Wireless Nunchuck Neat But Unnecessary
January 10, 2008
When gamers had their first real look at the Nintendo Wii's innovative controller one of the first qualms I heard from the peanut gallery was that it seemed so un-nextgen of the Wii remote to link up to secondary controllers via a cord. Why does the nunchuck have to have a wire? Can't it be wireless as well? Peripheral producer Nyko believes so, as the company is about to debut a wireless nunchuck.
Nyko's peripheral has a dongle that attaches to the Wii Remote and allows their nunchuck to function. Housed inside the piece of plastic are similar buttons, a joystick, accelerometers for motion and two AAA batteries. Expected to release this quarter, the peripheral will be going for a reported $29.99.
Is the cord really that much of a hassle? After a little more than a year playing Wii games I can't say that the cord has ever been in my way. I don't feel that it's ever held back my gaming skills. So why go wireless? Wouldn't that $30 be better spent on a new game? Then again, we're talking about Nyko here. This is the company that developed the wireless sensor bar for the Wii, something that I find even more unnecessary than the wireless nunchuck. Is anyone out there frothing at the idea of getting one of these?