At E3 2006, a few minor changes were made to the controller from the design presented at the Game Developer's Conference. The controller was made slightly longer, and a speaker was added to the face beneath the center row of buttons. The "B" button became more curved resembling a trigger. The "Start" and "Select" buttons were changed to plus "+" and minus "-", and the "a" and "b" buttons were changed to "1" and "2". Also, the symbol on the home button was changed from a blue dot to a shape resembling a house, the shape of the power button was circular rather than rectangular, and the blue LEDs indicating which player you are, are now represented with small dots instead of numbers, with "1" being "•", 2 being "••", 3 being "•••", and 4 being "••••", in the same fashion as on the front of the Nintendo GameCube. The Nintendo logo at the bottom of the controller face was replaced with the Wii logo. Also, the expansion port was redesigned, with expansion plugs featuring a smaller snap-on design.
Since E3, demo Remotes at several corporate and press events in the summer of 2006 featured different button markings. The "-" was changed to a back symbol (a curved arrow pointing left), and the "+" was changed to a pause symbol. It has not yet been indicated that these changes are intended for the production model.
The body of the Wii Remote measures 148 mm long, 36.2 mm wide, and 30.8 mm thick.
Power Source
The current design of the Wii Remote uses two AA batteries as a power source, which can power a Wii Remote for 60 hours using just the accelerometer functionality, and 30 hours using also the pointer functionality. For the Wii Remote a direct recharging option has not been revealed. According to an interview with Nintendo industrial designer Lance Barr, limitations of the Wii Remote's expansion port make it unlikely that it will be used for internal battery charging. Nintendo of America's Senior Director of Public Relations, Beth Llewelyn, has stated that Nintendo "hasn't quite figured out what to do about power for the Remotes".
Memory
The Wii Remote features 6KB of "non-volatile" memory. On September 14th Nintendo of America confirmed that the memory could be used for transferring Miis (Built-in caricatures that users create themselves). The Wii Remote has 4,000 bytes of memory available for storing settings for individual games. Note though that this is only for one game at a time, should the user change games the settings will be overwritten.
Colours
At E3 2006, Nintendo displayed white, black, and blue controllers. At a Wii event held on August 15, 2006 held by THQ, where the publisher's launch titles were demonstrated to press and children, all the controllers were in a two-toned color scheme, black on the face, gunmetal on the reverse side. The controllers were glossy on the front, matte on the back, similar to the controllers Nintendo showed after the 2005 Tokyo Game Show. IGN published numerous photos of the event featuring the black controllers, but have since taken them down, as well as requesting their removal at other sites that had republished the photos.
Nintendo has announced that the Wii will launch with only the white model, with Shigeru Miyamoto commenting that new colors will be provided after supply limitations are resolved, which will not be until Spring. Whether this applies to color availability for individually sold Wii Remotes is unclear.
Functions
Sensing
The Wii Remote is able to sense movement and orientation. Sensors in the Wii Remote allow it to sense linear motion along three axes, as well as tilt. The controller features an optical sensor, allowing it to determine where it is pointing. This can cause some detection problems when bright or fluorescent lights are in the area, requiring the controller be calibrated to a sensor bar which uses two sets of LEDs in each end of the bar as reference points for the Wii Remote.
The sensor bar can be placed anywhere near the display screen and parallel to the screen's horizontal edge. It is not necessary to point directly at the sensor bar, but pointing away from the screen itself will disrupt position-sensing ability. The use of the sensor bar allows the Wii Remote to be used as an accurate pointing device up to 5 meters (approx. 15ft) away from the bar. The sensor bar is about 20cm in length and features eight IR LEDs, with four LEDs being arranged at each end of the bar. The Wii Remote contains a one-megapixel image sensor which is used to locate the sensor bar's eight points of light in the Wii Remote's field of view. The known real-world dimensions of the spacing between the LEDs on the bar allows the Wii Remote to calculate its position and orientation in space relative to the bar. This information is in addition to, and supplemented by, the 3-axis acceleration and tilt sensors in the Wii Remote.
When the Wii Remote is pointing away from the sensor bar, the 3-axis acceleration/tilt sensors measure linear acceleration and rates of rotation which provide approximate values of the location and orientation of the Wii Remote, but these values gradually drift out of alignment as long as the image sensor is unable to image the sensor bar. When the Wii Remote is again pointing at the sensor bar, the location and rotation data from the Wii Remote image sensor automatically recalibrate the location and orientation of the Wii Remote.
The position and motion tracking of the Wii Remote allows the player to mimic actual game actions, such as swinging a sword or using a flashlight, instead of simply pushing buttons. An early marketing video showed actors miming actions such as fishing, cooking, drumming, conducting a string quartet, shooting a gun, sword fighting, and performing dental surgery.
Despite the controller's similarity to a light gun, which is only compatible with cathode ray tube televisions, Nintendo has stated that Wii and its controller will be compatible with all televisions including digital projectors.
Controller feedback
The Wii Remote also provides basic audio and force feedback functionality. The Wii Remote can rumble one side at a time, or both sides. At the 2006 E3 press conference, it was revealed that the Wii Remote has its own independent speaker on the face of the unit. This was demonstrated by a developer as he strung and shot a bow in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. The sound from both the Wii Remote and television was altered as the bow shot to give the impression of the arrow travelling away from the player. On July 14, 2006, IGN reported that despite having shown the technology at E3, Nintendo has yet to provide developers with means to access the internal speaker functionality. However, on September 7, 2006, IGN reported that Nintendo finally supplied developers with a means to access the internal speaker and flash memory on the Wii Remote.
Personalization
Players can make caricatures of themselves with the Wii, creating a digital representation called a Mii.
This application is incorporated in the Wii Channel's operating system interface as the "Mii Channel". Users can choose from pre-made caricatures or create their own by choosing custom body part shapes, colors, and positioning. The Mii character can then be stored in the remote so you can face others with a Wii with your Mii. You can also upload them into the other player's Wii so they can use them, too.
Wii Controller Expansions
The Wii Remote also features an expansion port at the bottom which allows various optional attachments to be added to the controller. The following attachments are currently known:
Nunchuk
The first attachment Nintendo revealed (in tandem with the controller itself, at the 2005 Tokyo Game Show) is a unit featuring an analog stick and two trigger buttons. It connects to main Wii Remote via a short cord, and its appearance while connected to the main controller has led it to become dubbed the "Nunchuk" controller. Like the Wii Remote, the Nunchuk controller also provides three-axis motion-sensing. Nintendo has confirmed that a Nunchuk controller will be bundled with the Wii console. Nintendo announced that separate Nunchuk controllers will retail in Japan for JP¥1,800, in the United States for US$19.99, in Canada for $24.99, in Europe for €19, and in the United Kingdom for £14.
With E3, the two shoulder buttons, formerly named Z1 and Z2 respectively, had been reshaped and renamed since the Game Developers Conference. The top shoulder button, now called C, is a good deal smaller than the lower shoulder button, now called Z. The C button was oval shaped, while the Z button was square.
The body of the Nunchuk controller measures 113 mm long, 38.2 mm wide, and 37.5 mm thick. The cord for the Nunchuk is approximately three to four feet long.
Classic Controller
Nintendo had previously announced a controller "shell" which will resemble a traditional game controller, often referred to as a "classic-style expansion controller". As described at the time, the Wii Remote would slot inside this shell, allowing gamers to play games using a traditional-style gamepad, while leveraging the remote’s motion sensing capability. According to Satoru Iwata, it would be meant for playing "the existing games, Virtual Console games, and multi-platform games".
During E3 2006 Nintendo introduced a Classic Controller, which plugs into the Wii Remote via a cord, similar to the Nunchuk controller. The Classic Controller showcased contains no space for the Wii Remote to slot inside, as previously described, but does contain slots on the backside, opened via a rectangular button at the top of the controller, presumably for clipping the controller to something else. The purpose for these slots remains undisclosed.
The Classic Controller features two analog sticks, a D-pad, a, b, x, and y buttons, L and R analog shoulder buttons and a Z button located next to the R shoulder button. Despite press material which indicates a Z button next to the L button (referred to as 'ZL'; the Z button on the right side referred to as 'ZR'), hands-on accounts from E3 have reported that the design had no Z button on the left side. It also has a set of -, Home, and + buttons like those on the Wii Remote, with the - and + buttons labelled 'Select' and 'Start', respectively.
Nintendo has announced that Classic Controllers will retail in Japan for JP¥1,800, in the United States for $19.99, in Canada for $24.99, in Europe for €19, and in the United Kingdom for £14.
At Leipzig Game Convention 2006 new pictures of the controller were on display with another button near the L button.
Wii Zapper
Nintendo has showcased a gun-like "Zapper" shell for the Wii Remote. The Wii Remote slots into the "gun barrel" of the shell. The shell features a "trigger hole", as well as an analog stick on the top of the handle. The controller expansion was reported by various gaming websites to be utilized for a Duck Hunt sequel.
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