Key Points:

- Wii is really popular and is sold out a lot (even at NOA Company store)

- Wii Remote is cheap to make
Accelerometer: $2.50
Basic Memory Chip: $0.25
Audio Amplifier: $0.50
Data Converter: $0.50
Rumble Pack: $2.50
Bluetooth Chip: $2.00
Audio Translator: $2.00
Plastic Casing: Unknown
Wrist Strap: Unkown

- $50 profit per Wii

- $5 Million to develop Wii game vs $20 Million for PS3 game

-Ubisoft says Nintendo is best console maker to work with

- EA says Nintendo is a pioneer

- Wii’s success has done little to convince Microsoft execs that they’rs on the wrong course (Peter Moore: “I love the experience, the price point and Nintendo content of the Wii, but Microsoft provides experiences that Nintendo cannot provide”)

- CEO of SCE America says give credit to Nintendo but points out that Sony have a innovative controller as well, technology doesnt go backwards and the Wii is a re purposed gamecube

- Sony views the world through the eyes of an engineer while Nintendo takes its cues from the outside world (eg. Pikmin from Miyamoto’s garden)

FUTURE
- Nintendo could stick with the current tech for a few years and then introduce a Wii 2.0 with PS3 tech but cheap

- cut $50 of Wii price to compete with future price cuts for MS and Sony

- relationship between Mac/PC - iTune - iPod could be like Wii - DS

- needs more stock, did not expect Wii to be so popular….currently making 1M a month but want 1.5M - 2M but its difficult

QUOTES
We were losing to the TV remote. So we thought what kind of controller can we create that wont make people afraid to touch it? - Miyamoto

We are not competing against Sony or Microsoft. We are battling the indifference of people who have no interest in video games - Iwata

My name is Reggie. I’m about kickin’ ass, I’m about takin’ names, and we’re about makin’ games” - you know who

The WiiAction Input Library is intended to allow developers to explore the Nintendo Wii Remote as a controlling device using the PC. This could be useful for prototyping a game intended for Nintendo Wii, or simply to improve our understanding of the controller so that we will know how to exploit it when working for studios developing games for the Wii platform

Supported:
- All button presses
- Tilting (using internal “accelerometer”)
- Rumble

Yet to be supported:
- IR Triangulation (For the screen pointer)
- Sound
- Expansion ports (nunchuck etc)

No plans to support fully:
- Mii Data. It’s there and accessible, but the idea of writing a Mii Editor to actually edit or display the Miis bores me. It is possible to get the Mii name though, and use that on scoreboards and suchlike.

Technical Information:
The library is written in C++ using the Broadcom WIDCOMM DK. Demos compiled using this library require a WIDCOMM-compatible bluetooth dongle to support it. WiiAction is currently untested on other bluetooth stack formats.

source

Bobcast.com got a working drum machine using a couple of drivers, bluetooth, and a Wiimote

More About: drum machine, bluetooth, Wiimote

“The Wii game console will take advantage of the most popular wireless technologies to deliver an advanced user experience that no other competitive console can match”

“Wii(TM) game console from Nintendo will include Broadcom(R) Bluetooth(R) and Wi-Fi(R) technologies”

Press

 10 May 2006 12:01 GMT PRESS RELEASE: Broadcom Advances the Wireless Gaming Experience With Bluetooth(R) and Wi-Fi(R) Technologies Integrated Into Nintendo’s Wii(TM) Game Console

Copyright © 2006, Dow Jones Newswires

IRVINE, Calif., May 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Broadcom Corporation (Nasdaq: BRCM), a global leader in semiconductors for wired and wireless communications, today announced that the Wii(TM) game console from Nintendo will include Broadcom(R) Bluetooth(R) and Wi-Fi(R) technologies. Featuring the first Bluetooth wireless game controller system to ship “in the box” with a leading game console, along with the first integrated Wi-Fi solution for online gaming, Nintendo’s Wii demonstrates the industry’s highest level of commitment by a game console manufacturer to deliver a robust, state-of-the-art wireless gaming experience.

“The Wii game console will take advantage of the most popular wireless technologies to deliver an advanced user experience that no other competitive console can match,” said Genyo Takeda, Senior Managing Director, General Manager, Integrated Research & Development Division for Nintendo. “Broadcom’s ability to supply and support custom features for both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi has enabled us to provide our customers with a unique gaming experience powered by high-performance, field-proven wireless solutions.”

Gaming devices are among the increasingly diverse array of consumer electronics that integrate some form of advanced connectivity, which enables users to engage in dynamic online gaming while interacting with their game consoles in new and exciting ways. The new Wii console from Nintendo is at the forefront of this trend, integrating cutting-edge wireless capabilities that transform the gaming experience. Broadcom’s extensive communications portfolio and experience in enabling wireless connectivity in mainstream consumer devices has contributed to the notion amongst equipment manufacturers that wireless connectivity can enable new categories of products.

“Nintendo’s visionary approach to wireless connectivity provides a compelling illustration of how Bluetooth and Wi-Fi complement each other to provide a unique and convenient user experience,” said Robert A. Rango, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Broadcom’s Wireless Connectivity Group. “Broadcom’s leadership and ability to add custom features to our standards-based Bluetooth and Wi-Fi technologies provide advantages to product developers seeking dual mode solutions that avoid interference, while delivering advanced performance and features that no other supplier can match.”

Advanced Wireless Capabilities

The Wii console is the first major gaming platform on the market to introduce Bluetooth technology as a standard feature, eliminating the cables between the console, hand-held game controllers and other accessories. Broadcom Bluetooth technology used in the controllers significantly increases the level of performance in the game controller, with special enhancements that provide low latency to accommodate the fast rate of interaction between the controller and the console.

Nintendo further leveraged the versatility of Broadcom’s highly-integrated Bluetooth solution to realize its vision of enabling new and intriguing ways for gamers to interact with their games, and to allow game developers to boldly exercise their creativity to deliver captivating new gaming experiences. Enhancements were made to ensure that the wireless controller system delivers the same reliable, low-latency responsiveness that gamers are accustomed to in wired controllers. In addition, Broadcom’s Bluetooth chip solution features exceptionally low power consumption, maximizing battery life to simplify upkeep and maintenance.

The Wii console also includes Broadcom’s single-chip 54g(R) Wi-Fi solution, which provides a high-performance wireless link for playing online or multi-player games. The console takes advantage of key features including Broadcom BroadRange(TM) technology, which allows users to maintain higher data rates further from the access point. Broadcom’s family of 54g(R) chipsets deliver maximum performance, coverage, security and ease-of-use, and are featured in the industry’s leading brands of networking equipment, PCs, broadband modems and consumer electronics.

Both Bluetooth and 802.11g Wi-Fi products operate in the 2.4 GHz radio frequency band, introducing the possibility of radio interference between the two radio signals. To address this concern, Nintendo drew upon Broadcom’s extensive co-existence experience to optimize the wireless performance for optimal simultaneous throughput of both technologies, minimizing the possibility of radio signal collisions, blocking and other phenomena that could degrade the performance of either device.

About Broadcom

Broadcom Corporation is a global leader in semiconductors for wired and wireless communications. Our products enable the delivery of voice, video, data and multimedia to and throughout the home, the office and the mobile environment. Broadcom provides the industry’s broadest portfolio of state-of-the-art system-on-a-chip and software solutions to manufacturers of computing and networking equipment, digital entertainment and broadband access products, and mobile devices. These solutions support our core mission: Connecting everything(R).

Broadcom, one of the world’s largest fabless semiconductor companies with annual revenue of more than $2.5 billion, is headquartered in Irvine, Calif., and has offices and research facilities in North America, Asia and Europe. Broadcom may be contacted at 1-949-450-8700 or at www.broadcom.com.

Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995:

All statements included or incorporated by reference in this release, other than statements or characterizations of historical fact, are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on our current expectations, estimates and projections about our industry and business, management’s beliefs, and certain assumptions made by us, all of which are subject to change. Forward-looking statements can often be identified by words such as “anticipates,” “expects,” “intends,” “plans,” “predicts,” “believes,” “seeks,” “estimates,” “may,” “will,” “should,” “would,” “could,” “potential,” “continue,” “ongoing,” similar expressions, and variations or negatives of these words. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future results and are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause our actual results to differ materially and adversely from those expressed in any forward-looking statement.

Important factors that may cause such a difference for Broadcom in connection with Bluetooth and wireless LAN products include, but are not limited to, general economic and political conditions and specific conditions in the markets we address, including the volatility in the technology sector and semiconductor industry, trends in the broadband communications markets in various geographic regions, including seasonality in sales of consumer products into which our products are incorporated, and possible disruption in commercial activities related to terrorist activity or armed conflict in the United States and other locations; the rate at which our present and future customers and end-users adopt Broadcom’s technologies and products in the markets for Bluetooth and wireless LAN applications; delays in the adoption and acceptance of industry standards in those markets; our ability to scale our operations in response to changes in demand for our existing products and services or demand for new products requested by our customers; the timing, rescheduling or cancellation of significant customer orders and our ability, as well as the ability of our customers, to manage inventory; the gain or loss of a key customer, design win or order; intellectual property disputes and customer indemnification claims and other types of litigation risk; our ability to specify, develop or acquire, complete, introduce, market and transition to volume production new products and technologies in a cost-effective and timely manner; our ability to retain, recruit and hire key executives, technical personnel and other employees in the positions and numbers, with the experience and capabilities, and at the compensation levels needed to implement our business and product plans; problems or delays that we may face in shifting our products to smaller geometry process technologies and in achieving higher levels of design integration; competitive pressures and other factors such as the qualification, availability and pricing of competing products and technologies and the resulting effects on sales and pricing of our products; the timing of customer-industry qualification and certification of our products and the risks of non-qualification or non-certification; our ability to timely and accurately predict market requirements and evolving industry standards and to identify opportunities in new markets; changes in our product or customer mix; the volume of our product sales and pricing concessions on volume sales; the availability and pricing of third party semiconductor foundry, assembly and test capacity and raw materials; fluctuations in the manufacturing yields of our third party semiconductor foundries and other problems or delays in the fabrication, assembly, testing or delivery of our products; the risks of producing products with new suppliers and at new fabrication and assembly facilities; the quality of our products and any remediation costs; the effectiveness of our expense and product cost control and reduction efforts; the risks and uncertainties associated with our international operations, particularly in light of recent events; the effects of natural disasters, public health emergencies, international conflicts and other events beyond our control; the level of orders received that can be shipped in a fiscal quarter; and other factors.

More About: Wii game console, Broadcom, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Wireless

The Nintendo Wii controller will contain a small amount of memory, which can be written to by the console (via Bluetooth) during the game. This will usually be used to store small sound files which can be heard via the controller’s small internal speaker.

This system could be used, for example, to simulated the sound of gun shots coming from the controller when fired.

More About: Nintendo Wii, ontroller, Bluetooth, internal speaker