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Wiimote weights, because you're a flabby mess of a gamer
At least, that's the thinking we imagine went on in the meeting when the concept of the riiflex was developed. And they surely don't get in the way of the buttons, as these 2- and 5-pound attachments promise "access to all Wii Remote functions." Well then, sign us up! While we're cutting down enemies in Santa Destroy, we can get totally ripped.Then there's the danger of adding pounds to your Wiimote. You know how there's always that person that gets a little too into bowling in Wii Sports? With this they're likely to throw a Wiimote through your TV, past the wall, and right into the neighbor's nice new car. Don't say we didn't warn you.[Via Engadget]
Sony intros wireless keypad attachment for the PS3
The news is flying fast and furious out of the Leipzig Games Convention today (we actually just got hit in the eye with a flying piece of news). Apparently Sony is launching a wireless keypad attachment that snaps onto the top of a SIXAXIS or DUALSHOCK3 controller into the mini-USB port. The pad features a "touchpad mode" for mouse input, and can be paired with phones and other gadgets via Bluetooth. No word on pricing, but the pad launches in November, and the add-on will come in eight different languages, which should really help us with our multi-lingual training.
The force is with the Wiimote
The DS gets a lightsaber controller (well, stylus, but it's like a controller as you control stuff with it .. whatever) so why is the Wiimote left out in the cold, cold night without bright neon colors and thwong sounds?Useless Wii attachments might be the butt of several chortling jokes, but Star Wars nerds (this blogger included) can't help but think this lightsaber is kinda badass. It actually plugs in to the Wiimote and emits a healthy glow, so the generic white Wii Sports thingys are immediately shamed to oblivion. Of course, the Wii currently lacks any decent Star Wars games, but the aesthetic appeal alone might drive some consumers to pick it up in high hopes that The Force Unleashed won't suck diddly-uck.Buy, or do not buy. There is no try.[Via Wii News; thanks, Craig!]
Frankengrip hits a Wii Remote near you
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/nintendo/Frankengrip_hits_a_Wii_Remote_near_you_2'; Among the debris of the more useless Wii Remote attachments, we occasionally find a gem that may just turn out to be totally awesome. Happening upon this intriguing development certainly has us fiddling with our Wii Remotes, wistfully wondering what life would be like with more controller to hold.Basically, the box comes with a little plastic sleeve that slips over your Remote. Along the back and sides, a series of indented grooves allow you to attach these shark-fin style grips, which could potentially make for a more comfortable experience. There's four in the box, so you can make a wheel, a gun, and even fashion up a crossbow. Those are all good, of course, but they just aren't very long.Hit the break for more close-ups of the Wii Custom Grip in action. We want to give it a try. No, really!
Best Buy giving $50 gift cards to HD DVD adopters
Mega-chain Best Buy is sending $50 gift cards to customers who bought HD DVD players or attachments from its US stores prior to Feb. 23 (coincidentally, for our readership, the date Microsoft declared the format dead to the company). CNN reports most customers won't have to do a thing to receive the card as they'll be identified through the Reward Zone program, service plans or online purchases. If you're a customer who won't be identified in this manner, just grab a receipt (you do keep those, right?) or provide your credit card info to the company for proof of purchase. Gift cards will be sent out by May 1.Circuit City provided a similar deal earlier this month to recent HD DVD adopters by allowing them to return the product if it had been purchased within 90 days. Both Best Buy and Circuit City's online trade-in programs (run by the same company) will allow you to unload your player beginning March 21. Before anyone thinks they're being witty, only HD DVD players can be returned for store credit, you're not getting $50 per movie disc purchased. Although this format war was in no way these retailer's fault, it's very nice to see them taking care of customers left out in the cold.
Trauma Center Kit: an actual product that somebody is selling
We could try to riff off of this Trauma Center-related Wiimote accessory kit, but it would be a waste of time. The truth is that there is nothing we could say that is funnier than the actual facts about this device. For example, it comes with a dedicated attachment that is designed to realistically mimic the feeling of having an opaque crosshair on the end of a short stick. The other attachment is sort of a Swiss Army surgery kit, with a syringe, a scalpel, a drain, and some other plastic items meant to represent Trauma Center surgical tools. On the end of your game controller. If you're having a hard time conceptualizing the link between your Wiimote movements and the onscreen events in Trauma Center, this Trauma Center Kit is available for $16.62 at DealExtreme. Please get this instead of something that is actually sharp.[Via GayGamer]
When cheap attachments attack
For as much as we report about weird things you can attach your Wiimote to, we've never felt a desire to bring one of these kind of kits into our offices willingly. Maybe it's our incredible imagination that allows us to visualize we're actually holding a bat when playing Wii Sports and causes us to feel no need for such attachments. Whatever it is, after viewing this video, we're glad we only had a brief amount of time to interact with any of these type of accessories.Now, the above video is either going to be incredibly painful to watch or downright hilarious, depending on what kind of person you are. However, note that we're not buying that sound effect of glass shattering near the end. We're fairly certain the TV didn't break, as it's not really shown after the accident. [Thanks, Michael!]
Study finds Roomba owners heart their vacuums, accept flaws
While we greatly appreciate the research done by the fine folks over at Georgia Tech, we can't exactly say that we're shocked to hear that Roomba owners (in particular) actually care about their vacuums. In a study revolving around the intricacies in human-robot relationships, gurus found that "some Roomba owners became deeply attached to the robotic vacuums and that there was a measure of public readiness to accept additional robots in the house -- even flawed ones." Interestingly, the report goes on to state that consumers would be less likely to complain if troublesome / faulty household bots were "emotionally engaging," and considering that some folks were willing to "buy new rugs, pre-clean floors and purchase refrigerators with higher clearances" for their Roomba, we suppose we can't really argue with the findings. Now, robot manufacturers, don't you go ditching quality just 'cause we're pushovers, capiche?[Image courtesy of Halo5]
Useless FM radio attachment for the DS
Note to peripheral manufacturers: Being able to attach a device to a video game system doesn't make it inherently better than similar existing products. Case in point: this DS FM radio attachment. Sure, it's kind of cool that this radio draws power from the DS' rechargeable battery. But when you can get a cheapo portable radio for a little more than a buck, it seems silly to spend $14 on a portable radio that takes up your DS' Game Boy Advance slot and doesn't even get AM stations.This unit doesn't even use the DS' features for touch screen control or nifty music visualizer or something -- it's just a radio that happens to stick out the bottom of your DS. Are people really clamoring for portable radios so much that this product needs to exist? Or are the manufacturers just hoping that a small sliver of the massive DS user base will be dumb enough to buy any attachment available? [Via Gizmodo]
Leaked Xbox 360 keyboard controller attachment, Voltron jealous
[Update: It's official. More information and higher resolution pics of the rendering here.]With Gamespot and other sites leaking details about the upcoming Dashboard updates to the 360, you've gotta wonder how text messaging between the 360 and Windows users will work. Typing out even the briefest of messages using the 360 Controller is a lesson in patience; it's easier to record and send a voice message than it is to hammer out "LOL WRU?" on that thing. Enter this Xbox 360 snap-on qwerty keyboard attachment -- conveniently also leaked (and now pulled) by Gamespot -- which will be available in the summer for an unknown price. Luckily Engadget snagged some shots before they disappeared into the ether. One more after the break.
And the Brando Wii Sports Pack goes to ....
Considering the nature of the Brando Wii Sports Pack contest, we couldn't help but choose this image as a fitting trophy for the winner. Congratulations -- you've demotivated us, and we don't want these attachments any longer. We bestow them onto the following pair (yes, pair) of posters from a reader with the interesting interweb moniker FlamingSquirrelofDeath.The winning entries are presented after the jump. Check back later and we'll put up some of the near winners. Thanks to everyone who entered!
Samsung offers up DS200 speaker dock for YP-K3
Just days after Samsung's uber-slim YP-K3 DAP got all official on us, here comes news of a docking speaker attachment to give it the built-in sound projection capabilities that the YP-K5 already has. Although Samsung has also announced that the K3 will be landing in lime green and red flavors here shortly, the DS200 apparently only comes in black, and while it's admittedly less sexy that the integrated speaker on its larger sibling, it'll still get the job done when push comes to shove. We wouldn't expect this here horn to deliver anything awe-inspiring, but the battery-powered DS200 should provide your ears with a little rest when you're tired of wearing those earbuds. Reportedly, the speaker adornment should hit shelves sometime in March, but since it'll run you right around $50, it's probably a bit much for an impulse buy.
Craptacular attachments for Wiimote
We mused about the subject a few months back, and now PEGA's delivering with a set of cheap plastic Wiimote attachments. For ¥2,780 (about $23), suckers can preorder the set, which includes a mock golf club, baseball bat, and tennis racket (all measuring approximately 16 inches in length). At that length (and without much weight), the attachments won't add much to the sense of realism; though they will increase the risk of actually striking someone or something while playing Wii Sports. No thanks.See also: Wii-eel attachment looks rather un-wii-ldy
Wii puzzler drops GCN controller support
Mercury Meltdown Revolution, the only Wii title so far to hint at its former nickname, has dropped support for the GameCube controller as previously planned; however, using the classic controller is still just fine and dandy.Ed Bradley, studio manager for MMR developer Ignition Entertainment, told Eurogamer that "we've had to drop support for the GameCube controller as it's a very much 'at developers own risk' proposition and we're not masochists!" The context is not entirely clear, but our best guess is that, while a library of code for the classic controller may be provided by Nintendo, the burden of programming for GCN ports is on the developer and Bradley didn't feel like expending the resources.Here's our worry: remember when Smash Bros. Brawl producer Masahiro Sakurai revealed that GameCube controllers would be compatible, so as not to alienate those who prefer the traditional -- dare we say classic -- control scheme? What if Nintendo's beat-em-up only supports the classic controller attachment? The cynic in us fears Nintendo would nix GCN controller support in order to sell a few more attachments. Not that it's a bad attachment, mind you, but we already have so many GCN controllers lying around that we don't want them to go to waste.
Look out: Wiimote attachments cluttering the closet
Not that this Hyrulian sword and shield combo is an authentic retail item, but the apparent mock-up could be foreshadowing an impending flood of first-party, third-party, and homebrewed attachments targeting Wii. What's to stop a campaign of branded plastic snap-on Link swords and Samus arm cannons from saturating the market; or Nerf-style racket and bat heads endorsed by superstar athletes?Cheap to produce, and when marketed correctly (e.g., exclusive 'Collector's Edition' material), the sort of trinkets the kiddies (and diehards) gotta have.[Via Aeropause]
Mail attachment reminder saves embarassment
I've done it again -- sent an email that mentions an attachment, and then forgot to attach the file. It's always embarassing. Here's a way to save yourself from similar humiliation. Download this free Attachment Scanner plugin for Mail.app, and install it following the directions on the developer's site. Now when you type "attach," "attachment,", "attaching," or similar words in an email, if you hit Send without actually attaching a document, you'll see a warning like this one: "Message Has No Attachment. Your mail appears to refer to an attachment, but none exists. Do you wish to continue?" If you don't mention an attachment, you won't see anything different than usual. I've been using it all day, and really appreciate getting a second chance to save face thanks to developer James Eagan.[via macosxhints]
Review: iWeb's enhancements are exactly what it needed
In the most recent iLife '06 software update that Damien mentioned, iWeb understandably received the largest bump of new features and bug fixes; after all, it is the latest to arrive at the iLife party. Considering that I've been pretty vocal about my gripes with this otherwise fantastic addition to both iLife and .Mac, you can imagine my enthusiasm for Software Update to work its magic asap.After tinkering with the new features in iWeb 1.1 like blog comments and drop-dead simple photo album page creation, I thought I'd post a quick review of what's new, as I think iWeb is finally starting to fit into its role of a strong, WYSIWYG 1.0 application from Apple.
Nunchuck hides a secret?
According to AMN, the recent rumor that hit the net regarding the Revolution's nunchuck attachment is true and the add-on contains an acellerometer, a device which measures the speed at which the attachment moves and its direction of tilt. What does this mean? Well, if this is true, the nunchuck attachment will act much like free looking in FPS games does on the PC. With the recent revealing of Red Steel, should this rumor be true, it would be a perfect fit for the title. Actually, it would be a great fit for just about any other first-person (Metroid Prime 3?!) or third-person title as well, allowing the player to easily control the camera through a flick of the rest. [Via Revolution Report]
Wireless iPod transceiver coming from Apple and Jabra
Rumors of the iPod going bluetooth have been flying around for at least a year or two now, and it sounds like there is finally some truth to them. Sort of. While Apple isn't building bluetooth into the iPod itself, iLounge picked up on a Chinese Times report that Apple has green-lighted Jabra to develop a bluetooth wireless iPod attachment. iLounge notes that the attachment will be a transceiver, capable of sending and receiving both music and data between other devices, which I would imagine could include computers, headphones, and bluetooth speakers.The attachment is slated to go on sale in Q3 of 2006, though no price is set yet. With an attachment like this on the horizon, however, I would imagine Apple doesn't have any plans for the iPod to adopt bluetooth on the inside anytime soon.[via iLounge]
