Wiimote trackball mod probably won't improve your Golden Tee score

The folks at Acid Mods refuse to leave their Wiimotes alone. We thought the rapid fire switch was useful (if bloodthirsty) enough, but the trackball has a certain retro charm that all too often gets lost in these days of high body counts. This time they've modded in a trackball, which functions as D-pad and A button -- placing them both under your thumb at the same time -- for easier game play and convenient web browsing. Installation requires some soldering and sanding, and of course you'll have to crack the controller open (pretty typical for a mod of this type). An order page and instructions for adding the trackball to other various controllers (including PSP, Nintendo DS, Xbox 360 and PS3) should be available in the not too distant future -- in the meantime, we've provided a dynamic action video of the trackball after the break.

[Thanks, Mark]

[Johnny5 @ Nov 12th 2008 11:43AM]

I wanna see a DS with a trackball. :D

[Mark @ Nov 12th 2008 11:49AM]

we will do a DS just for you it is simple enough :D

[StalematE @ Nov 12th 2008 11:48AM]

it's a WiiCli... inappropriate, sorry.

[swingin' dick hero @ Nov 12th 2008 11:52AM]

Hell yes, finish that sentence.

[Lowest Ranked @ Nov 12th 2008 11:59AM]

...t.

That's all he left off.

[kal326 @ Nov 12th 2008 11:52AM]

They should have put in a black trackball and tried to sell it on Ebay for $2500

[CubeGuy @ Nov 12th 2008 12:24PM]

You, sir, win the internet this morning.

*daps*

[Larry @ Nov 12th 2008 11:56AM]

Nice mod, I assume that you guys have real jobs. Shouldn't let talent go to waste...

[CraigJ @ Nov 12th 2008 11:56AM]

Marble Madness port please.

[htd @ Nov 12th 2008 12:12PM]

what's the point? isnt wiiremote more 'realistic' than trackball?

[SearchX @ Nov 12th 2008 12:37PM]

For menus, I'm not convinced that this is better than simply pressing up or down on the crosspad.

For browsing the web, the sensitivity needs to be increased because that's a lot of rolling to scroll down only 1/5th of the screen. The trackball would be useful when it takes into account the acceleration of rolling the ball. Until then it seems like a glorified up/down button.

[chefgon_ign @ Nov 12th 2008 1:05PM]

A mod to install a D-pad in a Blackberry would make a lot more sense. The trackball isn't a more convenient way to do anything, other than preparing for epic Thumb Wars by flailing your thumb around way too much just for a relatively small amount of scrolling.

[Joseph @ Nov 12th 2008 2:08PM]

That guys thumb is jacked.

Was that taken in a gamestop?

[Joseph @ Nov 12th 2008 2:09PM]

I would like to see a giant trackball for mod for emu.

Golden Tee Neo Geo port?

[ZaxCG2 @ Nov 12th 2008 2:33PM]

Golden Tee ... ah... Engadget- you have just gave me a hankering to go to the nearest country-time sports-bar tonight.

[SmiZ @ Nov 12th 2008 3:09PM]

Glad to see this mod comes with the inabilty to spell english words as well.

[Alex @ Nov 12th 2008 4:01PM]

What a waste of time.

[Kawaiipikachu @ Nov 12th 2008 5:05PM]

Joseph you miss spelled Wii Remote as Wiimote .

[guitrasher @ Nov 12th 2008 6:10PM]

They need to put that trackball on the nunchuk, in place of the c-button.

[Plothole @ Nov 12th 2008 11:49PM]

I just tried getting some idea how that would feel on one of my nunchuks. Left and right would probably be okay, but with up and down it seems like you would bump your finger into the Z button a lot. Perhaps, instead of a trackball, some sort of jog dial would work there?