Question About The Wii Nunchuck

[ZackyH]

I know it's been used in Wii Sports Boxing where you can move the left hand around. Anyone know if the motion sensing for it is good enough to control things like aiming a weapon with a cursor or anything like that? Would be interesting to see a game where you can control two weapons at once.

[j_factor]

Aiming a weapon isn't done with motion sensing on the Wiimote; it's done with the IR sensor. You know that little sensor bar that you have to put up? That actually serves a purpose. ;) I'm pretty sure the Nunchuk is unable to interact with that.

[ZackyH]

Aiming a weapon isn't done with motion sensing on the Wiimote; it's done with the IR sensor. You know that little sensor bar that you have to put up? That actually serves a purpose. ;) I'm pretty sure the Nunchuk is unable to interact with that.

Oh, I thought the IR bar did aiming and everything related to the remotes. So the nunchuck can only do just enough to maybe do simple melee weapons or something like that?

[Wolfrider31]

Now that I think about it, it does seem weird that they didn't stick a sensor on the nunchuck for that very purpose. Hmm... maybe Nintendo will release a new version of the nunchuck? Especially if that whole quote from Miyamoto saying that the Wii will be significantly different in 5 years than what it is now.

[j_factor]

Oh, I thought the IR bar did aiming and everything related to the remotes. So the nunchuck can only do just enough to maybe do simple melee weapons or something like that?

The Nunchuk[tm] could register a swing, but not a location.

[UniHamachi]

I think the biggest misconception about the Wii (for both owners and non-owners) is that the "waggle" controls aiming. There are motion sensors in the nunchuk and the remote, and they work like the Sixaxis controller motion sensors. But the aiming is only done by the IR sensor in the Wii remote. While the motion sensing hasn't really been seamlessly incorporated outside of WiiSports, the IR pointer has been proven to be a better control option for shooters than dual analog.

The biggest problem in the design of the controller is its shape -- holding it requires your wrist to be tilted forwards, and it can be fatiguing. It would have been better to have the main controller mirror the nunchuk in shape so you naturally hold it like a gun and have more buttons on it. But Nintendo wanted the controller to look like a TV remote, so there you go. That and the bean buttons on the GC controller are instances of design over function. The split controller design itself is one of the big innovations that the Wii has brought to the table and should be copied in future consoles. Bonus -- it allows lefties (or even rigthies) to use their natural hand for pointing.

[ZackyH]

Pretty much I want to know all of this b/c a friend was curious about how to program for the Wii. i was thinking it would be neat to make a little 2d game where you have a guy that runs around and has a weapon in both hands and can aim around and shoot in all directions with the left or right hand. Kind of like Contra but with dual weapons. It seems like it could actually work since you're only tilting to get it to aim in a general direction. The wiimote could still control a cursor like in that Wii Play tank game I guess.

[UniHamachi]

The problem with that setup is you will need 3 hands -- one to move, and two to point and shoot.

When you hold the controller one handed, moving the D-Pad is very clumsy. Plus, it's digital, so using it for movement is definitely limited.

I'm trying to think of a control scheme for two remotes, but it's not coming to me.

An on-rails shooter would work.

[ZackyH]

The problem with that setup is you will need 3 hands -- one to move, and two to point and shoot.

You'd only need two hands if it would work with the nunchuck. Nunchuck analog for moving the actual player while using the nunchuck at the same time to tilt to shoot. The other hand would be controlled with the wiimote.

But I'm wondering about tilting while moving an analog. Could take some getting used to since you're moving your hand to shoot while your mind may tell you to move the analog stick or something.

A good control scheme with two Wiimotes would be to use one Wiimote to point at the screen to control movement. Maybe tilt it sideways and move it left and right like Pong. Use the other to aim a weapon.

[UniHamachi]

The problem is, for all practical puposes, you can't control a cursor with just the nunchuk. If you've ever tried using the waggle control, you'll find it's difficult to just get a switch working in Metroid -- you'd need to have the cursor in the dead middle and then tilt around to move it. Aside from being crazy spazzy, the controls would be so floaty and inaccurate you wouldn't hit anything.

Try the marble madness levels in Raving Rabbids. Quite frustrating, and that's not even particularly fast moving.

[ZackyH]

The problem is, for all practical puposes, you can't control a cursor with just the nunchuk.

Well, lets take out the cursor. Just have it aim the gun in a direction. Seems like it's capable of doing that from what I saw in Boxing.

[UniHamachi]

The nunchuk is incapable of doing what you think it can do. It barely capable of doing what it's supposed to do in the boxing game. And it's not even consistent at that.

[Icarus Moonsight]

For duel wielding? You can just aim both guns at the same point leaving all the aiming up to the IR sensor. If your thinking of melee/ranged dueling I think the nunchuck could work in a Red Steel fashion on the melee side and the remote can handle the aiming. Zelda did it with the sword/shield (swing sword with remote -- shield bash by thrusting the nunchuck forward).