Motion Controllers

Motion-sensitive controllers for PC gaming

Although PC gamers might covet the Nintendo Wii's motion-sensitive Wiimote, the NaturalPoint TrackIR 4 Pro (*Est. $100), which allows you to control motion in a game simply by moving your head, is a good substitute. Place the small sensor atop your monitor and connect the infrared clip to your hat or earpiece, and reviewers say you will be entering a whole new world of game immersion. HubPages.com calls it the "biggest single innovation in simulation technology this decade," and DriverHeaven.net gives it a rare Editors' Choice award. FileFactory Games and SimHQ.com give it similarly glowing and even more in-depth reviews.

The NaturalPoint TrackIR 4 Pro really does only one thing, but it does it well. By detecting the motion of your head, the sensor can manipulate your viewpoints in TrackIR-enabled games on up to six axes. In other words, if you turn your head slightly to the right, your on-screen view will pan right; if you tilt your head forward, you'll zoom in, depending upon the game settings. This simple enhancement leads to a variety of advantages. All reviewers rave about the increased immersion they experienced while using the controller during their tests, concluding that it is a "must have" for truly hard-core gamers. Using the sensor for motion control also frees up additional controls on joysticks and gamepads for other uses, like precision targeting or weapon configuration. A few reviewers commented on the simplicity of installation and set-up.

The only real competition for the NaturalPoint TrackIR is itself. The NaturalPoint TrackIR 5 (*Est. $150) increases the horizontal field of view and greatly enhances the resolution of the sensor, sub-pixels and reporting. There aren't yet any reviews of this new device, so we cannot say whether these enhancements are worth the additional cost.

Other attempts to emulate the Nintendo Wii's motion-sensitive Wiimote have stumbled. GoLive2's STIX 200 and 400 (*Est. $10) are Wiimote-like controllers consisting of a base that connects directly to your PC and a handheld device that you use to point to, move and otherwise manipulate your game simply by waving your hand. Although the only review we found for the 3-D-enabled STIX 400 was positive, reviews of the similar STIX 200, which is only 2-D-enabled, are overwhelmingly negative, citing slow responsiveness and inaccuracy as crippling challenges. ComputerShopper.com complains that "accuracy was a huge issue" and is also "disappointed at the short length of the base station's USB cable." Even the positive review for the STIX 400 states, "the controller can be a little slow to react." For now, anyone hoping for something like a Wiimote for a PC is out of luck. (If you already have a Wiimote, you may be able to connect it to your PC via Bluetooth, but it's not easy. See our useful links section for more details.)