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Filed under: Peripherals, Controller

Those of you looking for a rechargeable solution to your Wiimote’s power needs, manufacturer MeWe has just come up with a new device: the Quad Charger. As you can see above, it includes LEDs to let you know the power status of your recharging Wiimotes, as well as the capacity to charge four simultaneously. And, of course, it comes with four rechargeable packs (Ni-MH).

The MeWe Quad Charger is currently available and costs $49.95.

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Filed under: News, Tech stuff

When students in Queensland, Australia recently attempted to make exercise bikes interesting to use (surely an impossible feat if you ask us, but good luck to them), they turned to the Wii's unique controller for a helping hand. Their idea was straightforward enough: place a giant screen in front of the user which shows them merrily zipping through the countryside and other virtual vistas as they cycle.

But for this to work effectively, two Wiimotes were required -- one strapped to the cyclist's helmet (so that turning the head would allow users to take in scenery around them), and one to the leg of the cyclist (meaning the device could detect what speed users were travelling at, and adjust the on-screen image accordingly).

They're calling it "virtual exercise," and say the next step is to take the image from the screen and have it projected into a pair of goggles, before selling the idea to gyms. Presumably they'll have found an alternative to the Wiimote by then, but if this does show up in your local sweatshop in the future, know where the inspiration came from, eh?

[Thanks, Maddles!]

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Filed under: Reviews, Controller

Some people are all in favor of the Zapper, as we discussed this morning, but Game|Life's Chris Kohler is not among them ... at least, not when it comes to Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles. After trying the game several times, he has consistently found that the Zapper is less optimal for this game than the simple naked combination of the Wii remote and nunchuk. At TGS, he was playing co-op with a freelancer who was even excited about the Zapper and its potential with the game. He played without, and she played with -- and halfway through, they switched.

Once finished, he asked her which she preferred ... and she agreed with him. The Zapper may end up being great for other games, but in Umbrella Chronicles, it seems to make actions ungainly rather than precise, particularly when one has to reload or pick up objects.

This makes us doubly interested in seeing how the shell affects other games, like the pack-in Link's Crossbow Training, but for now, we think we may just stick to the remote and nunchuk. After all, the remote is a pointing device all on its own, and we've seen just how fantastic it can be for shooting.

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Filed under: Controller

Here's rule one about owning pets: if you allow them to chew on or scratch one type of thing, they're often going to think similar materials are fair game. Give a cat one of those carpet-covered scratching posts? Sure, lots of us do it, but it's hard to be mad at them when later you find them sharpening their claws in the middle of the dining room rug. The similar nubby texture gets them every time. So it shouldn't be much of a surprise what happened to the Labrador one Colorado family allowed to chew on an old television remote. Not only did the dog eat it, but once that was down, he turned on the next remote-like object in his sights: a Wii remote.

Which he swallowed whole.

The poor pooch started spitting up blood, and once at the vet, vomited up bits of the original remote ... but there was still a mass in his stomach visible on an X-ray. It was only then that the Wiimote-swallowing was revealed. Luckily, the dog was able to expel the controller after having his tummy massaged, and he's just fine after an overnight stay at the doctor.

The Wii in question belonged to the family's son, who was punished for leaving the controller out where the dog could get to it ... but who's going to punish everyone else for allowing the dog to chew on electronics in the first place? Sharp plastic bits probably don't digest so well, after all.

On the lighter side, now we all have an excuse to tell jokes about the horrors of dogs chewing on your Wii.

[Via Kotaku]

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Filed under: Mods, Video

The idea of using the humble Wiimote to create music seems to have really fired the imagination of the hacking community recently. DJing WiiJing and drumming are already both possible with the waffly versatile controller and a bit of know-how, and now those of you who lack the funds for Guitar Hero III can get your virtual shred on for free.

Hacker Evan, maker of the Wiimote drum sampler we linked to exactly one paragraph ago, has developed software that allows users to play air guitar, simply by "strumming" the Remote while holding down the d-pad to alternate between chords, or the B button to toggle between major and minor chords. As Evan points out, this has a similar feel to Jam Sessions on the Nintendo DS, which is far from a bad thing if you ask us.

[Thanks, Evan!]

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