While focused on little gizmos like the Palm Pre at CES, we somehow missed the opportunity to play with Nyko's Wiimote wannabe back in January. Thankfully, the peripheral company was on hand here in Germany with its full lineup, and we dropped in for a few snapshots as well as a hilarious visual demonstration of just how suitable this thing is at replacing bona fide Wiimotes. As you'll notice in the gallery below, Nintendo's version is just a smidgen taller while the Nyko edition sports a covered back that's easier to grip; outside of that, however, the two feel generally alike when held. It should be noted that the Nyko reps had outfitted the actual Wiimote with its backing in order to prevent any unwanted LCD shatterings, and hey, we can respect that. We also threw in a few shots of the Wii Wand strapped inside the now-ancient Perfect Shot gun holster -- for no other reason than to say we wielded a weapon on company time, really.


Update: Nyko pinged us to say that the gun we toyed with is actually the newer, more refined version of the Perfect Shot, or more specifically, the Pistol Grip attachment for the Wand. It'll be available this Spring in the Wand Action Pack.

After six months of what we can only imagine were pained, laborious negotiations, Nintendo and Nyko announced today that they've settled that lawsuit over Nyko's Kama wireless nunchuk controllers. No mention of how much Nyko had to pay up to make this all go away, but apparently the company's agreed to tweak the Kama's design to make it looks less like Ninty's original -- we'd say a good beginning exercise would be to try and figure out why anyone actually needs an off-color wireless nunchuk, and then going on from there.

[Via Joystiq]

Dry your eyes, drummer. We feel your sense of loss at the news that Rock Band 2 may not be getting its promised second kick pedal after all, ruling out proper reenactments of Lars' two-foot prowess (without a little modding). Now at least you can improve the quality of that one kicker you do have, replacing it with something a little more weighty. Nyko's aptly-named Metal Pedal, a bargain at $20, works with both Rock Band games as well as Guitar Hero: World Tour on all platforms, and is made of real metal to give a more authentic heft. No, nothing will feel quite like the real thing, but it's surely better than that cracked hunk of plastic you've been meaning to send back to Harmonix for months.

So, here's a conundrum for ya. Sony's PlayStation 3 has been all but universally hailed as a stellar Blu-ray player and a respectable part of any home theater. But Sony forgot to include an IR receptor on the thing, making it incompatible with the vast majority of universal remotes on the market. Solution? An Infrared-to-Bluetooth converter. For the longest while, the original IR2BT was the de facto choice for handling the conversion, but now that it has been replaced with the more expensive (and versatile, in fairness) IR2BTci, CNET decided to roundup three other viable options so you, the almighty consumer, could make the choice that serves you best. Hit the read link for a gathering of the reviews, and don't forget to curse Sony for making you go through this exercise in the first place.

Update: RemoteShoppe has a similar, and equally helpful, roundup of its own.

Let's be honest here -- you skimped by snagging the 40GB PlayStation 3 back in the day, and now you're in need of a few extra USB ports and a multicard reader. Thankfully, your fortunes have changed since the days of your original purchase, primarily due to your drunken decision to bet the farm on Seth Petruzelli over the weekend. Whatever the case, Nyko's unsightly Media Hub+ -- which adds a trio of USB sockets and a multicard reader to the 40GB PS3 -- is finally available, and it's just $19.99 for those with no shame in adding it to the face of their console. So, who's tossing a brown grocery bag over their head and picking one of these up?

[Via IGN]

We just never got the hang of that little blue robotic man, with his arm-blaster and his wall jumping and his awesome friends, and the Nyko Wing helped none at all: we managed to kill they guy about five seconds after picking up the controller. Still, it's a nice little chunk of plastic. It's much more natural in the hand than that funky Classic Controller, and seems rather high-quality for a Nyko product, but the d-pad is too mushy for our taste, and the whole assembly seems a tad too light. Either way, we're sticking with Mario.

Love your Wii but tiring of your standard control options? Looking for something that involves less arm swinging, feels a little bit more like an Xbox or PS3 experience, and loses that Classic Controller cable? Well the folks from Nyko are here for you, and they want to hold you all night long... and they brought the Wing. What's the Wing you ask? It's essentially a standard gamepad on highly concentrated crack-cocaine. The wireless controller features two analog sticks and a plethora of buttons (both up front and around the back), and can run for around 30 hours on a pair of AAA batteries. No word on price or release date, but if you notice a sudden crime wave and rash of unexplained fires, the Wing is probably out.

Nyko's got a knack for delivering some of the ugliest, most preposterous third-party peripherals on the planet, yet -- for whatever reason -- we can't help but love 'em. The latest abomination from the outfit that begins to grow on you almost immediately is the Media Hub for PlayStation 3. For those that went cheap on the 40GB PS3 and missed out on a multicard reader and the full array of USB ports, this here adornment presumably connects to one of those USB sockets and adds three more while tossing in the card reader you've so dearly missed. Thankfully, Nyko's only charging $19.99 for this, so you should be okay even if your ship has yet to come in.

[Via Joystiq]

If you're anything like our boy Ryan, you've been wearing that Wii Fit out ever since you took delivery. Unfortunately, you've probably been doing a bit of unintentional jogging when logging miles back and forth to the local mini-mart for batteries. If you can't seem to keep your Wii Balance Board charged, Nyko has introduced a novel solution: the Energy Pack for Wii Fit. Our pals over at Nintendo Wii Fanboy were able to get ahold of this very unit and put it through its paces, and generally speaking, they were quite impressed with the $20 peripheral-for-a-peripheral. Head on over for the full writeup and a smattering of pics.

It's about time 360 owners get some rechargeable Nyko love via the Charge Base 360, which is shipping to stores at a $34.99 clip. So why should you care? This charger / controller storage solution comes with two NiMH drop-in (i.e. shaped for your 360 controller) rechargeable batteries that promise to make your gaming downtime a lot less extant. Nyko says a single charge will provide "up to" 25 hours of play time while charge time takes about 2 hours per controller. If you act quickly, you could get one of the limited 80s coffee table-friendly Black & Gold-colored units which go on sale June 2.

[Via IGN]