It can easily be said that the Wii is the most “3rd-party-accessory-inspiring” product since the iPod. Like the beloved mp3 player’s myriad docking stations and protective cases, the Wii has its own slew of recharging stations, putters, steering wheels, neon-colored grips, zapper guns, etc., etc. The Wii’s unique player interface also allows itself to be modified and hacked in creative ways, many examples of which can be found on the Web. The Wii Spray Can is the latest in highly-inspired designs of modified Wii controllers.
The spray can design is part of Martin Lihs’ final thesis at Bauhaus-University in Weimar, Germany. Dismantling the guts of a Wii Remote, Mr. Lihs placed them inside a cylinder, which he designed to mimic a spray can, and topped it with what appears to be a German Grey Dot thin cap. The Wii Remote techology has been modified to connect to buttons along the outside walls of the “can,” and more importantly, to the spray nozzle, thus allowing the user to control an onscreen virtual can of paint.
As mentioned above, the Wii has already released several plastic caddies which create a unique controller specific to the game; the success of these custom controllers is a testament to the direction in which the video game industry is moving, as gamers enjoy the creative adaptation to the traditional console paddle. The Wii Spray Can could be applied to a re-release of Marc Ecko’s 2006 creation, Getting Up, which enjoyed only average success, or the lighter Jet Set Radio series, created by Sega in 2000. It’s also possible that the Wii Spray Can could be used as a cool implement in an open-ended art & design software.
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