I recall IR game controllers of that era were only particularly bad when I got excited, nervous or too focused on the game, and let them point a millimeter away from the sensor…so they only really thoroughly failed exactly when it cost me the most in the game. Haha.
Very different from an IR controller though. The wiimote has an IR camera and the console looks for two static light points to triangulate a position, it doesn’t transmit anything to the console through IR.
If you’ve used an IR TV remote, you can imagine how bad an actual IR-connected controller would be. Needs a perfectly unobstructed line of sight to wherever the sensor is, can’t turn your controller too much or you’ll miss the sensor, might occasionally be subject to wrong input/light interferences…
One of the weirdest use of video game IR I know though : the 3DS had a IR port. It was used for almost nothing.
BUT. At some point Nintendo released the Circle pad pro. It’s a thing you clip on your 3DS to add a right stick and a pair of triggers.
It was not plugged into the console at all. It was just using the IR port which it was touching. Of course it didn’t have the reliability problems from remote IR, since it was basically shining an IR LED directly at its sensor with nothing in between. I guess they didn’t have a lot of options for communication ports, but still, using IR for communication between two devices that are in direct contact is weird.
sp3ctr4l@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 days ago
Well shit, I’d never heard of an IR NES controller.
Yeah, sounds like that would be awful lol.
I still remember figuring out that you don’t actually technically need the Wii Sensor bar.
Literally, two candles can do the job, rofl!
StephenMillersBarbie@lemmynsfw.com 4 days ago
I remember having it…they were so bad
sp3ctr4l@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 days ago
Hahah I can imagine, but again, dang, I totally did not know that was a thing.
Well, at least some good came out of this AI garbo, now I can go on a nerd binge over researching weird third party NES controllers, woo!
MajorHavoc@programming.dev 4 days ago
I recall IR game controllers of that era were only particularly bad when I got excited, nervous or too focused on the game, and let them point a millimeter away from the sensor…so they only really thoroughly failed exactly when it cost me the most in the game. Haha.
brsrklf@jlai.lu 4 days ago
Very different from an IR controller though. The wiimote has an IR camera and the console looks for two static light points to triangulate a position, it doesn’t transmit anything to the console through IR.
If you’ve used an IR TV remote, you can imagine how bad an actual IR-connected controller would be. Needs a perfectly unobstructed line of sight to wherever the sensor is, can’t turn your controller too much or you’ll miss the sensor, might occasionally be subject to wrong input/light interferences…
One of the weirdest use of video game IR I know though : the 3DS had a IR port. It was used for almost nothing.
BUT. At some point Nintendo released the Circle pad pro. It’s a thing you clip on your 3DS to add a right stick and a pair of triggers.
It was not plugged into the console at all. It was just using the IR port which it was touching. Of course it didn’t have the reliability problems from remote IR, since it was basically shining an IR LED directly at its sensor with nothing in between. I guess they didn’t have a lot of options for communication ports, but still, using IR for communication between two devices that are in direct contact is weird.
sp3ctr4l@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 days ago
All correct details, I’ve got nothing to add other than… the 3DS IR thing… may have been intended for basically pokemon trading without a cable?
I am not really sure lol.
Oh right!
Yeah two candles can work as a wii sensor bar… but flames tend to jump and flicker, and… if you are moving around a lot, with a wii mote… yeah.
Also not a generally reliable or accurate technical situation, but it does technically work, lol.
brsrklf@jlai.lu 4 days ago
About 3DS IR and pokémon, partly :
m.bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Infrared
Apparently it could be used to initiate communication, in gen 6 and 7.
Some Pokémon DS cartridges had their own IR port. Madness.