A Wii Experience (SM article)

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  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited November 2006
    Gargoyle wrote:
    The world's greatest action hero. Solid Snake > Bruce Willis.
    Wikipedia link
    Thanks. :)

    I am relieved to hear that there is no connection between SOLID SNAKE and the notorious trousertrout. :vimp:
  • lewicronlewicron Glasgow
    edited November 2006
    profdlp wrote:
    The last time I asked a question like this I learned more about certain behaviors than I really cared to know, but what in Sam Hill is a "SOLID SNAKE"? :mullet:

    pfft... seniors. :rolleyes:
  • CBCB Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Der Millionendorf- Icrontian
    edited December 2006
    I only wish I could find a Wii somewhere, they are still selling out before stores even open whenever anyone gets a shipment.

    On a related note, Gamestop's bundle is much worse than ToysRus.
  • SquillSquill Chesterfield, Va
    edited December 2006
    Cyclonite wrote:
    Nice! I'm int the water temple and loving the game. Although, I have always hated the water temple the most in the Zelda games. I always get so lost.

    The water temple in Twilight Princess is ALOT easier then Ocarina Of Time was from what I remember.
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited December 2006
    I talked to Random Target Dude yesterday and he said Target was getting a huge shipment of Wiis today (Sunday the 3rd of December). Might want to check into it, CB.
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited December 2006
    Most major electronics stores are. ;)
  • CycloniteCyclonite Tampa, Florida Icrontian
    edited December 2006
    Squill wrote:
    The water temple in Twilight Princess is ALOT easier then Ocarina Of Time was from what I remember.

    Yeah, I finished it last night. The game so far has been far easier than Ocarina of time, in my opinion. I can't figure out if it's because I know what to look for in Zelda games now, or if the game is just easier. I still enjoy playing though.
  • SquillSquill Chesterfield, Va
    edited December 2006
    Cyclonite wrote:
    Yeah, I finished it last night. The game so far has been far easier than Ocarina of time, in my opinion. I can't figure out if it's because I know what to look for in Zelda games now, or if the game is just easier. I still enjoy playing though.

    From what I heard after the water temple it gets alittle harder, but I haven't noticed it being that much harder. But it's still just as much fun as any other Zelda title.
  • CBCB Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Der Millionendorf- Icrontian
    edited December 2006
    I talked to Random Target Dude yesterday and he said Target was getting a huge shipment of Wiis today (Sunday the 3rd of December). Might want to check into it, CB.


    Yea, I posted after getting back from Target. There I learned that they, and all other stores in the area were sold out long before open... again. I asked the guy when he thought that stores might be able to keep them on the shelves past open. He laughed and told me not to expect such a thing until mid-January.

    I bought Final Fantasy XII to keep me occupied until then.
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited December 2006
    Wow... Despite my distaste for the Toys R Us fiasco, I guess I'm glad I was able to get one there. Their "bundle" kept at least a couple of Wiis in stock. I suppose I should look on the bright side :eek3:
  • edited December 2006
    "This is 2006, Nintendo. Plug and Play - look it up!"

    Exactly, Plug and Play. But Wiimotes are wireless and use Bluetooth. Therefore the Console needs to discover them before use. The included one can be prediscovered of course though. If anyone would like a longer explanation as to why this is the case, let me know. For now i'll spare you the technical mumbo jumbo.

    Edit: I've just clocked that this is a tech site. I'm surprised nobody mentioned this so far...
  • SquillSquill Chesterfield, Va
    edited December 2006
    I wanna hear the technical mumbo jumbo
  • leishi85leishi85 Grand Rapids, MI Icrontian
    edited December 2006
    bdonegan wrote:
    "This is 2006, Nintendo. Plug and Play - look it up!"

    Exactly, Plug and Play. But Wiimotes are wireless and use Bluetooth. Therefore the Console needs to discover them before use. The included one can be prediscovered of course though. If anyone would like a longer explanation as to why this is the case, let me know. For now i'll spare you the technical mumbo jumbo.

    Edit: I've just clocked that this is a tech site. I'm surprised nobody mentioned this so far...

    what are you trying to say here?
  • shwaipshwaip bluffin' with my muffin Icrontian
    edited December 2006
    I don't know what his point about the plug and play part is, but:

    Bluetooth devices have an hard-coded id that uniquely (hopefully) identifies each device. It is necessary to pair devices so that your Wii doesn't try to take input from or talk to every single BT device it sees. There is no guarantee that a Wii could tell "oh, this is a wiimote" from the id number either...or maybe you live in an apartment that allows RF to pass fairly easily. You wouldn't want your wiimote to control your neighbor's wii, or vice versa. So, think of pairing the device as plugging it in (once), and then you're good to go.

    It's not unreasonable to expect the consumer to do this.

    edit:

    a quick search indicates that there are 2^68 (~3x10^20) unique bluetooth IDs. (This is just one source, so I'm not exactly sure about that #).
  • edited December 2006
    Squill wrote:
    I wanna hear the technical mumbo jumbo

    Okay, here goes... (Note: previous poster was nearly there, but not quite)

    Since Bluetooth is a wireless medium, all devices that use it must share the same medium (the air), unlike wired devices which have their own personal medium (for the most part). It uses a system called frequency hopping spread spectrum or FHSS, simpy a method by which the Bluetooth device can differentiate between all the different Bluetooth devices. Different devices will communicate on different frequencies at different times. In order to know what these times and frequencies are, they must be told by the 'master' i.e. the Wii. Thus the need for a sync for new controllers, but not for the packaged controller. I would be very surprised if the 360 didn't also need something similar, I don't know what it uses though.

    The number of addresses is actually much smaller than suggested by the previous poster (only 8!). One of these is the Wii (master) and the others are for Controllers. So technically you could have up to 7 controllers on the Wii, but i'm not sure if Nintendo are supporting that (I don't see why not, it would be extra effort to stop people from using 7).

    Using an unsynched Wiimote won't affect others Wii's though, your Wii just won't be able to see it. To wrap up, the 'address' referred to by the previous poster is likely the Service ID, which tells other Bluetooth devices what kind of service the Bluetooth device is offering. In this case, all Wii controllers will have a unique ID saying 'Hey everybody, I'm a Wiimote!'. Wii's will likely ignore devices with other service IDs, but nothing can be done too stop other masters finding Wiimotes and receiving data from them...*

    *For anyone who's interested, google 'Wiimote mouse' and check out the Youtube video (sorry I can't link yet...)
  • CycloniteCyclonite Tampa, Florida Icrontian
    edited December 2006
    bdonegan, you're a little off on your thinking. shwaip is correct.

    FHSS is the method by which communication occurs with Bluetooth devices. It rapidly hops around different carrier channels within the specified frequency range. The order is known to both the receiver and transmitter.

    Also, shwaip was talking about the unique id assigned to every Bluetooth device, not any sort of "address." The Wii and remote must be paired initially. The syncing procedure is analogous to plugging in a USB cable. That's where the plug and play part comes in.
  • edited December 2006
    Cyclonite wrote:
    bdonegan, you're a little off on your thinking. shwaip is correct.

    FHSS is the method by which communication occurs with Bluetooth devices. It rapidly hops around different carrier channels within the specified frequency range. The order is known to both the receiver and transmitter.

    Also, shwaip was talking about the unique id assigned to every Bluetooth device, not any sort of "address." The Wii and remote must be paired initially. The syncing procedure is analogous to plugging in a USB cable. That's where the plug and play part comes in.

    I don't see much difference between what I said and that. If it sounds different it's because i was trying to simplify it. The unique ID *is* an 'address', the devices Bluetooth address (48-bits) it's only important during device discovery (synching) though, and is not used during regular communications, where the 3-bit piconet (the mini-network of controllers) address is used instead. As for the plug and play thing, you wouldn't expect a regular controller to work with the cable disconnected, so why should the Wiimote work without synching first? Effectively the synching represents the process of plugging.

    My Msc is in Mobile Networking and Computing, so I can keep going if anyone wishes.
  • CycloniteCyclonite Tampa, Florida Icrontian
    edited December 2006
    Maybe I misunderstood. It sounded like you said FHSS is what is used to tell the difference between devices.

    Ah, well. I'm still kind of confused, though. Are you complaining about the syncing or trying to explain it?
  • pseudonympseudonym Michigan Icrontian
    edited December 2006
    If anyone finds them in stock give me a little ringy dingy on the PM phone... McBain just bought a new TV and now I need to man up and buy the Wii....

    /me needs to Wii..... wait a minute, thats not right.....
  • FormFactorFormFactor At the core of forgotten
    edited January 2007
    Good article! Your Mii looks awesome! I cant seem to get one to look like me at all. I just picked one up on Sunday, and it is a blast. Ive had it for 4 days now, and Im 25 or so jhours deep in Zelda. What a great game!!!! How does Nintendo get it so right every single time, while all other RPGs pale in comparison.

    I am having a heck of a time getting it to connect to my linksys wrt54g. It sees the SSID, but i get a 15503 (i think error when testing it. I have also tried WEP with a >10 char phrase. Same error. Anyone know a fix for this? support..nintendo.com didn't have much on this.


    I created a seperate thread for my wifi issue, as it was a bit off topic.

    http://www.short-media.com/forum/showthread.php?p=457049#post457049
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