The Wii has more than its fair share of rhythm games, but if you’re looking for something more along of the lines of freestyle drumming then we have just the thing for you. A group of students from the University of Potsdam in Germany have created a program which adapts the Wiimote and Nunchuk into a drum kit simulator.
It works by connecting the Wiimote to a Apple Mac via the Bluetooth module, and then transmits your motions into sound. It even uses the accelerometer to measure how hard you shake your virtual drumsticks, which is then reflected in the loudness or harshness of the sound. As you can see in the video, the delay between “bashing the drums” and their corresponding sound is virtually nil.
Best of all, you can download the programme and try it for yourself, absolutely free. It’s open source software that can be downloaded from SourceForge, with endless options for tweaking the MIDI settings to make your own custom sound effects. What are you waiting for? Make with the clicky and get some drum practice in.
The superbly monikered N’Gal Croal has been thinking long and hard about the problems he’s having with Metroid Prime 3. Finally, he reached the conclusion that it’s not the game that’s the issue, but the design of the Wiimote. He reckons the “plus” and “minus” buttons (which are essential buttons in the game) are placed too far away from the all-encompassing “A” button.
With this in mind, he got his design fascist buddies at Newsweek to mock up a picture of how the controller should ideally look. Not having played MP3 (yet), we can’t say whether this would really be an improvement, but other internet jockeys like Go Nintendo and Joystiq have made noises of approval. We imagine that it could work pretty well for the rest of the Wii’s games catalogue, never mind MP3 alone.
Of course, Nintendo is unlikely to change the design of the Wiimote on one pundit’s say so. And even if they did, they’d take their sweet time about it; they’ve only just got round to addressing the “Wiimote through the TV” syndrome with their little rubber jackets. But there’s no reason that that a third party manufacturer like Mad Catz or Logitech couldn’t get in on the action…
Gaming on your mobile phone has a lot of potential, but there’s no getting around the limitations of the keypad. And it’s understandable - they’re designed primarily for dialing phone numbers and texting. The Zeemote offers a solution, however; it’s an analogue joystick peripheral that connects to the phone via Bluetooth. Best of all, it looks like a shrunk down version of the Wii nunchuk.
If the video is anything to go by, the ability to play with pinpoint accuracy on our mobile phones could finally be within our grasp. Check it out and judge for yourself. Alas, the people demonstrating the Zeemote are detracting from the message a little. It’s difficult to watch this pair of plonkers hop up and down in their seats without feeling embarrassed for humankind.
The superbly monikered N’Gal Croal has been thinking long and hard about the problems he’s having with 
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