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E3 2007 Aftershocks: Hands-sticky with the Wii Party Station

10:02 PM on 07.22.2007, Niero 42 comments

E3 2007 Aftershocks: Hands-sticky with the Wii Party Station photo
     wii

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?


LAUNCH GALLERY (3 IMAGES)
Photo Photo Photo
 

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EternalDarkWing's Avatar
EternalDarkWing at 07/22/2007 22:13
Party hard Niero, party hard.
tazarthayoot's Avatar
tazarthayoot at 07/22/2007 22:24
That first picture should be a new dtoid desktop.
William Haley's Avatar
William Haley at 07/22/2007 22:26
What would people who own a Wii need condoms for?

I want pizza now. Thanks a lot...
Tristero's Avatar
Tristero at 07/22/2007 22:26
You put your weed in it.

Spykron's Avatar
Spykron at 07/22/2007 22:28
no one touches chips and then my wiimotes. keep the food away. the drinks are fine and the scoreboard is kinda cool. it def should be a charger too. but it would be lame to have to plug it in. so i guess it could have its own rechargable batter to juice the wiimote batteries.
ZiiG360's Avatar
ZiiG360 at 07/22/2007 22:41
what it needs is a goddamn mini LCD screen on it that shows the current Destructoid headline. then ill buy 9000 of them. WHAT 9000?!
Detry's Avatar
Detry at 07/22/2007 22:43
It needs a suicide button, you know.. to help the OLD people.
Roflcopter Pilot's Avatar
Roflcopter Pilot at 07/22/2007 22:55
Need flames on it...and wheels...and a sex hole.
topgeargorilla's Avatar
topgeargorilla at 07/22/2007 23:11
this is the sorta shit that i'd get for christmas, alongside third party controllers and "skinz" for my handhelds. nevermind that the people who made me write a wishlist had the option, of I don't know, actually buy me what I wanted.
HarassmentPanda's Avatar
HarassmentPanda at 07/22/2007 23:15
I think Nyko's heart is in the right place, but it would be impossible to build one of these large enough to hold a substantial amount of chips and/or dip and not be ridiculously unwieldy. Also, there is no way anyone "partying" at my place would ever be sober enough to not ruin every remote sitting in that stand with salsa and drink spills. While adding a charger is a nice idea, there is no way I would run a chord from the wall to my coffee table for this thing.

If Nyko can overcome the food-storage and potential remote-destroying problems that are inherent with a product like this, I might drop some change on one.
NightDehumidifier's Avatar
NightDehumidifier at 07/22/2007 23:16
Ain't no party like a Destructoid party and a Destructoid party don't stop...that is until there is a dead prostitute in the bathroom, and in the kitchen, and the living room, and the bedroom, and there's a dead prostitute in the pantry then it is just too much!
Niero's Avatar
Niero at 07/22/2007 23:24
Now there's an idea. Should this come bundled with an optional dead prostitute for the bathroom to get the party started?
JonDarkwood's Avatar
JonDarkwood at 07/22/2007 23:25
The robot-themed condoms aren't necessary. Anyone who would display this in their house either will never get laid, or deserves to get the STD grab bag.
Roryzilla's Avatar
Roryzilla at 07/22/2007 23:39
needs more mudkipz
Ritalin Twitch's Avatar
Ritalin Twitch at 07/22/2007 23:45
Depending on how strong the blower is, a little tubing and a hotplate could make that a "party fogger"

And thats when my game of Smash Bros will begin to truly shine.
William Haley's Avatar
William Haley at 07/22/2007 23:48
Fuck Nyko, I'm making Roflcopter Pilot's version myself.
Volcanon's Avatar
Volcanon at 07/23/2007 00:09
ZOMG I wanna get a backpack like that!
Macca's Avatar
Macca at 07/23/2007 00:15
Needs a smoke machine and a strobe light. Then it's a party. (Granted you already have the beer)
Extreme_Drunk's Avatar
Extreme_Drunk at 07/23/2007 00:23
I have a mini fridge under an end table which does more than that little thing could ever hope to do by itself.

Unless of course it could keep my beer cold, in which case I'd buy OVERRRRRRRRRRRRRR 9000000000000000000000000000000!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Riser Glen's Avatar
Riser Glen at 07/23/2007 00:26
While I find the idea behind it pretty lame, it does look like it could be a legit place to keep Wii shit.
Tiff's Avatar
Tiff at 07/23/2007 00:39
SAUCE TRAY
William Haley's Avatar
William Haley at 07/23/2007 00:41
Extreme_Drunk, I think you may have a problem...
Roryzilla's Avatar
Roryzilla at 07/23/2007 00:47
His problem level.....


IT"S OVER NINE THOUSAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAND!
emotaku's Avatar
emotaku at 07/23/2007 01:11
GIVE ME 2
Cloudman's Avatar
Cloudman at 07/23/2007 02:18
Dexter345's Avatar
Dexter345 at 07/23/2007 02:40
Frankly, I wouldn't buy this, no matter what they changed. It'd be great if the Wiimote holders were also charge stations for their rechargeable battery packs. But even then, gross food fingers and my beautiful Wiimotes do not mix. The drinks are fine, and it's an interesting idea overall, just not something I'd actually want. I can keep my drinks on the coffee table if I have to.
Detry's Avatar
Detry at 07/23/2007 02:45
I missed the 9000 bus, can someone link me?

Oh and instead of the food tray, it should be a combination scale and drug dispenser. You know... to distribute prescription drugs or measure out precise lines to snort off of dead hookers asses.
Dexter345's Avatar
Dexter345 at 07/23/2007 03:10
Detry: it's an overused Internet meme spawning from a scene from Dragon Ball Z. Here's a YouTube on it, although the voices sound weird in this one...
Darkhart's Avatar
Darkhart at 07/23/2007 04:13
As a student of industrial and commercial design, I think this is a very useless object.

What is this product's objectives? From what I can tell it has 3 functions:
[list=][*]provide a place to store wiimotes
[*]provide a place to store snack food and drinks
[*]provide a method of keeping score, separate from the games themselves.[/list]

Does the intended customer and user base have any actual need for a product that performs ALL of these functions? (some of which are ill suited for the same product - messy fingers + white gloss = ew)

Really, they should consider making a recharger unit for wiimotes combined with a DVD case rack, perhaps with that scoreboard thing, but I don't see any real use for that. A space for nun-chucks was a nice touch, too.

Perhaps release a pack of white "Wii" themed stubby holders bundled with those plastic Wiimote skins. I'd probably get that, if the designs were good enough.
Extreme_Drunk's Avatar
Extreme_Drunk at 07/23/2007 09:20
William Haley

...I think my liver has the problem.
savagesaladin's Avatar
savagesaladin at 07/23/2007 10:35
It should charge wii remotes. By the way, that picture is hilarious.
Myrmidon16's Avatar
Myrmidon16 at 07/23/2007 13:46
@ ZiiG360
lol i love that bit.

newho, after readin this article i can see how this could become a awesome accessory. but theres a thin line between awesome and, well, not awesome.
startreker's Avatar
startreker at 07/23/2007 14:12
I agree with most of the rest of the comments posted around here. Any place that I would stick this that would be out in the open is bound to be knocked over eventually and all the contents will be splattered against the ground at least once. I like the over-all look of it but I would rather people's dirty hands didn't get all over my remotes.

I personally agree with the above comment made before that if you abandon the whole food idea and instead focus on allowing somewhere around 6-10 Wii games+cases to be put into the device for easy storage, I might get it. Its not that I don't have the ability to store it all elsewhere its just about buying a fairly cheap product to help make everything look cleaner.

I also disagree with some of the posts about the charger. They would have to sell the charger pieces either separate or together which would be expensive. I would rather just have it hold my Wii-motes. I already have rechargeable AA's that will fully re-charge in 15 minutes or less so I really don't want to have to invest in some sort of proprietary recharge station. Now if they can find a way to charge any old rechargeable batteries through the expansion port on the wiimote that is another story entirely.

I'm also kind of on the fence about the drinks. I think its cool but if those covers are just cheap little covers like the foam ones I have seen before (they don't really look foam though) people have been claiming your drink stays cooler longer in those, but at least for me unless I cool the cover with the drink, the cover seems to heat-up the drink faster.
Lance Cardigan's Avatar
Lance Cardigan at 07/23/2007 15:33
What this motherfucker needs is a cheap plastic Wii-mote attachment that will grab the chip and dip it for you. And the drinks need safety wrist straps cos i might drop them. I would only really buy this if a destructoid robot ran up in my house and kicked it off the table like in the picture.
Detry's Avatar
Detry at 07/24/2007 02:33
Thanks Dexter, I do remember seeing that but had forgot about it.
Mxyzptlk's Avatar
Mxyzptlk at 07/24/2007 03:23
The snack tray looks better suited as a candy dish, I just can't see it holding enough chips for four people. Unless of course this is being marketed exclusively towards anorexic super-models. I'm also not too fond of keeping drinks right next to my game accessories.

The score board is pretty much useless for me and my friends; we never really care about overall score from game to game. Some people may get into it, but the same function could be easily managed with a pen and paper.

I like the idea of the remote holders, and it's a nice, compact little package. This is the kind of thing your aunt would get you because she doesn't really know you very well, other than you like video games. $20 is a good price for this sort of thing.
RoyRP216's Avatar
RoyRP216 at 07/24/2007 10:42
why is this real?
3dd13's Avatar
3dd13 at 08/11/2007 19:12
I would not put chips in it. I would put something in it that may want us gamers want chips in 15 minutes.
The Incredible Edible Egg's Avatar
The Incredible Edible Egg at 08/12/2007 19:38
Need a sensor that works with the wii to determine exactly where the player is and a cannon to launch bottle rockets at them when they lose.
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