Seems like a whole lot of Wii owners have been waiting for Samba de Amigo on the Wii, which was originally for the Dreamcast. Now Amazon has the first live shots of the maracas attachments for the Wiimote and nunchuck. What other color would you expect, if not a festive hot tamale red, making it just like the originals on the Dreamcast console.

Amazon is pre-selling them for $15 and they’ll be released on Sept. 23. These should make Wiimote shaking a new art form, which makes me wonder if there are any Pinata games in the works, cuz I’d like to beat something virtually with a stick and get some damn candy. If not, there should be.

If there’s one thing you can say about the Wii, it’s that it is and always has been white. Back in the days when it was first called the “revolution” it seemed like we would be getting an assortment of colors, but alas, just plain old Wii white. That’s why it’s kind of shocking to see these.

While this may not be a lime or blood red Wii console, at least Nintendo is taking a baby step in the right direction with these pastel-colored Wiimote straps for Japan. You can get the whole pack for $10 or individually for afew bucks. No word if they’ll be coming our way soon.

Surely Nintendo didn’t think they would be the only Balance Board dealer in town. Njoy will introduce its own version of the Wii Fit accessory on September 12th. It’s a bit more-expensive at $130. But hey, their model has a built-in LCD display, set just forward enough to see it past your huge gut. Presumably it displays weight etc.

Nintendo today issued a press release to introduce an unexpected accessory to the Wii Remote controller, called Wii Motionplus. The new attachment is designed to give even more accurate responses to a players hand and arm motions and we hope will lead to a lightsaber game in the very near future. According to Nintendo, the new controller add-on connects to the bottom end of the Wii Remote and will do a better job of “reflecting motions in a 3-D space”.

The attachment works in conjunction with the existing accelerometer in the remote and the Wii Sensor bar to track the players hand and arm motions and give what Nintendo is calling a true 1:1 response, which is sure to be a welcome feature for those interested in first person shooter games or anything requiring a little more precision beyond shaking or waving the remote wildly. The Wii remote currently with the game console does a great job of sensing more general motions, twisting and waving but sometimes can be a little shaky with the direct pointing. The Wii MotionPlus is sure to be an improvement and open up the Wii to less frustrating times at games requiring more precision.

I haven’t picked up my copy of Mario Kart yet, but I imagine this new Wii wheel from Blazepro will make it a more realistic and far cooler experience. It’s got to be better then that rinky-dink wheel they are packaging with the game.

This new wheel promises better driving accuracy. The base can be attached to any desktop for more stability, too. If you still like playing it the other way, you can detach the wheel for more freedom. Available for only $5.87.

I’m sure everyone and their imaginary roadie wishes the Guitar Hero guitar played more like a real instrument. Forget the fact that you don’t have any talent.(If you’re like me anyway) Instead of just dreaming about it, Dave actually made it happen. He converted a Wii Guitar Hero axe into a full-fledged MIDI controller. No, really. There’s a 5-pin jack down there that makes it official.

Now it can play two octaves of an eight note scale at time, alter the keys and octaves, change tonal modes, use the whammy bar to bend the pitch and generally rock out far more effectively. My only gripe is that if you are going to go through the trouble, you should at least improve on the look of the fugly stock guitar while you’re at it. This isn’t an easy mod, but if you think you’re up for it, hit the link.

We all hate buying batteries and if you’ve bought Wii Fit, chances are you and your enormous love handles are going to go through many batteries. Luckily for you, Nyko has a solution in the form of their new Energy Pak for the balance board.

The Pak installs on the bottom of the board, making it easy to plug in and recharge without having to take the device out or turn the board over. Because God forbid you burn the 1 or 2 calories it would take to turn the board over. You can get yours starting May 19th for $19.99. Now get to work tubby.

Looks like Nyko isn’t afraid of adding a bit of color to your Wii accessories. Nyko’s Kama wireless Wii Nunchuk can be had now, online, before the official retail launch coming in May.

Should you decide to buy now, you can get a limited edition grey, black, pink or gold version(The gold is really black with a gold bird on it) that will sync wirelessly to your Wiimote adapter. The limited edition won’t be available in stores, so if you want some cool colors you better get them fast. Am I the only one who thinks these things look naughty now that they have some color?

This news may be a little bit old for some, but just in case you hadn’t heard the Wii Fit game from Nintendo which is bundled with the Wii Fit Balance Board has gotten an official release date and now an official price. $89.99 will be the price tag associated with Wii Fit on its May 19 US launch date. This price includes both the game and the board bundled together.

In the short time since the announcement, pre-orders for the Wii Fit on Amazon has moved up into the number one position with an 885,500 percent increase in just a day, not to mention all the accessories. Needless to say, it looks like this is going to be another hot item for Nintendo this year.

Nintendo

Having grown up with arcade games, I love playing some of the old school games with arcade sticks. If you’re like me and are looking for a good arcade stick for the Wii, look no further. The Wii version of the Neo Geo Stick 2 is an arcade-style, ball-top controller that was previously available for the PS2 from SNK-Playmore and Sega Logistics.

This new edition looks like it’s still got non-analog L and R buttons hugging the four primary convex buttons like parentheses. It would appear that they’ve decided to keep the classy black color too, which seems odd for the Wii, but it’s a beauty. It’s probably the best arcade stick I’ve seen for the Wii. You can get it right now for $59.90.

Nintendo peripherals don’t just grow on digital trees. Real live people have to design them. Whether it’s the Zapper or the steering wheel, a ton of research and thought goes into them. During the design process for the wheel, Nintendo studied steering wheels from many go karts to make sure they got things just right.

They tried roughly 30 designs before they got it the way they wanted. I personally can’t wait to play some Mario Kart and if I know Nintendo, their final wheel may not look as cool as some of the ones above, but it should perform very nicely.

Nyko’s wireless Wii nunchuk adapter is getting ready to assault consumers with a whole lotta ugly, and ruin the Wii controllers good looks. Both the adapter and it’s receiver just hit the FCC, to which they said “Damn that thing is ugly. I’m not even sure I can photograph that.” To which the other guy says, “Two rulers almost always distract the eye.”

Some devices just shouldn’t spawn kids I guess. Just spend your money on games, rather then ugly up your beautiful Wii. I’ll keep the wire. Interestingly, the rulers are nice.

The “magic wand” aspect of the Wiimote may offer better and more realistic control over some games, but many games use the Wiimote in the more traditional old school way. So the question is, how do you make the wiimote more comfortable to use with two hands?

Answer. Just shove it into a new body that makes the D pad an “analog” stick with two DualShock-like grips. Slip it on and off easily. A nice simple solution for games like Super Smash Bros. It may not look super sexy, but it gets the job done.

Looks like Thrustmaster is involved in all things Wii these days. The latest are these two cradles/chargers. T-Charge One NW and T-Charge Duo NW will help you keep your Wiimotes orderly rather then just having them lay around.

The NW will hold your Nunchuck, gamepad and Wiimote. It will also charge your WiiMote when it’s plugged into the console vis the USB port. It comes with rechargeable batteries for the Wiimote. Duo NW will hold only two WiiMotes, leaving your Nunchuck and gamepad out in the cold. Both will be available in April. T-Charge One NW will cost about $26 and the Duo NW is supposed to be just a tad more.

Mario Kart has not yet been released, but already there is at least one alternative that’s better then the steering wheel that comes with the game. Thrustmaster has apparently branched out from the joystick business and they are now selling the T-GoKart NW steering wheel accessory for the Wii.

First, it looks much cooler then the original that comes with Mario Kart. Plus, the T-GoKart has a rubber grip and strategically positions the Wiimote so that you can access the buttons easily while your hands are at the ‘10 and 2′ positions. It also has holes on both sides so you can use the Wiimote for pointing while it’s in the wheel or for connecting the Nunchuck controller when needed. You can get it in April for about $10. Let’s-a-go!