While running around Santa Monica a resident Dtoid editor scooped me on a strange coffee table gaming accessory that popped up at the event: The Wii Party Station. The uncoventional product has been met with a fair share of curiosity and disgust, so we took a moment to speak with Nyko to find out where they were going with this. As evidenced in this photo we crept up and spontaneously stress tested it (causing one guy to nearly choke on his salsa). After all, nobody parties like Dtoid ... well, except maybe CliffyB who just threatened to drink us under the table.

The first thing you need to know is that *this isn't an actual product ... yet*, it was a first-build prototype to get journalists at E3 talking about it, and that we did.  Should it do more than neatly store Wiimotes ... like charge them? Should it store chips and salsa?  Store game disks?  Extend arms to neatly prop up a pizza dish?  Keep food warm?  Dispense robot-themed condoms?

Here's what the abridged version of what product manager had to say about it... 

"We realize this is a risky product to go to market with, so we built the concept to see what people thought about it.  It has a scoreboard to track who's winning across different games played, it has four removable coozis to keep drinks cool, a cooling fan, nunchuk and Wiimote storage, and a removable chip and salsa tray.  New kinds of gamers are buying Wiis and at an MSRP of $20-$25 this might be attractive."

There's really no reference point, so the entire thing is a puzzling proposition.  It was huge, well built, and the price was right.  But if I wasn't at E3... would I really want it? I stood there and dissected it for a bit. I doubt I'd use the fan.  The glowing light on the tray was genius.  Not sure about the scoreboard but I know my dad would like and easily understand that concept. Overall I thought the idea was wacky and intriguing, but I had reservations. I wanted it to do more somehow.

First, this couldn't feed a Wii party at my place. I thought that I could probably single handedly go to town on the serving of chips and salsa on my own in a matter of seconds, so the food tray was definitely not big enough to support four hungry bastards of my nerdy stature.  Maybe it should fit the standard salsa container as is somehow. Maybe a needle directly into my veins.

I also wondered if it could help me not get up as often when I'm on the sofa.  Could it accommodate a six pack of Coronas? Did I really think about it being filled with kitty litter so we could use it as a living room urinal? (What's wrong with me?!!) Could it do something if it had wireless functionality, like randomly take photos of the gathering and upload them to Destructoid's community blogs automatically? Hell yeah, I'll take 22 million of them!

On one hand, I could defintely see them piled up neatly at Walmart getting hauled away by moms by the truckload, but we saw some repulsive comments earlier from the hardcore that makes me wonder if the market wants gaming and snacking in the same accessory. Nevertheless, I promised Nyko that we'd let the community chip in some ideas and we will be forwarding on the best suggestions to their team. 

What would you do to make this ideal for the way you and your friends party with the Wii ... and if they build it, would you buy it?