Cheap Wii clone

[Nebulon]

So I picked up a brand new InterAct Complete Video Game Entertainment System (made in 2010) from a store for $20.00 today. It's cheaply built, and the games look like what you'd see if you hooked a GBA up to a TV (even the sound is similar). By today's standards it's very primitive.

 

It has their own version of wii Tennis as well as rip-offs of Tank, Bubble Bobble, and Galaga.

 

Does anyone have any idea what CPU this thing uses? I've yet to be able to find technical info for it.

 

 

[TPA5]

Can you post a picture of it? I've seen Wii clones (can we really call it a "clone" when it doesn't do anything like the actual Wii?) that sound very similar to that. You probably won't find very much information about it, but if you open it up you may be able to identify the chips inside with some Google-fu.

[jhd]

Don't most (if not all) of these types of closes basically use Famiclone hardware?

 

I have a few (including a Wii-clone), but I have never actually bothered to open the case and examine the chipsets.

[Nebulon]

Here's a link:

http://www.amazon.com/InterAct-Complete-Wireless-System-Sports/dp/B002YZPFG8

 

Apparently a bunch of the games that come with it were also bundled with another cheap-o system much like it. Most of the games are half-baked. They're a bit like what you see people make using BASIC or one of those video game construction kit programs. Kind of reminds me of some of the lower-quality cell phone games out there.

 

The tennis game is pretty good, but I have a suspicion that the wand thing isn't really picking up any motion at all. I say this because they have you press a button on the wand to hit the ball. However, whether I press the button with the wand motionless or in motion, I seem to get the same results (i.e. the ball flying away in a random direction). Seems fishy. I have yet to really confirm this though. If in fact the wand controller does work (and mine's just being weird), then the tennis game is actually pretty good.

 

Anyway, I thought it was interesting to see companies trying to make toy-like knock-offs with what amounts to old technology by today's standards.

[cybercylon]

Here's a link:

http://www.amazon.com/InterAct-Complete-Wireless-System-Sports/dp/B002YZPFG8

 

Apparently a bunch of the games that come with it were also bundled with another cheap-o system much like it. Most of the games are half-baked. They're a bit like what you see people make using BASIC or one of those video game construction kit programs. Kind of reminds me of some of the lower-quality cell phone games out there.

 

The tennis game is pretty good, but I have a suspicion that the wand thing isn't really picking up any motion at all. I say this because they have you press a button on the wand to hit the ball. However, whether I press the button with the wand motionless or in motion, I seem to get the same results (i.e. the ball flying away in a random direction). Seems fishy. I have yet to really confirm this though. If in fact the wand controller does work (and mine's just being weird), then the tennis game is actually pretty good.

 

Anyway, I thought it was interesting to see companies trying to make toy-like knock-offs with what amounts to old technology by today's standards.

$20 isn't that bad, but I hope someone doesn't buy one of these for the price given in that link. Might as well pick up a used Wii at that point.

[Nebulon]

Yep. I'm thinking that $20.00 is about what it's worth. Sad in a way, because I can see it being quite an ordeal to get something like this from design, through assembly, and then distributed.

 

I managed to test it out more and can confirm that the wand works (well sort of). It definitely picks up movement. However, it seems to be a bit unreliable when it comes to picking up the direction of movement. As it turns out, the tennis game allows for two methods of play. One is to press a button to hit the ball and the other is to move the wand/controller. However, if I try to plant the ball in the far right corner of the court, it does so most of the time (of sometimes just over half the time). So either I have to get my technique down or this thing is a bit oddball in how it detects motion. One thing's for sure, the wii's motion-detection is much more well-refined. Still though, I could see this thing being a good toy for toddlers or children under 7. I think once they hit 8 years old they're going to want something more sophisticated (like a real retro or modern console).

[Video]

Well, the Wii has a chip that detects 360 motion in two planes (and maybe speed too) This thing, I imagine, probably has a metal ball in a chamber that basically loosly emulates a dpad or something (you can probably hear the bit rattling around in there if you hold it to your ear and shake it) That's just a guess, I've seen "motion" controls for single function handhelds befor (fishing and a few others) and that's how they worked.

[TPA5]

I think this one works with just good old infrared lights, like a TV remote. At least, the Wii clone I saw worked like that. So it's not really detecting motion, just essentially triggering a button event when pointed away from the screen.

[Tickled_Pink]

I must have seen these over here as long ago as 5-6 years ago. I'm pretty sure I first saw them when I was living in Cardiff. Moved from there in August 2009.

 

I doubt too many people bought them.