Through the magic of Bluetooth you can use your Wii remote as a PC game controller.Thanks in part to information provided by
WiiLi researchers, clever programmer Carl Kenner has begun incorporating the Wii Remote into his input emulator software,
GlovePIE. Since the Wii remote and console uses Bluetooth to communicate, the Wii remote is also able to pair up with other Bluetooth devices…such as a Bluetooth adapter running on Windows XP.
Previously websites had reported the ability to pair a Wii remote with Windows, but without a game controller driver the remote was useless. GlovePIE grabs information directly from the remote and translates button presses to keyboard strokes. Current support is fairly limited: GlovePIE recognizes the remote's buttons and can supposedly read the controller's accelerometer (though I couldn't get the latter to work). The nunchuck attachment is not currently supported, though future support is likely.
Here is a quick guide Wii-PC interaction in Windows XP.
Connecting the Wii Remote
- Make sure you have a Bluetooth adapter for your PC.
- Go to Control Panel >> Bluetooth Devices and click "Add" a new Bluetooth Device
- Hold down 1 + 2 on the Wii remote to begin the syncing process.
- Check the box next to "My device is set up and ready to be found", then "Next"
- Click on "Nintendo RVL-CNT-01", then click "Next"
- Select "Don't use a passkey", then click "Next". You may need to hold down 1+2 on the Wii remote again here. If you're successful, three LEDs will be flashing on the Wii remote.
Using GlovePIE
- Download and extract GlovePIE to a directory, then open "GlovePIE.exe"
- Open "TestWiimote.PIE" from the File menu (It should be in the default displayed folder).
- Hopefully your Wii remote is still blinking. Click "Run" near the top of the GlovePIE window.
- Push on the D-Pad with GloverPIE being the active window. You should see values changing in the toolbar on the bottom-left corner.
- Leave the script running and open up a game!
Note that there is currently a bug in GlovePIE requiring you to exit and restart the program if you want to run the script again after stopping the script.
If you're feeling brave you can change the button-keypad mappings in the script file. You may want to do this to adjust the D-pad directions for two-handed remote play or to assign the expected keypad values for your favorite games.
Be sure to keep an eye on GlovePIE for future enhancements! Who knows, maybe you'll be able to use the remote as a PC pointing device in the near future!