To be honest, I've been down on the Wii for a while now. I'm sure many can relate to my experiences with the system thus far. A fab initial impression - encrusted with memorable Zelda sessions and harmless bouts of Wii Sports with the family - followed by nothing. At all.
 | | A long-needed recharging station for your precious Wii-motes, this thing's the boolies |
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In the endless barrage of dry months since the console's
launch, the system seems to have plummeted in not only my estimations, but pretty much the world at large's too. It doesn't help when supposedly fab new US titles like Super Paper Mario are delayed for months on end this side of the pond for
no sane reason whatsoever.
That all said, things are slowly improving on the games front it seems. In fact, I bought a whopping great
three new titles last month. Gasp. Sure, two of them turned out rubbish, but if nothing else, Resident Evil 4 has done away with much of that jaded anger I felt towards the Wii, and instead reminded me just how glorious a system it can be when wielded in the right hands. Here's hoping for more such beauty down the line.
But I digress. In light of finally putting the machine to some use, I decided to nab this wee little peripheral by name of the Joytech Power Station. Turns out, it's a bit of a must-have. You may remember me whining about the lack of rechargeable batteries back when the Wii launched in fact. Providing a fresh supply of AAs casts a serious - and expensive - downer on any system, and the lack of an official Nintendo branded solution has subsequently proven disappointing too. Thanks to Joytech though, now it has one. And very nice it is I must say.
Details, then. Well, it sells for £20 or so, it houses two Wii-motes at once, and setup involves simply plugging it into the back of the machine with a minimum of fuss. A full charge of an empty battery takes about four hours to complete, while a fully charged Wii-mote will then last you a good eight or so of gaming, but the fab thing about the Joytech is that it doubles up as a storage unit too. With the Wii-motes docked whenever out of use, they'll continue to recharge between gaming sessions, meaning they're essentially fully charged at all times. In fact I've never seen 'em under three bars on the old on-screen charge-o-meter.
It looks ace too, all shiny and expensive, like. Sure, visitors may question you as to why you have two vibrators out on display, but listen to 'em not, this thing's gorge. Small, white and sleek, it couldn't feel more at home next to a Wii if it tried. There are even pull-out side bars for housing the nun-chucks if so required, although personally I think they take away from the aesthetic somewhat.
If I have a complaint, it's that the Wii-motes don't sit quite so snug within the docking station when wrist-straps are attached. Which let's be honest, they damn well should be. It's not a deal breaker though, as with a little shuffling and maneuvering, all proves well.
As a result, I'd say every Wii owner needs one of these bad boys then. Not only does it look cool, keep your gear stored neatly, and do away with those troublesome batteries, but hell, it'll pretty much pay for itself almost immediately too. Those AAs ain't cheap, after all.
Now then. More games to use it with, please...
