Physics Games and Physics-Based Game Downloads

Tim FitzRandolph, aka Walaber, has released a Beta version of Wiisticks, a wiimote-powered PC game. The game uses two wiimotes–or one wiimote with nunchuck–to control a set of devil sticks. I haven’t checked it out yet, myself, but I will sometime this week. It looks difficult, but that’s to be expected if you’ve ever tried to play with devil sticks in real life. They’re squirrely little bitches.

All you need is the Wii equipment and a Windows PC with Bluetooth (most laptops will have Bluetooth support). Walaber’s using the cWiiMote library to make this happen.

You can download the beta release on Walaber’s Wiisticks page. Post your impressions in comments if you give it a try!

I just finished up moving Fun-Motion to a new server. It had been creeping up on the transfer quota at the old pace; there’s a silly amount of processing power and bandwidth behind it now. I ironed a few problems with some plugins, but if you see something acting strangely, or if the site is slower than before, please drop me a line.

To head this off at the pass, feel free to joke about how something is wrong with the site: the lack of new reviews. I know!

Anyway, I wish everyone the best of luck in 2007. For anyone keeping track, Fun-Motion turns one year old on Wednesday (January 10th).

A friend over at inXile pointed out that they’ve officially announced they’ve acquired the rights to bring Line Rider, the physics-based Flash sensation, to Wii and DS in spring 2007:

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. — Dec. 20, 2006 — Having already amassed a worldwide cult following on the internet, inXile entertainment announced today that it has acquired the rights to the hugely addictive ‘toy’ Line Riderâ„¢ and that the popular game will soon be available for both the Nintendo DSâ„¢ and Nintendo Wii.

This is huge. It’s a perfect example of compelling content taking on a life of its own. The press release has a great quote by the Slovenian creator, Bostjan Cadez: “Line Rider began its life as a project I did for illustration class…” Now here it is positioned to be the next big thing on DS. Congrats, Bostjan!