Controllable Controller

Love your PSP?  Unwilling to trade it for an ipod touch or silly Nintendo upgrade?  I can understand where certain people are coming from, but that doesn’t mean improvements can’t be maid.  After all, the ipod touch does respond to user motion, not simply buttons.

Fear not Playstation lovers, your time too has come.  If you’re looking for a little more game involvement Codejunkies has the fix for you.  The TiltFX is a small sensor that clips onto the lower left corner of your PSP console and, once attached, responds, like the ipod touch and iphone, to the movement of the console itself.  Think of the difference it will make in your travel sized racing skills.  For $20 it’s much less pricy than owning two consoles at once.

Wii See Color

So the Wii is white, but Nintendo has gotten wise and is looking to help us customize the gaming system we love.

On Valentines day the public was introduced to the new Wiimote in either pink or blue. That doesn’t really get me thinking about Valentines day, more about baby showers, but hey it could be a cool present for that occasion too (maybe).

Playful Additions

One thing Nintendo Wii is never short on is an accessory. Recently some pretty interesting game specific additions have made there way to the market.

If you’re interested in Star Wars (as I definitely am) the “Star Wars – The Clone Wars: Republic of Heroes” will be shipping with the first officially licensed lightsaber add on. The Wiimote slides right into the blades handle and the blade itself glows. If you’re going to be swinging a Wiimote around the room anyway why not go all out? Bensussen Deutsch & Associates have plans to release a Star Wars blaster add on as well.

Nitho will be releasing it’s own set of wiimote additions for the already available Wii sports game. Tennis racket, baseball bat, golf club, all will be included and compatible with Wii Motion Plus. Sure, playing the games will still look ridiculous, but they always have.

In Control

We’ve seen revamped editions of old school video game controllers, but there’s something special about the old school controllers all by themselves (especially because a lot of people own them already). Now there’s a way to utilize all those old video game tech.

Komodo’s Retro adapter makes it possible to play Wii with anything from a super Nintendo controller to an N64 controller. The adapter itself plugs into the game cube port and comes with three ports for attach three controllers. At around $20 it sure beats the price of the Super Controller, and it’s kind of cooler anyway. There’s nothing like using the old classics for real.

Wii’re in Motion

The Wii continues to revolutionize gaming in its own right.  Wii MotionPlus, released at the E3 media briefing is an accessory to that will make any Wiimote motions more accurate.  This means that in Wii Bowling you better be very careful how you flick your wrist.

The accessory is a small white block that attaches to the base of the Wiimote in the same port the nunchuck usually fits.  With the continued success of the Wii console, and its accessories, it’s nice to see this particular add on go directly back to basics.  The original draw of the Nintendo Wii was it’s one of a kind controller and game play, the Wii MotionPlus should simply enhance what we loved so much in the first place.

Classic Gaming

Yes, the point of the Nintendo Wii is its originality and specific controller use and game play, but that doesn’t change the fact that Nintendo itself has been cool for quite some time before this.

In the respect there’s the Super Famicom Classic Controller, only recently released to the general public.  It looks like the greatness that was the classic super famicom controller back in the day.  It’s your basic gray with those red, yellow, green, and blue buttons, and its ready to connect to the Wii for the first time.

It’s about $80, which is definitely steep for one controller, but if you’re up for the nostalgia maybe it’s worth it to you.  So while I wouldn’t recommend the controller for games like Wii Sports, Mario Party, or Wii Fit, it could work really well for Super Smash Brothers.

Fighting it Out Old School

Video games have come a long way, but there’s something about those old fashioned arcade joystick controllers that can’t be duplicated by a mere Wiimote or Xbox controller.

Thus, there is Street Fighter IV Fightstick.  For those unaware of what Street Fighter is, it’s a video game, and it’s exactly the sort of game it sounds like.  It’s a good old fashioned one on one fist fight and it’s just as good, if not more fun, than most games out there today.

Street Fighter is old school and classic and thus the Fighstick controller is the perfect addition to any game and console.  It’s a controller specifically built for the Street Fighter game with old school joystick and traditional buttons, and it looks totally sweet!

Also coming out this week is the Dominator Joystick for playstation three.  Again, a sweet old school joystick set up for the game of your choice (plus blue LED’s for moos lighting).  Both are a little expensive,  but what price can you put on nostalgia?