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More Wiimote junk: 'Wii Cooking Mother Kit'
We've got a drawer set aside at Joystiq HQ for all the Wiimote doodads that accessory makers want us to buy. Admittedly, we haven't bought anything to put in there yet but, then again, the accessory makers haven't yet made that grappling hook accessory we've been dreaming of.That said, this "Cooking Mother" kit, custom made for all the Cooking Mamas out there, is just impractical enough to tie this Zelda junk for most useless Wiimote accessory ever. Impressive to be sure, but it's still not going into our drawer.[Via Engadget]
Brando extends the Wiicessory madness with "Cooking Mother Kit"
The Wii game-to-accessory ratio seems to just keep getting smaller and smaller, with accessory-mad Brando now further expanding your add-on options with its "Wii Cooking Mother Kit." Designed to be used with the so far accessory-deprived Cooking Mama game, the kit includes a frying pan, knife, spade, and fork, which are apparently guaranteed to "enhance the fun of playing the game." And, really, is there anything more more fun than wildly flailing sharp objects around? Those willing to take that risk can order their set now for $17.
Brando's versatile universal solar charger
Relying on the sun to juice up your gadgetry is nothing new, but Brando has deviated from its cockamamie ways a bit and actually cranked out a product that is remarkably useful. The Universal Solar Charger was designed to fit neatly in your knapsack whilst traveling and provide power to any number of mobile devices via the use of adapters. Users can rely on sunlight or default to an AC outlet if stuck indoors, and most notably, the switchable voltage function allows you to handle a vast array of devices without damaging any circuitry. Unfortunately, the status quo of sub-$30 or so for a Brando gizmo has been shattered by this one, but if you're a worldwide traveler looking for portable (and renewable) power, $69 still ain't too bad.
Brando's USB-powered aquarium: for the fish owner to-be
If you've been eying one of those snazzy USB-enabled fish tanks of late, but are still a bit gun shy when it comes to taking care of a live animal, Brando's got you covered. The USB Interactive Aquarium looks to be the perfect device for the wannabe fish owner, as this completely USB-powered tank includes a pair of thoroughly fake fish that swim around using mechanical tails. The included software allows owners to feed, care for, and play with their robotic pets, and you can even get an underwater rave going by flipping the built-in LEDs off and on in rapid succession. Not a bad way to see if you're up to the real challenge, and for just $23, it's an inexpensive way to snag an office pet that's not needy on the weekends.
Brando offers up USB-powered Plasma Ball
Yeah, this is just what everyone needed: more pointless electronic rubbish to clutter up your desk. Lacking the charm of other useless USB accessories (USB sushi: it's got cred!), Brando opted to give a regular Plasma Ball the USB connectivity it never wanted. For $16.99, the ability to awe your colleagues and family members with an interactive light show they've seen dozens of times is within your grasp! Hey, at least the base isn't lined with blue LEDs.
Brando's Wii Crystal Cooler lights up your life
Although it's been unscientifically proven that Nintendo's Wii is the least likely of the three major consoles to actually need a heat suppressing adornment flanking its side, it's no surprise that accessory manufacturers are out to get the suckers anyway. For those of you who just can't keep your Wii cool enough, and weren't about to drop any dough on the repulsive China Shenzhen Firstsing variety, Brando's coming to the rescue. The company famous for its USB-powered, unnecessarily flashy gizmos has struck again with the Wii Crystal Cooler, which utilizes USB power to fan off your Wii, sports a nifty blue LED to give it that special touch of tacky, and also doubles as a stand. It can be yours today for just $19.
Brando's WeDock: A $19 box
If you've ever considered yourself a person of class, a member of the gaming bourgeoisie if you will, you'd turn your nose up at the idea of keeping your controllers in a plastic bin or wicker basket. That's the sort of practice you'd rather leave to those of lesser fortune and breeding, right?No, your discriminating tastes demand more sophisticated storage solutions. You require something like Brando's WeDock, a product that does very little for its $19 price tag, but does it quite stylishly. The small locker's clean, white design matches your Nintendo Wii along with any Apple sensibilities you might have. Its one-touch, "springboard" slots fit up to two remotes and nunchucks.When guests ask if the WeDock recharges your remotes' batteries, you'll laugh in their faces until they bow their heads in shame. Of course it doesn't. Jump past the post break for more product shots.
Brando stars in A Wii Stand Named Desire
Though not as psychedelically colorful as PEGA's Wii stand and remote charger, Brando's Crystal Cooler isn't without its own glitz. The USB-powered base has a built-in "high-velocity" fan to keep your console's temperature low and an LED glow that'll color your living room walls an electric blue. If you squint and straddle one of your couch's arms like a bike, it'll almost feel like you're riding through Tron on a lightcycle.We're still not convinced that the Wii needs a cooling fan, but some gamers will look for any excuse to light up their hardware. Priced at nineteen dollars though, the product doesn't even automatically turn on after detecting high temperatures. Instead, users have to manually hit an unmarked switch behind the stand. That's some ol' malarkey right there. Speed through the post break for more glamour shots of the Crystal Cooler.
Brando's 55-in-1 multicard reader doubles as Bluetooth, USB 2.0 hub
Leave it to Brando to upgrade its fine line of chintzy multicard readers yet again, this time adding an additional three cards to its mile long compatibility list and throwing in a USB 2.0 hub as well. Of course, we've already seen the unit acquire Bluetooth and rave lights, but the latest edition doubles as a Bluetooth dongle and provides an extra two USB 2.0 ports to daisy chain your favorite USB-powered gadgetry to your PC. Not a whole lot of reasons to upgrade to this one if you're a proud (or shameful) owner of past iterations, but if you've been looking for the least expensive way to convert your non-BT-enabled machine into one that speaks Bluetooth, all while finding a device that reads and writes to T-Flash, IBM MD, MAGICSTOR, and SDHC (just to name a few), Brando's whiz-bang conglomerate will run you just $29.
Brando's flatliner aluminum USB mouse
What kind of crazy crap will Brando come up with next? How about a semi-flatish aluminum USB mouse? Yeah, works for us too at $22 bones, which is probably significantly less than they spent on that dandy hand model. Good times.
Brando offering the old Wiimote dock / battery combo on the cheap
If there's one thing the world can't have enough of, it's certainly food compassion iPod peripherals Wiimote dock-cum-charging-stations (battery usually included). We've already seen these hot products range from $25 for Thrustmaster's T-Charge NW to $30 for Nyko's Wii Charge Station to $39 for JoyTech's Wii PowerStation, so the $17 Brando's asking for its no frills Wii Charger Stand should come as good news to the cheap gamer in all of us. Other than the low price, however, not much stands here: you get an extra battery -- unlike the Joytech and Nyko models, which each give you two additional packs plus two slots for charging -- and cradle which glows a shade of red that's sure to drive you mad. So if you're short on cash or do most of your gaming solo -- hey, nothing wrong with that -- this could be the dock / battery combo that you've been pining for.
Wii Fanboy Contest: Sports Pack also-rans
What better way to wrap up the weekend than with those efforts that stood out in our recent contest? While these entries didn't snag their creators the Wii Sports Pack from Brando, they did make us giggle ... even though some of them didn't quite fit the contest criteria. Check out these selected entries after the jump.
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!
Brando joins wacky world of fakes with "Nokir E828"
Remember that sketchy Nokia N73 ripoff that happily traded any semblance of 3G data -- and legitimacy, for that matter -- for a touchscreen? It seems Brando, everyone's favorite overseas purveyor of all things gadgety, has gotten into the Keepin' It Real Fake business (a slippery slope, if we do say so ourselves) by offering up said N73 forgery as the "Nokir E828" ("Nokir" instead of "Nokia," get it?). We remain utterly underwhelmed by the E828's meager spec sheet; the QVGA screen with stylus is cool, don't get us wrong, but GPRS is the widest bit pipe you're going to squeeze out of this thing and the 2 megapixel cam cowers in the shadow of the N73's 3.2 megapixel piece. Ah well, at least it only sets buyers back $200 -- and just like the eBay-hawked version before it, that's a good chunk less than the real deal.
The ultra-tiny USB Micro Drive microSD reader
Either those or some pretty dang huge keys, or this new USB Micro Drive for microSD being sold by Brando is most likely "the world's smallest microSD reader" it claims to be. There really isn't a lot to know: it runs at full-speed USB 2.0, measures 5mm thick, weighs a tenth of an ounce and reads microSD cards. With this kind of size, you could just leave your microSD card inside the $14 reader for a DIY thumb drive, or use it as a card reader all normal-like, but that's about all that's going on here. Fire this thing up with one of those fancy new 4GB microSD numbers and watch the sparks fly!
Wii Fanboy Contest: Win the Wii Sports Pack
Now that you've seen them in action, we want to give one reader their very own Wii Sports Pack! Conduct your own playtests. Sneak up on friends with the bat for a little nefarious fun. Break them out during parties and take bets on who shatters the ceiling fan lights. The fun never stops!It's not gonna be as easy as just waltzing in here and asking for them, however. You're going to need to inspire us into letting go of the goods. We're not feeling too motivated here, so what we need is for you to make a (de)motivational poster inspired by Brando's Wii Sports Pack. The tools you need are tucked away after the jump.
USB-powered Posture Reminder keeps slouching in check
Those kind, considerate folks over at Brando are continuing to look out for the chair-sitter's well-being, as the USB Posture Reminder ranks right up there with the USB drink chiller and USB hair trimmer as goods that any desk-strapped individual should keep nearby. This USB-powered device clips onto the top of your monitor's frame, but instead of enabling video chats, it keeps a constant eye on the distance of your forehead in relation to the screen. The VISOMATE uses an ultrasonic sensor to determine whether your eyes are too close (or not close enough) to your screen; if you see a blue light being emitted, you're doing just fine staying in the 35- to 60-centimeter range, but if you manage to slouch too close and break the 35-centimeter barrier, a flashing red light will alert you to your mistake. If blinking lights aren't enough to cause epileptic fits straighten you out, you can even turn a "Chime" function on to reinforce the severity of bad posture, and you can take the first step in correcting your atrocious leaning habit by plopping down $26 and vowing to actually install it when it arrives.[Via Uber-Review]
Wii Fanboy Review: Brando Wii Sports Pack
When we first learned of Brando's Wii Sports accessories, we knew it was our civic duty to get our hands on a set in the name of you, the readers. Because we're here for you. We're BFF. And, well ... they just looked like fun. So we pleaded and cried, and Brando hooked us up. The Sports Pack arrived quickly, more quickly than we expected, in fact. They were then put through a rigorous testing process, and now that we're the world's foremost experts* on these new accessories, we're gonna let you in on everything we learned. Check out the full review, along with loads of pictures, after the jump. *This is a shameless lie.
Brando's 2GB SOAP MP4 Player reeks of iPod
There's iPod knockoffs, and then there's the SOAP MP4 Player. This little gem unsurprisingly comes in black and glossy white flavors, boasts an unmistakable scroll wheel and stark white earbuds, and throws a few curves around the edges in a futile attempt to disclose its true inspiration. Furthermore, this device even rips a chunk of its name from another knockoff, providing two times the unoriginal fun, but sadly, we can't find a direct link to Samuel L. Jackson. Nevertheless, this 2GB PMP plays nice with MP3, MP4, WMA, WMV, ASF, and WAV, and features a built-in FM tuner / voice recorder, seven pre-set equalizer modes, USB 2.0 connectivity, 1.8-inch OLED display, rechargeable Li-ion battery, and support for a plethora of languages. So if you're looking to impress your clueless friends, or you just want a curvaceous 1G nano with a fancy screen a few extra niceties, you can pick this unit up now for $99.
Wii Sports Pack offers trio of Wiimote extensions
In what's likely to go down as the most heavily accessorized (and harmful) controller ever, Nintendo's Wiimote sure is garnering a lot of attention from accessory makers. Sure, those Wii Gloves may keep butterfinger disasters from ever occurring, but they really don't give you any sort of competitive advantage when throwing down in Wii Sports. While we knew JoyTech was planning its own barrage of controller add-ons, it looks like Brando is offering up a sweet trio of Wiimote extensions to presumably improve your Wii Sports play. For just $22, you'll get a tennis racket, golf grip, and a baseball bat, which could arguably pull double duty as a sword in Red Steel. Of course, you'll still need to pick up that foam donut separately (or bundled in with another game) for the ultimate Excite Truck experience, but hey, you gotta start somewhere.
