Can the Wiimote be copied in next generation?

Hedge

Hedge

Hedge

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Just wondering whether nintendos rivals will be able to bring out their next consoles with similar Control systems?

Or do Nintendo pretty much own the rights to this technology?
 
If this is the case, and this control method becomes even more popular with people, then Nintendo will totally monopolize their sector. Interesting
 
I don't think something that broad can be owned by Nintendo. Motion sensitive controls have been around for a long time.
 
you cant patent what the wiimote is in essence - motion controlling device - because we've had them before, still have them and its just too loose a thing to patent. Heck, whilst it isnt any good, the sixaxis already does it.

Will Sony/MS follow suit? dunno. But legally they'll be able to - just using a different way to achieve the same...
 
I was going to say, I can't see a problem with someone following suit.

It's like the Controllers, They are all the same at their base, Just designed differently.
 
Nintendo can't copyright motion sensors to control a game, considering they never came up with it first anyway they just took idea's already used and made it mainstream.
 
Microsoft and Sony could make a motion sensor controller but they just would be able to use the same technology as nintendo which afaik is 3 accelerometers. Sony or Microsoft could use a gyroscope combination to get the same effect
 
I should have elaborated on what I said first. Nintendo do not own the rights to motion sensntive controls. I assumed the thread starter was asking if the "1 controller for pointing, and the other for shaking and control" was copieable. Which I would seriously doubt. Never really know though.
 
Whappers said:
I should have elaborated on what I said first. Nintendo do not own the rights to motion sensntive controls. I assumed the thread starter was asking if the "1 controller for pointing, and the other for shaking and control" was copieable. Which I would seriously doubt. Never really know though.
Click to expand...

Yeah I doubt MS or Sony could get away with copying that design of control
 
I don't know if they would really bother. The Wii control have proven to not be all that great for traditional games and I can't see the casual market wanting something as expensive as a PS3 just for the occasional game of bowling.
 
The Wiimote will be copied (and bettered) next gen, no doubt.

And Nintendo can't copyright the principle of motion control itself, they can only copyright the technology behind it.
 
Ok thanks for clearing that up :)

The nunchuck idea is a good one though, regardess of motion sensing its nice to be able to have your hands freely distanced from one another.
 
Whilst other companies will probably be able to make variants of the wii mote style motion sensor I suspect they won't be able to make anything too close.

IIRC the older versions of the motion sensing either used a single reference point + accelerometers or just the accelerometers or reference point.
I think the Wii mote is the first one to combine multiple reference points + accelerometers in a single handheld unit, and that is what makes it work so well.
 
The pointing device is probably the only thing that couldn't be closely copied out of the controls. This is the best part of the controller imo as well. THough the mix is what makes it truely special.
I love the separate hands as well, though there are definitely things that could be improved. Rumble in the nunchuck is one.

As for the controls not being that good for classic games... that is rubbish. The wii controls can work great for pretty much any game. The problem comes when developers try to shoe-horn over the top gesture based controls in to a game where a button press would work better.
I guarantee that when developers stop doing this, you will start to get some amazing control schemes for traditional games. No More Heroes does something like this extremely well. No waggle where it isn't wanted or needed!
 
I do think too many games are over-using the Wii controls at the moment. Mario's use of it for the rolling/manta surfing mini-games is excellent, and even the waggle is fairly well done, but the pointy-shooty addition feels irrelevant. Whereas Resident Evil 4 used said pointy-shooty brilliantly, but added a largely annoying WAGGLE NOW GOGO! feature to the cut scene bits. And Zelda shouldn't have used any Wii features outside of the fishing really.

It's definitely more down to game design decisions that's making it like this so far though, as the Wii controls themselves haven't actually been bad. The designers simply need to realise that their games don't have to use all of the Wiimote options, when only a few are really needed.

Speaking of which, of all the features of the Wii, I actually think the two-handed controller idea is ace too. Resting both hands more naturally (when I was playing Zelda mainly) was great for utter laziness.

EDIT: Oh, and of course, to actually address the OP: I'm not sure there's much need to really. The Wii is great fun, but there's absolutely nothing wrong with the standard controller either. The 360 controller is ace, and the console still sells well enough.
 
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Nintendo have some patents for aspects of the Wiimote. I've not read them in detail, so I can't say exactly what they cover. I imagine they will defend these patents pretty aggressively, if push comes to shove.
 
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