With the Wii backhanding the PS3 into early submission, there is no doubt that it has transcended above its rivals like the iPod reigns supreme over the DAP market.  And like Apple’s flagship cash cow, Nintendo’s populist strategy has attracted young and old, guy and girl, parent and child to the little machine that many thought couldn’t.

The Wii may be the Web 2.0 of the living room, where social interaction and a sense of community is the key to success.  Even Nintendo, notorious for its stoic relationships with other players the industry, has brought the "Wii" concept into wooing more third-party developers into the fold.  Nintendo seems poised to take over the industry in ways not seen since the NES days.

To illustrate my point, I got my Wii after waiting in line at a local Best Buy two hours before it opened.  There were throngs of teenagers, parents, and grandparents waiting in a chilly Sunday morning for that one chance to snag the system.

This was back in late April, months after the hype should’ve died down.

Thanks Nintendo, for making me a fan again.

Recently, I was watching a little movie called Star Wars and I got to thinkin’. Why in our age of radical technological know how do we not have light sabers? What’s up with that? We have a version of an invisible cloak, sweet blue ray DVD players, and the Nintendo Wii for goodness sakes! But no light saber? I mean come on, it’s every geek/nerd/dork fantasy. To be able to cut through a wall of bullies with your very own light saber! How hard can it be? There is even a website that  actually tells you how it’s made, how to wield it, different styles to try, challenges, and even it’s everyday uses.

Let’s pull it together! Let’s actually make these elegant weapons coveted by nerds everywhere a reality. We have the technology, and You Tube is full of people filming themselves having light saber duels. The public is yearning… no…crying out for light sabers! I feel it is my duty as a resident of this planet to let it be known that light sabers are cool and we want them!

may the force be with you

Surely the whole point of purchasing a commercial product to run a few homebrew games or activate a few cheat codes is that there’s no soldering required: that’s not the case with the Datel Drive Doctor for Wii. The $34.95 Drive Doctor is designed to allow Wii owners to connect their console to their PC with a USB 2.0 cable, enabling you to review the internal statistics of the Wii, eventually run homebrew games, and even inject code "into the data stream … it’s fun!" Unfortunately, the press release mentions that it’ll require a little soldering of wires in order to get the little box that clips on the back into a working state. Most people won’t find that fun, but then again most people wouldn’t find the idea of accidentally injecting code that kills their Wii fun either. We’re left thinking that this one’s strictly for the intermediate or pro hacker, so stay away if your coding and soldering isn’t up to scratch. Us mere mortals will wait for something a little more dumb-consumer friendly, thank you very much.

[Via Nintendo Wii Fanboy]

Although it’s been unscientifically proven that Nintendo’s Wii is the least likely of the three major consoles to actually need a heat suppressing adornment flanking its side, it’s no surprise that accessory manufacturers are out to get the suckers anyway. For those of you who just can’t keep your Wii cool enough, and weren’t about to drop any dough on the repulsive China Shenzhen Firstsing variety, Brando’s coming to the rescue. The company famous for its USB-powered, unnecessarily flashy gizmos has struck again with the Wii Crystal Cooler, which utilizes USB power to fan off your Wii, sports a nifty blue LED to give it that special touch of tacky, and also doubles as a stand. It can be yours today for just $19.

Did you know that your Nintendo Wiimote can be used for more than just gaming fun?

If you just so happen to use Google Reader for all your RSS news and you own a Wii, you can now use both simultaneously, thanks to a new fully supported feature from Google.

Click Google reader blogspot to see how it works and to learn how to put your Wiimote to the Google Reader test. You can also try out the Google Reader for Wii in your browser.