Third-party Wii component cables for under $7

by Christopher Grant { Nov 27th 2006 at 9:55AM }

It's really sort of bizarre when you think about it. The saga of the Wii component cables has been a long and storied one: first, they were rumored to be online-only; then Perrin Kaplan confirmed they'd be hitting retail; then they showed up online and were promised in stores by December 5th; they sold out within a day and retail dates were pushed back; finally, frustrated with the lack of an official solution, resourceful gamers made their own. The saga may come to an early end with the release of Blaze's $6.71 third-party component cables, shipping from Hong Kong on the 30th (we know, more waiting!) from online retailer Superufo.com. Until we can easily pick up a pair of Wii component cables, either online or at brick-and-mortar joints, this saga is still playing out.

[Via Engadget]

Tags: Blaze, cables, component, component cables, ComponentCables, High-def, Wii

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Cabrill @ Nov 27th 2006 10:11AM

I placed my order yesterday after reading about this on Engadget. The cheapest total with S&H was $22, but I opted for 3 day delivery and paid $35.31 which was still cheaper than anything I could have gotten from Nintendo/Retail. I figure whatever small price in quality (if any) will be worth it to get the cables 3 weeks earlier than I would otherwise. Here's to hoping they ship on the 30th like anticipated.

zakchase @ Nov 27th 2006 10:11AM

My component cables from nintendo.com are scheduled to arrive Wednesday, which is a damn good thing since I finally procured a Wii yesterday morning (courtesy of a three-hour wait in line in the freezing cold at a Best Buy) but I'm waiting for the component cables to play Zelda.

Andrew @ Nov 27th 2006 10:11AM

They aren't $7 bucks because it is $17 shipping.

mgroves @ Nov 27th 2006 10:23AM

Yay!

JJ @ Nov 27th 2006 10:33AM

My cables from Nintendo only came to $36.95 for two day shipping. Doesn't seem like this deal is that great. Hopefully mine will be coming this week.

Metaridley @ Nov 27th 2006 10:45AM

Nintendo, are you hearing this? People want games to look good? Who knew!

I'm a Nintendo fan, but I'm not above criticising the company's mistakes. They should have anticipated the demand for component cables, and should have manufactured more of them.

aegies @ Nov 27th 2006 10:46AM

caveat emptor; progressive scan through component is still an analog signal, and is much more beholden to signal loss and poor image quality, things that are exacerbated further by cheap cables. this isn't like buying a generic hdmi cable for your ps3. at least with hdmi, it's digital, so if it works, generally it works as it's supposed to (and this is coming from someone who was dumb enough to buy monster optical cable when he was first setting up his surround setup). i would wait for a review or two before i threw down 20 dollars on what very well may be crap. i understand the impulse to get them, as i won't be picking up a wii until i'm at least able to get the component cables as well, but sometimes it's good to go first party (or at least someone trusted).

mnugghuhx @ Nov 27th 2006 10:46AM

Best Buy has component cables on friday that are 25 bucks. NO shipping, because you walk in and buy them. Also, no waiting for it to be shipped. Friday morning, picking those up, playing Zelda in all its glory.

wii @ Nov 27th 2006 11:13AM

Looks good, hasn't taken them long to bring em out!

FernandoRocker @ Nov 27th 2006 11:11AM

Joystiq... make a review of the differentes brands of cables... im very confused with all this brands, best buys have two diffenets brands, then the nintendo's brand, the this Blaze brands....

JGailor @ Nov 27th 2006 11:38AM

It doesn't cost $17 to ship a cable from Hong Kong. I ordered a cable from play-asia.com a few weeks ago and it cost me ~ $4.50 for the shipping.

I was in the processing of ordering these when I discovered I would be raped on the shipping. My HDTV has an upconverter that makes it look damn good over composite, so I can wait.

> @ Nov 27th 2006 11:39AM

480p over any component cable should be fine unless you have an unusally long connection. Its when you move into 720p or 1080i/p over component that you should start investing in better quality cables; or, buy something with an HDMI port.

These cables probably cost $1 to make in large quantities.

mkoracer @ Nov 27th 2006 12:38PM

I got the super generic $5 PS2 component cable from Lik-sang (R.I.P.) with my modded PS2. I mean the wires going to the RCA plugs look like they are the same ones on a cheap pair of headphones, but the picture quality (on my 480i TV) is great and looks no worse than with the Sony cables (I tried using my buddies just to make sure) So, like dude said, until you get up to the true HD shit (720/1080) which won't happen with Wii, don't sweat it! People are out there using paper clips and 'gator clips and getting a good picture for pete's sake.

Faar @ Nov 27th 2006 1:05PM

#8:
Do not worry so much! Analog or not, there's not much chance that interference can screw up such a low-resolution signal as the Wii's, unless this 3rd-party cable is exceedingly bad.

I run my 360 on the standard MS component cable. At 720P (which is more than twice the number of pixels compared to Wii), there's not a hint of interference on my LCD widescreen TV.

Do not listen to monster cable propaganda, HDMI is great indeed, but it doesn't show its superiority unless one pushes the boundaries a bit. Analog is good enough at lower resolutions and refresh rates.

dick @ Nov 27th 2006 1:22PM

Nintendo knows that their fans dont care if their games look like crap, so why do they care?

Bunch of fuckin idiots

shivr @ Nov 28th 2006 12:13AM

ummm... SDTV ftw? >_>

Arlo @ Nov 27th 2006 10:34PM

"Product Features of Wii Component Cable"
"# High quality cable included"

Thank god the cable is included.

"# Multiple HD modes: 480p, 576p, 720p, 1080i"

Um... what?

And I noticed that a lot of HK stores do this, ESPECIALLY on ebay. They'll have something on sale for $4.99, but then shipping is supposedly $30 or whatever.