Motion Tennis Arrives To Turn Your Android Into A Wiimote
In 2013, Rolocule Games revealed its fancy new Rolomotion Technology that turned data from a smartphone's sensors into accurate gestures. Back then, it demonstrated this idea by turning an iPhone and AirPlay combo into a Wii-like tennis game. Last year, it did the same, only with an Android smartphone and a Chromecast. Fast-forward to today, the game developer is finally releasing the app to the public and for free! It is even promising an interesting new feature coming soon for Android fans in an upcoming update.
Motion Tennis is one of those ideas that totally makes sense once you hear about it to the point that you wonder why no one has thought of it or perfected it before. Our smartphones are equipped with a lot of sensors and, thanks to display mirroring technologies, it can throw almost anything to a bigger screen, like a TV. It's a makeshit Wii setup, without the Wii, and using things that you might already own anyway.
That is exactly what Rolocule does here. It uses the multitude of data spit out by smartphone sensors and calculates an accurate interpretation of its movement, which, in this case, translates into the swing of a tennis racket. The game runs completely on the smartphone and the display only gets streamed to the TV. And technically you're not limited to a Chromecast, as Miracast and Samsung's AllShare Cast are also supported. You can even make it work with any device that has a Chrome web browser running on it (using the AllCast extension).
As for the game itself, it plays out like what you'd expect from a Wii-like tennis game, which translates to both fun and exercise. While the game does run on the smartphone, all the visuals are actually being sent to the TV, so there's nothing much to see on the phone itself. What's more, you can even compete with friends online just like in a real tennis match.
As for what's coming next, Rolocule briefly showed a demo of support for Android Wear. This means that you won't even have to use your smartphone to swing a racket. You can just use your smartwatch, which is already attached to your wrist anyway, instead. While it might feel a bit awkward at first, holding a phantom racket in your hands, it's definitely safer for your smartphone and your TV as well.
Download: Motion Tennis Cast on Google Play Store