Sony Alpha FDA-FL1AM Type L Focusing Screen (Transparent) (Electronics)
By Sony

Buy new: $36.34
8 used and new from $34.06
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First tagged "sony" by Ellis Edward Young
Customer tags: photography(2), fda-fl1am type l, alpha 900, sony

For instance, you need the heft of a giant plastic shotgun in your hand when playing a shooting game on the Wii. Yep, you’re going to feel a whole lot more manly when you’re lumbering toward the screen with the $30 Buckshot from Innex. It looks like a sawed-off shotgun–and its pump-action reload does a decent job of selling the illusion here. You see, the device integrates the Wii Nunchuck functionality into the backside of the weapon. It’s obviously a gimmick best suited for shooting gallery games such as House of the Dead: Overkill and Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles, but it worked well in the test shots I took. It just requires a constant two-handed grip to play. That aside, I’m actually considering picking up this peripheral. (Wife approval pending, of course).

Innex also had its 3in1 Retro Adapter on display for players who want to dust off their NES, SNES, and N64 controllers. It’s a simple $20 hub that’s perfect for when you want to download an old-school game from the Wii’s Virtual Console and use the authentic controls. And hey, think of it as a small way to be green–you’re finding new use for those old gamepads.

Nyko had a couple interesting ideas as well. First, there’s the Wand that the company introduced during this past CES. This take on the Wiimote has one major difference: something Nyko calls Trans-Port technology. It transfers properties of the Wiimote to other devices.

For example, the Wand can share its force feedback ability with Nyko’s Kama (the Nintendo Nunchuck doesn’t have that). Or the new Pistol Grip, which digitally maps the Wand’s A and B buttons to the hammer and trigger of a faux firearm.

Now if you’ve ever had to enter text on-screen with a Wii, you already know my pain–correctly aiming at Each. Individual. Letter. Nyko has a solution for you, but it sure isn’t a pretty one. In fact, it reminds me of some Coleco toys I owned in the 1970s.

The $20 Type Pad is a split-key setup that lets you park your Wand controller in the middle of it, docking into some kind of Voltron of awesome human interface tech on a budget. Use the cradled Wand to point at the screen and tap away on the oversized keys. It doesn’t feel bad, actually. It just could use a serious facelift. This thing doesn’t exactly do “sleek.”

Of course, if you’re perfectly happy with your Wiimote as is, but you just don’t want to deal with dead batteries, consider checking out PDP’s Energizer Induction Charging System for Wii. At $50, it’s a bit pricey, but also simple: You pop in your Wiimote on the cradle, and (I’ll spare you most of the geek speak here), induction coils let the device slowly collect a charge without having to sweat a direct conductor connection or pulling batteries out. For the style-conscious who don’t care about all that, the charger has a sweet look that perfectly matches the Wii so it doesn’t stand out like a complete geeky eyesore.

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The Japanese videogame star touted a host of homemade and third-party titles it hopes will appeal to everyone from neophytes to hardcore veterans.

Nintendo also showed off hardware that makes Wii motion-sensing wand controllers more precise and a new “Vitality Sensor” that measures players’ heart rates for future games crafted as stress relievers.

Arcade Shooting Gallery (Video Game)
By Zoo Games

Buy new: $13.90
23 used and new from $7.98
Customer Rating:

First tagged "nintendo" by MrsMint
Customer tags: wii(4), shooting(4), wii gun(2), video games(2), zoo games, game for 8-10 year olds, wii zapper, nintendo, zoo blaster

“Wii has continued to attack the games market like no system before, pushing into the mainstream of culture,” Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime said at a press conference at the opening of the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in Los Angeles.

“The primary weapon for all of this is the interface.”

Wii offers motion-sensing controllers shaped like television remotes, car steering wheels, guns, and bathroom scales.

The new Wii MotionPlus gadgets, essentially cubes that plug into bases of existing wand-shaped controllers, will be available in the United States on July 26, Fils-Aime said.

US videogame giant Electronic Arts (EA) has tailored its next Tiger Woods golf game to MotionPlus devices and will sell the software bundled with the gadgets in a sales coup for Nintendo.

EA has also made a “Grand Slam Tennis” videogame for the more sensitive motion-sensing controllers. France-based Ubisoft has made a “Red Steel 2″ sword-fighting game exclusively for MotionPlus play.

• Nintendo Wii Remote Motionplus: Lightsaber game coming
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When this holiday season starts the three main games consoles are going to be launching their best products to get your attention, today we hear what Nintendo will be bringing this season.

Nintendo’s Wii Music will feature around 60 instruments that you can play by using the Wii controller to mimic playing movements, giving the user a much more interactive and calorie burning experience.

The new Wii MotionPlus accessory that we mentioned yesterday will be taking advantage of in a new game called Wii Sports Resort, this game will feature extra precision compared to existing Wii controllers.

Families will also love a new game for the Wii called Animal Crossing: City Folk, perfect for all the family, in this version you can create your own character and follow them in a much larger city.

The new Animal Crossing game will feature a new microphone called WiiSpeak, this lets users interact online by chatting with each other while playing.

The Nintendo DS has always been aimed at the younger gamer, but this holiday season will see Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars come to the portable DS gamer.

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For those of you who have been waiting for a lightsaber game, you will be pleased to hear that we could be getting a step closer to it. Nintendo have now announced a new accessory for the Will called Wii Motionplus.

This new attachment which fits on to the bottom of the Wiimote allows for more accurate responses to the motion that the player makes. Nintndo say that this new attachment will do a better job of “reflecting motions in a 3-D space”.

According to Slippery Brick, the Wii Motionplus fits to the bottom of the controller and works in conjunction with the controller’s accelerometer and the Wii sensor bar, Nintendo say that with all three working together, the motion of the players hand and arm are true 1:1 response.

This is the kind of technology that is needed for many first person shooter games, as well as the long awaited lightsaber game that Wii fans are hoping for.

Although the standard Wii Remote does a great job when tracking your hand and arm movements, it can sometimes be a little shaky. The Wii Motionplus add-on improves the precision of those movements, this will be a great help to so many games.

At this moment there are no details on pricing or a release date.

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The Sony PlayStation 3 games console aims at a totally different gamer than the Nintendo Wii but today PS3 Daily ask the question “Is the PlayStation 3 More Popular than the Nintendo Wii?”

As an owner of both 7th generation consoles I know how good both these systems are and also I personally use them for different types of gaming, the PS3 gets used more when I am on my own and the Wii when we have guests.

PS3 Daily looks at the features of both the Wii and Playstation 3, they take a look at the inside of these machines and what makes them tick.

If you do not own either of these games consoles and are thinking of buying one, remember that your choice of the Nintendo Wii or Playstation 3 will boil down to your gaming habits and, of course, your budget.

If you’re a casual and family oriented gamer then the Wii is a cost-effective solution, but if your gaming tastes involves high performance and graphically rich gaming then the Playstation 3 is an altogether better solution. Read PS3 Daily’s take on what’s more popular of the two.

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