Improving the Wii Remote sounds like a fool's errand. With a blocky design, a few buttons, a protective jacket and a leash, there's very little to improve, right?



Meet the Nyko Wand, a Wii Remote controller that promises a few improvements that enhance your Wii gaming experiences. At first glance, the well-known rectangular design is a carbon copy of its Nintendo cousin with larger and colored buttons for in-game actions. Bigger buttons do make it slightly easier to press during games and moving the Home button slightly north of the + and – keys seems like a better solution. The D-pad has also been designed from the classic Nintendo four-way D-pad design with a focus on the positions between left, right, up and down. Underneath, the Wand features a rubberized battery cover and a large rubberized "B" button.



One unique feature is Nyko's Trans-Port technology which allows players to use digital signals from other Trans-Port enabled devices via three metal touch areas underneath the Wand's Nunchuk plug. So while your light gun kit may work just fine, having that trigger turned digital, players would be able to shoot faster and more often. Of course, this currently means that you'd only be able to use such a feature with other Nyko devices.

Found at GameStop for $29.99, $5 less than the Nintendo Wii Remote, it's also a good way to save money for your next game. And if you're a light gun fanatic, the Nyko Action Pak ($45) adds a pistol grip attachment that uses the Trans-Port technology for faster trigger responses.



During our testing with the device over the past few weeks, we can report that there are no real flaws with the Wii Remote apart from the device powering down faster than the Wii Remote when it wasn't in use (annoying in one regard, though more energy friendly.) Encapsulated in a protective blue jacket that features more padding at the front, it even bounces off the floor just like the Wii Remote. That's not all bad considering that some third party peripherals are often plagued by cheaper plastic cases with buttons that squirm all over the place and parts that break off long before they should. Nyko's Wand might not shake up how the Wii Remote works but with bigger buttons and a lower price, it's a true contender for your living room.

For all the cordless freedom that the Wii gives players, the cord that connects to the Nunchuk feels like an insult. Thankfully the nice geeks at Nyko have got our backs by introducing the Kama Wireless Controller, a wireless Nunchuk that's will immediately make you ask, "Why didn't Nintendo do this in the first place?"

The Kama kit comes in two parts, a wireless controller and a small module that plugs into the bottom of your Wii Remote. Once you wake the Wii Remote up, you hit the glowing blue button, do the same on the Kama and you're set. Seriously, even your mom could do it.

But mom doesn't play like you do and Nyko evolves the design of the Nunchuk with several other improvements. Wider and slightly heavier than the default Nunchuk, the Kama also makes the C and Z buttons wider and even added a little lip to the bottom of the Z button that makes it look a little like a wide gun trigger -- a worthy addition. Up on deck, the analog controller is similar to the Nunchuk's but with a circular base, replacing the chuk's octagonal one and two recessed buttons are used for powering on and syncing the Kama with its module (which we've only done once). Underneath, the battery cover is skinned with a rubber tread for better gripping and where the normal Nunchuk cord should be, there's a leash.


Performance-wise, we never lost a connection during the weeks that we've been playing with it. Nyko rates the two AAA's battery life at around 30 hours, and during our testing, we only had to change the batteries once. The Kama feels natural and the only learning curve here is getting used to the missing cord that always seemed to whack us in the face during heavy play session -- especially during MadWorld. It even cured a flaw in one of our Wii Remotes where the plug to the Nunchuk would occasionally lose its connection.



Yet, there's one big flaw. With the arrival of the MotionPlus module with every copy of Wii Sports Resort, the Kama module lacks a Nunchuk plug at its base and the MotionPlus module comes with two pieces of plastic that help secure the new Wii MotionPlus jacket. Those little pieces make it impossible to plug the Kama module in. Of course, after much thought, we chopped off the two little pieces, then shaved down the curvy top part of the Kama module with our handy Dremel to ensure a secure fit. Now our Wii Remote, looking like an odd baton with both modules attached and the Kama module lit up, a good sign. Wii Sports Resort started... and then we discovered that with both modules attached, the game fails to recognize the Kama and asks the user to "Connect the Nunchuk to the Wii MotionPlus accessory." Grrr... our hopes for MotionPlus wireless nirvana were dashed.


Even with the Wii MotionPlus issue, Nyko's Kama Wireless Controller should have been standard issue with every Wii and we highly recommend it. With so few games that support MotionPlus, it works with nearly all your other games. And with the lowest price we found ($19.99) matching the price of a new wired Nunchuk, the Kama Wireless Controller offers a lot more motion for your buck.

Keeping pace with the insane bass of Guitar Hero Metallica takes nerves of steel, a near unachievable level of speed and a good set of eyes. While Nyko can't legally speed you up or has yet to venture into eye accessories, its new Metal Pedal does offer Guitar Hero and Rock Band players a way to smack down that bass with toes of wanton destruction.

Over the past week, we took the coffin-encased pedal through the paces and discovered several advantages that drummers will enjoy and, at a mere $19.99, a nice upgrade to their default kit's bass pedal.

First and foremost, Nyko's Metal Pedal isn't all metal. It's mostly plastic but a screwed on chrome-like metal inlay sits on the foot pedal along with a raised metal area made to look like spikes (we'd like real spikes but for $20, we'll let it slide). It's also compatible with Rock Band and Guitar Hero: World Tour drum kits via a switch on the coiled cable. An included Dual Pedal Adaptor also lets Rock Band 2 and World Tour players play with their original pedal and the new metal pedal.


World Tour players have the most to gain since the petal is wider than the stock pedal and comes with four rubber pads that should solve the bass pedal drift that World Tour players are used to. Of course, there are cutouts for the Rock Band drum kit's cross bar and with two rubber inlays, players should find less side to side motion.

While it's highly recommended as a replacement for the stock pedal, getting our Rock Band 2 kit to recognize it took several attempts. Once working, the two rubber pads as the bottom of the pedal produce a nice "thock" sound as a smaller pad hits the sensor pad. There's one other issue too. While the metal plate should last quite a while, the plate itself has a chrome skeleton that looks cool but when surrounded by a smooth black surface, so boot wearing drummers might want to put on some sneakers instead.

Recently, we test drove Nyko's new Nyko Wing controller for the Nintendo Wii. This is an alternative take on Nintendo's Wii Classic Controller, with two functional analog sticks, several buttons mapped across the pad and a D-pad. The main difference lies in its design.



Rather than being an oddly shaped controller, the Nyko Wing feels more like a traditional controller pad. The grips are easy to take hold of, so you won't have to contort them around a weird design. The analog sticks are easy to access with your thumbs, and both work suitably well. Then there's the button layout, with two shoulder buttons, two functional Z buttons next to those buttons, a number of face buttons (with lower case lettering, rather than the usual capitalized letters), and a D-pad. The D-pad isn't 100 percent comfortable, but it serves its purpose.

The controller is a cinch to use. You simply plug a wireless dongle into a Wii controller. From there, you turn on the Nyko Wing and use a connect function for it to recognize the signal. With our first test drive, connection only took a few seconds, and then we were off and running. Those of you without a charger for your Wii remote shouldn't worry about the Wing's dongle sucking battery life away. In fact, the Wing lasts up to 30 hours on a single set of AAA batteries. (Two are included with the controller.)

We tested the Nyko Wing controller with three different games. The first was Sin and Punishment, a game that isn't known for easy gameplay. Fortunately, it only took a minute to get right into the action with the Nyko Wing. The second game, Super Mario Bros., handled very nicely as well, despite the odd-feeling D-pad. The third, Naruto: Clash of Ninja Revolution 2, responded accordingly, and we were winning fights in a matter of minutes. It seems that the Nyko Wing does the trick no matter which game a Classic Controller calls for.

If there is one complaint about the Nyko Wing (aside from the D-pad), it would be the somewhat plasticky feel. Although the controller has an ergonomic design that's easy to grip, it's a little too smooth for its own good. Fortunately, the white paint design prevents the appearance of ugly smudges.

Overall, the Nyko Wing is a great improvement on the traditional Classic Controller set-up. There's no cord to get in the way, the battery life is long lasting for a third-party peripheral, and it handles great for the most part. It's a strong value for $30, if you're the kind of person that must have that retro feel to go with your retro games.

Show your love for Guitar Hero by (1) learning how to play all of the game's songs on Expert --blindfolded-- and (2) by buying these Guitar Hero boxers, which were a surprise hit on Black Friday.

Good luck finding them, though. We spotted a single pair of the red boxers adorned with electric guitars (rolled up in a guitar-shaped gift tin) on sale at Kmart. The rock 'n' roll skivvies were priced at $8.99, and there was a single crumpled tin left on the shelves.

We can only imagine people rushing in for "door buster" bargains on flat-screen TVs, then stopping to chuck this novelty underwear into the cart as they race to the checkout counter. We checked for them online later and only found them listed (and sold out) on Kohls and Sears' Web sites.

You'll have more luck finding the other video game-themed skivvies that hit stores this season -- boxers that pay homage to Halo, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii -- each with their own gift tins. Unlike the Guitar Hero boxers, there are still plenty of these other gamer-centric underwear available online and in big box retail outlets like Target and Kmart. We're already rolling our eyes in anticipation of the Nintendo fans who will don a pair just to yell, "Hey, look at my Wii!"

One of our favorite stops on the Web is the official StarWars.com blog -- under the 'Kids' section we always find gems, such as as the Darth Vader toaster (burn Lord Vader's face into a piece of bread!) and the Hammerhead sock doll (use grandpa's old socks to make a Hammerhead plushie!).

Today, we found step by step instructions on how to make a Lightsaber cozy for your Wii remote, which -- aside from looking cute -- will help to keep your controller dust and scratch free in between strenuous sessions of Clone Wars, Force Unleashed (or pretty much any other Wii game).

The end product looks something like the pic below. Like what you see? Head to the Star Wars site for step-by-step instructions on how to make your very own cozy, to keep your Wii-mote, ya know, cozy.


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comes with an oh-so "trendy and stylish" fitness bag, which you can use to store the Wii balance board, a foam floor mat, two flexible wrist/ankle weights, a strap for an MP3 player, a rechargable battery for the Wii Balance Board and USB recharging cable. The kit also comes with a green-and-white striped headband and cleaning cloth so you can mop up the sweat after a gruelling workout with Wii Fit (or the other Wii Fit wannabes out there -- we're talking to you Jillian Micheals Fitness Ultimatum).

Don't want to spend $50 on a bunch of fitness stuff that will probably collect dust next to your AbRoller and your Tony Little Gazelle? A cheaper version of the kit, the T-Fitness Pack NW ($30), comes with everything but the weights and floormat. Then again, you could also just step outside and take a jog for the low, low price of free.

Keeping your Wii Remote charged can be a real pain in the neck, especially if you've made your Wii the ultimate party game with four players. Rather than toss those used batteries in the trash, Penguin United came up with the 4X Quad Charge Station for Wii, a stylish device that lets Wii owners replace their batteries with four battery modules for MSRP$44.99.

The base charger couldn't be simpler. Once plugged in, the white base glows a icy blue color and is angled so that, if you own four Wii Remotes, they're all displayed. The four modules that come with the device, replace the battery doors on the bottom side of the remote and two metal touch points let you charge each remote when they're safely in the base. For marathon players, the 2000 mAh lithium ion modules offer enough juice for regular playtime (Penguin says about 13 hours with a four hour recharge time) and the modules actually lighten the Wii Remote considerably (which is good or bad depending on the user).

While solidly constructed, there are a few points of consideration. First, the charging base's light is insanely bright so placing it in a bedroom or a living room near the TV isn't advised and unplugging it is the only way to turn it off. Second, each ports only fits each controller without a protective Wii jacket. Even the Wii's leash got in the way of seating the remote (you can see how we got it to work in the enclosed picture). Also, if you don't have four Wii Remotes, you can't charge just the modules, a design flaw that limits the device to owners of 3-4 Wii Remotes.

More technically savvy players may find better solutions with longer term (1800-2900 mAh) rechargeable batteries that may outweigh the convenience offered here. For Wii owners and their families, the 4X Quad Charger complements the Wii's simplicity with an easy to manage recharge system that most anyone can enjoy.

File this one under frivolous video game gear, right next to force-feedback driving wheels and the Wii pool stick attachment. It's "Smells Like Wii Spirit," a box that attaches to the Nintendo Wii and emits scents that correspond with the action on screen.

Rock Band for the Nintendo Wii arrives in about two weeks and Harmonix was kind enough to send us a drum and guitar set to play with. To our surprise, we found a few hardware improvements.

Yeah, it's white. Really, really white. What kind of rocker uses a white drum set?

The most obvious improvement is seen with the pedal. As you can see below, the new pedal features a stronger spring. While they didn't send the game (booo hiss), the new spring adds a quicker response and it doesn't feel like your foot is still attached to the pedal as you drum.

There was also improvements to the construction of the pedal itself. It's a lot more sturdy and it feels like it has a bit more meat to it. Still, you're going to have to put something behind it to keep it steady while you play Enter Sandman on Expert.

The drum heads also sounded a bit quieter, but that might be attributed to the fact that we haven't worn them down with the game yet. I detected less of an echo effect coming from the Wii drum heads, but they're still a little too loud in general. Where are my drum covers Harmonix?!

And for the first time, the Rock Band guitars are wireless! While Harmonix didn't change the look or feel of the guitar, there are few new additions, specifically with the back.

Besides a fancy new Rock Band sticker, the guitar's power switch has been placed next to the battery cover. It's set deep in the guitar body, so you'll have no fear strumming along while you're standing. While we could see where some dude hooks the button on his big belt buckle during a sweet solo, most players will have nothing to fear.

What's that? You don't own a Wii or Rock Band yet? Don't worry. All of the newer revisions from the Wii set have been added to the newer models for the PS3 and 360.

Check out the gallery below for a more close-ups.

As we've been preaching for some time, the Wii has a much lower attach rate than other consoles (that's the magic number of games-per-console consumers buy). We often tried to explain to one of our Nintendo-loving colleagues that even tough the Wii has sold more systems than other consoles, it wasn't as big a moneymaker for Nintendo as one might think, because the real profit comes from $50-60 games, not a low-profit-margin box of hardware that sells for close to what it cost to make.

Now the New York Times is confirming our suspicions, pointing out today that, "The average Wii owner buys only 3.7 games a year, compared with 4.7 for Xbox 360 owners and 4.6 for PlayStation 3 owners." The Times goes on to say that Super Smash Brothers Brawl sold more than 1.4 million copies its first week, but, "sales dropped more than 90 percent over the first four weeks.

It'll take a lot more than that to sink the super-popular Wii -- but take a survey of your Wii-owning friends who aren't typical gamers and see if they regularly buy new games, or if they're just happy to play Wii Sports over and over again -- the answer may surprise you.

For a match made in hack heaven, coffee connoisseurs can give their home-brewed shots of espresso an extra bit of precision and care courtesy this Wii nunchuck hack. Adjust your machine's brew, steam and timer settings all with the flick of a thumb. But the most gratifying part? Getting your bad boy brewing immediately with a quick pull of the Wii nuncuck's Z-button trigger.

Watch and see the magic happen:

Blackberry might be the phone of choice for office stiffs, but today Hands-On Mobile announced that its mobile-ready rendition of Guitar Hero III has been released on the pervasive smartphone. Get ready to loosen that tie and rock out!

Similar to the game Wii, PS3, 360 and soon, the Nintendo DS version, play along to a tracklist of 15 songs, which including 'Woman' by Wolfmother, 'Paranoid' by Black Sabbath and the Scorpions' 'Rock You Like a Hurricane.' To see if your phone is ready to rock, text 'GH' to 46966*

Source: GameDaily Biz