As Mel Brooks famously once said, “It’s good to be the king.”

For now, Nintendo is the current king of console sales, and that newfound wealth has led to some flexibility in the wallet, as David’s Wiimote-themed post from earlier this morning points out.

Case in point: Japan’s Ashi newspaper, via IGN, confirms that the Big N dropped over two billion yen ($18 mil) on the freebie Wii remote rubber covers, and expects to send out about 20 million of them globally when all is said and done (I’m not sure if this includes all the ones they’re packing into new Wii boxes and Wiimote packages, as it doesn’t say).

Nintendo reps said the multi million dollar giveaway will have no effect on the company’s bottom line. Must be nice.

It’s a rare day that you’ll hear me complain about my Wii, and unfortunately today is one of those days. My gripe? Batteries. More specifically, a lack of batteries.

For the past two weeks, through a combination of extra work at the office and laziness on my part, I have had no fresh AA batteries in my apartment and, therefore, I have had no fresh Wii experiences. For the first part of that period, I cannibalized no fewer than two TV remotes — one for a DVD player I hardly use (DVR and On Demand FTW!), the other a shelf top stereo that’s now neglected thanks to the gf buying a Bose Sound Dock. Those batteries, which were half depleted already, were retired to the circular file in a pathetically short amount of time.

As I awoke this morning, I realized I really wanted to play Metroid Prime 3 and I had no way whatsoever of making this happen. None. No more remotes to steal from; no lone soldiers caught between the couch cushions; nada. So, I was curious. Anyone else out there get really, really frustrated with their Wiimotes, especially if you have a few nunchuk games that suck up extra juice?

I’ll be honest: as Mac user I’ve always felt a certain affinity for “Arkanoid,” or “Breakout,” since it was originally written by Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple computer. Nowadays you can play some version of it on any platform from cellphone to RCA-cable contraption, but for the true Atari experience you do need the original dial. (more…)

Accessories on the whole are usually a mixed bag. The Wii Zapper, for example, is shaping up to be a pale shadow of the original accessory from which it takes its namesake. The Nyko Wii Party Station on the other hand? Crazy awesome fun.

So when I first saw that Taito would be releasing an Arkanoid DS paddle that mimics the old school arcade joystick, I was on the fence (Japan only, so far). But now I want it.

Game|Life:

[H]ere’s what I only found out when I got my hands on it: it’s fantastic. It’s not just a little plastic dial. It’s sitting on ball bearings or something, and it’s got momentum and a little bit of kickback to it. That means that it spins incredibly smoothly — if you spin it and let go, it’ll keep whizzing for a good five seconds or so. The response time is perfect.It’s literally just like standing in front of a miniature arcade machine. Remember how much fun it was as a kid to just stand there and spin the dial, even if you weren’t playing the game? That’s what this is like.

The thing with accessories is companies often do them half-assed just to get them out the door in an effort to capitalize on the next big thing (see: iPod accessories, Wii accessories). In Taito’s case, they seem to “get it,” and released a robust piece of plastic with spinning magical gnomes inside that make this accessory a must import item if it ends up never making the trip across the Pacific.

…and about 1,000 AA batteries. Yuk yuk.

More seriously, Next Generation has a handy pie chart up today showing how said owners have purchased their Wiimotes. This is good information to have — especially if you’re a developer, a-hem — because it gives you a window into what your average owner’s Wii set up looks like. Hence, what kinds of games might sell better than others.

Next Gen:

Over 21% of the Wii remotes in the market come from sales of Wii Play, while 34% come from the sales of the Wii remote as an accessory. On average, 3 out of 4 Wii owners have purchased an extra controller that wasn’t packaged with a game. Moreover, nearly 1 in 2 Wii owners have purchased a copy of Wii Play, which makes it highly likely that the median number of Wii remotes per console is right at 2. Simply put, most Wii owners would appear equipped to play multiplayer games, a fact that may guide publishers as they design new software for the system.

(more…)

I just received the latest generation of wrist straps today. “Version 3.0” was silently released a few weeks ago, which has left die hard Wii Sports fans requesting an immediate shipment. The great new feature is the locking mechanism which grips the strap to prevent the slider from loosening. This helps greatly with physical input Wii games.

Nintendo is now packaging the new straps with their respective products. Getting the updated straps is free and easy. Just head over to Nintendo customer service, tell them that you want the new straps, and poof, you got’em.

Update: I’ve been getting a lot of emails due to ordering issues. Let me clarify the process. Since most of us ordered the version 2 straps via wrist strap replacement order form back in January, Nintendo won’t let you use that order form a second time. That’s why I provided the link above. It will send you directly to a customer service request, where you just write up a few lines asking for the latest straps. Within a few days, Nintendo will reply with your ordering needs. Simple. Shoot me an email if you are still having trouble understanding/ordering.

Since the launch of the Wii, very few systems have crapped out. Significantly less than the other two next-gen consoles. What few issues that occur include the usual bad firmware upgrades, overheating, disk slot failure, and other minor problems that Nintendo will easily repair for you with in the warranty, but the question is…What about Wii remote warranties?

Yes, your 90 day warranty covers wiimote trouble, but is 90 days enough? Several Wii owners from around the net are having remote issues. Some are saying that the remote won’t recognize motion at all while others are reporting that the wiimote will just stop working. I’m even having a problem. One of my remotes will shut off every 10 seconds when you’re just idling in the Wii menu. Making a 45° swing during a round of tennis will cause the home menu to pop up. The same remote makes a level of Call of Duty 3 a chore due to random shut off. Luckily I have three other remotes, but having a runt in the four can get a little frustrating.

Remember, there are still very few Wii remotes failing. I think I might have just picked up a dud. Don’t get me wrong though. Nintendo is and has always had made the most durable gaming hardware, and peripherals. It’s just that this generation of controllers are a bit more fragile than past gamepads.

What do you think Infendo nation? Should the warranty for Wii remotes be raised to more than 90 days, or should we just live with it?

That doorknob turning freaks me out, but the guy gets bonus points for thinking creatively… Watcha think Infendoites?

The speculation and discussion has already started in around the WiiFit Balance Board it seems, with Square/Enix, of all companies, expressing interest in the peripheral today. And that’s to be expected; it didn’t take a video games genius last week to see that there was massive potential beyond WiiFit’s mini-games and BMI indexing abilities.

Button-less, hands-free strafing in FPS games? Skateboarding/snowboarding balance? A balance mechanic in fighting games? Full contact Yoga?!

The thing is, Square is a great company, and I’m sure they’ll do something with the balance board. That said, however, I think the “right developer” for the board is one that technically doesn’t exist yet. (more…)

Scales typically have some difficulty giving an accurate reading when someone puts it on carpeting. That got me thinking–even though WiiFit calculates BMI, and not weight, there some similarities there. And it need calibration, just like a digital scale.

So my question is: Will the Wii Balance Board work on carpeting?

The E3 demo (and subsequent hands-on sessions), were all on a solid surface. Could shag carpeting (or more seriously, any carpeting for that matter) be the Achilles Heel of the Balance Board? My apartment has hardwood floors, so I’m safe, but how about everyone else? My parents’ house has “carpeting throughout” and I worry for the Wii that lives there now.

Will the readings be all out of whack? Will something as ancient and everyday as carpeting derail what looks to be a pretty substantial offering to the non-traditional gaming sect?

We’ll see in 2008, won’t we?

Who out there thought they heard a collective groan when Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime revealed yet another accessory at the E3 presentation yesterday? It probably happened right about the time he pulled out a steering wheel and promised it would help unskilled gamers kick veteran gamer ass in Mario Kart Wii (online, natch). Heck, I’m betting that collective groan was probably contributed to by many of you reading this right now.

But not me. Not Jack, Nintendo fanman extraordinaire (as I have said before, I am no boy). What I saw wasn’t some quirky exercise game and an accessory. What I saw was potential. (more…)

Sometimes when I read articles over at Gamasutra I feel like I’ve accidentally stumbled onto the campus of M.I.T. here in Boston much like Matt Damon’s troubled character did in Good Will Hunting. Only unlike Matt, when I step in front of that chalkboard, I draw silly little pictures of cartoon animals, because I never took Calculus and math is more of a foreign language to me than Japanese.

Today’s article on Wiimotes and accelerometers was one of those kinds of articles. Honestly, when I see Greek letters my mind immediately flashes back to keggers at UNH, not theorems.

That there on the left is just a taste of what’s to come if you venture over to Gamasutra to read about Kalman Filters. However, when your mind isn’t being bent by algebra and trig and calculus, you could learn a thing or two about how there’s still some latent potential in that little white controller. Wii Golf a bit quirky for you? Well it is for me too, to the point where I pretty much stick to tennis, bowling and Wii training, but this article opened my eyes a bit. When they got uncrossed from all the formulas, anyway.

Since I’ve been home from school, my Mother has given me the assignment to buy her a Wii, should I find one at a local store. While checking Fry’s for the elusive system I was confused when I saw two rows of both the classic controller, and the wiimote, each with different packaging. Upon closer inspection I discovered that the smaller boxed packages were Japanese imports, being sold for the same price as their US counterparts. (more…)

My associate and literal stateside neighbor Mr. Invisible pointed me to an incredible find in the Wiimote today. Well, it’s incredible to me because I somehow hadn’t heard about it until today. The incredible find? An audio translation chip buried deep within the innards of the Wiimote.

You can see it here in Fortune’s interactive Wiimote graphic that’s currently running alongside their lengthy expose on why Nintendo is kicking the competition’s ass with the Wii. Click around the graphic for a while, you’ll find it. It’s on the right side Wiimote near the bottom.

From the graphic: “Audio Translator: Converts analogue data such as human speech into a digital data stream. ”

To me, this is what a microphone would synch up with so we can have some DS-like Mario Kart balloon blowing and Metroid Prime Hunters voice chat. Regardless, it’s little hidden gems like these that lead me to believe there’s a lot of hidden potential left to discover in this little white box.

Kick, punch, it’s all in your mind…

PaRappa the Rapper anyone? I only ask because NanaOn-Sha boss Masaya Matsuura spoke to Gamendustry.biz recently and said his company was planning a simple little “one-button” Wii title. Why the Wii? Because the PS3 is a developer’s minefield and the Xbox 360 has an AC adapter the size of my apartment (I paraphrase a tad, but he really did say the problem with the 360 is its AC adapter!).

“Wii is a very good piece of hardware. Many talented people from Nintendo make great ideas for game hardware, of course. Already I’ve been starting to think about Wii software, but it’s very hard sometimes. Because can you keep shaking the controller for hours? Players can’t spend a long time on gameplay, so this can be tough. So I respect Nintendo’s activities, but for software designers like us, it’s very hard.” However, Matsuura said he is currently in the planning stages of developing a game for Wii - with work set to officially begin “soon, maybe”.

I said it yesterday, but this is how the Trojan horse effect might work for the Wii. Take one developer (Matsuura), add in a preconceived notion that the Wiimote is all there is to the Wii (”can you keep shaking the controller for hours?”) and then get them developing a simple game to start (one-button title). Then, and here’s where the system really needs to shine, a developer begins to think outside of mere control interfaces and starts designing a game without hardware or budgetary constraint.