Revolutionary
People are always asking me how to do whatever I'm doing in my YouTube videos, and now I've written an article which I feel is the answer to all their questions. Wii Fanboy has welcomed me as the newest member of their team, and every week I'll be contributing a feature titled "Revolutionary" - a look at the modding and scripting scene developing around the Wii and its controllers.
For my inaugural edition, I've written an introduction to GlovePIE, and from now on, I'll be referring to it whenever I post a new script or YouTube a video.
Transitional phase GD is in the process of changing hosts. Our previous host, SV1, which we've been with for several years, disappeared on us and has let us down for the last time. For the time being, our friend poit is putting us up on his hosting service, until the new hosting plan I ordered from Hosting Zoom is activated. After we get set up on our permanent new home, I'll be working on redesigning GD, RhythmGamer, and Ungamely in a more unified style.
Resident Evil 4 - IR Wiidux
It could be said that the biggest flaw in my Resident Evil 4 script was the lack of precise aiming due to the motion-based input. Well, thanks to a bit of code from Carl Kenner, I've been able to tremendously improve the aiming precision by adding in support for the Wiimote's IR sensor. What's more, the new script also has PPjoy support for greater precision still. Check out the video below to see how easily I pick of things that are barely even visible on the screen, and then download the updated script.
Wiimote - MotoGP 2 While there's little hope of the Wii ever getting a taste of this game series, I thought it would be fun to use the Wii Remote and Nunchuk as handlebars in "MotoGP 2". Unlike my first GlovePIE scripting effort, the button layout and motion features of the Wii controllers seemed well-suited to controlling this sort of game. Leaning left and right to steer the bike and twisting the Remote in your hand to control throttle, like you would the right grip on a real bike, just brings a level of immersiveness to bike racing games that (to my knowledge) has never before been achieved outside of arcades. Yeah, we'll probably never have a THQ MotoGP game on the Wii, but I hope that this script and video will serve to further demonstrate the versatility of the Wii controllers, and perhaps inspire others to think of new ways to hold the controllers to make for different gaming experiences.
Wiimote - Resident Evil 4 "Un forastero!" Yeah, I'm really sick of hearing that, but repetition comes with the job of playing the same part of a game over and over again to test a GlovePIE script. "Resident Evil 4" (aka "Biohazard 4" in Asia) was ported to the PC last year, and the popular opinion is that the control scheme borders on criminal, for lacking customization and mouse aiming. There are plenty of other things wrong with the port, which I won't list because I haven't (yet) done anything to address them. This script uses the button mapping and gesture controls of the recently announced (Wii Edition), but motion sensing is substituted for IR control (thanks to the port's lack of inherent mouse functionality). I've been working on trying to get IR support, but as of this posting, it's not ready. If I do get it working, I'll upload a separate script for it.
Wiimote - Rez
I didn't get around to making a new video for my latest revision of the Panzer Dragoon GlovePIE script, but instead did one better. I modified the script a bit, loaded up an emulator, and made a video of me playing the Dreamcast version of "ReZ". Because I started off recording me playing with the Nunchuk attached, it appears as if I only use the joystick to control targetting, but keep your eyes open. Whenever I disconnect the Nunchuk, targetting becomes purely motion controlled.
I'm sorry to say that I won't be sharing this script or information on how to play the game on PC, because I'm not trying to promote emulation, and in turn, piracy. If you want to play Rez with a Wiimote, the honest thing to do is pester Sega until they make a port or a sequel to the game on the Wii.
Wiimote - Panzer Dragoon
"Panzer Dragoon" is an on-rails 3rd person flight shooter, not unlike the "Starfox" or "Silpheed" series, and I thought it would be fun to use Wii Remote motions to control the flight and aiming of your dragon/ship in this sort of game.
In this version of the script, the motion controls demand a lot of movement and rotation of the wrist, but that will be addressed in future revisions. Being based entirely on digital commands and emulation of keyboard commands makes the motion less smooth than it would be in a game natively designed around the Wii Remote's motion sensing. The GlovePIE scripting community has come up with some inventive ways of getting a more analog feeling out of such controls, and I'll also look into adopting some of those techniques in future revisions.
