Barry John Williams' Blog

Earlier this month I placed an order for the new Nintendo Wii Remote Jackets, 4 days ago I received an email stating they would arrive within the next 10 days. Well yesterday I received them. Two rubber covers and an instruction leaflet informing me how to fit the jacket were in the jiffy bag.

Amusingly on the front cover of the leaflet, it does warn me not to deliberately knock the Wii remote against the TV, furniture or other objects and also warning me the jacket will not eliminate potential damage completely - I was hoping it was gonna be like the Hazard Suit in Metroid...



The jacket itself is quite nice, not too flimsy or thick. The material is soft and not too sticky either and it's ribbed around the edges for extra grip. The air cushion at the end isn't too bulky but looks like it ought to do the job!



The whole thing looks quite nice when it's on the remote. It covers over the power button at the top of the remote (the only button covered by the remote), but it doesn't seem to affect operation. The IR window at the top of the remote is uncovered and recessed by the air cushion so it should be quite safe! It's also slightly curved around the sides so in addition to the grippiness of the rubber and ribs, it should be quite difficult for this to slide out of sweaty hands - useful for a Rayman Raving Rabbids championship!!

There is a dust cover built into the jacket to protect the Nunchuck connector which is a good idea and it is easy to remove the cover to plug the Nunchuck in.

In the hand it feels like a tennis racket handle which is quite convenient as I like Wii Tennis!! Overall very neat and both remotes will be covered by this today!

Not sure how it will operate with the new Wii Guitar Hero III controller, I suspect I may have to remove the cover for the remote to fit in. Similarly with other remote accessories you'll probably have to remove the cover!

I think it's well thought out - and if I saw this in the shops or on eBay, I'd probably have bought one.

Labels: gadgets, nintendo, review, wii

Just read on Engadget that US Wii owners are being offered a free rubber cover for their Wii Remotes. These are sticky to stop sweaty palm sliders and cushioned at the front to soften impact on TV screens, etc.

After a bit of hunting, I found this service is available to UK Wii owners too and you can order more than one. They'll be including them with all future Wiis and Remotes.

Just placed my order for two.

Nintendo UK Wii Remote Jacket Request

Labels: gadgets, wii

The computer game Manhunt 2 has been rejected classification by the BBFC (British Board of Film Classification) - an unelected group of people who decide what is acceptable for the British public to watch.

This game's predecessor was given an 18 rating which apparently was at the "top end of the scale". Manhunt 2 clearly surpasses that, no doubt due to it's probable increased graphics realism and something which I read separately; the Wii version's ability to control stabbing and mutilation by performing the motion with the wiimote...

Whilst I'm not one for buying this particular genre of games I would have like to have seen the wiimote stabbing action purely out of curiousity, not out of some hidden wanton desire which the BBFC rejection now makes this appear.

a range of unjustifiable harm risks to both adults and minors

Let's quickly skim over the adult part. If a person starts to commit these acts based on a computer game, then that person has a problem. It's not the games fault!

They should perhaps do a lab test - pull a few hundred people of the streets, let them play the game for a few hours a day for a full month and release them into the wild and see what they do. I doubt very much they will all turn into killing machines*. Although, you may find that a fraction of those that do have tendencies for violence may be catalysed by the computer game - but since (I presume) that number is quite small, why stop the rest of us. It's a bit like banning peanuts because some of the population is allergic to them.

Now to the minors, sorry, that's why it should be an 18. 18 means, don't let people who's ages are less than 18 watch or play... Let's assume it did get an 18 classification. I'm not ignorant enough to realise that kids would get hold of it because "it's cool". Some of their parents would have even bought it for them, their friends would play it, etc. This is a decision the parents should be making based on the age rating and it really should become an offense just like (unsupervised) underage drinking is. Perhaps there is a useful application of DRM here.

Furthermore, rejecting the game now makes it even more 'cool' in the average kid's eyes because they'll have to import it from the US and play it on their chipped PS2s...

Come on, where there is a will there is a way. Why bother banning games - you'll still be able to get hold of them. It's not going to stop it, is it?

*If someone makes a movie out of this then I had the idea first!

Labels: computers, games, grumble, software, wii

Quite by surprise yesterday afternoon a delivery truck came to deliver a package in Louise's name. What could it be?

Later that evening I had built up a sweat, pulled a muscle in my leg and had a sore arm. It was a Wii with Wii Sports ordered early December 2006!

My favourites so far are definitely the Tennis (despite the fact I don't like it in real life), Bowling and Baseball!

My PS2 has GTA: Vice City Stories in it - I'm about 30% through that game and I'm not sure I can go back to sitting on a chair stabbing my fingers at a controller! The Wii is just different and a lot more fun. Louise and I competed last night for about 4 hours before having to give up! Even the dog was trying to join in...

The Wii has WiFi on it, which was a breeze to setup and you get News and Weather through the first menu. The weather is quite swish - it gives you a google earth type map to play with and displays the weather and temperatures for major cities across the globe. You spin the globe using the wireless Wii controller! The news is extremely readable and looks like a newspaper. Cool stuff!

It also plays my old Gamecube games so I may just have a go at finally completing Metroid Prime!!!

You can create your own Avatar or 'Mii' which you can use playing your games - Good Fun!

Labels: coolstuff, nintendo, review, software, wii