Wingun and other such "light gun" setups for PC

[harper]

Excited to announce that I have finally acquired a laptop capable of handling the sega model 3 emulator which means I have been reunited with my lost love: The Lost World Jurassic Park.

My next venture is to figure out some sort of light gun setup, so I can play it the good old fashioned way.

Since I know that some folks here have dabbled with mame and making their own mame cabinets and such, I'm looking for some advice on perhaps the simplest, most effective way to go about hooking up a gun to my PC. I know about the Amtrak guns. And they sound and look awesome, but it would be a bit of an investment. Trying to work with what I have (if I can).

See, I've heard about "wingun" which allows you to hook a guncon 2 up to your PC. The thing about that I don't understand, is how you're supposed to hook it up exactly. My laptop only handles hdmi. So would some sort of hdmi to composite contraption work (or even exist)?
Also, the name escapes me at this moment but there's some sort of "driver" or some such thing that allows you to connect your wii remote to your laptop via Bluetooth, and then you can use it to emulate the mouse function (point at your screen and it moves the mouse around, I assume). However, I've had success with connecting my wii remote to my laptop but it doesn't actually do anything so do I need to invest in a wireless sensor for it to work correctly?

Also, another thing I should mention is I prefer to have my laptop hooked up to an external monitor (my flat screen tv, to be exact). So is there any way to get this setup working as such? Or is there some sort of way to hook it up to a CRT (if that would somehow be easier or possible?)

Soooo, in conclusion, does anyone have any advice or experience with the programs I've mentioned? Or know of another route? Or have any answers to my numerous questions? Lol Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[harper]

Update: downloaded touchmote for PC which allows you to pair your wii remote to your PC. When you point it at the computer it emulates the mouse function. And I mapped the buttons to work like the wii remote works on light gun games for the wii. And instead of investing in a wireless sensor bar, I just use my wii to feed power to my wired sensor bar. Added a nyko perfect shot and I'm blasting away dinosaurs just like the good ol days.

Edit: also works great with an external display.

Edit again for spelling errors due to me trying to type this post really fast on my 10 minute break at work. Haha

[marurun]

I am surprised someone hasn't co-opted some of this tech, especially the tech in the Wii, for a PC-specific light gun.

[harper]

I am surprised someone hasn't co-opted some of this tech, especially the tech in the Wii, for a PC-specific light gun.

In what regard?

[marurun]

Like, an actual motion-style light gun for PC as a finished, commercial product. Nintendo, Sony, MS, HTC, Oculus, and Valve all have tech that can produce the desired effect. Commercial production has confirmed such devices can be produced affordably. It is time to have light gun games again, only on PC this time.

[harper]

Well I know the wii remote connects to the console via Bluetooth and the sensor bar literally just emits two lights for the remote to detect. So yeah, it does seem incredibly simple. But even if nothing else, the whole touchmote program will still work perfectly with any PC-based game. I understand what you're saying though, that there could be a more straight-forward approach.