[Chuckit]

I'm not following. 600K have sold — meaning an average of 300K a week for the past two weeks. But now that there are only 200K for sale, it'll be easy to get one?

[RAILhead]

Oh, and I was wanting them for Christmas -- one for my nephews, and one for my wife (me).

I don't know if I want to stand in line at 4:00am, though...

[goMac]

Originally Posted by Chuckit 

I'm not following. 600K have sold — meaning an average of 300K a week for the past two weeks. But now that there are only 200K for sale, it'll be easy to get one?

The funny thing is I'm hearing the PS3 is coming back into stock but they aren't selling. Meantime the Wii, with more units is still selling out. My parents were at a Best Buy the other day trying to buy a Wii for themselves, and they couldn't get one, but Best Buy had PS3's in stock.

[zerostar]

Not saying easy now, but as the next few weeks pass capacity should up quiet a bit and it will be easier.

[Dakar²]

Originally Posted by goMac 

Best Buy the other day trying to buy a Wii for themselves, and they couldn't get one, but Best Buy had PS3's in stock.

I suspect this is more because no one thinks they'd be in stock than because no one wants them.

[Chuckit]

Originally Posted by Dakar² 

I suspect this is more because no one thinks they'd be in stock than because no one wants them.

Yeah, Best Buy is kind of just sneaking PS3s onto the floor rather than holding huge events, it seems like.

[Dakar²]

True story:

When the PS2 debuted, around Christmas time, a friend called a local wal-mart in what he figured was a futile attempt to procure one. They informed him they indeed had 6 in stock, but were not putting them on the floor. They instructed him to come to the store and they'd sneak him in through the back to pick it up.

[MOTHERWELL]

Originally Posted by RAILhead 

I just wish I could find the freaking thing: I need to get 2 Wii consoles ASAP.

My brother got a console for himself, my brother, and me. He got them at Best Buy and said he didn't have any problems getting them. I guess there shouldn't be a problem getting one by Christmas or shortly after.

[Dark Helmet]

Originally Posted by goMac 

Or you could get a wheel for the Wii too. In fact, a Wii wheel would be wireless.

Again, who said otherwise? Can you link to one though? I don't remember anyone announcing one. You can get a wireless one for PS3 also when they they come out with one which you can bet on when GT hits.

I find it a bit hard to picture someone who is a casual gamer but hard core enough to get a Wii and a steering wheel only to sit infront of a TV with sound and visuals from 2000. What advantage would the Wii bring in this setup?

[icruise]

He may have just been referring to the plastic steering wheel attachment for the wiimote, which apparently improves the driving experience more than you would think.

[Dark Helmet]

Originally Posted by icruise 

He may have just been referring to the plastic steering wheel attachment for the wiimote, which apparently improves the driving experience more than you would think.

I bet it does make it more interesting than a regular controller. What I was saying is if it is more of a true driving experience you are looking for it isn't better than using a 3rd party steering wheel that has been selling for years.

[itai195]

Originally Posted by zerostar 

Not saying easy now, but as the next few weeks pass capacity should up quiet a bit and it will be easier.

My guess -- it won't be 'easy' to find a Wii in some places until after xmas. Nintendo seems to be pumping them out but the demand is huge. Just getting extra controllers is taking forever.

Originally Posted by Chuckit

I'd be willing to pay extra to avoid the hassle, but I refuse to give my money to the assholes who are causing the shortage in the first place by buying up 15 systems apiece to sell on eBay.

Yeah I know what you mean, but eh... My morals are flexible

Frankly if these things would launch in, oh say, September/October with more reasonable numbers of launch units, the eBay resellers would have a much tougher time of it. Or at least actual gamers who want the things would have a couple months of availability before the holiday season really kicks into gear.

[smacintush]

Originally Posted by Dark Helmet 

Again, who said otherwise? Can you link to one though? I don't remember anyone announcing one. You can get a wireless one for PS3 also when they they come out with one which you can bet on when GT hits.

I find it a bit hard to picture someone who is a casual gamer but hard core enough to get a Wii and a steering wheel only to sit infront of a TV with sound and visuals from 2000. What advantage would the Wii bring in this setup?

The Xbox force feedback wheel is wireless and looks to be a hell of a lot better than snapping a Wiimote into a plastic thing and steering in midair.

[Dark Helmet]

Originally Posted by smacintush 

The Xbox force feedback wheel is wireless and looks to be a hell of a lot better than snapping a Wiimote into a plastic thing and steering in midair.

No arguments there but is the 360 version wireless?

On another note I wanted to get the classic controller so I can get rid of the wired GC controller but it turns out it does NOT work on Cube games. WTF?!

http://blog.wired.com/games/2006/11/...l_console.html

[smacintush]

Originally Posted by Dark Helmet 

No arguments there but is the 360 version wireless?

I only know of the reviews I've read of the device, I've never used one. Apparently there IS a wire that goes from the steering unit to the foot pedal unit, and for force feedback you need to plug it into the wall, (it rumbles with just batteries) but there is no wire to the XBox. So I guees it's "semi-wireless". Plus it comes with a table mount and Project Gotham 3.

I'm tempted to get one but I've never liked any of the wheels I've tried in the past, plus it's kind of expensive.

[Dark Helmet]

I thought MS was keeping the proprietary wireless to itself as it doesn't want 3rd party wireless controllers?

Guitar Hero 2 has a wire as a result.

[icruise]

Originally Posted by Dark Helmet 

On another note I wanted to get the classic controller so I can get rid of the wired GC controller but it turns out it does NOT work on Cube games. WTF?!

http://blog.wired.com/games/2006/11/...l_console.html

Where were you for that whole discussion we had pages ago?

[Dark Helmet]

Originally Posted by icruise 

Where were you for that whole discussion we had pages ago?

Probably taking a nap? I forgot that I am under contract to read everything posted in a 32 page tread.

Recap?

[icruise]

Originally Posted by Dark Helmet 

Probably taking a nap? I forgot that I am under contract to read everything posted in a 32 page tread.

Don't let it happen again...

Recap?

The classic controller works with everything but GC games. The GC controller works with everything. Gabriel said that this was a plot by Nintendo to get people to buy Wii games instead of GC games. I disagreed.

[Dark Helmet]

Originally Posted by icruise 

Don't let it happen again...

The classic controller works with everything but GC games. The GC controller works with everything. Gabriel said that this was a plot by Nintendo to get people to buy Wii games instead of GC games. I disagreed.

oooookay. I don't care the reason behind it I just think it is ****ing stupid. I WAS going to buy one.

[Chuckit]

Originally Posted by Dark Helmet 

Probably taking a nap? I forgot that I am under contract to read everything posted in a 32 page tread.

Recap?

Basically, the Wii goes into "GameCube mode" (probably running the GameCube's system software) when it's playing a GameCube game. It can't interface with the Wiimote at all, which is required to use the Classic Controller. (I'm not saying this is a good thing or anything — I think it's lame. I'm just recapping the conversation.)

You could get a WaveBird, though, if you want wireless.

[goMac]

I don't understand how the classic controller will be used for a lot of N64 games, much less Gamecube games. It's just plain missing some buttons.

[Dark Helmet]

Originally Posted by goMac 

I don't understand how the classic controller will be used for a lot of N64 games, much less Gamecube games. It's just plain missing some buttons.

What is it missing? The shoulder buttons and Z?

[Chuckit]

Originally Posted by goMac 

I don't understand how the classic controller will be used for a lot of N64 games, much less Gamecube games. It's just plain missing some buttons.

The Classic Controller has 10 buttons, a D-pad and two analog sticks. The N64 has nine buttons, a D-pad and an analog stick.

[goMac]

Originally Posted by Chuckit 

The Classic Controller has 10 buttons, a D-pad and two analog sticks. The N64 has nine buttons, a D-pad and an analog stick.

I have a classic controller in front of me. It's got a select button, a start button, a home button, y, x, b, a buttons, two z buttons, and two shoulder buttons. I don't know where you got the 9 button count from, but I count only 7 buttons usable for gameplay. How is something like OOT going to work when you are simply missing the C buttons?

[starman]

It probably uses one of the analog sticks.

[goMac]

Originally Posted by starman 

It probably uses one of the analog sticks.

Ugh.

[ort888]

They should make a universal adapter that can take any nintendo controller.

[starman]

Originally Posted by goMac 

Ugh.

Pfft. It worked fine for the GC version.

[Dark Helmet]

Originally Posted by starman 

Pfft. It worked fine for the GC version.

Ya I was going to say the same as I still have that OOT on gamecube

[TETENAL]

Originally Posted by RAILhead 

TETENAL's post seemed 150% incorrect.

You have never been able to prove me wrong, and you can't now, because I have science on my side.

Originally Posted by MindFad 

I'm not understanding what you mean exactly.

OK, again. For racing games you hold the controller horizontally, so the IR sensing is no longer working. Now the Wii remote measures orientation and motion with its non-optical sensors. It measures orientation by the direction of gravitation and it measure motion by acceleration. You can never measure motion itself without a fixed reference point. If you'd move the sensor in one direction at a constant speed it wouldn't register anything. Only a change in speed is registered as acceleration, so the remote registers motion. The orientation is registered by the direction of gravitation. However, physically gravitation is exactly the same thing as acceleration! If you close your eyes (like the Wii remote does when you hold it horizontally) you can not tell the difference between whether you are sitting still on earth or whether you are sitting in a rocket in space that is accelerating at 9.81 m/s². And in the same way the Wii remote can not distinguished whether it is held almost 90° to the left or held horizontally and rapidly moved to the right. It just feels the same. So whenever you make quick steering movements with the Wii remote it must be confused. That makes precise steering impossible. Qed.

[wallinbl]

Well thank goodness some guy on the Internet turned out to be smarter than Nintendo's engineers. If only he had spoken up sooner, they wouldn't have wasted their time.

[Dark Helmet]

Originally Posted by wallinbl 

Well thank goodness some guy on the Internet turned out to be smarter than Nintendo's engineers. If only he had spoken up sooner, they wouldn't have wasted their time.

Marketing makes up for it.

[goMac]

Originally Posted by TETENAL 

OK, again. For racing games you hold the controller horizontally, so the IR sensing is no longer working. Now the Wii remote measures orientation and motion with its non-optical sensors. It measures orientation by the direction of gravitation and it measure motion by acceleration. You can never measure motion itself without a fixed reference point. If you'd move the sensor in one direction at a constant speed it wouldn't register anything. Only a change in speed is registered as acceleration, so the remote registers motion. The orientation is registered by the direction of gravitation. However, physically gravitation is exactly the same thing as acceleration! If you close your eyes (like the Wii remote does when you hold it horizontally) you can not tell the difference between whether you are sitting still on earth or whether you are sitting in a rocket in space that is accelerating at 9.81 m/s². And in the same way the Wii remote can not distinguished whether it is held almost 90° to the left or held horizontally and rapidly moved to the right. It just feels the same. So whenever you make quick steering movements with the Wii remote it must be confused. That makes precise steering impossible. Qed.

The Wii controller has gyroscopes, therefore it can tell how it is tilting. The surface of the Earth is it's point of reference, because last I checked, gravity is always pushing down. It can tell it's acceleration by detecting how fast the gyroscopes are moving.

[RAILhead]

Originally Posted by TETENAL 

You have never been able to prove me wrong, and you can't now, because I have science on my side.

Okay smartass, answer me this: how in the living Hades are people playing racing games? You can frakking see them on Nintendo's site! Is it all just Photoshop?


Wii Experience Vids

[MindFad]

Originally Posted by TETENAL 

OK, again. For racing games you hold the controller horizontally, so the IR sensing is no longer working. Now the Wii remote measures orientation and motion with its non-optical sensors. It measures orientation by the direction of gravitation and it measure motion by acceleration. You can never measure motion itself without a fixed reference point. If you'd move the sensor in one direction at a constant speed it wouldn't register anything. Only a change in speed is registered as acceleration, so the remote registers motion. The orientation is registered by the direction of gravitation. However, physically gravitation is exactly the same thing as acceleration! If you close your eyes (like the Wii remote does when you hold it horizontally) you can not tell the difference between whether you are sitting still on earth or whether you are sitting in a rocket in space that is accelerating at 9.81 m/s². And in the same way the Wii remote can not distinguished whether it is held almost 90° to the left or held horizontally and rapidly moved to the right. It just feels the same. So whenever you make quick steering movements with the Wii remote it must be confused. That makes precise steering impossible. Qed.

Then you need to explain how to me with the magic of science how the Wii remote's gyroscopes do exactly this in Wii Sports Boxing, Baseball, and Golf with exact controller orientation, in addition to Zelda distinguishing between if I slowly tilt the remote (blind, by the way, held up in the air) or quickly slash to make Link swing his sword. My only guess is the gyroscopes measure the speed it took to be in one orientation to the next, which would tell you the direction the person is swinging it and how fast.

[itai195]

Originally Posted by TETENAL 

If you'd move the sensor in one direction at a constant speed it wouldn't register anything. Only a change in speed is registered as acceleration, so the remote registers motion.

First, you assume humans are capable of linear movement at constant speed. My guess is that the accelerometer in the Wiimote is several orders of magnitude more sensitive to acceleration in multiple dimensions than you and I.

Second, why would you have to move linearly left to right in a racing game? My understanding (haven't tried ExciteTruck yet) is that they're controlled by tilting the Wiimote like a steering wheel. Tilt is measurable by the accelerometer chip in the Wiimote.

Third, I think you are confused about the function of IR on the Wiimote. It's just used for calibrating the pointer function. In other words, absolute positioning. It's not used for motion or tilt sensing.

[icruise]

I don't have any racing games for the Wii, but in Rayman there is a mini-game where you have to guide a ball in a maze. It's like one of those puzzles where you have to tilt it to avoid the holes. It tracks how you tilt the remote, and it doesn't use the IR at all as far as I can tell. That seemed to work OK (although the mini-game itself is on the tricky side) and I think the same exact principle is used in the racing games. It can tell how you are tilting the remote and translate that into movement on the screen. If this is scientifically impossible, then those guys at Nintendo are even smarter than I thought. Maybe we should put them to work on cold fusion!

[goMac]

Originally Posted by icruise 

I don't have any racing games for the Wii, but in Rayman there is a mini-game where you have to guide a ball in a maze. It's like one of those puzzles where you have to tilt it to avoid the holes. It tracks how you tilt the remote, and it doesn't use the IR at all as far as I can tell. That seemed to work OK (although the mini-game itself is on the tricky side) and I think the same exact principle is used in the racing games. It can tell how you are tilting the remote and translate that into movement on the screen. If this is scientifically impossible, then those guys at Nintendo are even smarter than I thought. Maybe we should put them to work on cold fusion!

There is a mini game in Zelda that works the same way.

There is also a racing game in Monkey Ball that works using the steering wheel concept, and that works just fine.

[goMac]

I just sent my Wii an email. My that pulsing light is sexy.

[Dark Helmet]

Originally Posted by goMac 

I just sent my Wii an email. My that pulsing light is sexy.

Can't wait to see it.

[goMac]

Originally Posted by ort888 

They should make a universal adapter that can take any nintendo controller.

http://www.retrousb.com/wii.html

Hopefully these guys are legit.

[wallinbl]

Can't get into Wii Shop anymore. Get error 209600. Test connections are successful, and it downloaded some update, but Wii Shop doesn't work.

[MindFad]

Do the News and Forecast channels work for everyone? Mine have always said that the Wii needs an update, I do the update, says it doesn't need it, restart, and nothing happens. Are they just not ready yet?

And send your Wii an e-mail? How do you do that?

[icruise]

Originally Posted by goMac 

There is also a racing game in Monkey Ball that works using the steering wheel concept, and that works just fine.

I just got Super Monkey Ball in the mail from Gamefly and I tried that racing mini-game. It works just great. I think I prefer it to using an analog stick. I don't know how well it would translate into a more advanced racing game, but just looking at this mini-game, I'd say there are no problems with this control scheme. No lag that I could see.

Super Monkey Ball is a pretty fun game and it really shows off how the Wii's controllers can be used. I like it a lot better than Rayman, actually. Rayman has a large number of mini-games, but that are all variations on the same theme, while Super Monkey Ball really got creative. Admittedly some of the mini-games don't work so well -- the controls are just too hard or too unresponsive -- but the ones that do work are great (and you've got like 50 to choose from). I also thought that graphics were a lot better than Rayman as well (although the bunnies in Rayman do make up for this somewhat...)

Originally Posted by goMac 

RetroZone: Wii

Hopefully these guys are legit.

Interesting, since at the moment there are no Wii controllers that use USB. I've heard of these guys before -- they make computer game pads out of actual vintage controllers and are apparently legit in that sense at least. I'm not a big fan of the original NES controller, but the SNES is certainly nice. Speaking of controllers, these are pretty interesting:



They are Gamecube controllers modeled after the SNES controller and should work well for VC games. They're only $9.99 from eStarland.com. I've never ordered from them, but apparently they are a good company. I also hear they are available at Gamecrazy stores.

[icruise]

Originally Posted by MindFad 

Do the News and Forecast channels work for everyone? Mine have always said that the Wii needs an update, I do the update, says it doesn't need it, restart, and nothing happens. Are they just not ready yet?

They're not ready yet.

And send your Wii an e-mail? How do you do that?

You have to go into your Wii address book and find your console's Wii number. It's a 16 digit number. Then make it into an email address like this:

[email protected]

Emails sent to that address will show up on your Wii (and then the disc light will finally light up!). But you have to have the sender in your Wii address book or this won't work.

[goMac]

Someone got their Wiimote working with a PC. And they disprove TETENAL's analysis of the Wiimote.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=9iBaKsh5z_o

[Millennium]

Originally Posted by goMac 

http://www.retrousb.com/wii.html

Hopefully these guys are legit.

Their USB kits are definitely legitimate, and they're quite reputable as far as these go.

This would be their first foray into GameCube controllers, though. Yes, these are GameCube adapters; they're Wii-compatible as all GameCube controllers are, but they don't use USB or whatever the Wiimote connector is.

[icruise]

Oh of course -- they're just S/NES to gamecube adapters. For some reason the picture on the left looked like it was using USB.

[goMac]

Originally Posted by MindFad 

And send your Wii an e-mail? How do you do that?

The Wii has an email client. The standard messaging system has an email bridge to the WWW.