Topic: The sensor bar is watching you...

[UncleBob]

Turn on your Wii.

Get out your cell phone.

Turn on your cell phone's camera.

Point the lens at the end of the sensor bar.

Becareful what you do infront of your Wii.  They're watching.

[UncleBob]

[MarioAllStar]

I'm assuming you can see the infrared light? From what I have heard, cheap cameras do not have infrared filters. According to this project, you can do the same with a GameBoy Camera.

Edit: Oooh...nice.

[UncleBob]

I knew the GameBoy Camera could pick up Infrared, but I figure I'm probably the only one with one (or four) of those hanging around.  Plus, I don't have the cable to transfer the pics from that to my PC...

Thanks for the link on that site though, that's awesome... I never knew someone went through the trouble of making the GBCamera take color photos....

[RickPowers]

So here's the thing.  The sensor bar doesn't actually sense anything.  The Wiimote does all the heavy lifting.  All the Sensor Bar does is send out a couple of infrared signals that the Wiimote can "see".

But Rick, what about the cable going to the Wii?  Surely the sensor bar is sending information to the console?

Hate to break it to you, but that's actually just a tiny power cable.

Want proof?  Go into the calibration mode.  Notice how when you move the Wiimote around, the two "lights" (emitted by the sensor bar) move in the opposite direction.  That's because you're seeing things from the perspective of the Wiimote.

[blackfootsteps]

So potentially a self-powered sensor bar could be released for those who have a projector type setup.  

[RickPowers]

Nyko is on record as saying that they're working on a wireless sensor bar, which I can only assume is actually a battery powered bar.  Make it a bit thicker, shove some AA batteries in the middle, and you're golden.  Since it doesn't actually communicate with the main console, there's no reason why this couldn't be done.

[Edfishy]

It is strange that Nintendo would have left the sensor bar wired.  My only guess is they were worried about too many batteries being necessary to play the Wii and wanted to try and eliminate some customer frusteration.

[Therac-25]

I would assume it's a weight concern.  Sticking the sensor bar to the underside of a monitor currently, only requires double sided masking tape.  Even with a single AAA battery, it would start to get more complicated.

[IceCold]

Quote
Originally posted by: Edfishy
It is strange that Nintendo would have left the sensor bar wired.  My only guess is they were worried about too many batteries being necessary to play the Wii and wanted to try and eliminate some customer frusteration.

The answer is somewhere in "Iwata Asks".. I forgot it though.

[Kairon]

That's exactly it. They didn't want people to have sensor bars give out in the middle of a Zelda boss fight. Controller worries were quite enough!

~Carmine M. Red
Kairon@aol.com