Wiimote + Mac + Hacking = Lightsaber

Author: Wil Harris
Published: 12th December 2006
Comments (11) Stumble
Wiimote + Mac + Hacking = Lightsaber

For the love of The Force.

It's well known that everyone in the known universe, given the choice, would rather be a Jedi. For years, many of us have sought outlets to indulge in this futile fantasy - video games, card games, movies, books, dress-up... er, obviously not that last one.

One of our favourite pretend-to-be-a-Jedi tricks is to use the wonderful MacSaber. This runs on any Apple Mac laptop which has motion sensing (designed to prevent hard disk damage in the event of a sudden drop). By swinging your laptop around, you can make lightsaber noises. Obviously.

Well, we saw recently that someone had come up with a way to use the Nintendo Wiimote to control your Mac, by reading the signals sent back from the device and translating them into mouse movements.

It was, then, inevitable - some might say it was destiny - that the two apps would be combined to produce a lightsaber app for the Mac that uses the Wiimote. And thus, was it so.

Together, the two apps could rule the galaxy, as father and son.

But while we wait for the intergalactic politics to play out, we'll be sure to give it a go and let you know how little work we get done today. In the meantime, check out these YouTube videos of young padawans who have already begun their training.

Fancy a go? Let us know over in the forums.
Quote BioSniper 12th December 2006, 09:13
Sound good. I will have to check out the vids when I get home though as too much stuff is blocked by works proxy :(
Quote Darkedge 12th December 2006, 11:17
sounds great and then you watch the videos and realise it's a bunch of sad geeks waving a wiimote around as if it's a lightsabre and their mac is making sort of lightsabre noises that don't quite match what they are doing with the wiimote.

Pointess and actually rather rubbish, now if you had a lightsabre shown on your screen that was moving in 3d like you use the wiimote, that would be cool. This actually isn't.
Quote plagio 12th December 2006, 12:37
wtf ?
Quote stephen2002 12th December 2006, 12:40
That is hillarious, made my morning. :)
Quote cowtc 12th December 2006, 13:00
it there going to be a star wars game for the Wii in the future?! That would be mad (with gore & limb setting for the adults)
Quote DXR_13KE 12th December 2006, 13:05
if improved this can prove to be fun.... and i think this is better than waving your laptop to make these sounds.....
Quote Starbuck3733T 12th December 2006, 15:41
Warning - constructive criticism ahead:

You guys ever think of using something other than the same image for for each news clip? I don't think, though I am by no means an expert, that it would have taken long to grab the .mov file linked off the site that you linked, extract a frame out of it (or more) and put up a graphic that's representative of what's going on.

** end constructive criticism **
Quote glaeken 12th December 2006, 16:29
Quote:
Originally Posted by Darkedge
sounds great and then you watch the videos and realise it's a bunch of sad geeks waving a wiimote around as if it's a lightsabre and their mac is making sort of lightsabre noises that don't quite match what they are doing with the wiimote.

Pointess and actually rather rubbish, now if you had a lightsabre shown on your screen that was moving in 3d like you use the wiimote, that would be cool. This actually isn't.

What he said. All it is, is a bunch of sad lonely nerds who have never touched a woman.
Quote Firehed 12th December 2006, 17:16
You can also do something a bit more useful with your Wiimote too...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTN9D_FKAyA
(yes, I know my aim sucks, but it's hardly meant as a precision device)

I haven't found either thing to be very reliable, though as it happened, the Wiimote via the same app I used above seems to be a MUCH snappier response when used as a Front Row remote than the included infrared one.
Quote DougEdey 12th December 2006, 18:32
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFBbK5QuF5E

Thats a student at my uni.
Quote mikeuk2004 12th December 2006, 18:52
Pointless app
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