Wii want wireless GC play
Friday, June 8th, 2007
A couple of weeks ago I was able to secure a Wii from a GameStop about 4 miles away. I’ve got to say it’s the best purchase I’ve made since my Macbook Pro. Everyone in the house has been having a ton of fun with it. The cat’s even gotten in on the action by chewing up the wire to the sensor bar which was replaced by a wireless model from Nyko.One great thing about the Wii is that you’re not just limited to titles that are made specifically for the platform. Aside from the Virtual Console functionality, the Wii can handle GameCube games as well. Unfortunately, this means buying a GC controller, which is really my biggest gripe about the system.
My TV is about 10 feet back from the couch. This is not a good situation for wired controllers, and Wavebirds are overly expensive and hard to find. That basically leaves me with the option of a third party controller, which is something I always try to avoid. Rare is a third party controller that feels anything but hollow and cheap. I will admit that I haven’t gotten a chance to try many of the controllers available for the GameCube, but even in the best case scenario, I’m left with a big receiver sticking out of the side of my console for each controller I add.
Why? The Wii’s controller has an expansion port which the classic controller plugs into for an elegant wireless solution. This is perfectly suited to wireless play of GC games as well. I guess in the end, though, Nintendo just doesn’t want to deal with supporting that many peripherals.