For those who think that Nintendo's Wiimote might be a bit steep at $40 a piece can try out a third-party alternative that is slightly cheaper. Gizmodo reviews the Nyko Wand ($35) and Mad Catz Wireless Remote ($30) and sees how they stack up to Nintendo's original and whether they're worth saving those extra dollars. They reviewed them on the basis of how well they test the infrared and accelerometer along with other minor nuances.

So what was their verdict? Despite the original Wiimote reigning supreme, the two third-party products give Nintendo a decent run for their money, despite their faults.

The Wiimote is a cute controller, but it's $40. And now Nyko and Mad Catz have each released nearly identical alternatives that run $5 and $10 less, respectively. But do they work in performance-heavy gaming? Actually, yes, yes they do.

The Products
Nyko Wand: $35
Mad Catz "Wireless Remote": $30
Nintendo Wiimote: $40

Testing Infrared
The Wiimote's pointer effect works for one reason: IR tracking. The Sensor Bar is really an infrared LED matrix, and the Wiimote reads its position relative to this bar. So to test IR tracking, I loaded the Home Menu and then House of the Dead Overkill.

In a light-challenging environment including open windows and artificial lighting, IR tracking was clearly superior on the Wiimote—pretty much perfect, actually. The cursor was simply more fluid and appeared onscreen with a more even frame rate than it did on either generic controller.

McClubbin via gizmodo.com »