I’ve found out recently that it is possible to use a Wiimote to play PC games, so I thought I would share.

What you’ll need

A Wiimote
A Bluetooth Enabled PC (or Bluetooth Dongle)
BlueSoleil bluetooth software (this method doesn’t appear to work for me with Microsoft’s own Bluetooth Stack)
GlovePie  

Connecting the Wiimote

Make sure your  Bluetooth is turned on.

There should be a Bluetooth Places icon on your desktop. Click it.

Before connectting the Wiimote, it needs to be discovered and added to bluetooth places. This needs to be done once for all Wiimotes you are planning to use. Just click the Search Devices icon. A torch icon will indicate that the software is searching for bluetooth devices.

Now press buttons 1 and 2 on the Wiimote. This will put the Wiimote into discovery mode, so that bluetooth software can find it. A new bluetooth device, called Nintendo RVL-CNT-01 will appear in bluetooth places now. If you have problems getting your Wiimote connected, try pressing “1″ and “2″ on the wiimote first and then click on the “Search Devices” icon.

Right click on the icon and choose Connect.

A window should pop up, stating that the software is trying to connect to the Wiimote. Again press 1 and 2 on the Wiimote.

When the connection attempt is successful, the blue parts of the Nintendo RVL-CNT-01 and the My Device icon will turn green. The Wiimote’s LEDs will continue flashing.

Configuring the Wiimote

You Wiimote is not connect to your PC, so now you need to configure it using GlovePie

Extract the GlovePie zip file to a new directory. 

Run the GlovePIE.exe file you extracted. 

Choose File > Open from the GlovePIE menu, and load the TestWiimote.PIE file. 

Press the Run button. The title bar should say “[Running]“, the Run button should change to a stop button, and the “debug” box should appear next to the stop button. 

Move the Wiimote around and see if the values in the debug box change. They should be horizontal, vertical, and forwards-backwards movement in that order. Gravity also affects them. 

 Go to any program (notepad will work) and try pressing the buttons on the Wiimote. They should emulate the appropriate keys on the keyboard. 

When you have finished, click the Stop button in GlovePIE. 

Once you confirm this is working you can try one of the many other GlovePie Scripts in the Wiimote Scripts directory, or you can define your are own script as I have done below.

These keys can be defined however you want (check  the wiili forum for more details). When you are happy press the run button.

You should be able to configure the Wiimote to do almost anything. You can even use the Wiimote to play emulated games.  Early today my son and I have been playing Wizball and International Karate using WinVice and Golden Axe and Gauntlet using Kega Fusion.

 During this weeks school half-term holidays the boy, my big sister and I visited the Pong To Kong exhibition at Dorman Museum. This exhibition traces the origins of electronic games in 1972 up to the present day.  (The title would suggest it goes from Pong (1972) to Donkey Kong (1981) but I guess they couldn’t find  a modern game to rhythm with Pong)

It has lots of computers, consoles and handhelds on display (Over 100) and even lets you try out some.  Computers such as the Philips G7000 (I had one of these), C64 (surprisingly the king of computers does not have pride of place, or a crown or anything), Spectrum (a 48k rubber keys type, my favourite),  BBC micro, but interestingly no Amiga or ST.

All the major game consoles are also on display in generation order, from Magnavox Odyssey and Atari 2600, to Sega Master System and Nitendo Entertainment System all they way to Playstation 3 and Wii (although curiously the XBox 360 is missing despite the XBox being displayed in the generation before). There is a lots of handhelds from the Game and Watch to the Nintendo DS via the Atari Lynx and the bizarre Nintendo Visual Boy.

The exhibition also has a stand briefly looking at how a modern game is made; the development of the microprocessor; and the history of Blitz Games Studios, a British independent games developer set up by the Oliver Twins best known for creating the Dizzy series of computer games.

The pnly problem I have with the exhibition is that is a bit small, but other than that I would recommended if you are on Teesside before it closes on 28th June 2009 you should go and see it especially if you have kids (the boy loved it).

The last two weeks and a bit haven’t been as productive as Janurary. My new yeats self improvement quest has been stuttering a little, however I think I’m still moving forward and I’m not going to give up. 

I have been working on some blog postings, I’ve got seventeen other blog posts in draft at the moment, some of them are nearly complete, so you should be seeing them shortly. I’ve also completed a couple of articles for ObscureInternet, the long awaited Review – Remix64 V3 Syntax Error  and F@#K! The 7 rudest twitter account names an article about Twitter.

Speaking of ObscureInternet, which I do oftern, I am current working on a new WordPress template for it. This template is in a magazine style, I’m happy with how it is looking and I’ve learned a far bit about Wordpress while creating it. 

Moving back to Twitter, Twitter has become very popular in the UK lately thanks a number of high profile people using it such as Stephen Fry, Jonathan Ross , John Cleese, Russell Brand, and Phillip Schofield. I’ve been using twitter for a while. I’ve even made over 964 tweats using it but I’ve actually been really using over the last month. I’ve been connect to lots of new people C64 Music Fan, ObscureInternet, Comic book writers, and a few other people who look interesting. Sadly I can’t make the Newcastle twestival later this week, which I would have liked to do.

Last weekend Scenesat Radio finally went live with a great opening show, which is now available for download, from the new live website. I highly recommend you check it out.

It’s been a difficult month for my new years resolutions, as January always is. Nevertheless I’m focusing on the positive and I believe I have been some progress towards me goals in January,

For Get In Shape I’ve restarted hundredpushups.com but I’ve been struggling to get past week 3, I’ve Continue training for Karate three days a week (I missed one session all month), I’ve been on the Wii fit fives times, spending around a total three hours training on it.

To improve  my Healthy Diet, I’ve been drinking a lot more water more than 1 litre most days and I’ve reduced my daily tea intake by half to  about 2/3 cups per day 

Regarding Be more creative, I have started to programme Plorrds in Blitzmax which I also attempting to learn and I’m blogging a lot more, posting more often to the ObscureInternet form, and working on a new post for ObscureInternet.

In Improve Focus I’ve have made improvements towards getting up on time (my hardest goal) and have started reading Getting Things Done and The 4-Hour Work Week.

There is still a lot of gaps here, of things I’ve not even started yet (like join a gym) but I’m hoping to make progress on them in the coming months.