Possible prototype Wii remote?

[petik1]

Greetings, I am petik1. I've come here to ask a simple question. I recently acquired a developer's Wii Remote, and I want to know if this remote was made before the controller design was finalized. It has numerous differences, including what appear to be "pause" and "refresh" buttons in place of + and -, no Wii logo, a cable for bluetooth coming out of the bottom, and other minor details. Obviously the design of it was pre-finalized hardware, but would they still manufacture it after the changes were made? I guess to sum up my question, was this remote made before the Wii was released? Thanks in advance.

(Image way to big for thread body, link here:)http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0QKh_WSeNM...0/IMAG0800.jpg

[chalmo]

I'd think that it would have to have been made before the Wii release. Is it a gamecube connector on the end of the cable?

[Yakumo]

I find it strange that it's black. The Wii was released well over a year before Nintendo released the black Wii in Japan.

Yakumo

[la-li-lu-le-lo]

Nintendo used lots of different colors for their dev hardware. Remember that NR readers were teal-colored.

[DarthCloud]

It's not write Wii on it. So it probably date from the early era it's was know as the Revolution and that the color was black only.

[petik1]

I'd think that it would have to have been made before the Wii release. Is it a gamecube connector on the end of the cable?

No, it looks a lot like a small RF connector.

[Lum]

I think Wii before launch showed other colors as trade show examples.

[adrianc]

The original 2005 e3 pictures show a different power button, as well as blank -/+ buttons labelled select and start respectively. As well it had a/b instead of 1/2.

If this is real it would make sense that it was produced sometime between e3 2005 and the release date.

http://cubemedia.ign.com/cube/image/...5061358181.jpg

-adrianc

[petik1]

Here's a white one shown at some show. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...Wii_Remote.jpg

[subbie]

Early Wii Devkits where black and wired. I can't remember the exact labeling for the system but it's probably a controller for that.

[XxHennersXx]

awesome find! How'd you procure it?

[Oldgamingfart]

A picture of an early 'Revolution' dev kit >here<

[petik1]

awesome find! How'd you procure it?

From a guy on NintendoAge who had a couple. Not sure where he got it, he said he thought it came from Activision.

One thing to note is that I can't use any peripherals. The cable is right in the way of the clear plastic clip for the remote's strap.

[adrianc]

In the revolution pic it has a nunchuk attached as well as an additional wire in the spot you mentioned.

I assume by peripherals you meant wii motion+ etc.?

-adrianc

[petik1]

Actually, no. The cable on my remote is on the left hand side, and that is on the right. Also, it appears that that nunchuk doesn't have the clip. I can't fit any peripherals into the port without removing the clip.

[adrianc]

I dug around for the source of the pic of the white remote with the alternate buttons and found a flickr account. The pictures were taken June 28, 2006 at a wii showcase in Spain.

The rest of the album shows that the design for the Wii controller as we currently know it existed (http://farm1.staticflickr.com/57/177...771f68_o_d.jpg) albeit inside glass cases.

One can infer that your remote predates the white one shown in that flickr album as that one is wireless, as well as the fact that at this time the black colouring was reserved for the devkit models.

-adrianc

[Getta Robo]

Does it mentions Nintendo anywhere on it? There are similar Chinese knock offs like yours widely available, like this one:
http://dx.com/remote-and-nunchuck-co...ii-black-32010

[petik1]

Yes, it has the Nintendo logo on the battery cover. I doubt a manufacturer would go through the trouble of making a knock-off that looks like a development tool ;-)

[subbie]

erm... Again I think you guys are thinking to complex about this. I think it's just a NDev kit controller. It was a black box and all Wiimotes to the unit were black wired controllers. The plug end looks similar to an RF plug.

[adrianc]

Can we get a better pic of the cable?

-adrianc