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Picturing the Nintendo Wii

Robert Workman picks up the story about the augmented reality speculation in the May 2 GameDaily. And here is a nice video clip of the Revolution - ahem - Wii - controller in action - without any screenshots - from last September's Tokyo Game show.

I am increasingly convinced that the Wii will include a camera and implement an AR UI. Why?

In addition to gyroscopes, the controller is reported to use infrared tracking. Hold on - how do infrared beacon tracking systems work? And why no pictures of the "sensor bar" used with the controller? And why no real game screenshots yet? It is because the Nintendo Wii controller's IR sensor is a pair of cameras? Can they capture video? (Gasp!) A decade ago Nintendo sold a camera for less than $10; in 2006 it wouldn't cost much. But until E3 on May 10, all we know for sure is that...

"The controller still has another secret," according to Nintendo chief game designer Shigeru Miyamoto at the Digital Interactive Entertainment Conference in December, "but it's something that we'll reveal next year."

Posted by David at May 5, 2006 06:50 AM