Monkey Beef

I spent my free time today messing around with bluetooth, specifically trying to access my Wii controller from my PC. While it took me a while to get things going, I was finally able to connect through Windows Vista with the dongle from my new Rocketfish Keyboard. And man is it amazing! Using a program called GlovePie I easily mapped the wiimote's buttons to keyboard and mouse movements on my PC. The result being my own makeshift wiimote mouse driver. It's not the most sensitive, since I don't have a sensor bar at my computer, but it (sort of) works.

Here's how I did it in GlovePie:

/* C R A P M O U S E
  --beefmunk's IR-less Wii Mouse--
  Roll the wiimote left or right to move horizontally,
  tilt the wiimote up or down to move vertically.
  Use up and down on the d-pad to page up and down, and
  press a to left-click. */
//Horizontal Sensetivity.  Mess with this until it feels right
var.horSense = 45
//Vertical Sensitivity.  Mess with this until it feels right
var.verSense = 20
//How fast the mouse pointer moves accross the screen
var.speed = 15
//Button Mappings
key.PageUp = wiimote.Up
key.PageDown = wiimote.Down
mouse.LeftButton = wiimote.A
//Test for movement
if wiimote.Pitch > var.verSense then
   mouse.CursorPosY = mouse.CursorPosY - var.speed
elseif wiimote.pitch < -var.verSense then
   mouse.CursorPosY = mouse.CursorPosY + var.speed
endif
if wiimote.Roll < -var.horSense then
   mouse.CursorPosX = mouse.CursorPosX - var.speed
elseif wiimote.Roll > var.horSense then
   mouse.CursorPosX = mouse.CursorPosX + var.speed
endif

Have you ever loved something so much you dreamt about it, and in a span of 5 minutes gotten so angry at this same thing you swore to never look at it again? That's the best way I can sum up my relationship with Activision's Guitar Hero 3, the first rock sim to find it's way onto the Wii. Coincidently, it's also the first Guitar Hero I've ever played--and possibly the last.

There's no question, GH3 can be immensely entertaining, especially during the early stages of the game. Learning how to wield the alien controller feels fun and new. You may even learn, as I did, that you play better wearing the guitar lower and held perfectly horizontal. But the real fun starts when you start to progress through the difficulties. That is, until the gameplay becomes impossible.

I'm all for challenge, but the Expert mode of GH3 is reminiscent of the unbeatable games of the 8-bit days. Solo's have impossible chord changes, note strums at break-neck speeds, and trouble spots so conveniently placed at the end of tracks that failing dooms the player to relive 5 minutes of shame before being able to attempt them again. Combined with the controller's innovative ability to sound "plink's" and "plunk's" whenever a wrong note is hit, playing on expert can be a frustrating ordeal.

But then something like tonight happens, when I finally beat Slash in a guitar battle. Days of frustration dissolve in my brain, and the yearning to be a Guitar Hero drives me to play the game with a new perspective. That is, until, I get stuck on another of the game's challenges for the next 2 weeks. I'd play Rock Band instead, but its controller feels painful comparatively.

Because of all the crazy spyware problems I see at work, I'm a huge fan of surfing with scripting disabled. Disabling things like Java, JavaScript, and Plug-ins is an easy way to get rid of vectors that bad guys can use to get into your machine. It's easily done in Opera 9.25 by going to:

Tools -> Preferences -> Advanced -> Content

And simply unchecking everything. These features can then be re-enabled on a page-by-page basis by right clicking on any page and choosing Edit Site Preferences, or choosing Manage Site Preferences under the Advanced Preferences menu mentioned above.

Unfortunately, disabling JavaScript browser-wide also disables Widgets from working. But luckily, thanks to Remco, I know a way to enable JavaScript for Widgets stored locally on the machine. Just open up Opera's Manage Site Preferences menu and Add. When it asks for the site, enter 'localhost' as the URL (without the quotes). Then enable or disable JavaScript like you would any other webpage!