Saturday, April 26, 2008

Using WiiMote on Windows PC

I was trying out using my Wiimote with software Bluesoleil 5.0.5.178 (5Mb data limit trial version) and my chessy Abe Bluetooth dongle. It worked out pretty well on my laptop, although I was slightly confused about the setup of my Wiimote.

Once the Bluesoleil 5.x got installed, you should activate your Wiimote like this:
  • Right click on the bluetooth icon on system tray, and select "Display Classic View"
  • Now hold both [1] and [2] key for a while. Bluesoleil should sense your remote and display an item called "Nintendo RVL-CNT-01" on the screen, and the mouse icon at the top row should be turned on.
  • Right click "Connect" on the mouse icon.
Now your Wiimote is accessible on your PC, and you can access it using software like WiiRemote and so on.

I used the WiiRemote to test using my Wiimote as a cursor. Pretty cool the result. But this proves that Wiimote isn't a good pointing device without the sensor bar. The reason is that without sensor bar, Wiimote can only sense movement use accelerometer. So it can sense tilt and shake, but can't sense moving the whole Wiimote left and right. Still it's one more nice control device to play with.