Sakar International has announced a line of accessories for the Wii Motion Plus add-on to the Wii Remote. Wii Motion Plus is suppose to add better motion sensing to the Wii remote and now Sakar is going to add accessories to the better motion controls. The accessories will range from tennis rackets to baseball bats and will work with the newest Wii Motion Plus compatible games.

Gamers will be able to use tennis rackets, baseball bats, golf clubs, zappers and racing wheels to add a more realistic feel to the games. The accessories will plug into the Wii Motion Plus expansion slot.

Everyone has been waiting for the Wii MotionPlus since Nintendo announced it last year. It’s expected to literally change the game in the Wii world by tracking a player’s arm position and orientation as precisely as a mirror,” said Sakar VP Stefan Betesh. “When you combine that with the real-world interface of our new MotionPlus attachments, players will almost be able to forget that they are playing a game.”

The accessories will range in price from $9.99 to $19.99 and are currently available at retail stores.

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Microsoft has continued to deny any rumors about an Xbox 360 motion sensing controller, code named “Newton” but others wish to prove them wrong. CVG‘s says they’ve heard this motion sensing controller is indeed real from Xbox World 360 magazine.

Xbox World 360 says Microsoft is motivated to create such a controller to grab a bigger piece of the casual gaming pie, after all, it’s worked for Nintendo. It’s obvious to most that the Wii is a success based on it’s input device, not on the graphics and sound. The Wii has a very low attachment rate (games bought per console) and most gamers are happy with one game: Wii Sports.

Would Wii Sports be as great of a game if it used a standard controller? Highly unlikely.

The rumor is the new Newton controller will be available by the end of 2008. However, Microsoft denies any of the claims, stating, “I’ve never heard of a motion sensing controller… I don’t know what you are talking about…”

There are plenty of past rumors which Microsoft and Sony’s claimed were false, including the 80GB PS3, the HDMI port on the Xbox 360 and others. If the Newton turns out to be real we’re sure to know within a few months as someone is bound to break their NDA on purpose or “by accident” before long.

Ready for a workout? Although Shiguru Miyamoto is unsure how the United States is going to take to the Wii Fit concept, Mad Catz already has plans to extend the idea with new accessories. Additional bells and whistles may help users embrace the Wii Fit design, or we hope, and give us more motivations to run out and buy it.

Mad Catz will be bringing a rechargeable battery pack to market, a key ingredient to cut down on expensive battery replacements which add up quick. You can look forward to 20-hours of game play on the pack and keeps wire management problems down to a minimum.

Taking your Wii on vacation? Mad Catz will provide consumers with a weather resistant case for your new Wii Fit board! You can use it for general storage to keep dust off the product, for travel or just as a fashion statement. The pack will also store some software, presumably the Wii Fit title.

Mad Catz is keeping safety in mind with their Wii Fit exercise mat–to avoid dangerous falls from slippery surfaces. I’ve found the need for such a mat for simple things like the Rock Band drum kit which slides across hardwood floors almost instantly upon use. A specific mat designed for the Wii Fit board is a welcomed accessory.

Lastly, Mad Catz will be selling a silicon protective cover for the Wii Fit board which can be applied during play much like the protective coatings for DS screens, iPod Touch/Phone screens and the PSP screens. This, to me, isn’t as big a deal because Nintendo has been very good about making durable products which can sustain a rough and tumble use.

Press Release

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[youtube 4dNXgpKuo3g Guitar Hero 3: Legends of Rock]

Nothing says casual like rocking out in front of your TV with a silly guitar controller, right? Okay, seriously, the Guitar Hero franchise is a bit different from what many gamers have played in the past because it takes from all genre’s of gaming and brings casual, hardcore and non-gamers together.

It doesn’t take a rockstar to play Guitar Hero 3: Legends of Rock and non-gamers don’t have to learn a complex controller, especially if they have any guitar experience or have at least held one before.

If you’re an Xbox 360 fan, you’ll be wielding this ax:

If you’re playing a PlayStation you’ll have either a PS2 controller or PS3 controller:

PlayStation 2

PlayStation 3

Perhaps the most unique controller is the Nintendo Wii controller:

The game looks fabulous on all consoles, here is an example of a Nintendo Wii shot vs. an Xbox 360 screenshot, the Wii is a bit more grainy but not too bad.

So, is it casual or something completely different? The family may have to pickup the Wii so we can have a good old party time out of it. It may rival Mario Party 8 for a party game, but we’ll see when it arrives October 28th.

The next oddly casual title arriving on the Wii is not just a game but an accessory bundled all-in-one. Link’s Crossbow Training will launch on November 19th, 2007 for roughly USD $24.99. That much for a silly mini-game shooting collection?

It comes with a gun!

Hopefully Nintendo won’t get in “trouble” with their next gun product like they once did with the original Zapper which went from a gray color to an ugly orange. Why? Apparently the original Nintendo light gun looked “too real” – you know… lot’s of people walk around with sci-fi looking gray plastic weapons.

Anyway, Link’s Crossbow Training is targeted at a mass audience of gamers, casual and hardcore, and utilizes much of the “look and feel” of Twilight Princess. Here are some of the specifics:

• Anyone can pick up the Wii Zapper and become a master marksman in the quick-play shooting galleries of Link’s Crossbow Training. Dozens of fast-paced stages offer a wide variety of game play, from shooting stationary targets to defending a supply wagon from onrushing hordes of enemies. Multiplayer modes let players and their friends share a Wii Zapper to shoot for the high score.

• Link’s Crossbow Training comes bundled with the Wii Zapper. After a few rounds of Link’s Crossbow Training, players will be more than ready to pick up any of the future Wii Zapper titles, like Medal of Honor Heroes™ 2, Ghost Squad™ and Resident Evil®: The Umbrella Chronicles.

You’ll gain access to three types of game styles while playing: target shooting, defender and ranger. Here is a breakdown of the three game styles:

Target Shooting: In target-shooting rounds, players shoot bull’s-eyes as they pop up on the screen. In early stages, targets are stationary. As the game difficulty increases in later levels, the targets move. Hitting the center of the bull’s-eye nets more points, and hitting targets in succession without missing earns combo multipliers. Link can aim anywhere on the screen.

Defender: In defender rounds, players remain stationary but can look and aim in all directions – sometimes even in a full 360 degrees – by aiming off screen. Hordes of enemies assault Link, and he must fight them off. These battles have a great deal of variety, from fighting off skeletons in a desert to defending a wagon from boar-riding Bokoblins.

Ranger: In ranger rounds, players can move throughout the level using the control stick and aim anywhere they want by aiming the Wii Zapper wherever they want to look. In these missions, Link storms enemy encampments, fights his way through a forest and seeks out his foes while exploring the environments.

Remember, this isn’t a “light gun” but a normal shooter style Wii title so you’ll have to get used to the reticule like other first person shooter style games.

The Wii Zapper requires the Wii Remote and Nunchuk, housing both in a comfortable and intuitive frame. The control stick on the Nunchuk controls player movement (on stages that allow player movement), while simply aiming the Wii Zapper moves the targeting reticule on the screen. Pulling the trigger fires Link’s crossbow. By aiming off screen, players can turn Link to face in a new direction (again, on stages that allow this).

What do you think? Is this going to be a successful title by itself or are folks going to buy it just so they can use it for other shooting style games? It’s casual, for sure, but is it worth USD $24.99?