Mad Catz readying its own Wiimote / nunchuck?

If you've managed to secure yourself a Nintendo Wii, and have managed to stay relatively safe while playing, you still might be leading a fruitless search to find yourself a few extra Wiimotes. Oddly enough, some parts of the country are still facing Wiimote shortages, while locales like the Nintendo World store in NYC has just under a gazillion or so. Nevertheless, it looks like Mad Catz just might readying a rescue effort, as a cameraphone-packin' Wal-Mart employee happened to snap a few pics of what appears (fairly clearly) to be a third-party Wiimote / nunchuck combo. Of course, we've no way of verifying Mad Catz's plans, nor any way to tell if these shots foretell the future, but this definitely wouldn't mark the first time a Mad Catz peripheral got leaked way before its supposed release date. Be sure to hit the read link for the full rundown of sneak peeks.

[Via Joystiq]

[Ryan @ Jan 14th 2007 2:30PM]

I can't stand MadCatz. I bought their VGA cable for the XBOX 360 and the quality was horrible and I was forced to trade up for the Microsoft cable.

[Tommy @ Jan 14th 2007 2:37PM]

This is a pic of the box for the MadCatz System Stacker:

http://www.ebgames.com/product.asp?product%5Fid=802607

[Jonathan Keim @ Jan 14th 2007 3:16PM]

It only makes sense that madcatz would start selling similar controllers. But I'm done with 3rd party accessories so they will not recieve my business.

[brenda willamsom @ Jan 14th 2007 3:39PM]

i like it i love it thanks to you guys ...

[spil @ Jan 14th 2007 3:48PM]

This would be great for an extra controler and nunchuk for CoD3.
oh, yeah...

I guess I can play online. oh yeah...

[skew @ Jan 14th 2007 4:43PM]

lol they contoured it like a cock.

[Jonathan Keim @ Jan 14th 2007 4:54PM]

dang, your right

[Lonnie McClure @ Jan 14th 2007 5:11PM]

The contoured design is no doubt to improve the grip and reduce the incidence of slung controllers. It is impossible to tell from the drawing on the box, but hopefully they add some rubber grip material, as well.

Of course, if some moron completely opens their hand while slinging the remote around, the only thing that would help is if was created from a material that adheres to skin.

[Danny @ Jan 14th 2007 4:43PM]

it looks like a Dildo IMHO

[Wolfticket @ Jan 14th 2007 6:35PM]

I bet this wiimote will be just "worse enough" than the official one to make you regret buying it instead for the rest of your life.

Like EVERY third party controller ever.

[Jordan Brown @ Jan 14th 2007 7:54PM]

Well for all of the people who can't grab another one, I don't think the casual gamer is going to notice any big differences, they will just be happy to have another one.

I was lucky to get an extra remote and nunchuck a few days after launch(pre order ftw) but it helped to have a good friend hold them for me at the store.

But I sold my Wii last week, someone gave me $450.

[Ken Hanscom @ Jan 14th 2007 9:58PM]

I cannot wait for someone for this to come out. I have had my Wii for a little over a month (as talked about here: http://ken-hanscom.blogspot.com/2007/01/buy-wii-bundle-and-return-items-you.html) but I still cannot find any darn Wii Remotes or Nunchucks anywhere!

I just want to have a seconds controller at this point -- original Nintendo or not!

[plh2034 @ Jan 15th 2007 10:16AM]

You're just not looking hard enough. Theres this new thing out called the internet where you can go to virtual stores and order stuff. It's amazing! The stuff even comes to your house in little box Trucks driven by real people!

I was able to get 2 Wiimotes, 3 Nunchucks and Component Cables from NINTENDO.COM (duh) & Best Buy.
Oh and when you figure that whole Internet thing out NINTENDO.COM also has a list with links to all of its online partners you can buy from.

[Ken Hanscom @ Jan 15th 2007 10:27AM]

I would tend to agree with you if this was not a nationally covered shortage, especially on the West Coast. Sounds like you have been one of the luck ones.

I have actually tried a lot of the online sites (Amazon Best Buy, Circuit City, EB Games, Target, Toys-R-Us, Wal*Mart and of course Nintendo (duh)) regularly and they have mostly been out of stock. Otherwise, they have a message like: "Due to continued high volume of orders for many parts, standard processing times and shipments may be delayed." which is currently on the Nintendo site.

On the other hand, I do hold a 25% off Toys-R-Us coupon from American Express' MyWishlist which I am hoping to us on a few controllers and games at a brick and mortar Toys.

-Ken
http://ken-hanscom.blogspot.com

[webjedi @ Jan 15th 2007 10:31AM]

I have three of the MadCatz wireless controllers for the Gamecube. They are the best I've ever had and if they make a Wii Remote that fits the hand better than the Nintendo remote block than I'll be tempted to buy some.

[MAIcrosoft @ Jan 16th 2007 8:32AM]

Nice product O: I hope it becomes much more cheaper than the original
-MAIcrosoft

http://dshacks.blogspot.com/

[flashing.twelve @ Jan 17th 2007 1:11PM]

according to my sources inside MadCatz

"Unfortunately, we are still a few months away from engineering our own controller"

[singh @ Jan 22nd 2007 12:02AM]

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=5516055

[telemundo @ Feb 24th 2007 4:23PM]

Confirmed. New Wii controllers by MadCatz will be called "Funchuk" and "Wand Remote".

On sale in 4-6 months and less expensive than Nintendo.