Written by Nate Babcock  - techPartner 2011 Intern

As of December 31, 2010, there was over forty million Nintendo Wii systems shipped to the Americas. So the probability of you having what you need for a really cool presentationremote is high.

To start I will share a little background behind what makes the Wii-mote work and why I love it as a presentation remote. The Wii-mote uses Bluetooth technology to communicate with the Wii console (which pretty much is just a specialized computer with one purpose), and this is why it makes such a good presentation remote. Bluetooth has a range of about 30ft; while there are other presentation remotes that can reach over 100ft they tend to cost over $50. I was able to pick up this Wii-mote for under $12 on Ebay and my computer already had built-in Bluetooth so the total cost of this project was $12 and about 15 minutes of my time.

Requirements:

• Wii-mote
• Free Software: http://sites.google.com/site/jasonlpsmith/wiimotepresenter Bluetooth (Internal or External) This tutorial takes the liberty to assume that you have all of the Bluetooth drivers installed properly for your computer.
• 15 Minutes

Tutorial:

Step 1: Begin by downloading the free Wii-mote presenter software from the following website (http://sites.google.com/site/jasonlpsmith/wiimotepresenter).  After the download completes extract the contents of the zip (archive) file to a location of your choosing (I choose the desktop).

Step 2: Now comes the fun part of connecting the Wii-mote to the computer. Start by locating the Bluetooth status icon on the taskbar (or in the control panel).

Click on the icon and click “add a device.” After you press “add a device” press the “1 & 2” button on the Wiimote.  Click the device labeled “input device” and click next.  The next window will present you with an array of options for pairing. Click the option to connect to the device without a pairing code. If everything goes ok the Wiimote will show up in your Bluetooth places as Nintendo XXX-XX-XX.

Step3:  Now jump back to the folder where you placed the downloaded files from step 1. Navigate to the WiimotePresenter.exe and execute the file. If your Wiimote is properly connected the application will open and the setting screen will appear.  You can now configure what you want the specific buttons on the Wiimote will do.

Step 4: Now jump to your PowerPoint show and give it a try.

Problems:

• Currently experiencing problems with reconnecting the Wiimote at times after the computer restarts.