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Seen@E3: Nyko's last Wii Party Station
Nyko has "the last Wii Party Station on Earth" working its booth at E3. Like that band with a few minor hits that you see years later at Six Flags, the party station is a shell of its former glory. When we first saw the device in 2007, it was gloriously lit in blue, holding sodas and providing chips. Now, after missing its big break, the device is dark, lonely and generally ignored. It's still working, though, holding a couple bottles of water, a few Nyko Wiimotes and two pieces of candy when we saw it. Even the Nyko rep said with some sadness, "It should be glowing and providing us a bounty of chips." As for what Nyko is actually showing this year, check out the 2011 lineup. %Gallery-125372%
Nyko's Wii Party Station still not being manufactured
Nyko's Wii Party Station is a thing of E3 legend. First seen at E3 Santa Monica 2007, we always anticipate this will be the year we see it again. Sadly, it was not in attendance. With Move on the horizon, we asked Nyko if it was planning to revisit the Wii Party Station or even a Move Party Station. "We can always revisit that. At the time it was too expensive," a Nyko representative told us. He explained that the price of oil, which you need to make the plastic-intensive product, was too expensive at the time and it just didn't make cost sense. He informed us that the electronics in the unit, which included four displays, LED lighting around a chip tray and a hand drying fan cost less than the plastic. Keep hope alive, folks. Perhaps, one day, Nyko will find it in its heart to deliver upon us this most excellently ridiculous over-the-top frat boy dorm item. %Gallery-4860%
Party Station partied out before it even started partying
We have some sad news for you. The Nyko Party Station, once destined to grace tables nationwide, cooling drinks and hands, holding delicious snacks, and keeping pan-game scores, has met with an early end. According to an email from Nyko, the components were too expensive for their desired price point-- they would have had to charge $50 or more instead of $25. That's actually not too hard to believe; the thing was full of functions-- LCD score counters, hand fan, drink coolers, partying spirit. It was too much party for one station to handle. Like heroic Slurms Mckenzie, it just couldn't sustain the volume of partying expected of it. There's still hope that the Party Station will come back some day, if Nyko can get the costs down.Ironically, right before we started writing this post, we knocked four warm sodas over, ruining the four Wiimotes lying flat on the table and soaking a paper plate full of tortilla chips. It was so upsetting that we forgot who was winning the Wii Sports tournament taking place in the room. It made us kind of nervous, and now our hands are all sweaty.
Wii Party Station in the flesh, er, plastic
When you hear about the Wii Party Station by Nyko for the first time there's a moment where you think how ridiculous it is, but when you see it, you realize it could serve some purpose. An utterly ridiculous purpose, but a purpose nonetheless. Is it designed for "family fun" Wii play -- no. It is clearly designed for a bunch of guys sitting around and having a party.The unit has four removable can holders which have liquid built inside of them so it can be refrigerated or frozen to keep drinks cold, a storage unit underneath, and a removable chip holder. All of this makes for super easy cleaning. There is a fan for hand drying -- like a bowling alley. And four displays for keeping score if you're tracking who won which games (assuming you're playing various games). The non-corporate line would be to use those displays to keep track if you're playing the Mario Party drinking game so that nobody goes overboard -- but that's a story for another time.The unit runs off AA batteries and holds 4 Wiimotes (a hybrid unit with the Nyko Wiicharge Station built into this would be sweet in the future). The unit looks like it would sit in a dorm room coffee table or a house shared by a bunch of guys. Is it a little ridiculous? Sure. But it doesn't take a stretch of the imagination to see it being useful to certain demographics -- and the Wii is all about the demographic spread.%Gallery-4860%
Nyko Wii Party Station -- it's official, the fun has begun
Yeah, you thought you were living the high life with that pair of rechargeable batteries and tennis racket attachments you ponied up for -- too bad you weren't even halfway to awesome. Nyko's new "Wii Party Station" is the only way to live, with room to charge four Wiimotes, hold and chill four adult beverages and room to house the all important chip and dip bowl and various Wiicessories. Best of all is the completely superfluous score board to make your smack talk so much more effective, and the hand cooling fan really seals the deal. For $25, if you don't have one of these 12 seconds after they hit store shelves, we can't be friends anymore.
