interview with makers of Wii motion plus

This is an interview with the creators or Wii Motion Plus.

Next spring, over two years after the launch of the Wii, we'll finally get 1:1 motion control. Those sublte movements that have previously caused the system to freak out will be possible. We caught up with InvenSense, maker of the Wii Motion Plus technology, to find out more about the device. Some of the following interview gets fairly technical, so it might be helpful to check out InvenSense's informational video comparing accelerometers and gyroscopes before you keep reading, to get a general idea of how the new chipset works.

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We're gonna need a bigger condom.

IGN: So tell us a little about what you did with the Wii Motion Plus.

Joe Virginia, VP of Wireless Business and Corporate Communications for InvenSense: What we're doing is, in combination with the sensor bar and the three axis accelerometer that is available within the current Wii Remote, we're now introducing MEMS gyroscope capability. And what that allows you is, rather than just having up/down, left/right, back/forth motion, you now have the ability to do rotational movements within each of those X, Y, and Z axis. So if you imagine you had extended straight out and twisted your hand, now you have the ability to measure rotational force. Did you have an opportunity to use the Wii Motion Plus attachment?

IGN: Yes, I got to play the sword fighting game in Wii Sports Resort.

Virginia: Great, so you had the opportunity to swing the sword above your head, behind your head, thrust right, thrust forward. All of those types of motions in the past weren't possible, but this is the gyroscope capability, combined with the accelerometer and the sensor bar within the Wii remote system that bring a new level of gameplay. There were several other things. Maybe not as cool of a game, but I'm looking at it from a motions sensing perspective, do you remember the jet ski demonstration? If you notice how [Reggie Fils-Aime] was using the throttle in the jet ski application where you had to move left and right and move through the course. The throttling really showed rotational movement that has never been able to be tracked before by the Wii Remote controller. So that was another area where rotational force was used.

So the multi axis gyroscope provides new capabilities to game developers. Now there's where the line is drawn. We provide the capability as a motions sensing provider and the game developer takes that and says "Okay what can we do with this new capability?" If you can measure six degrees of freedom in free space, a game developer has enormous opportunities. As you saw in Wii Sports Resort, the ability to control the angle of a disc flying through space, sword fighting. We can envision things in the future like golf swings. There's a very, very fast rotational time. The kind of specification we're looking at in response is between 500 and 2,000 degrees per second. So a very, very fast response, such as for golf swings or sword motions. So all we do is provide the capabilities and enable that, but that's where we stop and the game developers take over.


IGN: So what's the story behind your partnership with Nintendo? Who approached whom?

Virginia: Well, I can't get into the details of how all that began. All I'm permitted to say is that both companies were leaders in their respective fields, and the partnership just made sense. You've got the motion sensing leader in gaming understanding that a company called InvenSense makes a low cost, high performance gyroscope product with the ability to mass produce.