Wii graffiti app wins design prize

At last month's Electronic Entertainment Expo, Microsoft showed off a painting program for its forthcoming motion-sensing add-on, Project Natal. Now, two German graduate students have won a prestigious award for a more streetwise painting application for an existing motion-sensing platform--the...

At last month's Electronic Entertainment Expo, Microsoft showed off a painting program for its forthcoming motion-sensing add-on, Project Natal. Now, two German graduate students have won a prestigious award for a more streetwise painting application for an existing motion-sensing platform--the Nintendo Wii.

On July 4, German design firm International Forum Design awarded its annual prizes to promising artists in the European country. One of the winners of the iF Communication Design Award was WiiSpray, an art application which turns the Wii remote into a virtual spray can. The software remains in the experimental stage, and has not been approved to be part of any retail product by Nintendo.

Conceived in 2007 by Bauhaus University students Martin Lihs and Frank Matuse after the former collaborated with a Portugeuse graffiti artist, Wii Spray is based on an Adobe Flash-based application called WiiFlash and standard Wii technology. The latest version actually lets users snap the Wii remote into an artificial spray can which can apparently recognize actual different types of nozzles and caps. The app also allows users to combine up to 128 colors via radial on-screen palette, and has none of the chemical mess and legal complications of real grafitti--although it does require a video projector or very large television to be practical.

36 Comments

  • damonkeypirate

    Posted Jul 21, 2009 6:29 am PT

    Yes, please teach our children to get out of the house and get active in the criminal community. What's next a plastic pimp hand attachment for the new "Smack a Ho" game.

  • hememi

    Posted Jul 8, 2009 4:34 am PT

    if you people dont want it then just dont get it its that simple

  • kavadias1981

    Posted Jul 8, 2009 2:25 am PT

    @Lupus64

    Yes it was, I just had an angry moment. The history of humanity just makes my blood boil and every so often it erupts into a moment like when I commented earlier. My apologies if I offended anyone.

  • thenephariouson

    Posted Jul 7, 2009 3:10 pm PT

    Up Next: Karcher power washer peripheral?

  • ChamomileBaths

    Posted Jul 7, 2009 11:44 am PT

    Amazing someone got it up and working that well

  • thenephariouson

    Posted Jul 7, 2009 10:57 am PT

    LOL, OMG, what next? a phallic shaped adaptor for the female gamers out there? Pathetic!

  • Marcster1994

    Posted Jul 7, 2009 9:11 am PT

    Now people, don't be blaming Nintendo for these peripherals. Blame the germans lol

  • -Squirrel-

    Posted Jul 7, 2009 8:46 am PT

    I've seen this thing before and it looks just as awesome as ever. I don't have a projector, and I am not pro more peripherals, but this is the real type of innovation I crave. If they made a game out of this and it went on sell, I would definitely go out of my way to play it.

    This goes further to show how much can be done on Wii when effort is actually put into development.

  • psp3002gam3r

    Posted Jul 7, 2009 6:12 am PT

    yea that would be cool mr_fujiv because their then would be coll designs and dif ideas

  • Mr_Fujiv1

    Posted Jul 7, 2009 6:05 am PT

    @psp3002gam3r what they should do is hold little competitions to see who can designer the best ... would be wicked

  • psp3002gam3r

    Posted Jul 7, 2009 5:31 am PT

    looks cool i might buy it but i can see myself getting bored after a day on it they should make tasks for people to do

  • Excedra

    Posted Jul 7, 2009 4:09 am PT

    Looks cool, but natals better

  • Lupus64

    Posted Jul 7, 2009 4:04 am PT

    @Kavadias1981 - That's an incredibly ignorant comment... should we judge all modern brits on the behaviour of your ancestors and your ever-so-wonderful MPs *cough expenses scandal cough*? The Jet Set Radio games came out here, which heavily featured graffiti.

  • kavadias1981

    Posted Jul 7, 2009 1:32 am PT

    (after reading lamprey263's comment) Australia bans any game that might have any illegal activity, no matter how distant, and yet they annihilated the entire Aborigine population, hunting them down with dogs for Christ's sake, and have elected MP's who are illiterate buffoons. What a bunch of hypocrites.

  • lamprey263

    Posted Jul 7, 2009 1:21 am PT

    playing Marc Ecko's Getting Up on my PS2 was my introduction to graffiti art and culture, before that I really had no appreciation of the discipline, now I take photos of the creative graffiti in my neighborhood I often overlooked, occasionally read a book about urban art, and even designed a few stencils of my own, I actually want to get into t-shirt designing via screening... anyhow, this is an interesting idea, I hope it goes somewhere, I hope the Wii controls really work for it somehow, and I hope it inspires artist creativity and appreciation with those who play with it... which is actually a problem I hope doesn't happen, Australia for instance banned the Marc Ecko game saying it provoked illegal activity, hopefully that excuse doesn't make its way here

    anyhow, yeah, very impressive, I've underestimated the Wii, can't wait to pick it up

  • st017

    Posted Jul 7, 2009 1:18 am PT

    Looks awesome

  • ButaDujo

    Posted Jul 7, 2009 1:12 am PT

    if only the video worked for me. but ya, perfect if they made another jet set radio. last time i played that was for dreamcast o.o

  • Merl57

    Posted Jul 6, 2009 10:23 pm PT

    my problem with the wii is the motion tracking isn't in real time maybe in the next 5 years it will be so close our brains won't realize it then the real gaming begins for now i can't tolerate the lag

  • X-RS

    Posted Jul 6, 2009 9:54 pm PT

    hells yeah, bring on jet set radio, NOW!

  • ac_90

    Posted Jul 6, 2009 8:52 pm PT

    JET GRIND RADIO SEGA! THEY'RE SPOON FEEDING YOU NOW JUST DO IT ALREADY!

  • chapan17

    Posted Jul 6, 2009 8:41 pm PT

    Not something that appeals much to my taste but i have to admit the idea is great for people who enjoy grafiti or want to practice. However i noticed there is some delay or responce between the movement and the paint coming on and not little response time but kinda 1 sec. Enough to piss me off.. lol

  • clue942

    Posted Jul 6, 2009 8:35 pm PT

    all I can think of is wow another accessory to buy(not a good thing)...

    @threedown
    the community thing is a good idea but unless they add that feature I can't see me buying this...

  • Glade_Gnarr

    Posted Jul 6, 2009 6:16 pm PT

    Do't let Activision see this or we could be looking at graffiti hero 27 by the end of next year.

  • abosh1

    Posted Jul 6, 2009 6:10 pm PT

    ok then

  • FarmFreshDX

    Posted Jul 6, 2009 6:06 pm PT

    I want that. Now. That's just too cool. I usually like to be more thoughtful and intelligent but wow.

  • skullboy950

    Posted Jul 6, 2009 5:46 pm PT

    meh...

  • Nintendo_Man

    Posted Jul 6, 2009 5:34 pm PT

    Perfect for a Jet Set Radio game

  • threedown

    Posted Jul 6, 2009 5:03 pm PT

    if they release this, then add a community where you can upload your art for the world to see, that would be sweet! man, the possibilties! my friend has a video projector for his gaming! you know ill be there all the time hitting up his wall haha

  • robertodaura

    Posted Jul 6, 2009 4:49 pm PT

    Im not really into it.....

  • zael99

    Posted Jul 6, 2009 4:15 pm PT

    @ropumar

    Because that wasn't the focus of this article? That was added more as a small comparisson to allow you to know what the article is about, not a fanboy's argument to say which was better.......

  • ropumar

    Posted Jul 6, 2009 4:07 pm PT

    Why didn't talked about the ps3 wand spray paint and pencil/brush writing that had millimeter precision but talked about the natal trowing paint that was imprecise and impractical?

  • XenoLair

    Posted Jul 6, 2009 4:04 pm PT

    Yeah ive seen this a year back, looks nice

  • Dawg9000

    Posted Jul 6, 2009 4:00 pm PT

    Cool.

  • lemon360

    Posted Jul 6, 2009 3:43 pm PT

    that looks cool

  • Dlarrain

    Posted Jul 6, 2009 3:21 pm PT

    It looks fun.

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