Nyko announces third-party Wii Remote

Peripheral manufacturer Nyko has announced three new products for the Wii platform here at CES. The Wand (not to be confused with "a wand") leads the charge. It's Nyko's Wii Remote replacement device. Nyko's controller has the same motion-control, vibration, and built-in speaker capabilities as the Wii Remote, but it has a few changes such as oversized "1" and "2" buttons and a rubberized battery cover designed to improve usability. Nyko's also pretty excited about The Wand's accessory port because it's able to pass all of the Wii Remote buttons to an attached accessory. For example, the port would allow a pistol accessory to plug into the bottom of the controller and have all of the pistol buttons mapped electronically to buttons on the Wii Remote.

The two other (less exciting, but also less likely to draw lawsuits from Nintendo) products Nyko announced today are the Charge Station EX and Kama Charge Kit. The Charge Station EX is an updated version of the original Charge Station that now includes two LED bars to display battery charge levels.

The Kama Charge Kit is a peripheral stand that can charge a Wii Remote and a Wireless Kama controller. We didn't know that there were enough Kama owners out there to warrant a standalone charger, but it turns out that the Kama Charge Kit actually includes a Wireless Kama controller. All of the accessories Nyko announced today will be available this April.