Dawrin motion-based game controller to challenge Wiimote

Motus Corporation has developed its Darwin game controller and hopes that it can replicate the popularity of the Nintendo’s Wiimote to other consoles and PCs. Darwin is scheduled for release in Fall 2008, and is said to feel more realistic. Darwin uses a combination of accelerometers and gyroscopes to track its motion. The New York Times has a good overview of how the Wiimote works. A recent note in Technology review, Moving In on the Wii, has more information.

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Wiimote head tracking

CMU PhD student Johnny Chung Lee has done some amazingly cool things with the Nintendo Wii remote (Wiimote). My favorite is using it for true 3D virtual reality head tracking. Compare that to the thousands you’d spend for a magnetic tracker from Ascension or Polhemus. Admittedly, magnetic trackers don’t have the line of sight constraints of the infrared Wiimote, but for “fish tank VR”, where your computer screen serves as a 3D window into the virtual world, that’s probably just fine. Need convincing? Check the video out the video on his web site.

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Erickson retirees compete in national Wii bowling tournament

The Catonsville based Erickson company develops and manages retirement communities and currently has 20 campuses that are home to more than 20,000 people and employ more than 11,000. Earlier this year Erickson introduced Nintendo’s Wii into its communities and found it to be very popular.

“For the past nine months, Erickson’ s campuses have been overtaken by the Wii Wave, “Our residents have been enthusiastically playing Wii bowling, tennis, golf, and baseball,” said Mel Tansill, senior director of public affairs for Erickson. “Most of our residents had never before never picked up a video game controller in their lives, but they now have found a love for Wii Sports.” Nearly 200 Erickson residents have played Wii Sports to-date, according to Tansill.”

Now four bowling teams from Erickson Communities across the nation are competing to be Erickson Sports’ first Wii Bowling Tournament Champions and bring the inaugural Erickson Sports trophy to their home states and communities. Here’s a video of game one of the tournament.

You can read more about how Erickson’s residents are enjoying the Wii at the Erickson Tribune.

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Simulated games a stimulating experience for seniors

The Charlestown retirement community in neighboring Catonsville is using the Nintendo Wii to give residents new opportunities for physical activity. A story in the Catonsville Times, Simulated games a stimulating experience for seniors, describes the new program.

“At 91, Charlestown retirement community resident Jeannette Barrett would rather stuff a toy or paint a ceramic dish than wrangle a Nintendo Wii controller. “I like it, but I’m not very good,” she said, after her turn at Wii computer bowling Aug. 30 at Charlestown’s Renaissance Gardens Terrace assisted living facility.

The Charlestown campus on Maiden Choice Lane and several other campuses owned by Catonsville-based Erickson Retirement Communities use the game as a therapeutic activity, according to Renaissance Gardens program manager Elizabeth Weybright. Because many of the approximately 130 people at the Terrace facility can no longer play games they previously enjoyed, such as bowling, golf and tennis, they are willing to try an electronic device such as Wii that simulates these activities, she said.” …more…

Not only does the Wii provide physical and mental stimulation, it allows many of the residents to virtually participate in games like tennis, bolwling and golf that they previously enjoyed.

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Nintendo’s Wii Fit fits a new age

I noticed a slashdot post on The New Entertainment: Where Wii Fits In, an essay on Angry-Gamer.net discussing Nintendo’s new direction. It’s worth reading.

“Games like Wii Sports and Brain Age have revived classic arcade gaming. These are games intended for social groups of everyday people enticed by the experience, not for a rabid base of online strangers who just want to gank each other. The games have no first acts to set up a long storyline, no cutscenes, and no mythology or panoply of characters to wrap your head around. The only tale they tell is that of the player’s performance. The experience itself is a series of quick and simple challenges, easily attempted by anyone. Remember when Super Mario Bros. came out, and it seemed like everyone and his grandma was playing it? Well, guess what? It’s happening all over again. This is what Nintendo does. This is what it has always done. Complaining that this new phase of their plan has stopped us from sitting on our asses and twiddling our thumbs while we send our conscious minds into some fantasy land seems a little immature, and overly conservative.”

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