Nyko's Wii Remote Charge Station Won't Work with Motion Plus

I just ran by the Nyko meeting rooms to find out about their Wii Remote Charging Station. That's the thing that comes with replacement rechargeable batteries and allows you to dock your remotes in a holder to charge them when not playing. Personally I find mine irreplaceable, mostly because I can never remember to buy batteries.

The thing when I demoed Wii Sport Resort I noticed that the controller was longer now and asked Nintendo if the charger would still work. Ask Nyko was their reply, so I did.

Unfortunately, it won't work, at least not while the Wii Motion Plus device is attached. The Nyko guys told me they were already looking at ways to solve the problem. They added that they believe the Wii Motion Plus attachment doesn't contain batteries, meaning it likely draws power from the Remote, which would likely reduce the battery life for the controller.

Bad news all around.

Is This Xbox 360's Motion Controller in Action?

Darwin is definitely not a Microsoft product, but it's also definitely an Xbox 360 motion controller.

Motus Games' Darwin was officially unveiled this morning on their website, the light saber-esque controller snaps in two uses a number of sensors to track where it is. It does this, according to the company, without the use of the IR receiver that the Wii uses. Motus claims it is far more accurate than the Wii Remote. The device may also work on the Playstation 3, though the developers are being deliberately vague about that.

There's still a lot more we don't know about the device than we do know about it. According to the site, which makes no mention of working with Microsoft, the Darwin isn't ready for sale yet bit is "currently making its way into the hands of developers and publishers" and they're expecting it will hit stores in less than a year.

The devices two units are packed with buttons. The top controller includes a power button, left, right arrows, D-pad, A button, wireless connection and battery indicator and upper and lower triggers. The bottom controller has a power button, left, right arrows, analog controller, upper and lower triggers and wireless and batter indicator. Both include straps.

The site also shows the device in action, playing with Lego Star Wars II, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2008 and Harry Potter V: The Order of the Phoenix. Hit the jump to watch the device in action.

Is this the device we've been hearing rumors about? Not sure, but I kinda hope not. It's just too complex looking for my taste. We've asked Microsoft for comment.

What the?! Another Nintendo controller peripheral? This recently published US Patent and Trademark Office filing would certainly convince one to believe so! That is, until one looked at the date of the patent application submission, which dates back to 2005. Sure, the patent was published on June 28 of this year, but it references foreign application data that predates the official unveiling of the Wii Remote prototype.

While it may look like a snazzy Wavebird-style controller shell, what we think we're seeing is merely the original patent for the Wii Classic Controller. That device thankfully dropped the need for multiple controller shells — others in the style of SNES and NES pads are also in the patent — and kept the Wii Remote tethered to the controller by a cord, not slotted in as seen above.

Feel free to poke around the patent, linked below, for drawings of Wii controller patents that you can color and make your own!

Game Controller Device [USPTO - thanks, Jim!]

Sony Computer Entertainment Europe announced that the DualShock 3 for that region. The vibration function controller goes on sale in Europe from July 2nd. Says SCEE honcho David Reeves:

We are delighted to confirm that DUALSHOCK 3 will be released in SCEE territories in early July. We hope this will add to the intense gaming experience for our fans, as we continue to evolve PS3, its software and its peripherals.

Activision and RedOctane have stepped up the guitar controller game, adding an all new set of hardware features to the plastic axe that ships with Guitar Hero World Tour No longer are you limited to just five colored buttons and a whammy bar, as the new Guitar Hero proprietary peripheral adds a new touch-sensitive slider on the neck, a new bridge button near the strum bar and a built-in accelerometer. Not only can they all be used during regular gameplay—oh, and your old Guitar Hero III guitar controllers will still work—but they all add a little something to Guitar Hero World Tour's new music creation mode.

Hit the jump for close-ups and a quick explanation of each new feature.

The Official Playstation blog just announced that the the DUALSHOCK 3 rumble controllers have started shipping to stores and should be on sale by next week, a week earlier than the original street date.

The DS3 includes pressure sensors that rumble with each action and the SIXAXIS motion controls. The asking price if a whopping $55. The post included a "complete" list of titles that will support the DS3 at launch, a list that is much shorter than the one released at TGS, though that list included titles that still haven't hit stores and this one doesn't. All new releases that support rumble will now have a DS3 compatible icon on them, according to the blog. Playstation is also a page on the official Playstation website dedicated to games with force feedback support.

Hit the jump for the list of available games that support the new controller, titles with asterisks will require a patch to use rumble. For those title the patch will automagically download to your console when you start it up.

Feel the Shock Next Week!

Subaru created its own sit-down controller for Gran Turismo 5 Prologue for this year's New York Auto Show. The pod lets you race their new STI on a rally track and bounces around when you hit bumps. Now this is something they should set up at malls across America.

The ultimate game controller [Cnet]

If you're going to go to the trouble of getting an old-school arcade controller for your Xbox 360 it might as well have neon in it right? Right? ShaolinDrunkard, built just such a beast. His hand-built arcade controller uses parts from Sanwa and Seimitsu and then knocks things straight back to 1977 with LED backlighting behind each button and the knob. The whole thing is housed in a chunky oak box that screams arcade culture.

the ultimate xbox 360 arcade controller [Technabob, via Gizmodo]

The Controller Stress Tests

A wildly amusing set of three stress tests on the PS3, Xbox 360, and Wiimote: how well do they hold up to gamer temper tantrums? The 'researchers' over at Insult Swordfighting set up rage-inducing scenarios, flung controllers, and looked at how both aesthetics and performance were impacted. An example? The SIXAXIS didn't fare so well after being hurled "in a shallow downward motion, simulating disgust and frustration":

With the R2 button hanging by a thread, a sweeping upward motion is required to press it. The R1 button is missing entirely, and thus unusable. The L1 button has been knocked off its axis a bit, although it still works. And the PS button is stuck in the depressed position. Analog stick functions seem to work fine, as does patented SIXAXIS tilt control, insofar as patented SIXAXIS tilt control works at all.

I'm not the controller flinging type, though I do frequently threaten to toss consoles out my window; still, it's a funny (and perhaps relevant, depending on your play style) read.

Control Pad Stress Test: PlayStation 3 SIXAXIS, Control Pad Stress Test: Xbox 360 Control Pad, Control Pad Stress Test: The Wii Remote [Insult Swordfighting]

The 3DO M2 was a console that never happened, but that doesn't mean you can't take a little piece of it home. This M2 prototype controller is listed on eBay for the current asking price of 1,250 euros. While we don't expect you to bid, take time to appreciate the 3DO's potential evolution through 3 extra buttons and a joystick D-pad attachment (hit the jump for a pic of the original controller to compare).

Verdict? It's 1960s Playboy magazine centerfold sexy: a bit dated for real use, but alright to look at for its historical significance.

The sexy, almost DS or PSP, looking device is actually a new wireless keyboard, remote controller from Logitech that happes to also work with the Playstation 3. The diNovo Mini includes a backlit keyboard, a click pad for pointing, scrolling and clicking and Bluetooth. It's not 100 percent clear what all you can do with your PS3 using this device, but I'm sure it will be a lot of fun finding out.

Logitech DiNovo Mini Wireless Keyboard Controls Windows Media Center and PS3 [Gizmodo]

The Evil Dead GH Guitar

Japanese Club Nintendo Members Get Even More Cool Swag

Honesty: the only reason we chose to post this at all was the name. We'd like to say we were above obvious phallic puns, or that we cared about VC Fatal Fury players as we would our own children. We'd like to say something vague, faux deep and impossible to defend, like that current hand held controllers have ruined gaming forever, leading us to move into a cave with a massive stock of AAs where we'd only play Tiger racing while living off various fungi. We'd pretty much just like to be bigger people in general. Until that day never comes, if you want to get the shaft, it's $39.95.

WiiShaft [via gizmodo]

The Scene It "Big Button" Controller

Forums on GameSpot and the official Guitar Hero site are getting hit with a number of complaints about faulty Guitar Hero III controllers. Apparently some of the buttons will flake out over time with some controllers. It seems that a lot of gamers suspect that the guitar's detachable neck is to blame.

There's a lot of speculation so far, but no official word from Activision or RedOctane, which is unfortunate. I contacted the company this morning for a comment and they've yet to get back to me. We'll update or do another post once we hear some sort of official word. What about you, have you had any problems? The 360 I demoed with was fine and the Wii guitar had a momentary problem but seems fine again.

Guitar Hero III: Problems with the Detachable Neck [Law of the Game]

Just received this blue Xbox 360 controller at the house. The dark blue and pink models are hitting stores in North America, Australia and New Zealand (Asia, Europ and Japan get light blue) in October for $50 a pop. I don't know. I don't quite get the idea of new colors for controllers. I'm sorta on board for new colors for portable gaming systems because you carry those around with you and take them out in public. But a controller? And if you're putting out a new controller, shouldn't you release a recharge kit in that color. I hate that my blue controller is going to have a white recharge battery pack on it.