Posted Nov 6th 2007 11:15AM by Eric Caoili Filed under: News
Talismoon, the same company behind the swappable Wii slot gates and ninja-themed replacement shells, tinkered with Nintendo's sensor bar design to make it more compact for travel. The resulting $24.95 Sensor Wiire requires even less space than the already-low-profile standard bar and, thanks to its retractability, packs up without leaving a frustrating tangle of thin wires.
As an added bonus, you could probably use it as a pocket-sized garrotte if you don't have any other assassination tools handy. Protect ya neck and jump past the post break for more photos of Talismoon's Sensor Wiire setup.
Every Tuesday, Mike Sylvester brings you REVOLUTIONARY, a look at the wide world of Wii possibilities.
Metroid Prime 3 has proven indeed that a Wii Remote and Nunchuk is the next best thing to a keyboard and mouse for first person shooting and action. Although we have few FPS titles being developed and released on the Wii (relative to party games and family-friendly content, or the main attraction of a certain other platform), the genre is among the most popular in the scripting community. This is naturally so with FPS being a favored genre among hardcore PC gamers and hardware enthusiasts.
With the recent release of the demo version of Call of Duty 4 and its imminent final release, I felt it was time to pick up arms and serve you a script for this spectacular shooter.
Posted Oct 5th 2007 10:35AM by Eric Caoili Filed under: News
Though it's significantly larger than Nintendo's inconspicious sensor bar, requires four AA batteries (included) for up to 30 hours of use, and is, of course, much more expensive than the free accessory that comes with every console, Nyko's Wii Wireles Sensor Bar has a few things going for it:
True to its product name, it's wireless
Reviews have mentioned noticing "slightly better tracking" and "comparatively less jittering" within a 25-foot range
Amazon currently has a day-long deal offering the sensor bar at a reduced price of $8.99, over 50% less than its usual $19.99 listing
It doubles as a pole for those spontaneous limbo games that often occur
So, we've argued the Wii Wireless Sensor Bar's case -- presenting the facts and links relevant to the sale. We'll leave you to decide whether or not it's worth your money.
Oh, how the mighty have fallen! Cobra Command, the once-feared terror outfit that brought nations to their knees, has all but abandoned its plans of total world domination, favoring the sales of cheap Wii accessories in their stead. Gone are the days of Weather Dominators, Synthoids, and dozens of other harebrained schemes plotted by incompetent-but-endlessly-entertaining villains. To take their place, we have an adjustable stand for your Wii sensor bar selling for only $9.99.
Distributed by dummy corporation Dragon, the Cobra Stand can twist and turn to position your sensor bar however you want. The suction cup on its base sticks to even the most slippery surfaces (or the most slithery! Har har har!). We've got some photo instructions on how to use this contraption, but that's not all! Our quest to point out bizarre packaging elements continues after the post break!
Having already made a name for himself with system mods for the Wii like the internal GameCube memory card and the internal Wavebird receiver, hardware hacker foobar2k shifted his attention to the Wii remote for his latest creation: a USB Wii sensor bar.
There have been other homemade USB Wii sensor bars that take advantage of the remote's "pointing" functionality, but this project wins points for stuffing all of the LEDs and wiring into a pen case. If that doesn't sound classy enough for you, he also secured the bar to his monitor with Blu Tack and branded it by scrawling "Wii" on the casing, off-center.
Foobar2k has instructions and a photo guide at his site for creating your own USB Wii sensor bar with cheap and accessible materials. Let us know if you can think of any ways to make the setup even more ghetto than it already is.
What's even easier than making your own wireless sensor bar? Ordering one. After all, even slinging some candles around takes more effort than a quick flex of your credit card.
We know there's a demand for all things wireless, but will this work well enough to justify a purchase? Unfortunately, we can't give you an answer on that, nor even provide details on the manufacturers, as details are vague even on the Wireless Sensor Bar site, though we've seen a little self-promotion from these people, whoever they are (check the comments).
Reader DoctaBu is fed up with the limitations of cords in what should be a wireless age, and he's taken matters into his own hands with this homemade improvement on the tied-down Wii sensor bar. He has no illusions about form over function for this project, either, because it's all about getting the job done. "Yes, it's ugly. Yes, it's ghetto. But, it is a wireless, battery-powered Wii Sensor Bar. And it works." Preach it, brother. He even made a video of the process for the curious, which we've included after the jump.
We expect that by next week, someone will have springboarded off this idea and we'll be bringing you the Porsche edition of wireless sensor bars, complete with shimmering white finish, Jacuzzi and half-naked girls. Go to, DIYers!
Do you remember our earlier story where a NYC Event attendee claimed that sunlight interfered with the console? Turns out, sunlight isn't that big of a deal. 1UP recently asked Nintendo about the issue and received the following statement from a company representative, who was not named:
"Our testing thus far shows no great risk of light interference when playing a game that relies on the pointer and sensor bar."
Still worried? Reassured by the comfortable embrace of mother Nintendo?
Over at the Nintendo NSider forums, a poster documented their time with the Wii during the NYC event. Yes, late coverage, but it poses an interesting scenario all the same. Turns out, the sunlight affected gameplay for this poster during the event, affected gameplay for the worse. To quote:
"We know that the sensor bar goes all wonky when halogen lights are in the room. But did you know that natural sunlight messes it up too? That's right, if you have the sun beaming right onto the sensor bar, it doesn't work. For about an hour or so, the sun shone right into the store, the two MP3:C kiosks had to have curtains above them, and the Wii Sports Tennis and Shooting Game kiosks were unplayable since they were "shrouded" in sunlight. Later the sun went behind a building, and everything was in working order again."
Interesting, however does it actually affect most of us? With the advent of curtains (or mini-blinds, if you're that kind of person), we're hard-pressed to believe this will really hurt the experience had on the console. That is, only if you're playing on the front porch or out by the pool.
As plays on the name go, "Wii-cessory" is probably not going to catch on, but y'know ... we're okay with that. It's so hard to come up with new witticisms when we're gazing upon the smooth, silky cables, so dark and lustrous. We can imagine how they'll slide through our fingers as we lovingly unwind them from their cruel and twisty knot of torture. The flat expanse of the sensor bar, just waiting, waiting for its place of honor atop our televisions. Ah, the pristine white shimmer of the nunchuk, so fresh and unspoiled by our grubby jam-hands. Oh, Wii. Why must we wait so long to be with you?
[Thanks to creamsugar for the tip. The original site seems to be experiencing intermittent downtime, so we're linking to Go Nintendo's pictures. Look out for some severe watermarking, however.]
Talismoon, the same company behind the swappable Wii slot gates and ninja-themed replacement shells, tinkered with Nintendo's sensor bar design to make it more compact for travel. The resulting $24.95 Sensor Wiire requires even less space than the already-low-profile standard bar and, thanks to its retractability, packs up without leaving a frustrating tangle of thin wires.
