According to MIT research fellow David E. Stone in a fantastic article posted in Wired Magazine today, the motion sensitive controller is “one of the most significant technology breakthroughs in the history of computer science.”

The Wiimote, the controller that comes with Nintendo’s Wii system, is being looked at as the key to building realistic training simulators within the virtual world of Second Life. Using this product, individuals can have the potential to learn how to perform surgery, inspect buildings, or even learn how to drive using Google Maps and Google Earth. A more intuitive and tactile human-centric controller allows one to move their avatar and manipulate their environment in a more realistic manner.

However, Nintendo isn’t such a big fan of having their closed system components being hacked. Why would they? Second Life participants would have access to creating far superior avatars with an almost unlimited potential of games and activities. And this is precisely what is occuring.

Released under GNU General Public License (GPL) (open source) the Wii4SL Sourceforge Project is enabling people to do as such. The Wii4SL extends the open source version of the LindenLab SecondLife viewer with support for the Nintendo Wii Controller. You can now navigate your avatar through virtual space with the ease of the Wii Controller.

An example of this is the video below from YouTube. Instead of sitting at the computer and having your avatar walk around on Second Life, why not do the actual walking yourself?

Or even better yet, why not just go for an actual run in real life? It’s far less expensive than having all of the equipment necessary, and I’m sure the view would be far nicer. Besides, hopping up and down on a treadmill places just as much stress on your joints and doesn’t provide you with as good of a cardiovascular workout as a run would.

Simply because something can be virtually replicated, that doesn’t mean that it necessarily should be.

However, it’s definitely a step in the right direction.