Wii Hardware Changelog: Added Dedicated Sensor Bar Port

Nintendo Wii underwent both a name and a hardware change since its first appearance at the Game Developers Conference last March. When it strutted its stuff again at the recently concluded E3, IGN noticed something that wasn’t there before. The E3 version of the Wii, they noted, sported an additional dedicated port for the Wii’s sensor bar. The sensor bar is the device placed near or on top of televisions to radiate an IR field that interacts with the Wii controller.

The sensor bar input is separate from the two USB 2.0 ports located at the top of the unit.  Compare the before-and-after images below. On your left is the Wii at the GDC (it was still the Revolution then) with nothing but the power plug and audio-video slot. In the E3 photos in the middle and on the right, you can see the orange plug for the sensor bar which is much smaller than the typical USB design.

Nintendo Wii underwent both a name and a hardware change since its first appearance at the Game Developers Conference last March. When it strutted its stuff again at the recently concluded E3, IGN noticed something that wasn’t there before. The E3 version of the Wii, they noted, sported an additional dedicated port for the Wii’s sensor bar. The sensor bar is the device placed near or on top of televisions to radiate an IR field that interacts with the Wii controller.

The sensor bar input is separate from the two USB 2.0 ports located at the top of the unit.  Compare the before-and-after images below. On your left is the Wii at the GDC (it was still the Revolution then) with nothing but the power plug and audio-video slot. In the E3 photos in the middle and on the right, you can see the orange plug for the sensor bar which is much smaller than the typical USB design.