Will the Wii Remote Get an "Upgrade?"

A Nikkei Tech-On! article brings us word that Nintendo has recently been "evaluating samples obtained from a number of acceleration sensor manufacturers other than ST and ADI."  It appears that a U.S.-based firm, Kionix Inc., has been shopping its accelerometers at Nintendo's doorstep.

The accelerometer chip (diagrammed above) comes with some upgrades to the one found in your Wii Remote.  According to the article, "Kionix's device has a structure different from its competitors: Its MEMS sensor is several times thicker than ADI's device, making it 'easier to enhance sensitivity.'"  And a more sensitive accelerometer means... well, not that much for gamers.  But even the slightest upgrades like these seem to point to a company concerned about their products (or at least their development costs).

Notably, Nintendo is looking into Kionix's products especially due to their reliability in supplying hard disk drive sensors in the past.  Basically, a change in the supplier *could* result in faster development cycles.  Which *could* mean more hardware on the shelves.  Maybe.

While they're at it, they can make colored Wii Remotes with these minor upgrades, a la Dual Shock 2.  Or instead of buying (chocolate) chips at your front door, Nintendo, you can get Retro Studios to get cracking on an online, multiplayer Metroid Prime.