Nintendo Wii Fanboy

Oh, how the mighty have fallen! Cobra Command, the once-feared terror outfit that brought nations to their knees, has all but abandoned its plans of total world domination, favoring the sales of cheap Wii accessories in their stead. Gone are the days of Weather Dominators, Synthoids, and dozens of other harebrained schemes plotted by incompetent-but-endlessly-entertaining villains. To take their place, we have an adjustable stand for your Wii sensor bar selling for only $9.99.

Distributed by dummy corporation Dragon, the Cobra Stand can twist and turn to position your sensor bar however you want. The suction cup on its base sticks to even the most slippery surfaces (or the most slithery! Har har har!). We've got some photo instructions on how to use this contraption, but that's not all! Our quest to point out bizarre packaging elements continues after the post break!

Having already made a name for himself with system mods for the Wii like the internal GameCube memory card and the internal Wavebird receiver, hardware hacker foobar2k shifted his attention to the Wii remote for his latest creation: a USB Wii sensor bar.

There have been other homemade USB Wii sensor bars that take advantage of the remote's "pointing" functionality, but this project wins points for stuffing all of the LEDs and wiring into a pen case. If that doesn't sound classy enough for you, he also secured the bar to his monitor with Blu Tack and branded it by scrawling "Wii" on the casing, off-center.

Foobar2k has instructions and a photo guide at his site for creating your own USB Wii sensor bar with cheap and accessible materials. Let us know if you can think of any ways to make the setup even more ghetto than it already is.

[Via MaxConsole]

Wii Sports might have been Nintendo's most successful attempt at getting us to play golf in our living rooms by swinging an imagined club, but it certainly wasn't the company's first try. Tinkering with the idea back in 1995, Nintendo worked with Japanese electronics giant Ricoh to release Lasabirdie, a personal golf simulator for the Super Famicom.

The Lasabirdie bundle included a Get in the Hole game cart and several control accessories. Though the Lasabirdie lacked any motion sensing technology, its implementation was remarkably similar to the Wii's. Players used a light-sensor-equipped golf club in conjunction with a sensor pad to measure their strokes. This setup detected the speed of a player's swing and translated it into the simulator. The game offered a training mode that showed players how their slices hit the ball and gave advice on how to improve their swings.

Lasabirdie's production was limited to 3,500 Japanese units, selling for about $450 each! One would think the rarity and extravagant retail price would make purchasing the bundle near impossible today, but Gamesniped spotted a Lasabirdie sold for only $270 at a recent eBay auction. The seller was even generous enough to provide a video demonstrating the game for bidders. Check it out after the post break.

Why go to all that trouble of building your own sensor bar when instead you can just stick a few candles on your television? That's right, the Wii sensor bar has been rendered completely unnecessary since intrepid gamers have begun replacing it with odd candles from around the house. Our masters over at Joystiq decided to test it for themselves, and they made a helpful video illustrating the experiment.

Candles for the sensor. What will they think of next? We're guessing legions are out there testing this for themselves, just because it's good, zany fun. And hey, just think -- if the power goes out, you're already covered. Now if only someone would make a Zelda-themed candle -- preferably in red and blue.

Do you remember our earlier story where a NYC Event attendee claimed that sunlight interfered with the console? Turns out, sunlight isn't that big of a deal. 1UP recently asked Nintendo about the issue and received the following statement from a company representative, who was not named:

"Our testing thus far shows no great risk of light interference when playing a game that relies on the pointer and sensor bar."

Still worried? Reassured by the comfortable embrace of mother Nintendo?

[Thanks Erich!]

Over at the Nintendo NSider forums, a poster documented their time with the Wii during the NYC event. Yes, late coverage, but it poses an interesting scenario all the same. Turns out, the sunlight affected gameplay for this poster during the event, affected gameplay for the worse. To quote:

"We know that the sensor bar goes all wonky when halogen lights are in the room. But did you know that natural sunlight messes it up too? That's right, if you have the sun beaming right onto the sensor bar, it doesn't work. For about an hour or so, the sun shone right into the store, the two MP3:C kiosks had to have curtains above them, and the Wii Sports Tennis and Shooting Game kiosks were unplayable since they were "shrouded" in sunlight. Later the sun went behind a building, and everything was in working order again."

Interesting, however does it actually affect most of us? With the advent of curtains (or mini-blinds, if you're that kind of person), we're hard-pressed to believe this will really hurt the experience had on the console. That is, only if you're playing on the front porch or out by the pool.

Of the latest scans for the DBZ game on the Wii, a weird yellow box is shown. Next to the box, little plastic clips that attach to the player's index fingers are also shown. Now, it's fairly obvious that this is so that the player may toss fireballs in the game by going through the motions in reality and the box is designed to sit atop the television, but why would such a large box be needed in conjunction with the clips. Couldn't they just be made to work with the sensor bar? Or is this the first sign of some startling truths delivered via the rumor train? Also, where is the Wiimote? It's nowhere to be seen!

Any readers want to take a stab at translating the text surrounding the image in question?

No better way to start off a Monday than with a nice, piping hot cup of rumor, wouldn't you say?

Today's is a whopper, actually, in that some pretty interesting comments are made in regards to the Wiimote functionality we supposedly have yet to see, as well as comments that the sensor bar isn't even needed and is there to incorporate some other as-of-yet unannounced form of gameplay. Check your pockets, make sure you've got your grain of salt with you...

In an effort to keep you from having to do the work of clicking links, we've included the most note-worthy bits of the rumors into nice, easy-to-read, bulleted format.

• "Nintendo should show that the movement in 3D space will allow experiences outside of just the TV screen. And its not 3D projection related."
• "The official launch date has yet to be set in stone but will indeed launch before Sony's PS3"
• "The first game that will be shown to the public that demonstrates the full scope of Wii controller potential will be Dragonball Z Budokai 4"
• "The Wii controller can function exactly as we all have seen demonstrated WITHOUT the sensor bar. So ask yourselves, why need a sensor bar?"
• "Sensor bar was in all actuality in no use at E3 2006"
• "There is also word that Nintendo in private sessions has big plans for the Wii headset. The headset would be somewhat sensitive to movement that could be translated into the game. Such as if you get up and move to the right of your television something might correspond for that in the game. Such as dodging things, looking around corners etc."
• "Developer Nibris has received Wii development kits and has partnered with publisher Majesco"

That's an awful lot of rumor to choke down. So how do you feel about all of this, fine reader? Some truth buried in there?

Wii got back. IGN has posted some near-pornographic shots of a nude Wii, revealing its backside in what we can only assume is some drug-induced lapse of common sense on the part of the console. Really, it's always been such a well-behaved machine! IGN has even been so bold as to post pictures of cables plugging into its backside with reckless abandon.

Clearly, the machine has gone wild.