How the Wiimote Works

The New York Times' 'How it Works' series touches on a remote with a twist: the Nintendo Wiimote. The article describes the micron-sized machines that make it work, displays cut-away graphics of the little white marvel, and rounds out the discussion with a breakdown of where the tech came from. From the article: "The controller's most-talked-about feature is the capacity to track its own relative motion. This enables players to do things like steer a car by twisting the remote in the air or moving a game character by tilting the remote down or up. 'This represents a fabulous example of the consumerization of MEMS,' the tiny devices known as micro-electro-mechanical systems, said Benedetto Vigna, general manager of the MEMS unit at STMicroelectronics, a leading maker of the accelerometers embedded in the controllers. (Nintendo itself declined to talk about the controllers' inner workings.) He said the motion sensors, using the technology that activates vehicle air bags, can accurately sense three axes of acceleration: up and down, left to right, and forward and backward."

Wait...

[Anonymous Coward]

can accurately sense three axes of acceleration: up and down, left to right, and forward and backward.

Wait, isn't that six axes? Oh, I guess it's just Sony that likes to make shit up.

Air bags? Perfect!

[Zero Degrez]

This just in.

Nintendo is using their wiimote technology to determine when the wiimote flies from the users hand, and will now deploy an airbag before striking your HDTV.

Please return your wiimote for the new version with the wiirbag.

only three axis?

[abigsmurf]

The sixaxis must be twice as good! Either that or Sony failed geometry...

Re:Wait...

[jizziknight]

*WHOOSH*

You might want to have your sarcasm detector checked.

Re:Wait...

[Daemonstar]

But naming the SIXAXIS the SIXDIRECTIONS just doesn't have the same appeal.

simplified "how it works"

[Speare]

I thought the Wiimote worked like this:

If you see a monster, throw the Wiimote directly at the monster. Depending on your aim, the monster will die in a shower of bright sparks and crackly noises, or the monster will hurl various objects back at you such as books, chunks of plaster, ceiling fan blades, or your little brother's eyeball.

Imagine the possibilities

[Rosco P. Coltrane]

independent researchers have shown that there is a strong link between very high voltages coming from the accelerometers and the state of inebriation (and perhaps low IQ) of the player...

No disassemble!!

[Rob T Firefly]

So did they actually use tools to open the Wiimote up carefully? Or did they fling it with all their strength at an HDTV to get both an article, and piece of the class-action? [slashdot.org]

Re:Wait...

[EnglishTim]

I agree, but calling it threeaxesandthreedimensions doesn't get you a snappy palindromic name.

Re:Air bags? Perfect!

[Anonymous Coward]

You mean "Wiibag", surely. Or "ColostoMii Bag".

Re:Wait...

[blincoln]

I agree, but calling it threeaxesandthreedimensions doesn't get you a snappy palindromic name.

That's why they should have called it something super-awesome like Axis of Threevil.

Re:Not troll

[Lectrik]

Time is very dumbed down, and uses slang my middle school English teacher wouldn't allow. That's for non-technical articles.

That's not very nice. I mean they named you as "Person of the Year" after all, didn't they?

Re:Not troll

[UbuntuDupe]

Me? I thought they named you!

Re:only three axis?

[Jesus_666]

SIXAXIS rolls off the tounge a lot better than SIXDEGREESOFFREEDOM

But the latter might be more appealing to people whom like to watch FOX News etc. "The Wii gives you motion tracking, but does it give you FREEDOM?"

Then again, Americans might object to getting their freedom from Japan...