Model |
Nintendo Wii |
Weight (kg) |
0.2 |
The Wii Remote,[a] also known colloquially as the Wiimote, is the primary game controller for Nintendo's Wii home video game console. An essential capability of the Wii Remote is its motion sensing capability, which allows the user to interact with and manipulate items on screen via gesture recognition and pointing which is used for the console, using accelerometer and optical sensor technology. It is expandable by adding attachments. The attachment bundled with the Wii console is the Nunchuk, which complements the Wii Remote by providing functions similar to those in gamepad controllers. Some other attachments include the Classic Controller, Wii Zapper, and the Wii Wheel, originally used for the racing game Mario Kart Wii.
The controller was revealed at both E3 2005 and E3 2006 and the Tokyo Game Show on September 14, 2005, with the name "Wii Remote" announced April 27, 2006. It received much attention due to its unique features, not supported by other gaming controllers.
The Wii's successor console, the Wii U, supports the Wii Remote and its peripherals in games where use of the features of the Wii U GamePad is not mandated.
Key Features
Development of a motion-enabled controller began when development of the Wii console started in 2001. In that year, Nintendo licensed a number of motion-sensing patents from Gyration Inc., a company that produces wireless motion-sensing computer mice
Gyration had previously pitched their idea and patents of a motion controller to Sony who both declined. Nintendo then commissioned Gyration to create a one-handed controller for it,
which eventually became the "Gyropod", a more traditional gamepad which allowed its right half to break away for motion-control
Under requirement to "roughly preserve the existing Game Cube [sic] button layout", it experimented with different forms "through sketches, models and interviewing various hardcore gamers". By "late 2004, early 2005", however, Nintendo had come up with the Wii Remote's less traditional "wand shape", and the design of the Nunchuk attachmen
What's In the Box
Wii Remote Nintendo Wii Remote