Nyko's PS3 and Wii charging stations
by Alexander Sliwinski 
{ Jan 10th 2007 at 8:05AM }
Until such time when mini fusion reactors are built into our wireless controllers, we will sadly be forced to buy batteries and recharge. As we reported yesterday, Nyko has developed a much needed Wii-mote dock with rechargeable NiMH batteries. A nice place to stick our Wii-motes and charge them at the same time. Suggested cost for the Wii recharge station is $29.99 USD.
Nyko's PS3 charge base is designed to hold four Emmy-winning Sixaxis wireless controllers. The PS3 base comes with a six foot standard wall plug, to not take up any USB ports or force you to leave your system on. The charge base for the PS3 is suggested to cost $39.99 USD. We can't help but wonder what cost there was in manufacturing -- or hidden cost in licensing -- that made this glorified wall outlet $10 more than the Wii station, which does the same thing but gives you two rechargeable NiMH "rubberized" battery packs. If you want to just full-on skip the docking station, Nyko also has a 10 foot long charge link for $14.99 that allows gamers to keep playing while they recharge their Sixaxis controller.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
SecondChance @ Jan 10th 2007 8:35AM
The PS3 one look like some kind of sick, anime bobsled team.
Ryoga Vee @ Jan 10th 2007 8:41AM
or, for $15 you can go buy normal rechargeable batteries at your local BestBuy. That work better and last longer.
Fred T @ Jan 10th 2007 9:00AM
Wooo.. three way sexaxes happening here.. nsfw.
Paolo @ Jan 10th 2007 9:12AM
It was Dualshock that won the EMMY, not the SIXAXIS.
Or maybe I just missed the irony... :p
justin @ Jan 10th 2007 9:23AM
" or, for $15 you can go buy normal rechargeable batteries at your local BestBuy. That work better and last longer."
bah but who wants to keep charging them and replacing them.. maybe im just lazy
http://www.wiiuser.org
Rubx @ Jan 10th 2007 9:27AM
SIXAXIS didn't win the emmy...
GamesIndustry says that the DualShock did.
Lost Carcosa @ Jan 10th 2007 9:46AM
Regular rechargable batteries are probably more cost effective in the long run, but it would be nice to have a convenient base unit for charging and storage, and not having to worry about rotating batteries in the charger and wiimote. Of course, rechargable batteries might be easier to find and replace than the Nyko kit later on down the road should the batts degrade in performance.
Hudders @ Jan 10th 2007 9:33AM
Yes, Paolo, Rubx, you missed the irony.
the Brayn @ Jan 10th 2007 9:54AM
I could be wrong here but judging by the pics the PS3 dock station allows four remotes to all charge at the same time and the Wii dock station only allows 2. This might be the reason why the PS3 one costs $10 more. In fact if you wanted to be able to charge 4 Wii controllers at the same time you'd have to shell out for 2 of the dock stations which ends up costing you $20 more than the PS3 one.
But again, I could be wrong.
Andrew @ Jan 10th 2007 10:24AM
Still not as good as the solution with the 360. The battery pack can be swapped out into the charger instead of the entire controller. A solution for the Wii should be do-able. The PS3 will need an external battery to allow this.
Anthony @ Jan 11th 2007 11:31AM
The best solution would be to incorporate a generator into the Wii Remote. Similar to the watches or flashlights that are powered by shaking them. The Wii Remote is certainly shaken enough to charge a battery, but I'm not sure how much a a draw the remote would require.
Pete @ Jan 12th 2007 6:09AM
@11
yeah, but could you imagine jacking your wiimote several times a day to keep it charged during a zeldathon? You would look like a practicing pervert at that point.
Just joking, although it would look awkward, this is a good idea...
CatBoy @ Jan 20th 2007 1:57PM
How do you sync the Wii Remote while the battery is removed? Its not a big issue as you only need to sync it once. Even if you take it to a friend's you can do a temporary sync anyway. Not a big problem.
Joe @ Mar 7th 2007 2:08AM
12, It wouldn't look awkward. I have one of the watches the generates by movement, and you don't have to shake it, the normal motion of walking charges the battery. It stands to reason then that the normal motions used within games for the Wii would suffice to keep it charged.