Carl Kenner has come out with a new version of of his Glove Programmable Input Emulator, or GlovePIE. It's now on v0.30 and comes with a host of new features, most notably the ability to read the WiiGuitar that comes with Guitar Hero 3: Legends of Rock.

See what else this program has to offer after the jump!

Download: GlovePIE v0.30

The name of Carl Kenner always brings to mind innovative and seemingly impossible uses for Nintendo's Wiimote. His name is synonymous with GlovePIE, and now, his name is also synonymous with laser tag.

Laser tag, you say? Why yes! After a post began that discussed the possibilities of playing laser tag using the Wiimote, Carl Kenner decided to actually write a full-fledged GlovePIE script for it. Basically, you'd need to strap a Wiimote sensor bar onto your body and the body of your partner, enable the script, ready your Wiimotes, and get to shooting!

As he mentions, you'll need a lot of stuff to pull this off, but it definitely looks fun if you can fulfill the requirements:

• Two wireless sensor bars (or TV remotes or candles or whatever generates infra-red). Each person must wear one on their body somewhere so it won't fall off or break if they run around.
• Two Wii remotes
• One reasonably fast computer with Windows and a Bluetooth adapter with the two wiimotes connected.
• GlovePIE 0.29
• A friend
• A space where you can run around and shoot at each other, that is in range.
• The following GlovePIE script.

For now, we'll link back to the forum post where the script is. You're going to want to read through Carl Kenner's post on the first page if you intend to pull this off. Just remember: if you're doing this in your house, make sure you don't break the Ming vase while you're running around.

We recently checked the blog of one rather industrious script-maker, and we were surprised to see that he had another set of scripts up. Ethan, maker of the Virtua Tennis and Ocarina of Time GlovePIE scripts, came up with another one for DOOM 3, and another script for use with two of the most popular web browsers on the market.

The first script should presumably let you play Doom 3 using a Wiimote, though you'll really need a copy of the game to test it. He does link to a demo of the game for you to test it on, though, so we encourage everyone to give it a try. Also, he's put up another script that allows one to browse the web using Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Windows Explorer, calling it the "WiinExplorer" script for short.

That's some nice little bits of code with a lot of functionality there, and it's good to see people finding even more uses for the controller which some used to think was simply a gimmick.

As always, make sure you have GlovePIE installed so you can use these, and you might want to check the developer's blog of Carl Kenner for instructions on using GlovePIE, as Ethan doesn't have a strict readme for these beyond the basic directions.

View Ethan's instructions after the Jump!

Download: [Ethan's Doom3 and WiinExplorer Scripts]

Wii remote hacks and exploits are continuously being explored. And while it is possible to "access" your computer via your Wii console, it's quite another thing to actually use the Wiimote to control your PC. And so, Carl Kenner comes into the scene, and he's not letting anyone down with his GlovePIE app.

The said Wiimote-to-PC script that turns the Wii remote into an HID (Human Interface Device) for the PC is now clicked at GlovePIE v0.29. The biggest features of this version is that it now supports Wiimote speakers and the function to minimize the button to the System Tray. The support for the Classic Controller (introduced in the previous version) is now more than just theoretical and finally fully tested to be working.

Here's the full list of changes, tweaks, improvements, and additions included in GlovePIE v0.29:

• Minimize to System Tray button
• Recent Files menu
• OutputToFile( ) function to write values to output.txt
• Division by zero no longer crashes compiler
• Automatically connect Wiimotes when you press 1+2 (bluesoleil only, you need to do it manually with other stacks) Hold Power button to disconnect Wiimote.
• Wiimote speaker supported (single notes only, no wave files)
• Classic Controller support fixed and tested
• Wiimote.SmoothPitch and Wiimote.SmoothRoll now calculate angles without separating out the acceleration, for smooth (but inaccurate) angles when your hand wobbles.
• "Press X" now works without brackets
• "100Hz" now works without space
• Numbers allowed after dot, "Wiimote.1" works like "Wiimote.One"
• Infinity and NaN are now valid numbers.
• Other compiler improvements
• Improved documentation
• More scripts! Play old Zelda, Mario, or Metroid games with the exact same controls as the modern Wii game.

Download: [GlovePIE v0.29]

Things just get better and better. After Carl Kenner pulled a TMNT and Michelangelo-ized his Wiimote-detecting PC driver GlovePIE program by supporting the Nunchuk, he's now produced GlovePIE v0.28 in just a matter of days. The biggest thing in the update is that it now supports the Classic Controller.

What's new in version 0.28:

• Running scripts from command line works again
• New function: DeadZone (wiimote.nunchuk.joyX, 10%)
• Wii Classic Controller support (theoretical)
• Can now tell the difference between classic and nunchuk
• Nunchuk built-in calibration supported
• Nunchuk no longer reduces performance of other reports
• Note, when IR and Nunchuk are used together dot size is no longer available

Ok, fine, the CC support might still be "theoretical" but it's a good place to start more than in any other. Knowing how fast this guy can crack the drivers, we could probably expect full support for the CC maybe by next week. Besides, even if you chucked out the CC support in this update, the other tweaks, fixes, and additional features he's done for v0.28 are fantastic as they are.

Download: [GlovePIE v0.28]

And we have lift off! GlovePIE developer">Carl Kenner has just moved one step closer to motion-sensing guru-dom. While his GlovePIE application has been getting tons of download hits (not to mention continuous updates), we thought it couldn't get any better. We were wrong.

The said motion-sensing application driver that allows your PC to recognize and read Wiimote signals has been bumped up to GlovePIE v0.27 with only two items on the changelog. Two items as they might be, we're not complaining. The first item on the list alone is such a big improvement in itself that the second tweak pales in comparison.

Here's what's new:

• Nunchuk support
• Setting channel to 0x3E or 0x3F no longer prevents Wiimote forces from working.

If you're new to this application, we suggest you take a good look at the readme that comes in the zip file. All technical notes and installation instructions are there.

Download: [GlovePie v0.27]

Carl Kenner has updated his platform cross-over app that allows the Wiimote to work with PCs to GlovePie v0.26. This version features a TroubleShooter Bluetooth Fix menu. This might be the answer to the bug that keeps it from working with other BlueTooth adapters. However, Carl says this won't be much help if you are unable to pair your Wiimote without a password.

And while we're at it GlovePie also requires the following:

• DirectX 8 or above
• PPJoy is needed for joystick emulation for older versions of Windows (not required with XP and W2000)
• MIDI Yoke or Hubi's Loopback Driver is needed to emulate MIDI input devices
• Microsoft Speech Recogniser 5.1 or above is needed this for controlling a game with speech
• SAPI 5.1 or above is necessary if you want speech synthesis

Please read the readme file to help you get this app up and going.

And one more thing: You may not use this software on military bases, or for military purposes, or in Israel (which amounts to the same thing). Violation of the license agreement will be prosecuted. You've been warned!

Download: [GlovePie v0.26]

Carl Kenner's GlovePie is gaining a lot of attention from Wii users. Basically, the guy made Ninty's next-gen controller into a PC accessory and in fact, its latest version was released just a few hours ago. Now there are a lot of people tinkering with this creation, including someone called coulston. He shared with us just what he can do with a Wiimote and GlovePie.

coulston did a Wiimote GlovePie script called WiiGoogleEarth. From the name itself, you know by now what it does. Basically, it enables a Google Earth interface for the Wii remote. To use it, tilt the Wiimote to move around, press B and tilt to rotate, press plus and minus to control zoom, and press one for a full-screen view.

Go ahead and watch the video, it sure looks fun!

Download: [WiiGoogleEarth (GlovePie Script)]
Download: [GlovePIE v0.25]

Since Nintendo originally designed the Wiimote as an accessory for the Wii, not the PC, it's been stop-and-go getting Wiimotes to work with PCs using a variety of drivers and what-not. v2.5 of Carl Kenner's GlovePIE incorporates the following changes to getting the Wiimote on a PC to act like a Wiimote (albeit on a PC):

• WiimoteScripts folder
• Wiimote battery level
• Wiimote normalized gx, gy, gz force values (0=none, 1=gravity)
• Wiimote pitch, roll, and rotation matrix, seperate from movement
• Wiimote raw accelerations in m/s/s with gravity
• Wiimote relative accelerations without gravity
• Calibrate Wiimote manually, or use Wiimote's own built in settings
• Access BlueSoleil window from CP-Settings > BlueTooth menu
• Extract Miis from Wiimote (From File menu)
• MIDI no longer gives error if no input device
• Various other bugs fixed, and new bugs introduced

Now, speaking of the PC, this brings up that interesting "Extract Wiis from Wiimote" feature. What can you do with a Mii file on a PC, we wonder (let's not get to thinking about Wii emu-ing on a PC for now...).

Download link below, the usual Readme and instructions are there, go through them, and so forth. Perhaps with this latest installment you'll find that your Half-Life 2 game just got a little better.

Download: [GlovePIE v0.25]

It's not often a blog entry gets cross-posted in the Wii and PC and Gadgets sub-blogs, but this one is news for all of them. As this video uploaded by marcan42 on YouTube shows, the Wii remote's future as a PC input device just got better. Earlier we put on the Half-Life 2 on Mac with Wii remote video, and there were two other videos of it in action.

GlovePIE. Earlier, we talked about GlovePIE v0.22 from Carl Kenner. The "PIE" stands for "Programmable Input Emulator" and it lets you use the VR Glove and the Wii remote to work with a your computer. Is it as simple installing GlovePIE? Well, you'll need a Bluetooth / IR wireless link - how else is your Wii remote going to communicate with your computer?

Here's info on GlovePIE v0.24:

• Wiimote bugs fixed!
• Just extract it to a directory of your choosing. Then run it. There is nothing to install. If you want to associate .PIE files with GlovePIE, you will need to do so yourself.
• NOTE! You may not use this software on military bases, or for military purposes, or in Israel (which amounts to the same thing). Violation of the license agreement will be prosecuted. See the readme for the license agreement.
  

None of this should be too surprising. When you ask for a computer for a nuclear power plant, for example, the designers will probably make it so that you can use a keyboard as an input device and a monitor will be the output device. Well, the Wii remote is just a controller - it's used to control things. Although that would be cool - control a nuclear power plant using a Wii...

For more info about GlovePIE and for Wii remote tech notes in general, click on where it says "Full Article" below - we threw in a few technical details about the remote and there's a link to a tech-heavy place in the Internet that might help.

Download: [GlovePIE v0.24]