wii game system uses Bluetooth to talk to its wireless controllers. Folks are already working on figuring out how to interact with these controllers using Macs (and other Bluetooth enabled computers).
This video shows a MacBook controlling the LEDs on a Wiimote. There are also videos out there showing the accelerometer values.
Since most of Apple's computers come with Bluetooth, the Mac should get some nifty Wiimote software very soon.
- Jasen.
This video shows a MacBook controlling the LEDs on a Wiimote. There are also videos out there showing the accelerometer values.
Since most of Apple's computers come with Bluetooth, the Mac should get some nifty Wiimote software very soon.
- Jasen.
Comments
Since most of Apple's computers come with Bluetooth, the Mac should get some nifty Wiimote software very soon.
Is that Mac running Linux? If so, I'd say it might take a bit longer for the hacks to work on games.
Is that Mac running Linux? If so, I'd say it might take a bit longer for the hacks to work on games.
It might be, but I don't think so. Also, there is a Wiimote "enabler" available for OS X. As far as I can tell, the enabler just lets you pair the Wiimote with the Mac - and I think stream the values coming from the Wiimote. (My officemate has it running at home.) Doing useful things with the incoming data, and sending out useful data is still to come -- but it is coming.
Who will be the first to write/port a game for the Mac that requires the Wiimote? Will Nintendo be foolish enough to lockdown the Wiimote?
Exciting times.
- Jasen.
Then again, just how many people have a Mac and a Wii? Many developers do, and if someone hacks together a nice clean interface to receive the Wiimote input, they'll surely tinker. But how much trouble are they willing to go to develop and polish an indie game to the point where it's really fun, when the potential audience is microscopic in size?
The simplest and most generally useful thing to do would be to translate the Wiimote to act as a mouse for couch duty, either alone or with a wireless keyboard. Programmable buttons. You sit down in a beanbag chair and do not have a good mousing surface available. You grab Wiimote, press one button to change screen resolution appropriate for viewing from afar, do whatever.
the look on the face of all those PC users out there, priceless.
/I know they both use Bluetooth, but..
I just preordered my Wii, coming out here on the 8th. What about the sensor bar though, will the bluetooth sensor in my iMac sense in the same way?
/I know they both use Bluetooth, but..
The sensor bar actually doesn't sense a thing. It's an infared transmitter, and is used by the remote to work out where it is in the room. That's all. So you could just use the same sensor bar with the Mac... there's no requirement that the bar is connected to whatever is reading the bluetooth signal
Amorya
We messed around with the Wiimote at work today. A tedious process since none of us playing with it know anything about Bluetooth or Objective-C. We were able to mess around with the bit of code that is out there and detect the button states. It's a start.
I suspect the Linux hackers will have drivers done first, and the the Mac crowd will port whatever they have to work as OS X expects.
- Jasen.
Suppose the wiimote took over as the game controller of choice for the PC and all three consoles - then nintendo would basically be getting a cut of every Xbox and PS3. Hopefully the use of the wiimote on other systems will not impact Wii sales...
http://blog.hiroaki.jp/2006/12/000433.html
I own 'WiiMac.com" and would love to put that domain to good use, if someone wants to work on the project...
MacTodd