Friday, October 12, 2007

Pelican Wii Nerf Sports Pack


Exclusive reveal and review of Pelican's foam sporting goods for the Wii.

The weight of Nintendo behind the Wii virtually guaranteed the console a degree of success thanks to legions of hardcore fans. The Wii's leap to console leader, however, would not have been possible in so short a time were it not for the explosive popularity of Wii Sports among the casual contingent. This Wii Sports community has been proven relatively receptive to various add-ons to the Wiimote that add semi-realistic sporting attachments to the controller as evidenced by the wide array of such products releases thus far. While some have been interesting, like Prince's Tennis Rackets, most have been pretty lame hard plastic that seems more of a means to break things than actually enhance gameplay.

Pelican, however, has now entered the product space, leveraging its Nerf licensing capability to excellent effect. The company's Nerf Sports Pack for Wii offers the usual trio of tennis racket, golf club, and baseball bat attachments, but rather than questionable hard plastic, each of Pelican's sporting attachments is molded in official Nerf foam. This is pleasing in a number of respects. Because the foam is relatively soft Pelican was able to make the various attachments significantly larger than competitors. The foam is also decently heavy (particularly the baseball bat) which, coupled with the size of the attachments, actually yields a significantly different tactile effect than a naked Wiimote. As such, we feel as though Pelican's Nerf Sports Pack is somewhat more than just an aesthetic gag for casual players. The weight of the attachments offers a different, and in our opinion, more pleasurable feel to swinging the Wiimote in Wii Sports.

In terms of both safety and tactile enjoyment, the Nerf Wii Sports Pack from Pelican is the best product of this type we've played with. Though purists may not initially embrace the concept, more casual players seem relate well to the addition. Pelican's Nerf Sports Pack for Wii will be on shelves in a week or two, priced at $34.99.v
Posted by wii-play at 10:59 AM
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