...is actually kind of hard!

Well, you may or may not know that Nintendo's Wii Remote uses standard Bluetooth to communicate with the console. Enterprising open-source developers have exploited this fact to write drivers for the device, and the most mature on the Mac is Darwiin Remote.

This program will let you communicate with the remote and map the buttons to different keys on the keyboard. It also displays a nifty graph of the motion sensor output, and while nothing is currently done with this, I bet someone will come up with something eventually.

Anyway, being the nerd that I am, I thought it might be cool to try it out, and SketchFighter seemed a natural candidate. The verdict? It works! But...it's a little hard to play. I feel like I felt when I first started playing SketchFighter, and I'd probably need to relearn everything. Nevertheless, the controller buttons are more responsive than keyboard keys, and allow for more precise aiming. If only I could get the flying down.

That Sounds Awsome!! I might have to buy a wii just so i can try that out. Or maybe see if one of my freinds are going to buy one.... Hmmmm...

This is made of epic win.

Still a good pun.

More on topicedly, I like. I should go out and buy a Wiimote just for this. I wonder what other games you could play with this...

This post has been edited by PiSketch : 01 June 2007 - 02:20 PM

@pisketch, on Jun 1 2007, 03:20 PM, said in Playing SketchFighter with a Wiimote:

Still a good pun.

More on topicedly, I like. I should go out and buy a Wiimote just for this. I wonder what other games you could play with this...

i wonder if redline would work. hmmm maybe starcraft nah to hard. Anyway how much do wiimotes cost? $30?

Redline would be interesting. I assume that the program for the computer simply allows you to set X motion to Y key, correct? so that would mean that you'd have to keep hitting one button to go forward... Be interesting if you set "Swing forwards" to go. You'd have to, like, spin it or something. Now, what I want to try is EVN. THAT would be interesting.

Actually, Redline would be quite possible to play – back when the game was first released we had a guy who wanted to know if it were possible to play with a mouse, and so I worked out the settings for him. If you moved the mouse one way, you'd go left; move it the other way, right; push forward and you'd go forward, back and you'd go back.

Though I don't know for certain that Darwiin Remote would support that, so it might be best to assign forward to A and back to B. shrug

The problem you run into when playing a game like Redline (unless your computer is a lot faster than mine) is that Darwiin remote is currently kind of a CPU hog. It even slows down SketchFighter on my 1ghz G4 Powerbook.

Also, it currently only allows you to map button presses to keys or mouse clicks. The only thing it does with the motion sensor is allow you to use it like a mouse, which is a novelty at best. It will also allow you to use the IR sensor pointing as a mouse, which I haven't tested but assume works. That would be awesome for a home theater PC.

In the future, I can see someone creating a Bluetooth HID device driver for the Wiimote that allows you to treat motions along an axis as analog stick input. Then you could get the steering wheel-esque controls of games like Excite Truck, which work extremely well. Unfortunately, any such thing is months if not years away from becoming reality. Also, anything beyond simple tilt-to-analog mapping would require developer support, and I can't see that happening ever. If you want to write games that use the Wiimote, you write them for the Wii.

Hmm...for EVN, I don't think there are enough buttons. You have seven buttons and the D-pad to work with. I'm too lazy to look, but I don't think you can get all the functionality you need from EVN into seven buttons. However, the software also supports the classic controller, and that may just work.

As for buying a wiimote just for this: I wouldn't. They're $40, and you're paying for a lot of unused functionality. You'd be much better off paying $20 for a USB gamepad.

However, if you do a lot of presentations or have a home theater PC, then the Wii remote plus Remote Buddy may just be the ultimate input solution for you.

Wait--Mackilroy, you say you can control Redline with a mouse? Because Darwiin remote lets you map the motion sensor to mouse motion. It's not very precise as a mouse, but if we could get it set up so it drives Redline like a steering wheel, then I may just have to look again at that game. I played the demo once and put it aside because I hated the keyboard control, but this may make it very awesome indeed.

We need more Nintendo-Apple integration.

@cheleball, on Jun 2 2007, 12:33 PM, said in Playing SketchFighter with a Wiimote:

Wait--Mackilroy, you say you can control Redline with a mouse? Because Darwiin remote lets you map the motion sensor to mouse motion. It's not very precise as a mouse, but if we could get it set up so it drives Redline like a steering wheel, then I may just have to look again at that game. I played the demo once and put it aside because I hated the keyboard control, but this may make it very awesome indeed.

Sure did. I set it up so only the mouse was required – no keyboard, save in the menus.

May I ask you a question?

In general, how does it feel, using the wiimote as a traditional d-pad?

Compared to, say, the GBA or the DS?

I'm new to gaming on computers -- bought my first laptop a few months ago -- and though I enjoyed the Sketchfighter demo enough to register, I've played it very little since then -- using the keyboard as a controller feels a little awkward to me.

My ideal controller would be a Nintendo d-pad with the form factor of the Apple Remote... but back in the real world, is the wiimote pleasant to use? (I'd be playing Sketchfighter, Quinn, and some classic SNES games.)

If you mean does it work when held sideways, then yes. It's a comfortable and intuitive way to use the controller. I wish the D-pad were a little larger, but other than that, it works well. I've never used a GBA or DS, but I'd imagine it compares favorably.

If you're going to be playing SNES games, not that the button layout on the Wiimote is not conducive to that setup. You'd either need to buy a classic controller to plug into it (which DarwiinRemote supports), or just by a regular USB gamepad, which would be cheaper and have better driver support.

As far as playing Sketchfighter, the biggest issue for me is that you only have your thumb to push that d-pad, whereas with the keyboard you have three fingers. So, rapidly switching from forward-while-turning to backward-while-turning, and also switching directions while moving forward or back, feels a little awkward. I feel this could be overcome with practice, but am not sure the effort is worth it.

This post has been edited by cheleball : 09 June 2007 - 01:13 AM

Argh -- completely forgot about this -- sorry for not acknowledging your reply, cheleball.

Anyhow -- thanks for the info. I'd been putting off my purchase of a Wii until there were a few more games I was interested in (cough Super Mario Galaxy cough) ...and maybe a price drop ...but this might just be the excuse I need...

As I newcomer to "PC" gaming, for me the awkwardness of the keyboard is losing my place on the keys and then clumsily scrambling to find the correct keys again without taking my eyes from the screen. Usually results in me firing off 3 missiles I couldn't afford to fire, switching ammo colours a few times, flying the craft in circles and then exploding.

I think I'm getting the hang of it though. Came back to the game after I posted and finally beat that bomb-laying tank boss in the Volcano area.

The second reason I find the keys a little awkward is that part of me is reluctant to really let loose on my MacBook's keyboard... half-afraid I'd bash a few years off its life-expectancy.

I'll give you that - remembering which button does colors and weapons is much easier on the Wiimote. I still can never keep it straight on the keyboard and always end up trial-and-error-ing it.

There are a lot of great games out for the Wii right now. Games like Zelda, Super Paper Mario, Excite Truck, etc. Wii Sports is surprisingly fun, too. Then there are all the Gamecube games (that I personally missed out on) and all of the Virtual Console titles (100 available and climbing--I have six, with like ten more on my "to buy when I have more money" list).

And...the release list planned for the holidays is huge...

you can play game cube games on a wii? Awesome!

EDIT:Do you need a different controller?

This post has been edited by Dogbert : 21 June 2007 - 02:24 PM

@dogbert, on Jun 21 2007, 01:24 PM, said in Playing SketchFighter with a Wiimote:

you can play game cube games on a wii? Awesome!

EDIT:Do you need a different controller?

You need both a GC controller and memory card. The Wii literally becomes a GC when playing those games, so you don't get features like the home menu, bluetooth controllers, and saving to the Wii system memory. The compatibility is 100% flawless, though.

@cheleball, on Jun 21 2007, 07:13 PM, said in Playing SketchFighter with a Wiimote:

The Wii literally becomes a GC when playing those games...

Imagines Wiimorph

Can it do an xBox?

This topic is making me really want to grab one of the Wiimotes from the living room and test it out with either SF or Redline gah!

@mackilroy, on Jun 21 2007, 08:27 PM, said in Playing SketchFighter with a Wiimote:

This topic is making me really want to grab one of the Wiimotes from the living room and test it out with either SF or Redline gah!

If you manage to get Redline to recognize the mouse y-axis on the Wiimote let me know how you did it. As I wrote over in the Redline forum, I failed tragically at this.