During this weekend's World Hobby Fair, both Capcom and Nintendo had booths set up, showing off the new Wii colors and accessories. Capcom's booth had the Monster Hunter 3 bundles as part of its Monster Hunter display, and Nintendo had the blue Wiimote and Nunchuk, of course, to promote Wii Sports Resort -- which, incidentally, was also the inspiration behind a very nice set of giveaway items.

The Nunchuk has always been shiny on top and matte on bottom, but it's much more noticeable, and nice-looking, on the black version. Somehow, the Wiimote jacket also looks cool in matte black, despite being a Wiimote jacket. The Classic Controller Pro, as well, looks like much more of an upgrade in shiny black plastic. Head past the break to see the blue Wii Sports controllers.

Well, it's been quite some time since we last touched on 505 Games' We Rock: Drum King. The game seems to have spent a majority of its time in the shadows working toward a deal with Rolling Stone magazine, as the music mag and 505 Games just dropped press releases into our inbox introducing Rolling Stone: Drum King. Looks like somebody's been staying awake in their Synergy 101 class!

The game is planned for a spring release, and still tasks players with keeping smooth timing by mimicking drumming through use of the Wiimote and Nunchuk. It will also feature local multiplayer support for you and a friend, and has over 30 "top quality cover tracks" inspired by real bands. Head past the break for the full list and a trailer snagged from the Amazon product page for the game.

Penguin United may be best known for its wonderful 24X Gaming Pouch, which allows you to carry a mess of DS games around without the, well, mess. But if its latest Wii product works well, it could have a new claim to (relative) fame.

Penguin's CrossFire Remote Pistol is a Wii Zapper alternative that doesn't require a separate Wiimote. While most Wii guns are merely shells with levers to push the B button, this one is a completely self-contained Wiimote, with an integrated speaker.

The final unit probably won't have jaggies -- this is a product render Penguin sent to us. The device will be available for testing at E3 next month.

Fans of Resident Evil (and buying the same game multiple times) will be happy to know that Resident Evil Archives -- the official title for the Wii port of a GameCube remake of a PSOne game -- is slated for a June release, Eurogamer reports. Featuring enhanced Wiimote controls and ... enhanced Wiimote controls, the new-for-Wii version of the game will debut in the US on June 23 for $29.99.

Thanks to a set of European trademarks, we can get a rare look at the way a peripheral's design has evolved along its development cycle. NeoGAFfer Shiggy found three trademarks for different case designs of the MotionPlus attachment. They appear in chronological order above.

It's basically the same throughout, except the bottom corners went from curving inward to curving outward! From the look of the final product, that "lip" is designed to help secure the new jacket in place. Alternate theory: the MotionPlus flares out to reduce the aerodynamic quality of the Wiimote, should it slip out of players' hands.

In one of the most unexpectedly practical ideas to hit the world of ridiculous Wii accessories, Power Play Corporation has announced the upcoming release of "Riiflex," a set of dumbbells designed to fit the Wiimote and Nunchuk inside. Just making the controllers heavier allows you to turn normal waggling into a workout! This item was announced back in January, and now it's available for preorder at an unfortunately hefty $34.95 price for two-pound weights, or $39.95 for four-pound weights.

The Wiimote attachment features a hole in the front for the pointer, and both the Wiimote and Nunchuk holders allow access to the triggers. Of course, most dumbbell training courses consist mostly of repetitive motions targeting specific muscle groups, and not just, uh, waving one arm around while holding the other one still, but we still think this is a neat idea. Especially when compared to other crummy Wiimote shells!

[Via Engadget]

In the ten months since we last saw Martin Lihs's WiiSpray application, the Bauhaus University student has turned his combination of Flash programming and custom Wiimote enclosure from a simple tagging simulator to a networked platform for interactive art. We're hoping the next step is "thing that you can buy."

After plugging the Wiimote into the virtual spray can, you can "spray" onto a projected surface, change colors, choose and manipulate stencils, and even save work to a server for further editing at the time and place of the user's choice. Let's see you try that with a wall. Check after the break for a video demonstration!

[Via Engadget, Attract Mode]

Well, humanity, you can't say you didn't ask for it. When the robot spiders throw off their shackles and destroy us all (because they will), how can we complain when we were trying to keep control of them with a Wiimote? Harnessing nature's most powerful force -- the robot spider -- with a video game controller? Hubris, thy name is man.

You can watch the final ticks of our doomsday clock after the break if you like. Or, if you hurry, we can probably fit one more in our Robot Spider Shelter. Totally your call.

[Via GoNintendo]

We've all been under the impression that The Conduit would feature MotionPlus, but it turns out that High Voltage has tried it, and decided to take it out of the game. Why, you ask? Well, High Voltage's VP and chief creative officer Eric Nofsinger tells 1UP that Nintendo provided them "with early hardware and good developer support," but when they put it into The Conduit, it "didn't really add anything for our primarily ranged combat."

Nofsinger also got a bit more technical, adding that High Voltage hoped MotionPlus "would allow for better off screen IR tracking." Instead, Nofsinger says the device "seems to lend itself more naturally for hand to hand combat" and that it "doesn't feel like an optimal fit for how we had designed our moment to moment gameplay." Well, that explains it.

Sure, we want as many features as we can get our hands on in a game, but if it doesn't improve on the experience and just feels tacked on for the sake of being a bullet point on the back of a box, it's not worth it. It looks like High Voltage agrees.

In Touch Ruminations, former DS and Wii Fanboy Lead David Hinkle talks about whatever he feels like. He's a jerk like that. This week, it's all about boys, blobs, and little Macs, and how mixing the old with the new is a good thing. The opinions expressed here belong to the author and don't necessarily reflect those of Joystiq, Weblogs Inc. or its affiliates.

This week has been an exciting one for Wii owners. First and foremost, A Boy and His Blob is making a comeback! On top of that, Nintendo informed us that old-school controls will be included in Punch-Out!! for Wii. It's a wonderful mixture of old and new, and shows us that there is an incredible well of older titles that can be tapped for today's market in this manner. Nintendo has been doing that with the Virtual Console, presenting older, dated games via a new, easy-to-use interface, bringing them to a new audience. It's a wonderful mixture of classic and new sensibilities, and something I would like to see more of. Of course, A Boy and His Blob and Punch-Out!! could both be horrible, horrible games for all I know, so take that as you will.

The latest Nintendo Power has a feature on Dead Space: Extraction, from which Nintendo D-Pad extracted one detail about the controls, which seem to prove that there is a motion element involved in gameplay, in addition to all the pointing.

The Rivet Gun is used to shoot Rivet Blades and lop off limbs (the advertised "strategic dismemberment" aspect of the game). You aim it "perpendicular to the limb you are trying to cut off," which translates to twisting the Wiimote around to line up the shot. At least we now know the game isn't entirely point and click!

[Screen via Nintendo Power table of contents (pdf link)]

Listen, we're all for games that take advantage of the Wii's unique properties, but we're afraid that Wii Breakfast has gone too far. As you can see in Idiots Of Ants' leaked gameplay footage after the jump, the developer has really gone peripheral crazy for its new release, which simulates everything from making toast to newspaper reading. Do we really need two Wii Sausages, guys? Really?

That said, the real-time generated Wii Butter looks positively delicious.

[Via GoNintendo]

A story from Haaretz was circulating last week claiming that Microsoft was in talks to purchase 3DV, maker of a camera-based motion sensing technology. Now, VentureBeat has supported the claim, saying that its sources confirm that a deal is in the works.

Assuming Microsoft has gaming in mind and not creepy, Minority Report-style desktop navigation, our feelings are mixed on it. It could be a giant leap forward if 3DV's tech were bundled with a new console, but we're not sure we'll be ponying up for another stand-alone camera while still under the watchful, dusty eye of our Xbox Live Vision. What about you?

The Wand, Nyko's take on the Wiimote, has a feature unique enough to interest us despite the appearance of the thing (seriously, it wasn't just hit with the ugly stick, it is the ugly stick): its "Trans-Port" allows for extension controllers to have real, digital buttons of their own, instead of having to leave space for the Wiimote buttons or use levers to manually push them. The attachments also use their own rumble motors.

Nyko has just announced the details of the Wand's release, revealing that it will be released on its own in April for $34.99, and in two bundles in June: the "Core Pak" and the "Action Pak."

The $49.99 Action Pak contains one Wand and one Pistol Grip attachment, which has its own Trans-Port connector on the bottom for connection of additional Nyko accessories. It also features a hilarious orange cap, so people don't think the Wiimote is a real gun. The Core Pak includes a "Wired Kama with Rumble," a version of the Nunchuk with separate rumble motors. It will also be available for $49.99.

Between the slightly reduced price and the improved functionality, we're starting to think about going all-Nyko with our Wii controllers. That seems ... wrong, somehow.

We're used to Alec Baldwin swooping down like some sort of comedy angel to save even the worst episodes of Saturday Night Live, but we doubt even Della Reese crossed with Don Rickles could have preserved the chuckles this week. A skit involving Wario Land: Shake It is a prime example of Baldwin's ability to bail out what's essentially a sinking ship.

Jokes that tie Wiimote motion to masturbation are so old now as to be almost quaint, but Baldwin manages to bring a certain classiness to the proceedings, and the bit (which you can see after the break) ended up a semi-bright spot in an otherwise crushingly dim evening.