Gamertell

I finally received a Wii Zapper from Nintendo today (November 19, 2007), which will be available in stores tomorrow (November 20, 2007). This all-white controller housing retails for $20 and comes with the game Link’s Crossbow Training and, of course, an instruction manual. Since this is just the housing, so you need to already own the WiiMote and the Nunchuck attachment.

The WiiMote simply clicks into the top part of the Zapper and is held in place by a small recess in the front and two smal grey clips that fit into the bottom of the WiiMote (one next next to the attachment plug port.)

The Nunchuck takes a little more finagling. You have to unclick a small tab that clamps down the Nunchuck’s cable. You also remove a panel from the bottom of the Zapper and wrap the excess cable around two angled plastic pegs. The top of the cable then clicks into a small slot so you can wrap it around and attach it to the WiiMote.

It took less than 5 minutes to put together with minimum assistance from the instruction manual. The WiiMote wrist strap, which you keep attached to the WiiMote, hangs to the side of the Zapper and still has plenty of room to be worn on either your left or tight hand, depending on how you hold the Zapper, of course.

Simply holding the Zapper seemed pretty natural but it might be a bit cramped for bulkier gamers but it is otherwise pretty comfortable to hold. The trigger appears to have good response time - it is just a physical switch to the WiiMote - and the Nunchuck sits well in the housing. With only three fingers in the handle area under the Nunchuck, it have a shelf that allows your index finger to rest, ready to hit the Z button.

My only issue is that, because I have the Nyko recharger battery on my WiiMote, the extra grips on the battery cover will not allow Nunchuck will not click into the two mini grey latches meant to hold it in place. Even so, it appears to be staying in place pretty well. I’ll get a better feel for that issue after I play a few games.

Removing the controllers is pretty easy and essentially the reverse of putting them in place. The Nunchuck pops right out but you need to unclip the small clip and the back panels to remove the cables. There is a small grey button to release the two clips that hold the WiiMote in place so you can simply pull it out.

Site [Nintendo’s Wii Zapper] Read [Joystiq]