Nyko Announces Wireless Wii Sensor Bar

Well, it has finally come, Nyko announced at CES that they will be releasing a wireless sensor bar for the Nintendo Wii. Thus allowing those of us who don't have our gaming gear right next to the Television. Nyko's bar will also have a proposed range of up to 25 feet, more than 3 times that of the original bar. It is powered by 4 AAA batteries and was reported to have about 30 hours of game time.

Source: IGN.com Nyko Wireless Wii Sensor Bar Preview

A little closer look at the sensor bar shows that it is not a sensor bar at all. It is simply 2 groups of infrared LED's. The Wii-mote is actually a 1 megapixel camera set to see infrared and then connect via bluetooth the Wii console. Some have actually used a candle at each corner of their TV as the light source successfully.

For the Do-It-Yourselfers there that just can't wait though, there are several homemade IR emitters described on the web. The best implementation and description I have found is by Jon Peck in his blog entry Wii-diculous. Furthermore, if you are only worried about the wire between the bar and the Wii console but not worried about a power cord, you can save some batteries by looking at doctabu who discusses one made with an ac to DC 6 volt converter.

We hope that you have enjoyed this public service announcement. Thank you and good gaming