I am not much of a gamer at all….never have been, never will be. But I do appreciate the skill and training it takes to master today’s very complex and detailed video games. Let’s face it, HALO is definitely not Space Invaders. That said, I occasionally watch my 9 year old play Wii or my teenage godsons commit acts of untold (virtual) violence and mayhem on their Xbox 360.  While immersed in their virtual world for hours on end, I watch them for 10-15 minutes and walk away having my fill of sensory overload.

Companies continue to create accessories to enhance the immersion into these imaginary worlds; from laser rifles to 3D glasses. Thrustmaster has designed an accessory to the Wii and Wii balance board that enhances those games where you ride on a board of some type, like skateboarding, snowboarding or surfing; the T-Freestyle NW Board. The only caveat is that the game you are playing has to allow feet/leg input via the Wii balance board.

So for this review, I enlisted the assistance of the Gadgeteer Kid and his friend to not only play several games with the balance board/T-Freestyle NW Board combo but get their thoughts on its worthiness as well. We used this setup while playing Shaun White Snowboarding – World Stage, a popular Wii snowboarding game.

The T-Freestyle NW is made from genuine maple wood, like many skateboards in real-life. On each side of the bottom of the T-Freestyle NW Board there is a complex clamp system that allows the board to realistically move while securely attached to the Wii balance board. The setup is easy, just attach and play: simply clip the T-Freestyle NW onto the Balance Board and you are good to go.

As you can see, the clamp system securely attaches the board to the top of the Wii balance board.

The Thrustmaster T-Freestyle NW Board/Wii balance board combo is not only for kids but easily accommodated my weight as well. The clamp system is engineered to be safe fun and prevents tipping….although you might fall off the board just like in real life.

Overall, the kids enjoyed the T-Freestyle NW Board while playing Shaun White Snowboarding – World Stage. They took turns using the T-Freestyle NW Board while racing each other snowboarding. They both agreed that the board adds a great deal of realism to the game when compared to just the Wii controller. But, at least initially, the Wii controller enabled them to do more tricks and moves while racing. I gave the T-Freestyle NW Board/Wii balance board combo a try as well; it was very responsive and realistic. It reminded me of those long gone days of learning to ride a skateboard.

If you have a Wii, Wii balance board, enjoy playing boarding games and want a more realistic gaming experience, I suggested considering Thrustmaster’s T-Freestyle NW Board. At under $25, its an inexpensive Wii accessory that definitely adds a great deal of realism to your boarding experience.

Filed in categories: Gaming Gear, Kid Gadgets, Reviews

Tagged: Wii

Thrustmaster T-Freestyle NW Board for Wii Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on September 29, 2010 at 11:03 am.

The Wii Pedestal Base from NewPCGadgets.com is an acrylic organizer that helps to keep your Nintendo Wii console, controllers and games in one tidy space. You can buy one to clean up your gaming area for $24.95.

Filed in categories: Gaming Gear, News

Tagged: Spotlight Gadgets, Wii

Organize your Wii and accessories originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on February 6, 2010 at 2:37 pm.

For someone who hates video games as much as computers, I’ll admit that the Wii Sports Resort game is kind of fun.  To add an even more realistic and fun experience to the Wii Sports Resort game, check out this set of attachments in the CTA Wii Sports 8-in-1 Pack.  They glom onto the Wii remote and/or nun-chucks to add some interesting physics during game play.  While add-ons such as these are produced by several manufacturers and are readily available in brick & mortar stores (I initially purchased the “Nerf” brand for example) I stumbled onto the Wii Sports Pack only when browsing through Amazon and was impressed at just how many accessories it sports (ha) compared to those available in stores.

The Wii Sports Pack contains eight different attachments (compared to about three for the typical brick & mortar sets that are readily available) including a sword and archery bow.  The sword option alone made me hit the “BUY” button.  Think I made a good impulsive purchase?

The Wii Sports Pack contains the following attachments:

• Sword
• Oar (yes an Oar)
• Bow
• Wakeboard Controller
• Golf Club
• Table Tennis Paddle
• Jet Ski Controller
• Flying Disc

It also contains a god-awful upper and lower piece of molded plastic packaging the size of Alaska that displays the items in a gaudy (though, I must admit, effective) manner fit for a carnival.  But it’s still a cool set.

Although no one will tell you (and in fact one of the reps at a popular electronic store whose name rhymes with “Pest Pie” neglected to tell me), the Sports Resort (and other Wii games) require you to occasionally point at the screen with the remote in order to advance or select items on the screen at the beginning and ending of a game.   If the add-on attachments cover up the infra-red portion of the remote, then you cannot easily access these selection options and you have to remove the attachment, point and click at the selection, and then re-attach the attachment.  This is the main problem I had found with the store-bought attachments: they covered the infra-red beam and made the games clunky and annoying.

In contrast, the Wii Sports Pack attachments have a cut out to allow for this point-n-select action that is needed to navigate certain menus during the course of the games.  That is a huge factor to keep in mind when considering these various attachments.  I had to return a few sets of attachments to brick & mortar stores due to this oversight before I found the Wii Sports Pack.

This brand of attachment does not have the infra-red cut out.

In contrast, the Wii Sports Pack accessories do provide an infra-red cut out

Now although the attachments in the WSP have a cut out for the infra-red beam, it can still be a little difficult to get the pointer to the correct spot all of the time (see the video at the end of this review for an example of trying to perform a point-n-click maneuver with the Sword attachment).  But this was not a huge problem as I walked through each of the games with the various extensions.  The fun factor was not adversely affected.

Some of the attachments (for example, the sword attachment) are built such that they will support either a naked remote (i.e. a remote without the rubbery skin or grip that comes with the Wii console) or a remote that is outfitted with a skin.  I found, however, that when using a remote with the rubbery skin that I had to push really hard to get it into the attachment and it was difficult to get a good fit.  Without the rubbery skin, an adapter or spacer is provided to hold the remote within the attachment.  This option, though, was not always a tight fit, and could make some of the sports moves (most notably with the sword) and made sword fighting sloppy.  I ended up using the rubber cover and squashing it into the sword attachment.  I really like the sword fighting games, by the way, and highly recommend them.  I plan on getting a weight vest to wear for extra cardio action (no, not to pretend it is a set of armor).

So what is the final score for the Wii Sports Pack?  Buy it!  Yes, it has a few faults, but this is the best alternative I’ve found to the brick-n-mortar versions which are limited in the number of attachments and don’t have the infra-red beam cut out.

Here are shots of each of the attachments . . .

Sword attachment -- buy the sports pack just for this alone

Archery -- second reason to buy the sports pack (also see video below of the archery attachment in action)

Wakeboard grip - game is so so, attachment makes it more fun

Paddle - game is fun, so is paddle

Oar - game is challenging, remote can slip in the handle, so you might want to use the rubbery skin without the spacer adapter

Golf club - game is fun, club makes it very fun

Let’s see a few of the attachments in action

Video demonstrating the point-n-click menu selection process with the sword attachment, a little clunky, but achievable:

Video demonstrating the use of the archery bow, pretty fun:

Video demonstrating the flying disc, a little hard to get used to:

Filed in categories: Gaming Gear, Reviews

Tagged: Nintendo, Wii

CTA Wii Sports Resort Pack 8-in-1 Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on January 16, 2010 at 5:08 pm.

I love gadgets. I love my Wii. Since the release of the Nintendo Wii in November 2006, there has been several gadgets developed to make the whole Wii experience even better. When I found out that Brando stocked many of these accessories, I begged Julie to ask Brando for the opportunity to try some of them out.

Wii Cooling Fan by Brando

The Wii is one hot little gaming system, which is great as long as it isn’t hot physically. Excessive heat can destroy the life of electronics, which isn’t so cool.

The Wii cooling fan is designed to add extra airflow to your console. Although I never noticed my Wii becoming especially hot, it is located in a cabinet with very little natural airflow so one can never be too careful.

Initial impressions

Created in matching Wii-white plastic, this fan is USB powered and monopolizes both USB ports on the console. Luckily, the fan also replicates one USB port so if you have other USB powered devices such as the battery charger reviewed below, you can use one of them at the same time as the fan.

The fan is easy to install, just insert the dual USB dongles in the back of the console as you would any normal USB device. Removal is just as simple and there is little to no resistance while removing the fan from the ports.

Product Testing

I had to go to great lengths and make personal sacrifices to test this fan in the very latest of semi-scientific methods. For each trial, I played Mario Kart for 1 hour and measured the temperature with my ThermoHawk IR thermometer.

Each test was separated by 24 hours so that the console had time to cool down and I had time to recover from each experiment. Moreover I needed time to research some better driving techniques.

Without the fan, the external temperature of the back of the Wii case was 108.5 F. With the USB cooling fan, the external temperature of the back of the Wii case was 85.5 F. The overall room temperature was 67 F. That’s a significant temperature difference.

Overall, I believe that this product is effective and may prolong the life of your Wii, especially if it is stored in a place that does naturally have good ventilation.

Price: $10.00

Pros:
Cools Wii Console
Replicates 1 USB Port

Cons:
Uses both USB Ports
Loud

Wii Rechargeable Battery & Charger Stand by Brando

Playing with my Wii can take up a lot of energy, and I don’t just mean my own. Each remote requires 2 AA batteries, which are rarer than gold in my household and can be tricky to buy replacements at certain times of the day or year. It was nearly a very strained Thanksgiving when it appeared there would only be one working remote for everyone to share. Let this be a cautionary tale for gaming families: rechargeable batteries are vital, batteries with USB charging cradles are sublime.

Initial impressions

This set contains 1 rechargeable Wii remote battery and 1 USB Powered charging station that plugs into one of the two USB ports on the back on the console.

I really like the form factor in this charging station. It is small, and yet has a place to rest the Wii Nunchuk while charging.

The single 1800mAh rechargeable battery sits in the existing AA battery slots, snaps into the remote easily, charges quickly, and does not become hot while charging.

One of my favorite features with this set is that the charger only works while the Wii is in use or in Standby Mode. This is very helpful to prevent the battery from overcharging, as I sometimes go a week or two without using my Wii.

Product Testing

I tested this product continuously for over six months. While the battery started off holding a charge for more than 6 hours of use, over time the battery life has dramatically diminished. Now it does not last through a 3 game match of Wii Tennis.

Overall, my opinion of this product is bifurcated. I was disappointed with the long term usefulness of the battery, but I love the cradle so much that I plan to reuse the charging station when I purchase another remote battery.

Price: $17.00

Pros:
Compact

Cons:
Battery Life

Wii 360 Revolving Receiver Stand by Brando

Initial impressions

This is a product that should have been included with the gaming console. I am so glad that Brando offers this as so many people are not able to stand directly in front of the TV while using the Wii.

The stand sits nicely underneath the sensor and is well balanced so that the floor shaking from a vigorous game of boxing will not knock it over. Punching the stand, will however knock it over. Not that this has ever happened in my household, I swear.

Product Testing

Since this is a rather simple gadget, my testing procedures were very simple. I moved the sensor bar all around to accommodate different heights and angles. The internal joint moves smoothly and allows for a fair bit of precision while “aiming” the sensor.

Price: $7.00

Pros:
Rotates the direction of the Wii sensor bar

Cons:
None

All items are available from videogame.brando.com

Filed in categories: Portable and Console Gaming

Tagged: Wii

Brando’s Nintendo Wii Accessory Roundup Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on December 30, 2008 at 2:27 pm.