Wii sensor bar rendered useless by sunlight?
updated 03:10 pm EDT, Mon October 9, 2006
Wii sensor easily blocked?
One of the lesser-known pieces of Wii hardware is the sensor bar. Contrary to what you'd expect, the Wiimote doesn't just send signals back to the console; it has to read your movements from a neutral position above or below your screen. And the sensor bar may be very sensitive to light, it turns out. A contributor to NintendoGal writes that the bar not only goes berserk under halogen lamps, it may stop working altogether if it's in direct sunlight. At September's Nintendo World event, two Metroid Prime 3 kiosks required curtains to work, and a couple of Wii Sports kiosks wouldn't function at all before falling into shadow. It seems clear that Nintendo's optical readers may require serious refinement.


