Nyko Wii-charge station now available

25 Comments by Alexander Sliwinski Mar 13th 2007 9:45PM
Filed under: Peripherals, Business

We've been waiting a while for this Wii-charge station to save us from the Wiimotes vampiric treatment of batteries and now she's out. Nyko's charge station is currently a Gamestop exclusive and will be available at other retailers mid-April. Apparently this is a good deal for Gamestop because currently the item is on back order online and isn't in stock with the random selection of stores we contacted.

We attempted to find out from Mad Catz and Joytech when their charge station will be out, but we haven't received word from either company. For right now it looks like Nyko can roll around in their mountains of cash, happy in the knowledge that they have pwned the market. All we can say is that the Nyko recharge station does exactly what it's supposed to. The NiMH batteries stay charged as long as they find their way back to the cradle every few days and the rubber backing is a nice touch. The Wiimotes now have a nice little home instead of lying about. The station retails for $29.99 and if you're a consistent Wii user, you've paid that much in batteries already. No word yet of a first-party Nintendo charge station.

Tags: charge, joytech, mad catz, nykos, station, wii-charge station

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(Page 1) Reader Comments

Jon: Mar 13th 2007; 9:56PM

I am surprised that something like this took ages to reached the market. I remember when third party accessories would appear within weeks of any popular product release.

The Boston Rag: Mar 13th 2007; 10:03PM

You know, I work at Circuit City, and we have them on the shelf right now for 29.99

ELUNO: Mar 13th 2007; 10:17PM

These were realeased at least a week ago...

SAKY: Mar 13th 2007; 10:27PM

I have only killed 1 pair of "AA" batteries through 40-50 hours of Zelda and some time playing Wii sports. The remotes seem to work for quite a while on a single set of batteries. I don't understand why this and other blogs complain about short battery life.

Still, this seems like a worthy investment.

Hyperfludd: Mar 13th 2007; 10:34PM

Why is the back so ugly?

Cabcru: Mar 13th 2007; 10:44PM

Aren't Nyko the guys who made the Xbox360 thing that sets fire to you carpet?

Joe: Mar 13th 2007; 11:11PM

I really like the idea of having the back be rubberized like this Nyko one. However, I instead bought two of the Brando chargers which connect via USB which is good because then I don't have to buy another power strip to give myself more outlets, and also, the Brando one has a spot to hold the nunchuk.

Besides that, the fact that it actually says the battery size (1800mAh) makes me feel better about it, as opposed to the ones from Nyko which don't say anything about that.

The two are about the same price. $38 shipped from Hong Kong, versus $30 without shipping from Gamestop.

FlyACL: Mar 13th 2007; 11:13PM

Got mine today at Circuit City. No exclusive for Gamespot...

BTW, it looks and works great!

Chufmoney: Mar 13th 2007; 11:21PM

Penguin United www.penguinunited.com has had a recharge station out for over a month now. And they are rolling out with a new iteration that charges two at a time very soon. And you can order it now, its not back ordered.

Chufmoney
www.eat-sleep-game.com

2slick: Mar 14th 2007; 1:42AM

bleh, i've got their 360 charge station, worked fine for about a week, nowadays it's a p.o.s. Sometimes you have to pull out and plug the battery pack in 4 or 5 times to get a decent charge. then the battery life then is less than 10 hrs.

savvydoc: Mar 14th 2007; 6:06AM

Neat.

Evil Bastard: Mar 14th 2007; 6:32AM

I got mine at gamestop two and a half weeks ago. Charged them up only once, and they are still going strong.

Neal: Mar 14th 2007; 8:22AM

Eh, rechargable batteries haev been out for many many years, Who needs a docking station to take up more room? I don't want that stupid rubber shit on the back of my controllers making it look like some MadCatz Piece of garbage.

Myke: Mar 14th 2007; 9:13AM

Can anyone who has one please confirm for me that they would NOT work with a Wiimote cover, because I have mine in those Wiimote sleeves and I'm not buying this because I believe I'd have to butcher the back the sleeve so that the charger worked, anyone?

meist3r: Mar 14th 2007; 9:16AM

I hope something like that will be released in europe soon too. I have the strangest experience with the Battery life of the Wiimote. During Zelda:TP I went through 3 sets of Batteries (all the same brand). Now I play Wii-Sports and Red Steel a lot and the Batteries deplete far more slowly (rumble/speaker theory anyone?). I used to wear out two AAs in about a week, now the last ones I put in have survived 3 weeks so far and the Wiimote status shows one bar below max. Very strange. And well people are going to hate me for saying this: You safe the environment just a little. Throwing away regular batteries made me feel kind of stupid and I was hoping for a docking station like that. But I intend on waiting for a original Nintendo version of this thing. Probably will cost twice as much but I think it will pay off in terms of reliability. I don't want my Wiimote to explode in the dock (or even my Hand) like those laptop batteries.

Myke: Mar 14th 2007; 9:21AM

Don't worry, Sony is the only company that you can count on for exploding batteries =)

Kaseytiger: Mar 14th 2007; 12:29PM

I recieved my Wii Charge station about 4 days ago. The rubber grip on the backing may look stupid in the picture above but it doesn't take away from the look of the controller at all. And there isn't any awkward difference between the regular backing and the rechargable ones. I mean if you don't like it so much just take the backing off when you're done charging them and put on the regular backing. Because you need it to charge the remotes initially. And a reason why the batteries might start to not last as long is because you're charging them too much. If you charge a battery too much there's the possibility of "overcharing" and shortening the battery life by so much....just like ANY rechargeable batteries.

And Myke: You do have to remove the skins or "sleeves" when recharging the remotes on the station as the charging plate on the back of the remotes is right in the middle of the battery plate. either that or cut a hole in the remote sleeve. I'm not even sure if the sleeves would fit with the Nyko backing, because of the rubber on the back. It's not all that thick but there surely is a difference.

Obi-Habby: Mar 14th 2007; 1:43PM

I just got my charge station yesterday. This is a good product. I only have 2 wiimotes so far, and this is great for that. Like Kasey said you can switch to the normal back after a charge if you want so you are not forced to play with the rubber grip if you don’t like it, but from my experience and my roommates as well the rubber grip is nice when playing Wii Sports. Also the rechargeable pack is light, probably not that much heavier then 2 AAs, so it doesn’t really mess with the balance of the wii-mote in your hand. Yes it feels a little bottom heavy at first, but that went away within minutes of using it. Overall the convenience of a rechargeable dock makes this product worth it.

Metal_Link: Mar 14th 2007; 1:49PM

Yeah, got this baby at Babage(e)s some two or three weeks ago. It's been working fine on the coffee table charging my precious Wiimotes whenever I need 'em.

Matters: Mar 14th 2007; 4:09PM

"if you're a consistent Wii user, you've paid that much in batteries already"

Unless you're a smart Wii user who purchased rechargeable batteries.

They do exist.

Plaid Ninja: Mar 14th 2007; 5:03PM

$30? For $30 I can get a 15 minute charger with 4 AA's at Target. Booooooooooooooooooooooo!

Underwhelmed: Mar 15th 2007; 1:46AM

I bought one of these at a Manhattan Gamestop two weeks ago, and when I opened it I discovered that the power cord had somehow been exposed to extreme heat and had started to melt, therefore getting stuck to itself. After I straightened out the cord, I could see there were a bunch of brown scorch marks on the cable...yipes! I decided to roll the dice and plug it in, and it didn't explode or fry my wiring...but it didn't work, either. Gamestop gave me a cash refund, and while I'd like to get another unit and try again, I'll be damned if anyone in New York is stocking them (and they ain't easy to find online either).

CubeGUy: Mar 15th 2007; 2:45AM

@5

It looks better in person. Also, it helps grip a lot.

CubeGuy: Mar 15th 2007; 2:46AM

@22

Dang. Same thing happened to me, but I just sent it to Nyko. They shipped me another one.

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