High Voltage chief operating officer Eric Nofsinger told MTV Multiplayer that The Conduit, due out March 2009, will support MotionPlus and WiiSpeak, and alludes to an already-planned sequel that will make greater use of those capabilities.

"We're hooking it [MotionPlus] up," Nofsinger told Multiplayer. "We want to support it. Probably for this version of the game there's not going to be a whole ton of really extensive use of the Wii MotionPlus. For the sequel to the game, we definitely do want to incorporate more melee and things like that. We want to support it."

Earlier this month, reports said High Voltage would push to start work on a sequel once they got a publisher for the first, and that an announcement of the publisher should be coming soon.

The Conduit Already has MotionPlus Support, WiiSpeak Too [MTV Multiplayer via GoNintendo]

A Japanese modder has mashed Google Maps with the Wii-mote to create "Tokyo-jogging". It works pretty much like Jogging in Wii Sports: Users put the Wii-mote in their pocket and run in place. Instead of running through a Nintendo created background, users can jog (in place) through the streets of Tokyo. The interface looks somewhat slow — but there's potential here!

Tokyo-jogging [Official Site via Digital World Tokyo]

It seems like we these "health researchers using Wii in study" stories about once a month but, anyway, Oxford University, last I heard, was a pretty good school. And they're looking at the Wii as a means to help stroke patients relearn simple tasks.

The study is a little more subtle than other research involving the Wii (training surgeons, for example) -- the motion sensors might be useful for monitoring patients' progress in physiotherapy. Apparently, one of the biggest challenges patients face is constant discouragement from not being able to see, or really understand, the progress they're making. The motion sensors can also tailor exercises to a patient's range of motion.

The research is based on a previous study in which motion-capture technology was used to analyse the walking patterns of children affected by cerebral palsy. The Wii's sensors offer a scalable way to examine and monitor patients. It's envisioned that patients would first be examined using a full-camera setup in a lab, and then switch to a home monitor that incorporates cheaper motion sensors such as those found in the Wii. There's a video of this at the link below.

This isn't the only instance of consumer technology leading the way in other fields of serious research. Not by a long shot. For example, my favourite Nobel Prize winner, Dr. Carl Wieman of the University of British Columbia (formerly Colorado), used diode lasers like those found in CD players to help create the first Bose-Einstein condensate in 1995. Sometimes, you send a guy into space and get back Teflon, Tang, Velcro and Dippin Dots. And sometimes you develop Wii Sports and get back new forms of therapy.

Stroke Patients to Test Sensors [BBC]

Back when Wii Motion Plus was announced at E3, many developers seemed surprised. Nintendo likes to keep things close to its chest, and developers like Lucasarts were apparently kept in the dark. Not happy campers! Leave it to Ubisoft honcho Yves Guillemot to stride in and utter "We knew that". According to Guillemot:

Nintendo has been working on that for a long time, trying to see how they could improve the precision. We knew for a long time they were working on that, so it's not a big surprise for us. We'll start seeing something in September/October. We already have games that can take advantage of it.

Got any questions about what Nintendo is up to, who's going to win the World Series or where babies come from? Ask Yves. Dude's a Gallic soothsayer.

Interview: Ubisoft CEO [Game Daily via Go Nintendo]

What do you buy for the Wii owner who has everything?

No, I mean who really has everything - like, there is literally no Wii-related consumer good that they do not own apart from the one you are going to buy them.

Can we cautiously recommend the Hori Remote Controller Pocket? It is a smalll cardboard box that you can put your WiiMote and Nunchuck in. It's got 'Wii' written on the front in the correct font and everything. Er, that's it.

Even the National Console Support store, who are the ones trying to sell the thing on import seem mystified. Observe their high-pressure sales technique:

Anyone can fashion a similar pouch from an empty tissue box, a wonton soup container, a paper bag, or the cardboard box that your GA-KO Alarm Clock arrived in. Sure it won't look as nice as Hori's rendition but the functionality is the same and the cardboard box is free.

Sure, it's only $US 9, but there is a global recession on, for goodness' sake!

Remote Controller Pocket [NCSX via Wonderland]

The Wii MotionPlus accessory is the next big thing for Nintendo, but it could very well wind up being the next big thing for many companies, both in and out of gaming. Joe Virginia, the boss of MotionPlus accessory maker InvenSense, told Eurogamer that the tech isn't exclusive to Nintendo, and it's generating a large amount of interest.

"Of course we're incredibly pleased - delighted would probably be a better adjective - that Nintendo approached us... but it's not an exclusive relationship", Virginia told us. "I can't get into details about other folks that are interested in this technology, but as you might imagine of course there is more interest out there".

We've heard rumblings about Microsoft and Sony exploring motion control in the past, and those rumblings should only get louder now that the tech is available to make it actually work.

MotionPlus tech not exclusive to Nintendo [Eurogamer]

You may recall that earlier in May, Nintendo was pinched to the tune of $AU 21.87 million in a patent infringement suit brought by Texas-based Anascape. Upon further review, the play stands -- a U.S. District Court judge denied Ninty's pretty-please to cut that $AU 21.87 mil to a less lottoriffic number. So unless they want to take this up the ladder to a U.S. federal appeals court, they'll be cutting a check for that number.

Anascape sued back in 2006 and went for the kitchen sink, claiming Nintendo and Microsoft both infringed on controller designs they had patented. Microsoft settled with Anascape. The original suit against Nintendo covered everything from the Gamecube forward -- the Wavebird and the Classic, plus the Wiimote and Nunchuk. The case decided in May found infringements only on the former two not the motion-sensing controls in the Wii. Still, $AU 21.87 million is not pocket change.

Nintendo's Appeal on Reduced $21M Verdict Denied [QJ.net]

Apparently, using anything other than disposable "crap-arsed gas station batteries" turns a Wii Wheel driving experience into that of a 1978 Datsun heading down to the shore. And no, that's not a desirable mod. Not for Don at videolamer, anyway. He swears that using the battery packs from the React Recharge Dock for the Wiimote reduces the 'Mote's weight and makes it drive off centre when placed in the Wii Wheel.

Quoth Don:

Was the weight difference, a very noticeable one, messing with the 'mote's center-point?

Yes, in fact. Replacing the rechargeable pack with a standard set of crap-assed gas station batteries made our karts dead centre again.

Now I've got to figure out how to add weight to my charger packs. That or play Kart at an odd angle.

So, fair warning, considering that the React dock runs about $AU 53.22, if you Kart like hell and are considering eco-friendly ways to keep your 'Mote juiced. Does anyone else have the same kind of issue, or just this guy?

Peripheral Disdain [Videolamer, thanks taidan]

That's not R5-D4's brother, it's a modded Wiimote that a German student envisions for use in a virtual graffiti world.

Martin Lihs, student at Bauhas-University in Weimar, built the "Wiispray" for his thesis. He wants the wall to encourage graffiti artists to express themselves without the artistic encumberances of balancing on a highway overpass railings, getting chased by railroad police, or, like getting arrested.

Sounds fun and creative but people tag up real walls for a reason -- real people see 'em. All the commissioned murals, coffee table books and contests for graffiti artists provide real recognition to, but not like getting up on a warehouse wall. The essential act of graffiti is painting where you're not supposed to paint, right?

WiiSpray Prototype Graffiti Controller for Wii [Slashgear, via Engadget]

Kotakuite Joseph T. gave up the heads up on an Etsy seller with some really charming game related jewelry, including Wii charms, Wiimote earrings, 1up mushrooms, and all sorts of miniature food items (ok, so that's not gaming related); made out of Sculpey, the pieces are relatively faithful little renderings of the original and may be just the ticket for the gaming geek jewelry wearer in your life (Valentine's Day is right around the corner, after all). And compared to a lot of the game related crafts we see on Etsy, the price is right: $US 7 for a Wii charm, $10 for a pair of Wiimote earrings, and the rest of the offerings in the same range.