Wii is totally capable of functioning with true 1-1 pointer accuracy

[kn]

@Sqrl:

Again, I'm most certainly not an expert on the Wiimote and I agree that the actual transmission of data from the Wiimote to the Wii is probably near zero latency -- or something like 10 or 15ms which is insignificant. What I'm questioning is the ability of the Wiimote's ability to read the IR sensor with a high enough sampling rate and with low enough latency that there is the *hardware* possibility of 1:1 data transmission from the Wiimote side. I've always been under the impression that IR devices generally come with a bit of lag inherently but this may not be the case. We are, of course, using light which has no perceptible delay but how fast is the IR receiver in the Wiimote? How many samples per second is it grabbing?

Also, how exactly does the Wiimote tell how a wiimote is oriented in space? Is it purely accelerometer? There are a couple of games -- SMG comes to mind -- that use very fine movements with the wiimote pointed vertically. The IR sensor is no longer line of site and that is coming purely from Wiimote internals.

Wii Sports Baseball is an interesting phenomenon also. You can hold the Wiimote back, wave it around, up, down, etc. and the game fairly closely tracks the movement even though the IR isn't pointed at the sensor bar.... I find it hard to believe that the accelerometers are that good, but maybe they are... It sure seems that the device is behaving as if it has a basic gyro in it...

All that said, the Wii side is also in question. Assuming for a moment that the wiimote is capable of sampling the wiimote's location in 3D space at least 60 times per second and can transmit those 60 samples with lag under 100-150ms, then we have to rely on the console to interpret. We will need a minimum of 60fps to keep everything looking fairly smooth when the action gets really fast... In order to do that, I suspect graphics quality would have to take a fairly decent hit as more and more resources are dedicated to keeping the 1:1 ratio intact both between wiimote and wii as well as on-screen...

Can it be done, though, is the big question. So far, the answer has been a "maybe" at best. Let's hope someone figures it out and charts a new course for the Wiimote....