Review & Contest: ElectroFlow Charger for Wii

Another quick review and giveaway on another Penguin United product! This time it's the ElectroFlow charger that makes recharging your Wii remotes extremely convenient! All you do is replace the batteries and back cover you have been using with the included battery packs, and then your Wii remotes will recharge whenever they are placed on the included stand.

The design allows for charging to work with or without a jacket on your remote, and with or without Wii Motion Plus. There are no contacts to line up, and a blue glow emanates from under the Wii remotes when they are charging. It's a very simple concept, but it works so well it's hard not to love!

We were provided this product for free to review, and because we care about our readers so much, we're giving it away to one of you guys. Simply leave a comment with what other device you wish could be charged this easily and you'll be entered to win!

Entries must be received by noon CST on November 24th. Limit one entry per person. Residents of the U.S. and Canada only. Winner must not have won a product from Realm Media Networks in the past 90 days.

Review & Contest: Crossfire Remote Pistol for Wii

Not long after the Wii was released, companies began making gun-shaped shells that you could put the Wii remote into, thus providing a more "pistol-like" experience for the consumer. No matter their exact design, they were always larger than the Wii remote because they had to be able to fit a Wii remote inside. A new product has been released by Penguin United that changes all this, and they provided us one for free to try out and giveaway.

What Penguin United has done is make a full Wii remote that is in the shape of a pistol, and have named it the Crossfire Remote Pistol. By changing the shape, they keep the size down, and make the gun more intuitive. They also chose to move the D-pad, 1 and 2 buttons to the back of the gun, and put the A button within easy reach on the handle. Since the motion sensors, speaker, and port for attaching a nunchuck are part of the gun too, it could be used for almost any game.

Unfortunately, the custom shape causes some problems. With the D-pad, 1 and 2 buttons all on the back of the gun, playing any NES-style-controlled game is nearly impossible. Also, the minus (-) and plus (+) buttons are located on the left side of the gun barrel, and are hard to access quickly. It really depends on the specific games you want to use it with, and whether those specific buttons are needed very often.

Overall, the Crossfire Remote Pistol is only a good buy if you play a lot of shooters on the Wii, and don't already have a pistol-shaped shell to use. Even then, I'd rather have another standard Wii remote or wireless guitar than this custom-shaped controller.

Interested in having one? Then leave a comment telling us what's your favorite game where the main character has a gun? Leave your comment by Noon (CST) on November 11,2009 to be entered. At that time, we'll pick a random commenter and get your prize in the mail before Christmas!

Review & Contest: Exo-flex skins

We received some Exo-Flex skins in the mail, and have spent the last month with some of them on our devices. Now that we've had some real hands-on time with them, it's time to give them a short review, and give them away!

It's hard to review what is basically a big sticker. They all looked nice when they arrived, and seemed like they would hold up well. Let's go through each of the claims they make for their skins, and see how well they do.

[Update: Congrats to our winners: jen, Spike116, Icreatedyou, and gbaker386 Hope you enjoy the skins!]

1. NO Smearing or Fading
By smearing, I believe this refers to the printing on the sticker itself. I used the DS Lite skin they sent for quite a while, and never noticed any deterioration it the quality of the printing. It also didn't seem to fade, but I didn't leave it out in the sun for long periods trying to fade it.
Verdict: TRUE

Review & Contest: The Beatles: Rock Band

It's been a while since the last major entry in the Rock Band series has been made, with only track packs to hold us over in the mean time. Most of those have been pretty well received, but those are not really any more than a collections of songs that can be downloaded one by one off the Rock Band music store. Rock Band: The Beatles is a distinct departure from the Track Pack idea, with an entire game based around a single band. The Guitar Hero franchise has done similar type games for Metallica and Aerosmith, but some may argue that The Beatles have a much broader appeal, and are more well known. Will Harmonix do them the justice they deserve, or fall just short of the mark? Read on for our review.

[Update: Congrats to our winner, Kaza2929! Hope you enjoy the game! Look for more contests coming soon! ]

Review & Contest: Rock Band Country Track Pack

It's been almost two months since our last Rock Band Track Pack Review, so its time for another! If you remember our AC/DC LIVE Track Pack Review from last year, or the Classic Rock Track Pack review from just a couple months ago, you'll probably have a pretty good idea of how this review is going to go. But there are a few differences, could those make this Track Pack any different? You'll have to read the rest of the review to find out, and of course, enter our contest to win the game!

[Update: Well, not one single person left a comment before the deadline, so we'll just hold onto the game and give it away at a later date.]

Review: Swords and Soldiers for WiiWare

WiiWare on the Nintendo Wii allows you to download and play games without ever having to leave your house. Unfortunately, and unlike the Xbox Live Arcade and Playstation Network, there are not demos available for these title. Swords and Soldiers is a new title available on WiiWare, but before you spend 1000 points ($10 US) on this game, make sure you read our full review.

Review & Contest: Crayola Colorful Journey

When Crayola Colorful Journey showed up for me to review, I didn't have very high hopes. A game marketed to kids "5 and up" is usually lacking in the quality, entertainment, and challenge areas, and so I was a little disheartened. The concept as promoted on the box was a world where you could create your own solutions to puzzles, creating a bit of curiosity in my mind. A puzzle platformer? By Crayola? Surely it couldn't be worthwhile in comparison to Braid or Prince of Persia, but maybe, just maybe, it had a few redeeming qualities for its target demographic. Read on for the full review, and find out how you can win our review copy!

[Update: The contest is over, thanks to everyone who entered, and congrats to our winner, PSQUARED2! ]