Quote:
Original post by Matt Carr
Even if the Wii could recognise when the remote is pointing sideways or behind you (which I don't think it can, at best you could track the controllers movement from where it leaves the screen [pointer] and attempt to calculate the direction that way)
It can't. Most people use the accelerometers to determine which way is down (Thanks to Gravity being a constant acceleration), but the problem with this is that it will only give you a negative Y axis. Due to the lack of a representation of the X or Z axis', you can only extract the pitch and roll information, but no heading. To think of it another way, the only axis you can represent from the controller is one pointing at the ground, but when you turn the controller using that axis (Horizontally), the axis doesn't change.
As a result, you can't get any information about how the controller is turned from the accelerometers alone. Even getting the Y axis is difficult because it will be modified when the controller is moved due to acceleration. If you swung the controller to the right at an acceleration of ~19.6ms, the Y axis would suddenly be pointing to the left. Although for small and/or quick movements, it's possible to work out which way the user was holding the controller before the moment and work off that axis (Although the data can be fairly dirty at times).
However, when the wiimote is pointed at the sensor bar, you can then interpret the X and Z axis', along with the depth, and get a full 3D representation of where the Wiimote is in space and what direction it's pointing.
