Slashdot Log In
Lenovo To Bring Wii-Inspired Input To PCs
Posted by
Soulskill
on Tuesday January 06, @06:11AM
from the now-we-just-need-monitor-insurance dept.
from the now-we-just-need-monitor-insurance dept.
PCWorld reports on an upcoming Lenovo PC that includes a remote control with functionality similar to that of the Wii Remote. It will control games using the same motion-based method, and Lenovo appears to be coming out with sports games like tennis and bowling to demonstrate its capabilities — an unsurprising choice given the huge success of Wii Sports .
"Lenovo is trying to capitalize on the trend of entertainment options merging into the PC. Few are able to play motion-based games, which could make this motion-based game controller a pioneer. In addition to controlling TV functions and video recordings on the PC, the remote control can also be used as an air mouse that moves the mouse pointer when waved. It has some advantages over a conventional mouse — it can function without being on a surface and be used at a distance — when sitting on a couch, for example."
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
Full
Abbreviated
Hidden
Loading... please wait.
I thought the mouse was enough (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
You have 80 characters AND a TTY? I'm still stuck with a 32x16 display on an old tv, with lowercase letters being uppercase letters, but green on black, instead of black on green, you insensitive clod!
Green AND black?! Luxury!! (Score:2)
I'm still stuck with a 32x16 display on an old tv, with lowercase letters being uppercase letters, but green on black, instead of black on green, you insensitive clod!
You have two colors on your display?! That I should be so lucky! I have to do all my coding on a monochrome display with a tube that has been burnt out for almost 12 years, but you don't hear me complaining! I consider myself lucky to still have a job (and lead developer, no less) with 3D Realms [wikipedia.org].
It's probably going to be as successful... (Score:5, Funny)
Reply to This
Re:It's probably going to be as successful... (Score:4, Funny)
You would have gotten first post if you had typed that on something other than the Macbook Wheel.
Reply to This
Parent
do good wii emulators exist for pc's? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
can't wait 2 hack the xmas wii;-) (Score:2, Informative)
http://www.joystiq.com/2006/12/08/use-the-wii-mote-in-mac-os-x-with-darwiinremote/ [joystiq.com]
http://sourceforge.net/projects/darwiin-remote/ [sourceforge.net]
Re: (Score:2)
It's for both, actually. The Flash games in particular are usually meant for the Wii's browser, though. It's apparently based on Opera and they released a spec to allow WiiMote control.
When I read the title... (Score:5, Interesting)
I thought they meant for much more beyond games.
I was thinking someone had come up with the genius idea of doing something like punching Windows to close them, slapping them down to minimise them, uppercutting them to maximise them and other such exciting things. You could even have an onscreen keyboard where you have to machinegun the buttons to type.
Suddenly for a moment there the working day seemed like it was going to begin being a whole lot more exciting.
Reply to This
Re:When I read the title... (Score:5, Funny)
You missed your calling. You wanted ``Doom as a Tool for System Administration'':
http://www.cs.unm.edu/~dlchao/flake/doom/ [unm.edu]
William
Reply to This
Parent
Re: (Score:2)
Suddenly for a moment there the working day seemed like it was going to begin being a whole lot more exciting.
and ergonomic breaks would be a lot more enjoyable.
At my job we have an annoying program (workpace)that takes control of the computer to force us to take breaks. It even suggests exercises that we should do while we wait for the program to release control of the computer. I think it would be more interesting if I could still continue to do work, but had to do the exercises to get the work done.
I t
Potential is high (Score:3, Informative)
Reply to This
Re: (Score:2)
http://blog.dawnofthegeeks.com/2009/01/01/a-better-wiimote-pointer/ [dawnofthegeeks.com]
If you download and try Johnny Lee's headtracking demo you soon realize you can't tilt your head. It's because he's using the raw information from Brian Peek's library which doesn't tell you where the wiimote is actually pointing.
The above link has a demo that uses Brian Peek's library and some additional code to allow you to use the Wiimote as a pointing device.
I'd rather spend $50 for a Wiimote and $15 for a Wii "sensor" bar than have to
HDAPS (Score:2)
reminds me of the Thinkpad Hard Disk Active Protection System (accelerometers near the hard drive) which had a linux driver that allowed it to be used as a joystick. Quite fun for playing neverball...
Apple ahead of the curve (Score:2)
and getting rid of the keyboard entirely. [theonion.com]
I had remotes come with PCs before (Medion). They usually suck because it doesn't work with linux and it's usually yet another startup progam in Windows. Also, since this doesn't come bundled with all PCs, it's guaranteed to fail at attracting game developers.
That's why PS3 own effort [ps3fanboy.com] will be a failure. Unless it comes standard, few game developers are goingto bother programming for it to get the ball rolling.
Why even bother?
3d mouse? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Exactly, I've used a gyro (air) mouse before. Granted it was pretty hard to control, but if they used the accelerometers to simply detect motion (e.g. usually games, most likely) and used an infra-red system to actually point (OS mouse pointer), like the Wiimote, it might be a fair improvement I suppose.
I'd hate to be on an airplane next to one of these (Score:2)
The person sitting next to you on the plane constantly waves the damn thing around, until your drink is spilled.
Advert Warning (Score:3, Interesting)
I'd hope that none of you would fall for this but be aware that all these sites provide is a bundle of freely available software including the twilight hack and homebrew channel. The makers of this software are not at all pleased [hackmii.com] about this sort of thing.
Is there any way to mod an advert down?
Reply to This
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah, I'm seeing something about "Top Wii Download Sites", which I find kind of shocking, since Nintendo has a monopoly on their Wii legit downloads (their site or nothing).
I find it very unfortunate that such obvious scams can actually make it on to slashdot, but perhaps it's some form of Darwinism?..
I like the Asus version better (Score:2)
It's just a pointer, not a "pointer, VOIP handset, and tv remote"
Probably cheaper, too. If it ever comes out.
Fail (Score:2)
And ultimately it will fail, or at best be a niche device. A PC is something you sit down right in front of, with the screen generally about 1.5-3 feet away. It's not a console where you sit/stand 5-10 feet away and have plenty of room to swing such a controller. If there were really a significant market for this, the drivers to use the Wii controller would be a lot more popular and people would already be using those.
Would people shut up about Wii Sports already? (Score:2)
Of course Wii Sports is "selling" well: everyone's FORCED to take a copy when they buy a Wii console!
If you don't count bundled sales, however, the game's sales numbers are pathetic.
Don't get me wrong, it's a decent game, but if they'd bundled "Mario's Extreme Knitting Challenge" instead, it'd "sell" just as well. And all these "journalists" who keep pointing to Wii Sports as a massive success for the motion-based sports gaming genre would probably be calling knitting games the wave of the future.
Re: (Score:2)