Yeah, but without an additional calibration method (ie: sensor bar) to fix the drift from the accelerometers in the Sixaxis, you'll never be able to use it for "aiming" at the screen or anything requiring precision... Just gross movements.
Nope, there is just the accelerometer and the sensorbar, no other sensor in the Wiimote. That the sensorbar can detect tilt in one axis is simply the result of having two (or more) IR dots. available, tilt detection in racing games works via the accelerometer, the tilt info from the sensorbar might be used for those funny pointer rotations.
Actually it (the sensor bar) is most likely used to correct drift. In the VR industry this would be called a six degree of freedom hybrid inertial tracker. The primary method of detecting the pose of the controller (position + orientation) is by integrating the results from the accelerometer(s) over time. The problem is that since we're integrating digital values, we don't get this nice discrete integral, so we get a lot of error. Now this doesn't matter when you don't need an absolute position and/or orientation (like for steering/swinging a tennis racket/etc), and on the bright side accelerometers have a very quick response rate so you get good interaction with them. By adding an additional source of orientation data (in this case the IR lights on the sensor bar) we can correct the errors in the integrated pose when we need accuracy. Other systems often use things like ultrasonic clicks for calibration to avoid line of sight problems... But since the idea is to point at the TV when you're wanting to do precision aiming, you don't really have to worry about line of sight.
Seriously? 30 seconds? You sound like you have a medical condition. There are some people that do have overactive sweat glands in their hands... But they are the vast minority of the population. And for them, you can buy a controller glove. Problem solved.
False. There was evidence produced at trial showing that there are a great deal of chain restaurants who do not serve coffee that hot.
Did you purposely not read what I wrote? I said it was at the INDUSTRY STANDARD, which is right about 190F. I didn't say anything about other restaurants, I was talking about what the National Coffee Association suggests. Hence industry standard. Strike 1.
Just because there is only one injury out of a few million servings does not invalidate the right to seek remedy from the injured person.
No, but in a sensible world, spilling coffee I sold you on yourself would not entitle you to my money.
By the way, there also was evidence showing 700 similar incidents in the years before. Thus, what you said is false. Others had sustained 3rd degree burns as well.
No, I said millions of cups are served weekly WITHOUT INCIDENT. 700 similar incidents over multiple decades with literally BILLIONS of cups served. So, no, what I said is NOT false. Again, are you purposely NOT reading what I wrote? Strike two.
The lady only sued for medical bills (McDonalds had offered her only 800 dollars). In fact, she had attempted to settle with McDonalds for less than she was eventually awarded (McDonalds had refused). She did not seek punitive damages.
Quoting the article: "Liebeck sought to settle with McDonald's for US$20,000 to cover her medical costs, which were $11,000... Morgan filed suit in a New Mexico District Court... McDonald's refused Morgan's offer to settle for $90,000."
So I guess that's strike three.
Of course you'll probably continue not to read what I've written and instead continue to parrot what you want to believe because "For gosh sake, that lady got burnt!"
because it was dangerously and, more importantly, unreasonably hot
Then what's reasonably hot? The coffee was at the industry standard temperature for being served (and is still at that temperature today, millions of cups of which being served weekly WITHOUT incident).
I think this is just a case of someone not wanting to be responsible for being an idiot. I could see McDonald's being forced to pay medical bills (though I still wouldn't agree with it) but punitive damages are doubly ridiculous for a company that's following industry standards in its behavior.
If a McDonald's employee had spilled the coffee on her, you'd have a point. But she spilled it on herself. Despite the warning that it was hot. No matter what the temperature of the coffee, spilling it on yourself is not reasonable use of the product.
Even if I were to grant that sweaty hands are a problem (and somehow accept that people can't wipe their hands), it still takes minimal force to interact with the wiimote. Just a flick of the wrist. You don't have to flail about like you're drowning. In every video I've seen of the strap breaking, the person was literally swinging with ALL their might. How is it Nintendo's fault that they're a complete jackass?
Please tell me who would want to drink coffee that would burn their tongue so badly that it could never be used again.
Well, personally, I wouldn't drink coffee that hot. That's why I either 1) let it oool or 2) mix cold milk into it. Like a sensible person. And when I spill coffee on my hand (which I often do ascending/descending stairs) I don't blame the barista for serving it to me so hot. I'm happy that it's that hot so that when I get back to my office it's still warm. At no point do I put it near anything I value (such as my laptop or genitals [not necessarily in that order]) that could be sensitive to its heat and/or wetness. Carrying hot coffee in between one's legs does not deserve $630k. It deserves the expected result of removing one's self from the breeding population. Unfortunately, being 79, we were probably too late...
Your TV remote also doesn't cost $40 and have impact sensitive accelerometers in it, either. I'm not reaching, I happen to know what I'm talking about. Especially after the last time I dropped a $2000 IS-900 hybrid inertial tracker and everyone stared at me in horror and my Boss just said "You know, they don't like that."
Accelerometers DON'T like being dropped. The fact that a $40 hybrid inertial tracker apparently survives being thrown into the wall at 50+ MPH is either a testament to the extreme luck of the people throwing them or a truly incredible design.
So yeah, it has a wrist strap the same as my DS and my Digital Camera: because they all may not survive a drop from waist height. Your remote, however, most likely will.
Your assumption is that all Wii straps perform the equally well.
No, my statement is no assumption. My point is that if people weren't using the thing improperly they wouldn't be having an issue, since if you don't throw the remote the strap can't break and the remote can't fly across the room. That's not an assumption, that's a fact. Likewise, if Sony batteries were only exploding after you started your laptop working on re-encoding your DVD collection then wrapped it in a blanket, I'd say it was your fault for being a complete jackass, not Sony's fault.
Nintendo obviously foresaw dropping them or why include the strap at all?
Yes. The straps prevent you from dropping the wiimote. What does that have to do with throwing the wiimote?
Lastly you failed to mention the AC adapter recall that Nintendo did as well.
Because I don't see anyone claiming that the AC Adapter failure was the user's fault, despite your claims otherwise. Could you find an example to prove me wrong? And since you brought it up, a choice quote from an article on the recall:
Perhaps, but not to the person who shot his wife. And in this case, Nintendo didn't send their product to everyone in the country, either. At least shooting your wife is a somewhat reasonable approximation of what a gun is to be used for. Swinging a wiimote like an idiot, however, is not.
That's funny I have two of my own, my brother has two, my cousin has four, another cousin and a friend each own one, my aunt owns four... I could keep going down the list. All of our straps are fine? No fraying/splitting/etc? Did your friend wet his repeatedly or something to cause it to break down faster?
Here's the difference: In normal use (ie: sitting on a desk without even interacting with it), my laptop battery in the G4 notebook (which I haven't gotten replaced yet) sitting next to me could explode. Right now. Only by flailing around like an idiot and then letting go of my remote can my strap break on my remote. The first one is Sony's fault since the outcome has nothing to do with how the user uses the system. The second one is the user's fault since it has EVERYTHING to do with how a user uses a system.
When you repeat an action thousands of times, there is a chance that you will screw it up at some point, no matter how simple it may seem.
And, regardless, when you screw it up it's still your fault.
That's why there's a friggen strap on the device in the first place! In case you accidentally let go, the thing won't go flying.
No, it's so you don't drop it and possibly have it smash to pieces on a hard floor. My digital camera and my DS both have (funnily enough) a strap with the EXACT same design as the Wii one... But that doesn't make me feel like I can safely swing either of them around like a six year old epileptic with ADHD and Tourette's on meth.
However, I think this class action suit is pure and simple greed.
I think it's more than just greed. It's trying to legitimize a lack of responsibility for one's own actions.
So wipe your hands off. Or if you're one of those unlucky people who has very sweaty hands, buy a controller glove. Or better yet DON'T FLAIL AROUND LIKE YOU'VE BEEN EXPOSED TO NERVE GAS. None of the Wii games I've played so far require anything more than a flick of the wrist for interaction. People who are swinging their arms around like idiots are NOT using the Wii in a reasonable manner, ESPECIALLY if they have sweaty hands. It is entirely operator error, the same as idiots who throw their tennis rackets or golf clubs.
I finally found the bugger after I submitted my last comment. The one I played with at GDC 2006 was an eMagin Z800 3DVisor. They're selling em for $549.00 with Blazing Angels as a pack-in. You also need an nVidia graphics card for it to work, as it depends on the nVidia stereo drivers...
Well, a standard, middle of the road Head Mounted Display will run you about $16k (at least, that's what we just paid for the VR1280 we just bought). You can find a cheap, light, LCD based set of goggles with a really mediocre head tracker on em for about $700, though... I played with a set at GDC last year. They were kinda nice but they used time multiplexed stereo instead of the more traditional way of using two seperate video signals... That's about as cheap as you're going to get right now, though, for a system that's even remotely usable. And then there's the usual problems of motion sickness, eye strain, etc. which will probably never be solved. (Our current endurance record holder in the lab is a Geologist who's spent over three hours in the HMD looking at his data... Most anyone else can't last more than an hour.)
the question still remains what the value would be to Nintendo in charging for something that is widely available for free on other platforms versus the value recieved (in terms of sales and goodwill, etc) by providing it standard.
And if you get your Wii before June 2007 it IS provided standard, so I fail to see your point. If anything, it encourages people to adopt the console early (though I doubt that, since I don't know anyone who *really* wants to browse on their Wii.)
They would get upset if Sony is pushing the thing as a PC when they can't GET one for themselves to play games on. They wouldn't take it out on Sony but the might beat up and rob the person of their PS3 PC.
Slashdot Mirror
Or the gamers who, you know, like to have more than 3 games a year
It's funny that you link to an article about how the Wii won't just have three games a year...
I know kids who have, on their own earnings, bought all three last-gen consoles.
Yeah, and one of this gen's consoles costs as much as all of the last gen consoles combined...
Yeah, but without an additional calibration method (ie: sensor bar) to fix the drift from the accelerometers in the Sixaxis, you'll never be able to use it for "aiming" at the screen or anything requiring precision... Just gross movements.
Nope, there is just the accelerometer and the sensorbar, no other sensor in the Wiimote. That the sensorbar can detect tilt in one axis is simply the result of having two (or more) IR dots. available, tilt detection in racing games works via the accelerometer, the tilt info from the sensorbar might be used for those funny pointer rotations.
Actually it (the sensor bar) is most likely used to correct drift. In the VR industry this would be called a six degree of freedom hybrid inertial tracker. The primary method of detecting the pose of the controller (position + orientation) is by integrating the results from the accelerometer(s) over time. The problem is that since we're integrating digital values, we don't get this nice discrete integral, so we get a lot of error. Now this doesn't matter when you don't need an absolute position and/or orientation (like for steering/swinging a tennis racket/etc), and on the bright side accelerometers have a very quick response rate so you get good interaction with them. By adding an additional source of orientation data (in this case the IR lights on the sensor bar) we can correct the errors in the integrated pose when we need accuracy. Other systems often use things like ultrasonic clicks for calibration to avoid line of sight problems... But since the idea is to point at the TV when you're wanting to do precision aiming, you don't really have to worry about line of sight.
Seriously? 30 seconds? You sound like you have a medical condition. There are some people that do have overactive sweat glands in their hands... But they are the vast minority of the population. And for them, you can buy a controller glove. Problem solved.
False. There was evidence produced at trial showing that there are a great deal of chain restaurants who do not serve coffee that hot.
Did you purposely not read what I wrote? I said it was at the INDUSTRY STANDARD, which is right about 190F. I didn't say anything about other restaurants, I was talking about what the National Coffee Association suggests. Hence industry standard. Strike 1.
Just because there is only one injury out of a few million servings does not invalidate the right to seek remedy from the injured person.
No, but in a sensible world, spilling coffee I sold you on yourself would not entitle you to my money.
By the way, there also was evidence showing 700 similar incidents in the years before. Thus, what you said is false. Others had sustained 3rd degree burns as well.
No, I said millions of cups are served weekly WITHOUT INCIDENT. 700 similar incidents over multiple decades with literally BILLIONS of cups served. So, no, what I said is NOT false. Again, are you purposely NOT reading what I wrote? Strike two.
The lady only sued for medical bills (McDonalds had offered her only 800 dollars). In fact, she had attempted to settle with McDonalds for less than she was eventually awarded (McDonalds had refused). She did not seek punitive damages.
Quoting the article: "Liebeck sought to settle with McDonald's for US$20,000 to cover her medical costs, which were $11,000... Morgan filed suit in a New Mexico District Court... McDonald's refused Morgan's offer to settle for $90,000."
So I guess that's strike three.
Of course you'll probably continue not to read what I've written and instead continue to parrot what you want to believe because "For gosh sake, that lady got burnt!"
because it was dangerously and, more importantly, unreasonably hot
Then what's reasonably hot? The coffee was at the industry standard temperature for being served (and is still at that temperature today, millions of cups of which being served weekly WITHOUT incident).
I think this is just a case of someone not wanting to be responsible for being an idiot. I could see McDonald's being forced to pay medical bills (though I still wouldn't agree with it) but punitive damages are doubly ridiculous for a company that's following industry standards in its behavior.
Here's a simple prescription to prevent this:
Coffee is hot. Don't put it between your legs.
If a McDonald's employee had spilled the coffee on her, you'd have a point. But she spilled it on herself. Despite the warning that it was hot. No matter what the temperature of the coffee, spilling it on yourself is not reasonable use of the product.
So why did you let go of the remote?
Even if I were to grant that sweaty hands are a problem (and somehow accept that people can't wipe their hands), it still takes minimal force to interact with the wiimote. Just a flick of the wrist. You don't have to flail about like you're drowning. In every video I've seen of the strap breaking, the person was literally swinging with ALL their might. How is it Nintendo's fault that they're a complete jackass?
Please tell me who would want to drink coffee that would burn their tongue so badly that it could never be used again.
Well, personally, I wouldn't drink coffee that hot. That's why I either 1) let it oool or 2) mix cold milk into it. Like a sensible person. And when I spill coffee on my hand (which I often do ascending/descending stairs) I don't blame the barista for serving it to me so hot. I'm happy that it's that hot so that when I get back to my office it's still warm. At no point do I put it near anything I value (such as my laptop or genitals [not necessarily in that order]) that could be sensitive to its heat and/or wetness. Carrying hot coffee in between one's legs does not deserve $630k. It deserves the expected result of removing one's self from the breeding population. Unfortunately, being 79, we were probably too late...
Well the quick buck is actually for the lawyers, not the plaintiffs, but I digress...
If anything there should have been something to tighten the strap with.
You did notice the little rubber slider on the strap to cinch it to your wrist, right?
Your TV remote also doesn't cost $40 and have impact sensitive accelerometers in it, either. I'm not reaching, I happen to know what I'm talking about. Especially after the last time I dropped a $2000 IS-900 hybrid inertial tracker and everyone stared at me in horror and my Boss just said "You know, they don't like that."
Accelerometers DON'T like being dropped. The fact that a $40 hybrid inertial tracker apparently survives being thrown into the wall at 50+ MPH is either a testament to the extreme luck of the people throwing them or a truly incredible design.
So yeah, it has a wrist strap the same as my DS and my Digital Camera: because they all may not survive a drop from waist height. Your remote, however, most likely will.
Your assumption is that all Wii straps perform the equally well.
No, my statement is no assumption. My point is that if people weren't using the thing improperly they wouldn't be having an issue, since if you don't throw the remote the strap can't break and the remote can't fly across the room. That's not an assumption, that's a fact. Likewise, if Sony batteries were only exploding after you started your laptop working on re-encoding your DVD collection then wrapped it in a blanket, I'd say it was your fault for being a complete jackass, not Sony's fault.
Nintendo obviously foresaw dropping them or why include the strap at all?
Yes. The straps prevent you from dropping the wiimote. What does that have to do with throwing the wiimote?
Lastly you failed to mention the AC adapter recall that Nintendo did as well.
Because I don't see anyone claiming that the AC Adapter failure was the user's fault, despite your claims otherwise. Could you find an example to prove me wrong? And since you brought it up, a choice quote from an article on the recall:
The problem has not caused any injury or damage yet
Why, exactly, did you bring that up again?
The human capacity for self-deception really amazes me.
I think you're projecting.
Perhaps, but not to the person who shot his wife. And in this case, Nintendo didn't send their product to everyone in the country, either. At least shooting your wife is a somewhat reasonable approximation of what a gun is to be used for. Swinging a wiimote like an idiot, however, is not.
That's funny I have two of my own, my brother has two, my cousin has four, another cousin and a friend each own one, my aunt owns four... I could keep going down the list. All of our straps are fine? No fraying/splitting/etc? Did your friend wet his repeatedly or something to cause it to break down faster?
And yet the person who loaded the gun and shot his wife would still be liable, not the manufacturer.
They're not telling the truth if they're saying it's Nintendo's fault they let go of their remote.
Here's the difference: In normal use (ie: sitting on a desk without even interacting with it), my laptop battery in the G4 notebook (which I haven't gotten replaced yet) sitting next to me could explode. Right now. Only by flailing around like an idiot and then letting go of my remote can my strap break on my remote. The first one is Sony's fault since the outcome has nothing to do with how the user uses the system. The second one is the user's fault since it has EVERYTHING to do with how a user uses a system.
When you repeat an action thousands of times, there is a chance that you will screw it up at some point, no matter how simple it may seem.
And, regardless, when you screw it up it's still your fault.
That's why there's a friggen strap on the device in the first place! In case you accidentally let go, the thing won't go flying.
No, it's so you don't drop it and possibly have it smash to pieces on a hard floor. My digital camera and my DS both have (funnily enough) a strap with the EXACT same design as the Wii one... But that doesn't make me feel like I can safely swing either of them around like a six year old epileptic with ADHD and Tourette's on meth.
However, I think this class action suit is pure and simple greed.
I think it's more than just greed. It's trying to legitimize a lack of responsibility for one's own actions.
So wipe your hands off. Or if you're one of those unlucky people who has very sweaty hands, buy a controller glove. Or better yet DON'T FLAIL AROUND LIKE YOU'VE BEEN EXPOSED TO NERVE GAS. None of the Wii games I've played so far require anything more than a flick of the wrist for interaction. People who are swinging their arms around like idiots are NOT using the Wii in a reasonable manner, ESPECIALLY if they have sweaty hands. It is entirely operator error, the same as idiots who throw their tennis rackets or golf clubs.
I finally found the bugger after I submitted my last comment. The one I played with at GDC 2006 was an eMagin Z800 3DVisor. They're selling em for $549.00 with Blazing Angels as a pack-in. You also need an nVidia graphics card for it to work, as it depends on the nVidia stereo drivers...
Well, a standard, middle of the road Head Mounted Display will run you about $16k (at least, that's what we just paid for the VR1280 we just bought). You can find a cheap, light, LCD based set of goggles with a really mediocre head tracker on em for about $700, though... I played with a set at GDC last year. They were kinda nice but they used time multiplexed stereo instead of the more traditional way of using two seperate video signals... That's about as cheap as you're going to get right now, though, for a system that's even remotely usable. And then there's the usual problems of motion sickness, eye strain, etc. which will probably never be solved. (Our current endurance record holder in the lab is a Geologist who's spent over three hours in the HMD looking at his data... Most anyone else can't last more than an hour.)
the question still remains what the value would be to Nintendo in charging for something that is widely available for free on other platforms versus the value recieved (in terms of sales and goodwill, etc) by providing it standard.
And if you get your Wii before June 2007 it IS provided standard, so I fail to see your point. If anything, it encourages people to adopt the console early (though I doubt that, since I don't know anyone who *really* wants to browse on their Wii.)
They would get upset if Sony is pushing the thing as a PC when they can't GET one for themselves to play games on. They wouldn't take it out on Sony but the might beat up and rob the person of their PS3 PC.