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Wii U sensors are "pretty precise"

Supplier corroborates Miyamoto claim.

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"The Wii U GamePad has a very powerful, pretty accurate gyro sensor, and even if similar sensors have been used before (for example with Nintendo 3DS), perhaps none of them reach this point. Playing with a gyro sensor of this accuracy and a large screen can offer new play possibilities and can also greatly expand the fields of videogame design. "

This is one of the characteristics of the new Wii U system that Shigeru Miyamoto discussed with Gamereactor during his recent visit to Spain.

That difference is due to the positional and geomagnetic sensor built into the GamePad, something that was announced as part of the Wii U presentation at this year's E3, but went relatively unnoticed.

And what does the geomagnetic sensor for motion detection? If the accelerometer could only track three axes and the addition of the gyro sensor added three more (as in Sony's Sixaxis or Nintendo's Wii MotionPlus), this device would provide another trio of parameters.

""[The gyroscope and accelerometer] are good at tracking relativistic change, but it doesn't tell you absolutely where you're pointing and where the pointer is. What the magnetic sensor does is use the Earth's magnetic field as a reference. It can always guide [the GamePad] back to what the absolute position is.".

This is the explanation that Becky Oh gave GamesBeat. Oh is one of the heads of PNI Sensor Corp., the California brand responsible for this component of the Wii U GamePad. To illustrate the difference, Oh remembers the PS Move:

"Sony's Sharpshooter [Move controller peripheral] did something like this, but when we played with it, we saw it was not accurately tracking. There was both latency and inaccuracy. In that case, hardcore gamers would go back to using a joystick or game controllers. But if you had a very accurate way with no latency or very little latency to use the gun to point what you're shooting - I think that does change the way the game is played."

Wii U sensors are "pretty precise"


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