We’ve mentioned Nyko’s Wand controller several times in the past, somewhat fascinated by the promise of their Trans-Port technology, which allows for digital signals to be passed along the expansion port along with the Wii remote’s standard analogue ones. Interesting technology, but not the best selling point in the world. Now coming in pink, purple and blue, on the other hand — that’s a selling point. Not only are the candy-coloured (liquorice is a candy!) controllers pretty, they are safe as well, coming packed with matching controller condoms. Classy!

The four new colours are now showing up at Wal-Mart stores in the US with a suggested retail price of $US29.99, with other retailers following suit soon after.

U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission says the Wii Remote chargers, distributed by Griffin International of Minneapolis, “can overheat, posing a burn or fire hazard to the consumer.” About 220,000 of these scorchers were sold at Target, Toys R Us, Amazon.com and Best Buy. So watch out!

Psyclone will be offering a replacement. Details at their web site.

220,000 Wii recharging stations recalled [MSNBC - thanks, Marcus!]

Using a concave mirror, Airborne Ultrasound Tactile Display and Wii Remotes, University of Tokyo researchers have created a tangible hologram projector.

The mirror makes the hologram appear to be “floating” in the air, while the Airborne Ultrasound Tactile Display shoots focused ultrasonic waves to create the feeling of a holographic ball or holographic rain falling on one’s hand.

The Wii Remotes? They’re used to track movement — just one of many non-gaming uses scientist people are finding for Nintendo’s hardware.

Touchable Holography [University of Tokyo via @GreatDismal via Pink Tentacle]

I know I’m way late to this, but I was only amused by the weird comedy-torture game in Ubisoft’s upcoming Rabbids Go Home a few days ago.

The video above was shot by GameTrailers during Ubisoft’s E3 demonstration of Rabbids Go Home back in June. The main game looks nothing like that. It’s a third-person platformer exclusive to the Wii that’s heavy on comedy. I played some of it and will have impressions later this week.

But as an aside I wanted to highlight this loony mini-game/side-amusement/whatever. The idea is that Rabbids, the comical protagonists spun off from the Rayman series, are alive in your Wii Remote. So the camera zooms in for an internal view. Once that happens — and as I experienced first-hand at a demo in New York last week — you can use the Remote to abuse the Rabbid.

Shaking the Remote causes the Remote on the screen to shake. Pressing any button makes those buttons move on the screen as if you’re seeing the inside of what you’re doing to the Remote. The Rabbid will become curious and wander to the button, attempting to imitate the click of buttons with its little yells.

Inside that Remote, apparently, are Rabbid torture devices. The game’s writer, Gabrielle Shrager, put a clamp on the Rabbid’s head and began squeezing it. She let me shake the remote hard to send the Rabbid caroming off the far end, near the pointer sensor.

She said you can feed the Rabbid a bomb.

The game’s for kids with a creative and maybe mean streak, it seems. It made me laugh plenty.

I’d never played a mini-game set inside a game controller before. I liked it. Look for more impressions soon. The game’s out on the Wii on November 3.

Associate professor of biomechanical engineering at the University of Alabama Greg Walcott came up with the idea for a computer program that uses the wireless technology of the Wii remote to help teach proper cardiopulmonary resuscitation techniques. The student team working on the program aim to have the program available for free download via the American Heart Association website this fall.

“The Heart Association’s high interest in our students’ innovations points to potential of this project and how it fits in with its desire to deliver reliable CPR education to the masses,” faculty adviser Jack Rogers said.

The problem here is that this is a computer program and not a Nintendo Wii application, so the masses could largely ignore it. Perhaps Nintendo could reach out to help, offering the finished program as a free download to the console? You never know.

CPR to be taught via Nintendo Wii game UPI.com]

These two industrial grapplers don’t just have cute names (one of them is called “Bender”). They’ve got a cute control method as well, as they can be jiggled, jaggled and, yes, waggled by a Wii Remote.

These guys used a control system written in Python to replace the arm’s regular input (a joystick) with the Wii Remote’s internal sensors. So you don’t even need the IR pointer, they just respond to tilting.

Shame they didn’t go one step further and invent a few little industrial moving arm games to go with it.

Using a Wiimote to control a 15-ton metal arm [Go Nintendo]

Save for the Wii Remote itself, those were pretty much the only options. Well, no! Now you can play Wii games with a PlayStation or PlayStation 2 controller with this fancy adaptor. Priced at ¥1,785 (US$18.50).

Wii用リモコンツナイデント [GAMETECH]

Mark over at Gizmodo has spent some quality time with three devices – the official Wii Remote, along with Nyko & Mad Catz’s offerings – and after putting all three through their paces, shares his thoughts.

At the end of the day, the Wii Remote emerges as the device with the best performance. Not surprising. Yet it’s worth considering that both competing devices are not only cheaper (Nyko’s Wand is $US35 while the Mad Catz Wireless Remote is $US30), but aren’t as shoddy as you’d expect, with only some IR issues on both remotes really holding them back.

Battlemodo: The Wiimote vs. The Cheap Knockoffs [Gizmodo]

Compared with Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto, Sony Europe’s Andrew House seemed much more non-fussed about the competition.

“I’m not unduly worried and I think the reason for that is that we’ve done a very good job with the PlayStation 3 as an overall value proposition without any motion control technology,” said House.

Maybe it’s the controller’s long gestation period that has Sony relaxed? When asked how long the controller has been in development, “It’s been a while,” the exec said. “If you want to track it back the team has been working on that since the days of the original EyeToy.”

For reference, the original EyeToy was first demonstrated back in 2002, going on sale the following year.

Sony’s Andrew House Part Two [gi]

I don’t think I could create an experience that truly feels interactive if you don’t have something to hold in your hand, if you don’t have something like force feedback that you can feel from the controller.

Oh. So we need controllers for people to play? If the goal is immersion, isn’t simple gesturing more intuitive than holding a plastic remote and pretending its something else?

Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto on Mario, Zelda, Project Natal and More [Game|Life via Infendo]